August 2023
New to Communications and Marketing? Are you charged with the responsibility of delivering signed contracts, sales or bottom-line business results?
Your comfort level and confidence in marketing, communications and outreach will often determine the level of results your endeavor can achieve and stress is your biggest enemy here.
As artificial intelligence and algorithms steal the oxygen from conversations and we confront daily an ever increasing array of tools to communicate “better, faster, more efficiently,” our stress factor skyrockets.
Stress is the not something we impose upon ourselves but is something caused by lack of control. James Williams, a former Google strategist believes “we are all living through a denial-of—service attack on our minds.” We are so inundated by everything trying to get our attention that we become depleted and don’t have the breathing space to let our thoughts work themselves out. Everything around us demands an immediate response. Notifications shout out to us with an urgency that is not based on our needs but on the demands of others. Interruption management becomes a key to slowing down and filtering the noise. Reward yourself with downtime. Just play. Experiment and trust your instincts to guide actions.
The counter to “urgent” is the word important. Don’t get sucked into endless feedback loops of commercial social media. Consider surfing. That is, rather than meet the demands of posting messages every few hours to keep up a barrage of outbound messaging, cherry pick the moments of participation where you can offer something of value to others. Join a trending wave for a day, a week or even several months if it delivers results.
Instead of feeling manipulated by technology systems, choose to be intentional in what you do. Combine the things you love with the mission you feel and watch your focus and satisfaction levels grow.
Here are two individuals who started out working for others but had a vision of change that brought focus to causes they believe in.
I met Luke Timmerman when he was a reporter on biotech in Boston. He loves mountain climbing and is capable of bringing focus and attention to those who are developing cures to disease. He organized an experience of a lifetime by creating the Everest Base Camp Trek to fight cancer. His mountain climbing campaigns have motivated the biotech community to raise more than 6 million dollars to fight cancer and poverty.
Likewise Dave Bjork became The Research Evangelist
because he wanted to highlight important but not famous members of the research community who performed the slow and dedicated decades of work required to allow breakthrough treatments in healthcare. His interview style is that of a listener. He allows the conversations to unfold at their own pace and the recognition he brings has opened doors that no programmed marketing efforts could effect on their own. The human connection and in-person authenticity builds a foundation of trust. Go forth and do important work in an area of interest to you.
Looking for more ideas or a quick consult? Contact me.
This is a great message, Keith – and I really enjoyed the two people you wrote about in the article. We need to hear more of this!
Evelyn
Thank you Evelyn. You too do a great job of being intentional in how you support your patrons and others interested in the Arts.