Radar on digital marketing

You need to keep your radar on full time nowadays – to soak up what’s new and what’s important (or what’s transitory and tomorrow’s Betamax) in digital marketing.

There are so many threads of change to follow, any one of which could provide the difference that makes a good solution a great solution -  new channels, techniques, technology, creative, platforms, social behaviour, etc etc.

You think you’ve worked out what’s up with Augmented Reality, and then along comes Articulated Naturality. Are either a marketing game-changer?

And what’s next for social media? Or digital marketing in general? I can cite research from Forrester about which brands are using social media well, but where are the latest metrics and case studies?

I know it’s not just me, lots of friends and colleagues in this space are finding that they have to both manage the to-do list of existing briefs but also keep their radar on, full time, to see what’s coming next. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a chore – I love what I do and if I could, I’d soak up all things digital 24/7 (ok, with some sleep and pie breaks) – but sometimes I feel like a rabbit caught in the headlights of the Progress Juggernaut.

If the Singularity really is coming, then everything is evolving exponentially. Everything. So resting on your laurels and waiting for it all to level off isn’t an option. It won’t.  So dive in, keep learning and create engaging, effective and wonderful stuff! I noticed Razorfish had this view in the intro to their 2010 Outlook report.

But I’m curious about how others keep fully briefed on what’s new, what good, what’s going to change the rules, where we’re heading. I’ve got my own approach to this and I’ve listed my radar feeds below – I’d be interested to know what yours are…

1. Actual books – time consuming in this busy world but still works for me, currently I’m on with “Engage!” by Brain Solis.

2. Podcasts – I have a lot of car time so I make the awful M62 a more productive, happy place and listen to podcasts. I’m currently consuming Diggnation, FT Digital Business, The internet marketing show from sitevisibility and BBC Digital Planet:  via ITunes. They catalyse ideas through geeky fun, business / commercial insight and global perspective, so a nice mix.

3. Twitter, with Lists – I have curated some lists that let me filter trends / developments or just great recommendations from people cleverer than me, all around the world. When I want to see what creative/ design guys are thinking I’ll look at that list , when I want to catch-up on wider society / digital citizenship stuff I’ll use that.

4. Blogs – I don’t read as many blogs ‘straight through’ as I’d like but there are some I’ve bookmarked that let me read articles or viewpoints that are obviously more in depth than the tweet approach. And the ones I keep coming back to I have as links on my own blog.

5. TED talks – great to sit, watch and get giddy.

6. Pearltrees – I’ve been using this for a while to visually curate some tech or digital marketing websites (amongst other things) and to navigate the information space around them.

I’ve also found other useful sites by seeing who else has similar subject areas curated and what they’re looking at in Pearltrees. I think it’s a great visual approach and worth a play if you haven’t already seen it.

7. Meetups, seminars, conferences – events like b.tween have been great for meeting thought leaders and digital makers. I’m not sure if there’s a central directory of events in your city or nationally but it’s really worth getting on the mailing list for some. Maybe one day I’ll get to SXSW

8. Colleagues – sharing great links, chewing the fat on something cool you’ve seen – you can’t beat it.

As I say, these are just my ways of keeping the radar on. What are yours?

Photo credit: leedsyorkshire