I\u2019ve attended, liveblogged and presented at a plethora of marketing and technology conferences in the last year.\u00a0 After attending enough, you start to notice common trends in questions, presentations and even personalities.\u00a0 One of the most common, recurring questions asked is:\u00a0 \u201cwhat\u2019s one thing I can do right now?\u201d\u00a0 Or perhaps a variation, \u201cWhat\u2019s one thing I can start doing today?\u201d<\/p>\n
Something never sat right with me about this question, but today it struck me why: \u00a0 it\u2019s exactly the wrong thing to ask.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the wrong question to ask because\u2026.<\/p>\n
The answers inevitably suck, because\u2026<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the point of doing one thing right now?\u00a0 What one thing you could you turn around today that will have impact?\u00a0 Let alone\u00a0increasing returns?<\/p>\n
The question of \u201cwhat\u2019s one thing I can do right now?\u201d or \u201cwhat one thing can I do today\u201d is asked by someone who already has the wrong expectations.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a question asked by marketers of a previous generation who want results yesterday.\u00a0 They want turnkey solutions and a quick fix.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the answer to any sort of digital marketing or PR that matters, is\u00a0sustainable\u00a0or likely to result in greater\u00a0prosperity.<\/p>\n
I actually had a pretty clever answer to that question I was going to end this post with, but that ruins the point of addressing it.<\/p>\n
The truth is there is no one thing you can do right now that really matters \u2013 that\u2019s just not how the web works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve attended, liveblogged and presented at a plethora of marketing and technology conferences in the last year.\u00a0 After attending enough, … <\/p>\n