Today’s episode is a simple solocast of me talking to you. I’m recording in an extraordinary time when stress is being put on healthcare, public institutions, whole industries and even entire economies. All the uncertainty out there is invading our digital marketing world. What’s going to happen? Just thinking about current events can induce fears about budgets getting cut, teams getting shrunk and we feel an existential threat to our very career.
To help, the first part of the episode goes through how uncertainty affects everyone’s mindset. I share what some authors like Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and Kurt Vonnegut have observed about these reactions change over time. By understanding them, we’ll hopefully cycle through these emotions more quickly.
Peter Drucker said we shouldn’t scale back at times like this, but to make investments that “enable a business to make its future. That, in the last analysis, is what planning for uncertainty means.” So having dealt with how we respond to uncertainty as humans, I devote the rest of this episode to how we can respond as marketers.
I talk about investments we can make around planning, doing, analyzing and improving processes. I share resources that have helped me during crises so the way I market fits with new outside realities. Hopefully it helps propel you to act in a way that you can look back on with pride when it’s all over.
People/Products/Ideas Mentioned:
Mr. Micawber from Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield”
Andrea Bassi, co-author of “Tackling Complexity”
The Shawshank Redemption among other ‘Man in Hole’ movies
Craig Ferguson final “Late Late Show” monologue
Business Model Canvas popularized by Alex Osterwalder and Ash Maurya
“An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth” by Chris Hadfield
Shell Oil’s There Is No Alternative (TINA) Scenario Planning
Dr Flint McGlaughlin, Founder MECLabs, on marketers using their art to help others in crisis.
Reboot:
Go find another group who would benefit from clarity on their strengths and ways to express their value to their audience.
