Do we always have to go after the next big thing?

This is something I am forced to consider every time I conclude a campaign.

At the end of a successful email campaign, which saw an amazing 342% increase in downloads, my boss spelled out the dreaded question, How are we going to better it the next time?

Obviously, it meant, I have to research and find out the next shiny thing in marketing communications. While, the event was an annual one and there is a lot of time to plan a new strategy, I admit that I was actually exasperated. The calibrated campaign had yielded dramatic results and I really did not understand the need to go after something new.

So, going back to the original question do we always have to innovate, particularly when the tried and trusted methodology is still delivering stellar results.

To mind, there is no need to tinker with success. Having said that, I am not advocating that there is no place for innovation. All I am saying is that there is no reason to change just to prove that you are inventive.

Consider the facts as I see it. The just concluded email campaign was successful beyond expectations. Now look at how the world sees emails. According to the Radicati Group:

In 2014, the majority of email traffic comes from the business world, which accounts for over 108.7 billion emails sent and received per day. Email remains the most common form of communication in the business space. Email use is growing in the business sector and by 2018, business email will account for over 139.4 billion emails sent and received per day.

Granted other options are catching up, but I still believe that this does not call for jettisoning the old and embracing the new just because it is available. While an integrated approach to marketing is always the smart option, I am not ready yet to replace my database of email addresses with a phalanx of followers or anonymous visitors unless I am shown a substitute, which is platform and device agnostic, non-intrusive, and delivers far better sustainable results as an email. photo credit: Scolirk via photopin cc