The Olympics were all abuzz this summer about the new Speedo LZR suits the swimmers were wearing. Speedo’s technology meant swimmers were able to use 5% less effort to achieve the same speed. Less effort, better results—that makes sense.

In the past few months, we’ve been working with a number of companies transitioning from the old rules and old technologies to the new rules and new technologies. And I am here to say that transition isn’t always pretty and organizations are working too hard for mediocre results—picture the 400 medley in a 3-piece suit.

A few of the Old School to New School challenges we have seen are:

Refusing to be Nimble—Today’s organizations need to pace themselves according to the technologies that are dictating their future. Applying 1980s project management techniques and meeting schedules to a 2008 landscape virtually assures your organization will be playing catch-up. Things move fast today and if that means you need to re-org to streamline, do it. Don’t let politics and poor project management be the difference between success and failure.

Hot Potato—When transitioning from the old rules to the new rules there are two schools of thought. One, champion the hell out of the new rules and fight the underlying tide that is the status quo. Or, try to appease the status quo and move forward with your plans while never really taking ownership (or creating a confusing hierarchy) of the project. If the first plan works, you’re a hero, and if it doesn’t…well it will. If the second plan works, you’re a hero, and if it doesn’t, no one knows who to blame.

The Safety Dance—Yes, there are industries that require curtsies to regulations and legal verbiage but at a certain point the marketing department has to get legal to bend a bit. Try this; “They won’t be able to sue us if we don’t differentiate ourselves because…we won’t be around anymore.”

A Website is Not the Answer—If you are placing ads in magazines you should have a social media strategy in place. I recently worked on a campaign for a company who was on the fence about putting their URL in the print ad. I am one of the few who think print isn’t dead but I do realize that it needs an overhaul. (If you can name 10 friends who have an e-book reader, email ian at eatmedia.net and I will jump into panic mode.) Until then, the case is clear—if you are using your website as a business card only (i.e. Home/Products/Contact Us) and your organization doesn’t have a blog, news feed or a content strategy, start worrying.

In the end, it is all about budgets and approvals but it’s also about speed and selecting the correct strategies and tools for the job/race. Big fan of the suit and tie here, but I wouldn’t jump into a pool with my 3-piece suit against my competitor wearing a time-shaving Speedo.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Content Marketing, Managing Editor, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.