Adam Jewell – Search & Affiliate Marketing

What does it take for a business to succeed in a challenging economic climate? The same things it takes to succeed in any business climate – Vision, Direction & Focus! They are just a little more critical when the economy is in the tank and consumers and businesses are more hard pressed to justify spending limited resources.

Does your company have Vision, Direction and Focus? It is relatively easy to tell. If your company has been laying off people left and right and not replacing the ones who move onto other companies, there is probably something amiss with the organization. The company could be getting more efficient and doing more with less but more likely there is less to do because the company lacks either Vision, Direction and/or Focus.

Your company should have a vision for the future that transcends whatever the current business climate is. What is this company aiming to do now and in the future? Is the company skating to where the puck is going to be as Wayne Gretsky always did or is the company chasing the puck trying to catch up with it? Judging by the number of layoffs and bankruptcies in the marketplace today there are an awful lot of companies merely chasing the puck and some without any idea where the puck is even going. A vision must be easily articulated by the owners/leaders/managers of a company. When you go into work each day do you feel that you know where your company is headed and where it needs to go? Do you feel like you know how you fit into that vision or are you unsure? If you are unsure, then you need to get some clarification so you can tell if you are in a company that will survive the current economic crisis. If your company has no vision for itself or for you as an individual then it is time to start looking for greener pastures and move on.

Does your company have a strong sense of direction? Do you know why you do different things and how they affect the bottom line for your company or the clients of your company? Whatever your or your company does should be well thought out, well planned and have a tangible benefit. Often times that tangbile benefit needs to be one connected to serving your customers or the customers of your clients better (in the case of an agency or professional services firm, particularly those in marketing) and not just trying to boost your bottom line.

The final key ingredient to a successful business is focus. Unfortunately in business, the idea of multi-tasking is one that is highly valued. Multi-tasking is the ability to do a whole bunch of things and do none of those things well. Multi-taskers often find it hard to focus whether they realize it or not and the quality of output suffers whether they realize it or not. Just as driving while on the phone, texting, eating lunch or makes one much more likely to get into an accident, multi-tasking almost always reduces the quality of the output of any of the individual tasks at hand.

A person or company with a clear vision, a clear direction and a laser like focus at the individual and company level is must more likely to succeed and be an enjoyable and profitable place to work than one that is missing one or more of the three key elements of successful people and companies.

Do you know the vision of your company and does it align with your personal vision (asuming you have one)?
Is your company going in a specific direction (other than downsizing or bankruptcy) that you can articulate that alighns with the direction you wish to move in?
Is your company focused on moving forward with specific goals that will work toward the company vision and move the company and your career in a positive direction?

Regardless of the current economic climate, if you want to be relevant in the next few years, you need to develop your own sense of vision, direction and focus and do everything you can to pursue it even if it means moving onto a new job, going back to school or restarting your career in another field.

As the end of the year approaches, it is time to look into the crystal ball and make predictions about what will happen in the industry in the upcoming year in 2009. Given the state of the economy it is going to be a wild year with lots of opportunity for those who choose to take advantage of and a grim year for those that choose to ignore the Internet and the way it has fundamentally changed commerce.

Predictions for 2009:

1) Many companies will go bust because a recession/depression and the associated decrease in consumer demand, the credit crunch and other economic forces will separate the smart, focused, efficient businesses that have adapted to the web from those that simply refuse to see what is right in front of their own noses.

2) Pay for performance (aka affiliate marekting models) will continue to thrive and maybe, just maybe, the corporate folks will take off their blinders, stop “branding” and start listening.

3) Big global media agencies and the media properties they spend a lot of money with will struggle. Agencies and media properties will lay off tens of thousands of people because they are unable to adapt to the new consumer driven marketplace.

4) There will be little if any growth in most online advertising including search and online display media and there will be huge opportunities to stock up on the stocks of the likes of Google, Yahoo!, Amazon and other online pure plays that will be the future of the economy. That lack of online advertising spending growth will not be due to lack of opportunity but the lack of companies to figure out how to effectively use the medium in front of them.

5) 2009 will be the “baby boom” for Internet companies. With potentially millions of layoffs in all sectors and tens or hundreds of thousands in the tech & Internet sector, there will be lots of fresh fertile minds with no mindless job sucking the life out of them who will stop looking for a job and instead create their own opportunities and build new companies.

6) Lots more companies will test the waters of social media only to be able to track little to no ROI from social media. Since social media is still considered “experimental” and it is hard to quantify the value, enthusiasm for it will wane even though tracking the value of billions spent on traditional media is something most companies are unable to do.

7) Companies that utilize the search data in front of them, rebuild their sites (and maybe their businesses) based on search data and personas and deliver sites, products and services demanded by the marketplace will thrive and may grow exponentially.

YouTube and other video sites will start to have some real live shows and “channels” that can attract real advertising revenue that may deliver an ROI for the advertisers.

9) This will be the make or break year for smaller online agencies. A tight economy will force them to get their shit together or go out of business unless they purposely choose to stay small and focused on core services that are demanded by the marketplace.

10) Omniture and to a lesser degree other analytics vendors will be acquisition targets simply because of all the data they have and will be able to command a nice premium over their current stock or estimated private values.

11) Microsoft will continue to struggle on the web but may be able to buy other companies that will being in fresh thinking, new minds and new perspectives that can help them be less dependent on packaged software sales.

12) The X-Box may become Microsofts strongest foray into the online world and enable Microsoft to finally get a foothold in the Internet even though their search business will continue to flounder.

13) CPG, financial and other large companies with huge brand budgets will continue to struggle online. When the top management is either replaced or becomes willing to listen to the up and coming Internet savvy junior level employees or consultants, there will be a HUGE demand for quality site design, development and marketing services that actually help sell cases and financial services products.

14) The number of research and analytics tools available in the marketplace will continue to explode. Some will be very useful but only a select few people and companies will be able to figure out how to use the data in front of them.

15) The basics of the Internet won’t change and the companies that embrace them will thrive. The basics include: fast download times, relevant ad and website copy, creating sites and businesses based on consmer demand and not on “branding” push, simple, easy to use navigation and site design and adopting a conversational approach to marketing (instead of just talking about it).

If you want to thrive in 2009, just get back to basics. Remember that your Internet marketing should start with your site, not with your marketing. Make things fast, easy and intuitive for those people you are trying to reach or sell to. Re-read the ClueTrain Manifesto and pay attention. It is more accurate now than ever.

If you’ve ever shopped for shoes online, you’ve been to Zappos. If you’ve ordered, you’ve gotten great shoes and great service. If you’ve shoped there recently you may have gotten not only shoes but possibly a tent, apparel, outdoor gear and any of a number of other things from their ever growing variety of new shops.

I was fortunate enough to have a tour of their offices, see the playful atmosphere in the offices, get a photo taken in the VIP chair and met some great people there. It’s really a great company that thinks of people as people, not as assets. It shows.

Unfortunately, the financial turmoil took a toll on Zappos today. Tony from Zappos was very open about the situation and posted on the Zappos Twitter Account with a link to the email sent out. Zappos was generous with their employees, paying them through the end of the year and extending health benefits for a period of time. It just goes to show that even the most well run companies are not immune to downturns in the econonomy, though if any company can make it through the current economic climate, Zappos is one to bet on!

When was the last time you went into a corporate office that screamed FUN and CREATIVITY? For me it had been a while. The folks at Zappos take it seriously! This is a recent picture from a tour of Zappos of me sitting in on the VIP throne. More cool stuff from Zappos to come!

It’s not everyday that a favorite author and one of if not THE best business minds comes out with a new book. You may know Eli Goldratt if you read The Goal in college, an MBA class or just because you thought most businesses do stupid things and there was a better way to get things done, faster, better and in a more personally satisfying manner. Goldratt is a physics PhD who applied scientific principles to business and changed he way many people think and many corporations operate.

Well, Goldrat has a new book coming out – slated for October 2008. It is called The Choice and will be put out from North River Press which seems to be the only place it is available right now (not even on Amazon.com yet). Like his other books, it sounds like this one will present a lot of meaningful dialog. This time between Goldratt and his daughter, Efrat. It will delve into his fundamental system of beliefs, some of which may have already been scattered throughout his other works.

If you are a Goldratt fan (or even if you just want to read what is sure to be an interesting book if you like new perspectives), then head over to North River Press and place your order today! $22.50 + whatever they charge for shipping will be a great investment! Thanks Eli, for all the great works over the years and sharing your innovative thinking tht has changed many lives and changed the way many people approach problem solving!