Every company wants to grow, build its recognition, and stay relevant in customers’ eyes. But it is precisely in those efforts that companies often hit the biggest obstacle. No, it isn’t the market, the competition, or a lack of opportunity. The biggest obstacle is the mindset inside the company.
At Pakt, we are advocates of fresh ideas, new tools, messages, channels, and so on. We are glad when we share the desire to move forward with our clients. But honestly, the road isn’t always easy. Today we have a laugh with many clients when we recall the kick-off meeting and the client’s first response: ‘We can’t do that here.’
Is that really true? Is it a reflection of real constraints the company can’t overcome? Or is it just a convenient excuse for things to stay as they are, a fear of change and of everything that is new? (By the way, do you remember the legendary cartoon about the Croods family, who were endlessly afraid of anything new?)
It often looks as though a company’s biggest challenge is external factors. A limited budget, the market, the competition. In reality, the most obstacles are hiding in their own beliefs.
These are sentences we hear in ‘kick-off’ project teams, at introductory meetings, and during campaign preparation. From a distance they look reasonable, but in reality they mean only one thing: the company is setting its own limits.
1. ‘We have always done it this way’: you are not the Croods!
Working with established processes, systematically, perhaps with proven success in the past, isn’t a bad thing. But pointing to the fact that we have done something the same way ‘forever’ isn’t an argument for keeping it as the only way forward. In marketing, the only constant is change. What worked yesterday may not work today, and tomorrow it will surely call for adjustment. If your only reason for the status quo and for not testing anything new is some sort of ‘tradition’ (we put it in quotation marks on purpose), you are already a step behind the competition before you even realise it.
What to do?
Ask yourself whether there is at least one reason to do something differently. There surely is one. Are you ready to at least test a new option?
2. ‘Our audience doesn’t want that’: have you actually asked them?
We often hear that something ‘won’t fly because our audience doesn’t want it and won’t get it’. But a statement like that is only worth as much as the data behind it. Too often, it is just guesswork or an internal feeling (and doubt) on the part of decision-makers. Your audience may be more open than you think, if you present the new thing the right way.
What to do?
Check the response with concrete data. Analytics, surveys, test campaigns, all of these will give you a better answer than just a feeling, an assumption, or, worse still, an entrenched belief without any basis.
3. ‘There’s no time for this’: but there is always enough for ad-hoc reactions?
All change takes time, that is true. But how much time do companies lose every year to fixing mistakes, hastily changing campaigns when they turn out not to work, and reacting to crises that could have been prevented with better planning? If your ‘we don’t have time’ always applies only to important changes or new initiatives, while time always shows up for putting out fires, that is a sign you are making mistakes somewhere.
What to do?
Reflection and preparation for new initiatives have to become part of the routine. Plan time for it and take that time. Fixing the consequences always costs more than thoughtful work in advance.
4. ‘We don’t want to take the risk’: is doing something really riskier than doing nothing?
Risk is always there. But in marketing, the bigger risk is often doing nothing and shuffling on the spot, rather than trying something new. The world is changing, and if you don’t change with it, you risk the competition overtaking you and the audience overlooking or forgetting you.
What to do?
Recognise risk and learn to manage it. Test on smaller projects, start with limited changes. Don’t wait for ideal conditions, because you simply won’t see them come.
5. Why at Pakt agency we aren’t afraid of the question ‘Why not give it a try?’
Most change starts with a single simple question: ‘Why not?’ At Pakt, we believe this question has to become part of your thinking, your philosophy and your strategy. It is a safeguard against complacency, comfort and autopilot. It is an encouragement to take a step forward.
If this question pushes you to be willing to think, to look for a way to make it happen and to try something new, it has already done its job. And if you need a partner to ask it of you, we are here.
