Have you noticed that as you get older, each hour, day, week, month, and year go by faster than the previous ones? Time is a luxury. And, as we move through life, it’s important to try and find ways to slow the clock. And, while some will say it’s about staying alive, I would say (or write, in this case), that it’s about living – and enjoying what you do.
This is the time of year in which many of us give thought to the events of the past year, and our plans for the coming twelve months. As I think back on the past year, a number of interesting time-related issues come to mind. The thing that each one has in common with the others is the effect more time would have on the outcome or progress of the project.
What would happen if there was more time? We know a company that has long desired to see video become a key component of their consumer marketing. Not withstanding the quality of content, we’ve done some experiments related to driving viewership using YouTube. And, the tactics used prove you can build viewership – watching other videos, inviting people to watch, encouraging people to subscribe, proper tags, and most importantly, a continuing selection of fresh content. Still, the viewership isn’t nearly what anyone would want.
YouTube has a program that enables sharing revenue with producers. When checking out the producer program, the one thing that is immediately apparent is that all of the elements listed above are in play. And, in several cases, the most popular YouTube channels are managed by young people. One channel is a teenage brother and sister who put out a five minute weekly comedic video. They have nearly a million viewers every month. Why? Well, one key reason is time.
I can think of about ten different projects that would be totally cool to produce and market through an online media community like YouTube. But, each one requires an investment of time that, as a working adult with staff, clients, vendors, and projects to be responsible for, I have no remaining time.
I know of another organization that spends extensive time discussing all of the great plans they have to make the programs they manage better. In fact, they spend so much time that when all is said and done, they don’t have any time left to do the work. And so, their reputation among their members and those around them is of an organization who doesn’t get anything done. It isn’t what their intention is, but it is what the end-result appears to be.
And as for ourselves, we’ve run out of time numerous times this past year. We have a pretty terrific stock media libary, but no time to post the images or footage. We’ve had various projects that we thought would be terrific to implement, but paying clients always take priority, so no time to get it done. And, for me personally, I spent several months in the middle of the year dealing with some health issues, and so, suddenly, I found myself always struggling for enough time during the past few months.
So, as we look forward to 2009, one of the key issues we’re focusing on is time. With the current state of the economy, we want to ensure we provide the best quality support and service for our clients. We also wish to ensure we’re helping those companies who need to quickly improve their product mix, services, and outreach to their customers. That means we need to be smart about how we use time. And, we certainly want to slow the pace enough so we can enjoy the journey. Join us!