Last year, US Representative from Florida, Steve Southerland used the phrase "Serengeti Principle" to draw a comparison between working in a "real" private sector job and a career in politics. The gazelle knows each morning that he must outrun the lion to survive (or at least not be the slowest gazelle) and the lion knows that he must be faster than the slowest gazelle to survive.
About now you may be pondering "what does this have to do with digital marketing to individuals?" Is there a Serengeti Principle for digital marketing? I contend that the answer is an obvious YES.
The pace of today's information consumption is different than it was just 5 or 10 years ago, and remarkably different than it was 25 years ago. As a digital marketer, you must be fast if you want to stay alive, or to eat. Fast in adapting to change and and fast in the delivery of your value proposition.
If you are not creating content specifically for the web, utilizing Social Media, blogging or developing videos, then you are a limping gazelle in danger of being dinner. If you are a digital marketer who's not keeping one ear to the ground for what's next, then you are just another gazelle in the middle of the herd. You may be safe for now, but if the herd makes a sudden change in direction, you might get exposed to the fast pursuing lion.
Likewise, if your digital presence is boring, slow to develop and not easily engaged, then you are also like a gazelle lining up to be a hot meal. The attention span of consumers continues to shorten. Check out this report from MarketingWeek that details the adjustments marketers are making to capture attention - and how short the window is becoming. Your digital marketing needs to get its claws into the consumer almost immediately - or they will be gone. Just like the slow limping gazelle at the back of the herd.
Agreed! I'd even add that if you are not evaluating the impact each piece of your content has on your other efforts, you may be missing opportunities
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