You know that change is the only reliable thing we can expect out of life. As such, it’s crucial to be able to overcome adversity and learn how to adapt to new and everchanging situations.
In this blog post, we share tips to help you professionally overcome adversity and manage change in your current situation.
Pivot Your Business Strategy
As we learned from 2020, successful businesses are nimble and able to pivot quickly when the market demands it. Saying “we’ve always done this…” or “this worked for us before…” doesn’t always ensure that it will work now or even in the near future. It’s crucial to be able to switch and pivot your business strategy when needed. The means you need to listen to your industry, audience, and colleagues.
Leverage New Technology
We live in a very exciting age, where there are tech advancements every day. While you likely don’t have time to keep up on every new tech advancement, it’s important to set aside time regularly to learn about what’s new in technology and how it can benefit your business. This can include new software tools like project management software, automation tools, and even time-tracking tools. Most tools come require an initial investment of time and money, but the benefits down the road are often exponential.
Find New Marketing Channels
Marketing for B2B isn’t as simple as creating a print ad and buying space in a magazine anymore. We’ve recently seen companies that rely heavily on tradeshows struggle to get new leads or connect with prospects. While you don’t need to chase every shiny new marketing channel, it’s important to remain open to new marketing channels. Consider email marketing if you have less tradeshows this year, or consider social media ads if you can’t get prospects through cold calling. Remember that your audience is always adding new professionals, potentially from other industries and they may want to connect via different mediums, especially during the so called “Great Resignation” of post-COVID 2021.
Read more: How to create a human connection with B2B marketing.
Focus on the Big Picture
One thing going wrong or not as expected, doesn’t mean all is wasted. Take a deep breath, take a step back, and consider the big picture. If one outbound campaign failed, look at your overall B2B marketing efforts and see what is working. Also, remember that the end goal is often attracting, converting, and keeping new clients. Even if an email campaign didn’t have a high open rate, did you get a new demo request? With B2B, it’s almost always about quality over quantity. One new demo request could lead to a long-term, profitable relationship.
Put a Plan in Place for Adversity and Other Challenges
Banking on everything you do to be successful doesn’t mean it will be. While you should assume success, also plan for these so-called “bumps in the road.” What should your next steps be if your campaign or efforts aren’t successful? Is your plan to pause and re-evaluate? Is there another strategy to try? Is it time to bring another person into the project? Get an outside opinion? Bring the team back to square one and rethink your strategy? This is not planning for failure, it’s planning for a different road to success – it’s not always the most direct route.
Read more: The future of marketing – critical skills to master.
Think Outside the Box
Being open to change and facing adversity often requires thinking differently. Be open to trying something new or different or even applying something that you know works but with a different application. As mentioned before, if you are stumped or facing a challenge you don’t see a way around, ask for help or what other people think. You will often be surprised, usually pleasantly, by their ideas.
Create or Join a Network of Other Leaders in Your Industry
Tackling challenges is often best done together or with the help/insights of others. Regardless of the challenge you are facing, someone else has likely tackled the same problem or a similar one and you can learn from their experience. We recommend joining a network of other professionals in your industry or creating one if it doesn’t already exist. These people will understand your current situation and can help steer you through it – all you need to do is ask.
Overcoming adversity is easier said than done. We hope a few or all of these tips will help you face your current or upcoming challenge and find a way to adapt and overcome it.
