Saving Time and Energy: A 6 Step Process to Adopting New Technology
Saving Time and Energy: A 6 Step Process to Adopting New Technology
"If you're in business, you absolutely, positively have to be on MySpace."
"All the best marketers have blogs...or podcasts...or streaming video on their websites..."
Sound familiar? It seems as if a day doesn't go by without some new technological tidbit, guaranteed to transform the business world as we know it, is making all the papers. Blogging is hot one day, passe the next. You Tube is the place you want to be -- unless you don't want to be there, of course!
How is a Nichepreneur to make any sense of it all? How do you identify what tools are best to promote your products and services and which are destined to be no more than a flash in the pan phenomenon, long on promise and short on follow-through?
More importantly, how are you going to find the time to figure it all out? When you're busy running your business, finding the hours needed to learn about a new technology can be challenging enough -- spending all of that time and energy only to discover that something is really not for you is a frustration you don't need!
Save time and minimize frustration by adopting this six step process for approaching new technology. Followed consistently, this process will allow you to identify viable promotion opportunities, discern which ones appear to have sticking power, streamline the learning process, and adopt best practices right from day one!
Step One: Don't Believe the Hype
Enthusiastic, cheerleading-style articles touting the latest tech tool as the solution to all of your marketing challenges are fun to read -- but they seldom provide enough information to make a solid business decision!
Put yourself on a short rein, and don't let enthusiasm for the flavor-of-the-week be your only guide. Do your research. Discover what demographics are adopting the technology being touted: the audience for Twitter-powered microblogs is different than the crowd downloading podcasts onto their cell phones.
Longevity is definitely a relative term in this environment: internet trends move at the speed of light. However, longevity is key in determining when a fad has staying power: blogging has been around for years now, and has proven business applications, while other, newer tech applications have yet to prove themselves. Consider if you want to be on the cutting edge, taking the risk to try out the new tech and benefit by being an early adopter, or if you'd be more comfortable going with a known and proven platform.
Step Two: Seek Out Reputable Resources to Serve as Guides
While you're doing your due diligence and researching this new technological tool, you'll want to pay special attention to where your information is coming from. Not all resources are equally valuable. Look to those individuals who are consistently cited as an Expert by others: it's a good idea to have a rule of three for this. If three disparate sources all reference the same individual or work, there's a better than fair chance that that resource has some real value that you can benefit from.
Remember, you don't have to limit yourself to online research, although that's often the quickest and easiest way to find information. Check print media: if a tool is well established enough to have books devoted to it, chances are it can be used to help you promote your business effectively.
Step Three: Identify What You Want To Accomplish
Set a clear goal for yourself. This goal needs to be specific, quantifiable, and realistic. Rather than saying, "I want to be on You Tube because everybody's there!" consider, "I will post four videos a year to You Tube, each one focused on a different segment of my area of expertise."
Knowing what you want to do is essential. Having an end objective allows you to figure out what skills you need to concentrate on and which ones are irrelevant. For example, if you want to build your business through blogging, you can do so without ever once picking up a book on video podcasting. Instead, you can focus on learning how to write a great blog entry, how to promote your blog, and strategies to raise your blog's visibility.
This step allows you to save time. You only have a limited amount of time to devote to this new tool, so you want to be efficient.
Step Four: Learn the Vocabulary
Make life easy for yourself! Before you start diving into the hows, whys, and how-comes of any new area of study, take an hour to familiarize yourself with the vocabulary you're going to need. Every technology has its own language, specific to what you're working on.
Think of this vocabulary as similar to the professional jargon you use when conversing with colleagues. It's likely that your conversation might be unintelligible to the average listener, unless you took the time to define and explain the terminology you're using.
Chances are you don't have someone there to explain confusing terms or unfamiliar language to you -- and if you try to forge ahead, hoping to pick up the meaning in context, you'll find yourself frustrated and no closer to achieving your goals. It may seem like wasted time to focus on vocabulary early in the process, but language makes comprehension possible!
Step Five: Don't Reinvent the Wheel
No matter what your goal or objective is, there's a better than fair chance that someone else has already done it first. Look for examples that resonate with you: a blog you'd like to emulate, podcasts that inspire you, You Tube videos that have you green with envy.
Study these examples carefully. What about them ‘works'? Make a list of those things you'd like to adopt for your own message. Obviously, you don't want to make a carbon copy of someone else's work, but there's nothing wrong after modeling yourself after people who have done a great job communicating their message effectively!
Step Six: Ask Questions & Embrace Expertise
Nichepreneurs are often convinced that because they're in business for themselves, they have to do everything themselves. As a corollary to this, there's a common misconception that one should know everything possible about running a business from day one and never need any help!
You need to put that attitude behind you! Save time, energy, and effort by asking questions! There are a number of platforms to do this online: entire web communities have sprung up for individuals who want to build a better blog, create great You Tube videos, and more. Find a community you're comfortable with -- this might require a few minutes with Google -- and ask questions. This is often the quickest way to find information and, as an added bonus, start forming relationships with potential colleagues, clients, and peers.
In Conclusion
Technology is evolving at light speed. Every day there's something new. There's no way one person can keep up with it all, which means we have to pick and choose which tools are the best to promote our businesses. Be critical, implement this six step process consistently, and you'll find that you can have the best of both worlds: adopting the latest, greatest tools to promote yourself without wasting a lot of time and energy!
Saving Time and Energy A 6 Step Process to Adopting New Technology - To learn more about this author, visit Susan Friedmann's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
"You Tube? Best marketing tool EVER!"
"If you're in business, you absolutely, positively have to be on MySpace."
"All the best marketers have blogs...or podcasts...or streaming video on their websites..."
Sound familiar? It seems as if a day doesn't go by without some new technological tidbit, guaranteed to transform the business world as we know it, is making all the papers. Blogging is hot one day, passe the next. You Tube is the place you want to be -- unless you don't want to be there, of course!
How is a Nichepreneur to make any sense of it all? How do you identify what tools are best to promote your products and services and which are destined to be no more than a flash in the pan phenomenon, long on promise and short on follow-through?
More importantly, how are you going to find the time to figure it all out? When you're busy running your business, finding the hours needed to learn about a new technology can be challenging enough -- spending all of that time and energy only to discover that something is really not for you is a frustration you don't need!
Save time and minimize frustration by adopting this six step process for approaching new technology. Followed consistently, this process will allow you to identify viable promotion opportunities, discern which ones appear to have sticking power, streamline the learning process, and adopt best practices right from day one!
Step One: Don't Believe the Hype
Enthusiastic, cheerleading-style articles touting the latest tech tool as the solution to all of your marketing challenges are fun to read -- but they seldom provide enough information to make a solid business decision!
Put yourself on a short rein, and don't let enthusiasm for the flavor-of-the-week be your only guide. Do your research. Discover what demographics are adopting the technology being touted: the audience for Twitter-powered microblogs is different than the crowd downloading podcasts onto their cell phones.
Longevity is definitely a relative term in this environment: internet trends move at the speed of light. However, longevity is key in determining when a fad has staying power: blogging has been around for years now, and has proven business applications, while other, newer tech applications have yet to prove themselves. Consider if you want to be on the cutting edge, taking the risk to try out the new tech and benefit by being an early adopter, or if you'd be more comfortable going with a known and proven platform.
Step Two: Seek Out Reputable Resources to Serve as Guides
While you're doing your due diligence and researching this new technological tool, you'll want to pay special attention to where your information is coming from. Not all resources are equally valuable. Look to those individuals who are consistently cited as an Expert by others: it's a good idea to have a rule of three for this. If three disparate sources all reference the same individual or work, there's a better than fair chance that that resource has some real value that you can benefit from.
Remember, you don't have to limit yourself to online research, although that's often the quickest and easiest way to find information. Check print media: if a tool is well established enough to have books devoted to it, chances are it can be used to help you promote your business effectively.
Step Three: Identify What You Want To Accomplish
Set a clear goal for yourself. This goal needs to be specific, quantifiable, and realistic. Rather than saying, "I want to be on You Tube because everybody's there!" consider, "I will post four videos a year to You Tube, each one focused on a different segment of my area of expertise."
Knowing what you want to do is essential. Having an end objective allows you to figure out what skills you need to concentrate on and which ones are irrelevant. For example, if you want to build your business through blogging, you can do so without ever once picking up a book on video podcasting. Instead, you can focus on learning how to write a great blog entry, how to promote your blog, and strategies to raise your blog's visibility.
This step allows you to save time. You only have a limited amount of time to devote to this new tool, so you want to be efficient.
Step Four: Learn the Vocabulary
Make life easy for yourself! Before you start diving into the hows, whys, and how-comes of any new area of study, take an hour to familiarize yourself with the vocabulary you're going to need. Every technology has its own language, specific to what you're working on.
Think of this vocabulary as similar to the professional jargon you use when conversing with colleagues. It's likely that your conversation might be unintelligible to the average listener, unless you took the time to define and explain the terminology you're using.
Chances are you don't have someone there to explain confusing terms or unfamiliar language to you -- and if you try to forge ahead, hoping to pick up the meaning in context, you'll find yourself frustrated and no closer to achieving your goals. It may seem like wasted time to focus on vocabulary early in the process, but language makes comprehension possible!
Step Five: Don't Reinvent the Wheel
No matter what your goal or objective is, there's a better than fair chance that someone else has already done it first. Look for examples that resonate with you: a blog you'd like to emulate, podcasts that inspire you, You Tube videos that have you green with envy.
Study these examples carefully. What about them ‘works'? Make a list of those things you'd like to adopt for your own message. Obviously, you don't want to make a carbon copy of someone else's work, but there's nothing wrong after modeling yourself after people who have done a great job communicating their message effectively!
Step Six: Ask Questions & Embrace Expertise
Nichepreneurs are often convinced that because they're in business for themselves, they have to do everything themselves. As a corollary to this, there's a common misconception that one should know everything possible about running a business from day one and never need any help!
You need to put that attitude behind you! Save time, energy, and effort by asking questions! There are a number of platforms to do this online: entire web communities have sprung up for individuals who want to build a better blog, create great You Tube videos, and more. Find a community you're comfortable with -- this might require a few minutes with Google -- and ask questions. This is often the quickest way to find information and, as an added bonus, start forming relationships with potential colleagues, clients, and peers.
In Conclusion
Technology is evolving at light speed. Every day there's something new. There's no way one person can keep up with it all, which means we have to pick and choose which tools are the best to promote our businesses. Be critical, implement this six step process consistently, and you'll find that you can have the best of both worlds: adopting the latest, greatest tools to promote yourself without wasting a lot of time and energy!
Saving Time and Energy A 6 Step Process to Adopting New Technology - To learn more about this author, visit Susan Friedmann's Website.
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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