"fill in the blank" is the Next Big Thing - Here's Why You Shouldn't Care

If you’ve been hanging around the internet for any length of time, you’ve probably heard at least a few of these over the years:

Blogging is the next big thing!

Adwords is the next big thing!

Facebook is the next big thing!

Mobile is the next big thing!

Video is the next big thing!

Instagram is the next big thing!

Going on 20 years since the widespread adoption of the internet for marketing purposes, we’ve had a dizzying number of Next Big Things. And there will certainly be more in the coming years. Frankly, one of the worst things you can do for your business is to get distracted by…

Shiny Object Syndrome

There will ALWAYS be a Next Big Thing. If you don’t have a solid marketing plan, one that you can use to evaluate whether or not this promising new thing will fit into your long-term strategy, you’re likely to get sucked into a new, albeit shiny, vortex. The likely outcome is that you’ll waste a lot of time and money and, ultimately, walk away muttering something like, “We tried that, it didn’t work”.

All Right, All Right, All Right…

In spite of all the micro-revolutions in online marketing techniques, one thing has never changed…

You’ve got to get the right product in front of the right people at the right time, at the right price.

There’s a tired old adage in the world of sales and marketing that I’ve always despised;

“So and So could sell ice to eskimos”

When I say always, I truly mean for as long as I can remember. I spent many of my formative years being dragged around to showings and open houses with my Mom’s Real Estate brokerage and started selling handmade trinkets and baubles on the streets of the New Orleans French Quarter in second grade. Being good at sales was akin to being the local team’s quarterback in my household.

But, even at the tender age of seven, I wondered why in the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks you’d want to sell ice to eskimos. How is it an honorific to say someone could sell people something they don’t need??? Why not sell them firewood???? I mean, what if you focused on getting a fire source to the person who needs it, when the mercury is dropping, all at a reasonable cost? It’s the:

Right Product
for the Right People
at the Right Time
and the Right Price

If you get the R’s right, it doesn’t matter if you use Instagram, smoke signals or the Goodyear blimp to deliver the message, people will line up to buy as soon as they are aware of the benefit you offer their lives. Put another way, when my Inuit Wood Shop is delivering a solid product that improves people’s lives and makes me a solid living, I couldn’t care any less about the next big thing because I’m not desperate to acquire customers. I’m doing alright, thank you very much.