Take a Marketing Reconnaissance Mission

In the August issue of Runner’s World, writer John Hanc offers suggestions on how to enjoy a relaxing vacation while maintaining your training plan. One solution: become a “Reconnaissance Runner.” As your family sleeps in or relaxes, you use training runs to explore your surroundings and gather site-seeing intelligence.

During his fact-finding runs on Long Island, Hanc checked out restaurant options, discovered playgrounds and located tourist sites. “Instead of the selfish training zealout,” he writes, “I became the well-informed tour guide, leading my family on a fun-filled day.”

Marketing professionals who bravely venture into the new world of social media and technology may feel like they are on similar reconnaissance missions. Like a memorable vacation, exploring new technology tools requires you to step out of your comfort zone, try new things and maybe even learn new terminology or a language (RSS, blogs and wikis are examples).

Most vacation destinations have a few money-grubbing tourist traps, and we all get sidetracked by them. (Think Wall Drug…sorry, South Dakota readers.) And you may make a few wrong turns, encounter stifling crowds or even have car problems. It’s all part of the experience. Similarly, the evolving marketing world has potential missteps. Certain technologies never catch on. Some online business models take off and quickly fade. Others succeed but evolve slowly.

Don’t let the possible pitfalls get in the way of your reconnaissance mission. Take those fact-finding trips on your own to discover the options – and bring them back to your organization to determine how you might apply them. Look for a follow-up post on how to best enjoy the journey.