{"id":6255,"date":"2017-01-24T16:58:34","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T16:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=6255"},"modified":"2017-01-24T16:58:34","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T16:58:34","slug":"seize-the-day-why-2017-should-be-a-year-of-embracing-the-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/seize-the-day-why-2017-should-be-a-year-of-embracing-the-present\/","title":{"rendered":"SEIZE THE DAY: WHY 2017 SHOULD BE A YEAR OF EMBRACING THE PRESENT"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The time is now. Not next year, or six months from now, or at the conclusion of a five-year plan. Success won\u2019t come with the next marketing conference, the new social channel around the corner, or the next piece of \u201cgame-changing\u201d tech that\u2019s just waiting to be unleashed on the world. Your future is written largely by what you do today, so the biggest single challenge for marketers in 2017 will be staying focused. Stop worrying about what\u2019s next and concentrate on delivering what is now!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Yes, the future \u2013 and the near limitless possibilities it presents \u2013 will always be alluring, and of course it\u2019s a good idea to plan for the future no matter what you have going on in the present. But there\u2019s a big difference between planning for the future, and expecting the cavalry to come save you if you just hold out a little longer\u2026 or waiting for the perfect plan and someone else to show you the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it\u2019s just too easy for marketers to fixate on the mythical future fix, when most challenges, goals, and concerns are best addressed in the present. So it\u2019s important to keep planning, but never<\/i> at the expense of the here and now.<\/span><\/p>\n

Avoid Succumbing to the \u201cShiny New Thing\u201d Syndrome<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The marketing world is full of contradictions, and I don\u2019t mean that entirely as a criticism. Part of it is just the nature of the business. We all have a stake in staying on the cutting edge, but it\u2019s also our job to find the best available solutions, rather than chasing every shiny new thing. The tug-of-war between what works now and what might work better in the future is something that every marketer, and person, has to deal with from time to time.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not a new struggle, or one specific to marketing. The real problem arises when we start projecting what we want<\/i> to happen, and eventually that projection morphs into what we expect<\/i> to happen. This is especially common when we face a challenge that seems intractable. It\u2019s frustrating when hard work doesn\u2019t lead to the desired solution, but crossing your fingers and hoping for something better in the future won\u2019t get you anywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides, as a group, we humans don\u2019t exactly have a stellar record of predicting the future, in day-to-day life or in the business world. Small, incremental advancements are much easier to predict than big, disruptive changes. Plenty of very smart people have gone broke speculating on the next big thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Practical Value of Staying in the Present<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Big-picture psychological stuff is interesting, but focusing on the present has plenty of practical value. In marketing today, the bottom line is engaging your audience and building relationships. By their nature, meaningful relationships take time to build. It\u2019s a step-by-step process, and you\u2019ve got to be present in order to make it work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Staying in the present also allows you to seize the initiative and connect with your audience on their terms. This is especially valuable on social channels, where every interaction is another opportunity to build upon relationships\u2026 and this scales since the majority participate vicariously through the interaction and engagement of others (many more than you realizing just watching \u201crecorded\u2019 interactions)<\/em>, and spreads from one to the next via every social channel. However, if you\u2019re too focused on what\u2019s coming next, you\u2019re going to miss out on all of the opportunities that are right in front of you today.<\/span><\/p>\n

So focus on what you can do today to build better relationships, connect with your audience, and improve your marketing in every phase. Planning for the future is great, as long as it doesn\u2019t stop you from doing everything you can in the present.<\/span><\/p>\n

#RonR<\/a>\u2026 #NoLetUp!<\/a><\/p>\n

Previously posted at TedRubin.com<\/a>http:\/\/tedrubin.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The time is now. Not next year, or six months from now, or at the conclusion of a five-year plan. Success won\u2019t come with the next marketing conference, the new social channel around the corner, or the next piece of \u201cgame-changing\u201d tech that\u2019s just waiting to be unleashed on the world. Your future is written … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tedrubin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6255"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6258,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6255\/revisions\/6258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}