Round-Up: The Best Tips We Received This Year…
After last year, we weren’t sure what to expect. So this year, we continuously reached out to our circle of colleagues, vendors, and partners, asking for observations and insights, and taking regular temperature checks from our informed specialists. This helped us not only anticipate the needs of our clients—we were often able to exceed them!
As an end-of-year newsletter, what better way to pay it forward than to share the treasure trove of advice that we gathered along the way?
Here are the best insights our team took away from 2021…
1. Technology is outpacing us. Customers today have high expectations of digital marketing, so it can be frustrating when they see ads for things they’ve already bought or will never need. But it’s not that technology isn’t good enough; many companies simply don’t have the bandwidth or resources to utilize it. Often, it’s better to only put forth the efforts that your business is certain it can deliver, analyze, and iterate well. Otherwise, turn to external support that can ensure every impression and click counts.
2. You can’t replace face-to-face. Whether your company headed back to the office this year, or started traveling for work again, many of us realized that no screen could fully replace face-to-face meetings. This was true for connecting with clients, internal team-building, or closing a sale on the spot. No matter where technology takes us next, we’ll always benefit from seeing one another, at least once in a while, in person.
3. Perfect is the enemy of good. This has long been true for hard-working, fast-paced professionals. But in a year of bouncing back, many businesses learned how to let go of slow processes, or chains of command, that were created in pursuit of “perfection.” This was useful in instances when a “perfectly good” result could be accomplished a lot faster—allowing you to move on to the next.
4. Source locally, and have backups! When supply chains struggled, companies relying on overseas stock took a hard hit. Some of our local vendors saw demand surge, but those with long-standing relationships always took precedence. It’s helpful to source locally and form connections with your suppliers. But if you need a backup number to call, it’s best not to start looking when you’re already in need.
5. E-commerce is dead; long live e-commerce. No matter how we reinvent it, what screen it’s on, which generation it's catering to, or what pay model is commanding it, e-commerce isn’t going anywhere.
Thank you to everyone in our growing network of friends and associates near and far. We look forward to sharing another wonderful year with you in 2022!
