Earlier in the year, we hired a professional to work with on some PR.  She came to us with the right CV – social buzz building, online PR, works with the media, etc.  About 2 weeks into the contract, she had us chasing down all kinds of new directions.  She tried to convince us that everything is in a constant state of change – and that we had to change everything along with it!

When I worked for Microsoft, all I heard there was that “the only constant is change” (I even started believing this and using it in my presentations!)

Let’s think about this for a short while – if everything IS in a constant state of change, and you feel that you have to keep up, then you’ll end up in a be in a continual state of overwhelm and you’ll possibly get nothing done.

Every time a new gadget comes along, you’ll jump.  Every time a new social network comes along, you’ll jump. You’ll become like a magpie, chasing latest, bright shiny object.

You’ll get nothing done!

Here’s the truth – over 90% of what’s “shiny and new” is not – it is an iteration of what came before and will WASTE YOUR TIME!

While there are at least a couple of new products and services that come along each week that can (and possibly do) distract you, looking back ofver the last 20 years or so, there is, on average, 1 major development in marketing per year.  Here are a few:

• Video
• Pay per Click
• Email Marketing
• Shopping Carts
• Blogging
• Social Media Networking
• Autoresponders
• Context driven ads

OK, so you might be able to name a few more, but stop and think about it for a few minutes – how many real-deal, game-changers have there been over the past few years?

Your challenge as a marketer is to decide what these game-changers are and how you can use them to your advantage.  For me, it is PPC, Blogging and Social.  What are your game-changing tools of the trade?

A couple of years ago, we founded the Digital Marketing Institute, working with the industry and associations in Ireland and developed the only Diploma course specifically geared to take advantage of the new and fast-emerging Digital Marketing sector.  I am delighted to say that others are now emulating our efforts and helping us to educate the nation.  Click here to find out about the various Digital Marketing Diploma courses that we have on offer that can help you to decipher the noise from the game changers.