One of the biggest questions people often ask me about the business we’re in is “how do you keep up with all of the changes?” After all, when DE started, social media wasn’t a word people used, HD video hadn’t been invented, live streaming a video would cost thousands, the internet was slow, you certainly couldn’t access it from the palm of your hand, and—well, you get the point. The internet/technology/marketing world has changed a LOT since we started in 1999.
The question of how we keep up in a world that’s moving a million miles an hour is an important one that has been critical to our growth over the years. I’d address the question in two ways:
1) We invest in continuing education. 2) While the vehicles (tv, billboards, social media, video, etc.) may change, the core idea of communicating a message to help businesses connect with a customer to build a relationship hasn’t.
Continuing Education
It would be easy to think, “Look, we’ve done this for a long time, we’re just going to keep being good.”
But that would be foolish.
For us to be able to keep helping others grow their business, we have to stay on top of a rapidly changing industry. We do this through many avenues, but one of the biggest is continuing education. Our team is encouraged to find programs and educational outlets that will help them improve individually and help our team grow. At the moment, one of our designers is going through an extensive UX Design Course, several of our team members are working through additional digital marketing training, others are learning coding techniques and changes. I’m constantly sending helpful blog posts and podcasts to our team, and next week, three of us are headed to Los Angeles to attend VidSummit (a conference to expand our video marketing capabilities and knowledge).
When it comes to technology and helping others grow their business, there is no room for complacency. Anyone who isn’t constantly learning is likely going to lose in a few years. We can survive on past knowledge for a short while, but it’s continuing education that shapes the future. We believe in helping our team make these investments with both time and money, and that will help our clients consistently get the best possible service.
Marketing & Communication
The second point I mentioned was the idea that marketing and communication never really change, only the vehicle does. I realize I’m contradicting myself a bit here, but hold on and I think it’ll make sense (if it doesn’t, feel free to comment below and let me know). Here’s what I mean — marketing & communication is really just about getting attention. Those who draw the most attention will usually win at this game. When you’re a giant company, like Apple, that doesn’t take much. You just say, “Hey! We’re going to have a big event tomorrow to show off products.” And the whole world stops to see what’s coming. For most of us however, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Over the years, marketing communication has been seen in many forms: newspapers, radio, TV, billboards, websites, search engines, social media, and the latest world of the Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, and Google Home (voice search). The platform is not what’s important, though—it’s connecting with the people who want to buy your product or service (even if they don’t know it yet).
All of the mediums above are still perfectly acceptable ways to connect with certain groups of people, the price just needs to be right. The trick is knowing where to place time and money the most efficiently to gain the biggest result, which is where the continuing education comes in. It’s not about Facebook or Twitter or any specific platform. It’s about getting in front of people. We do that by working with clients in all types of industries and utilizing new marketing strategies and technologies.
If you’re interested in working with us, contact us using the form below.
