“The Dali Lama is now following your tweets on Twitter.”

Less than a year ago I wouldn’t have even understood the meaning of this phrase. The word “Twitter”, let alone the concept of Tweets from the Dalai Lama were not in my lexicon a short year ago.  Everyone talks about the power of the Internet and new social media. Receiving this message in my morning inbox is one of  the most wonderful examples of this I have experienced to date !

I also thought, “Holy cow the Dalia Lama knows who I am!”. Now, I know what you are thinking, that I am pretty naive. He is following 64k people and he probably has a team of  Tweeters.  But still I like the ratio – billions of people out there and I am within his close circle of tens of thousands.

Raised in stick Catholic schools, I have always been drawn to the Budhist’s liberal teachings and the peacefulness of its followers. I consider the Dalia Lama to be one of the great masters of our time. He is on my top three living people I would like to meet (can you guess who the other two are?).  So, for me to imagine that my Tweets might somehow reach the Dalai Lama is mind blowing.  I am reminded of the remark Biance made on the evening of Barack Obama’s inauguration, ”He makes you want me want to be smarter”.  Now, I feel the pressure to Tweet smarter!

One of the many things I admire about this joyful sage is his love of science and technology. He beleives we need to create a better balance science and spirituality. He is living this model by leveraging the best of the new technology for its ability to connect, while doing it better than even media giants like Oprah. Now don’t get me wrong, I adore Oprah, but she has almost 2 million followers and is following only 19 people – this is considered a collosal faux pas on Twitter!

As I got all caught up in the euphoria, swooning like a teenager at rock concert, I was reminded of the famous Buddhist parable, The Monk with the Sweaty Palms. In this story, a senior monk is about to meet the Dalai Lama when he realizes that he is not ready for enlightenment because he is nervous (has sweaty palms) in the prescence of such a revered figure. This parable teaches us that we are all equal and should not revere anyone no matter what their status in life, anymore than we should look down on those of lower status.

Lately, I have been labouring into the wee hours of the night on a new social entrepreneurial venture – an online platform to support the shift toward enhanced Wellness and Sustainability.  As with this type of life changing endeavour, I have been battling my own set of demons. I constantly question whether I can actually pull it off.  I don’t believe I could get a better sign that I am on the right track, unless of course God “poked me” on Facebook!

The reaction I received from my friends about this was lukewarm, at best.  What I quickly realized is that most of my cohorts have only a vague knowledge of Twitter.  I hope that through this post I will begin to illustrate to them and others the incredible power of this new channel.

Posted by Lianne Bridges

President and CEO of Bridges Horizon.

Bridges Horizon equips organizations to fundamentally shift the way they manage and deliver the total customer experience. Bridges Horizon conducts the complex orchestra of internal and external resources, processes and technology required to successfully realize this transformation.

Over the last two decades, the way marketers interact with their customers has evolved tremendously.  It wasn’t that long ago (in the 1980′s) that Direct Mail and Direct Marketing were seen as revolutionary concepts enabling customized messaging and offers to specific target audiences.  In the 90′s, the Internet created a whole new standard of interactivity with customers.

With the advent of social media, customer experience management has reached new heights.  But, with this evolution comes increased complexity and a need for integration and collaboration.

A move toward adopting the latest web technologies into your marketing and communication strategies requires a shift not only in the way you manage the total customer experience, but also how you manage across your organization.

A simple example illustrates this transformation. When a company considers implementing a content managed website, they need to consider whether to centralize the management of content within a web team or decentralize among content owners throughout the organization.  Depending on the decision, not only will brand and message consistency be impacted, but also resources, training and potentially corporate culture.

Companies face many challenges

Strategy

• Integrating multiple communication channels
• Planning for increased information and medium congestion
• Adapting to rapidly changing customer trends and behaviours

Process

• Managing increased levels of coordination and collaboration across stakeholders
• Balancing of creativity with structure and control
• Maintaining agility and efficiency

People

• Coordinating across organization silos and culture
• Shifting attitudes and behaviours to adapt to change
• Adjusting skills and competencies to match the new reality

 Technology

• Integrating stand alone systems that need to communicate and share information
• Exchanging data across applications and channels
• Enabling employees to manage their own communications without the reliance on IT

An integrated solution approach

To be successful in an increasing complex multi-media environment, an integrated approach is required, aligning internal processes, people and technology to deliver a total customer experience. 

There are a number of niche players that offer best-in-class solutions, including agencies, software vendors and consulting firms. Each organization focuses on their own piece of the puzzle. The challenge becomes putting it all together in an integrated solution approach.

Working on such complex projects over the years, we have seen the need to offer an accompaniment role for clients to help them not only manage the overall program, but to help align structure and process, while establishing strategies to ease internal and external adoption of change. To learn more about our approach, visit us at Bridges Horizon.com.

Posted by Lianne Bridges

President and CEO of Bridges Horizon.

Bridges Horizon equips your organization to fundamentally shift the way you manage and deliver the total customer experience. We conduct the complex orchestra of internal and external resources, processes and technology required to successfully realize this transformation. We offer an integrated solution, coupled with an acute understanding of customer-centric organizations.

When you consider the challenges associated with transforming such an important customer channel within an organization, you begin to realize the complexity and change that is involved:

• Making sure all those directly impacted by the new web feel that they are involved in the transformation process
• Integrating multiple applications and data sources for all parts of the enterprise
• Realigning process, structure, policies and procedures
• Education and training to support the new web development, execution and sustainment
• Bringing clients along with you as you evolve toward a more customer-centric approach
• Keeping sponsors and management active and engaged throughout the often long development process

Sound change management practices and methodology are required to successfully enable this type of grand-scale organizational shift. While working with some of Canada’s largest private and public organizations (i.e. Bombardier, Aeroplan and Canadian Institute for Health Information) on large transformation projects, we have gained first hand experience delivering enterprise-wide change that involves critical customer touch points like the web. We have developed a change management approach specifically tailored to this context.

Our approach includes four key fundamentals:

1. Sponsorship
2. Governance
3. Communication
4. Education

Sponsorship involves getting the project sponsor, senior leaders as well as middle managers and supervisors directly impacted to actively and visibally support the change throughout the project lifecycle.  Governance involves defining the new organizational structure, processes and policies required to support the shift to a centrally or decentrally management website.

Communication plays a key role in bringing along employees, managers and external stakeholders, including clients.  Education includes providing the right knowledge and skillset throughout the project, from workshops for the teams that are making decisions to skills training for the individuals whose jobs will be substantially changed.

An approach that integrates all four change management fundamentals of sponsorship, governance, communication and education throughout the web transformation project, offers a solid foundation to support an organization as it shifts toward a customer-centric web.

Posted by: Lianne Bridges

 Lianne is President, CEO and a founding partner of Bridges Horizon, which provides transformation consulting services, specialized in helping marketers and organizational leaders leverage the latest technologies and techniques to realize their business, professional and personal goals.

Lianne has spent the past 20+ years managing and consulting across an array of sectors from B2B to Not-for-Profit, including such world-class organizations as: Aeroplan, Bombardier, Pfizer,  Nabisco, Southam News, United Technologies, the YMCA, Plan Canada and Alcan, to name a few.

What is Cloud Computing?

According to Wikipedia, Cloud Computing is: “A style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualised resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure “in the cloud” that supports them.”

Huh? And, what does this have to do with me?

In plain terms, Cloud Computing refers to working with a variety of software applications that are available online (for free or fee) to fit your specific business need.  In the case of marketing, this means using a combination of online software (SaaS or Software as a Service) designed to help communicate with customers.   This allows marketers to leverage the latest communication techniques that currently exists without having to rely on IT knowledge or investing to bring software in house.

By using free or low cost web-based software to build web sites, blogs, emails, etc., business owners and marketers have access to their own virtual workbench to design, build, deploy and measure their own communications and campaigns.

New social media, personalization technologies coupled with marketing automation, all available online, provide marketers with the power tools to cost-effectively create, manage and deploy communications that can adapt to new information, interactions and data. Especially in light of the recession, forward thinking organizations are seeing the large cost savings that can be realized from the cloud model.

Some of the self-serve technology available today include:

• Web sites and Blogs
• Email
• Social Networking
• Printing
• Direct Mail
• Collaborative Workspace
• eTraining, Podcasts, Webinars

This self serve-model is so exciting for Marketers because it allows us to:

• Rely less on external factors outside our control – IT, budget process, etc.

• Spend less time upfront designing to get it “right”, but rather “build and evolve”

• Use the technology as our own “virtual sandbox” to create a blue print for communications and campaigns
  

• Explore new ideas and options  with minimal risk as we create, see what works, adapt and learn as you go

• Customize to our requirements and those of our customer

• Frequently update of our content, which increases the value to our customers

• Maintain ongoing conversation to increase customer engagement

Who can benefit from Cloud Computing, more specifically Cloud Marketing?

Individuals and Professionals – whether for personal use or for those “Me Inc” individuals, the new Cloud Computing provides a great opportunity to creatively express themselves and explore new avenues.

Small and Medium Sized Businesses – Cloud Computing provides small business with the tools that have traditionally been the sole domain of large businesses, reducing barriers to entry in a lot of industries and sectors.

Large Organizations and Government – Cloud Computing offers larger organizations robust and secure technology outsourcing options to more cost-effectively generate awareness, attract members, communicate to customers or raise funds.

Posted by: Lianne Bridges

Lianne is President, CEO and a founding partner of Bridges Horizon, which provides transformation consulting services, specialized in helping
marketers and organizational leaders leverage the latest technologies
and techniques to realize their business, professional and personal
goals.

Lianne has spent the past 20+ years managing and consulting across an array of sectors from B2B to Not-for-Profit, including such world-class organizations as: Aeroplan, Bombardier, Pfizer,  Nabisco, Southam News, United Technologies, the YMCA, Plan Canada and Alcan, to name a few.

Confessions of an IT Professional that all Marketers should hear.

Have you ever been in a situation where you had the distinct feeling that you were not being told the whole story? You know, like when the phone company tells you that there is nothing else they can do about an error in your bill. Or, when the bank says that their “system” doesn’t work the way you imagine it should.

In the vast majority of these situations, there is not a deliberate desire to be “unhelpful”. The rules and regulations, the “can’s and can not’s” that we face every day are designed to ensure that systems keep running, transactions keep processing and standards are kept.

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind there are few.”

Shunryu Suzuki

As an IT Professional, specializing in the redesign and development of large corporate websites, I have been guilty of this behaviour as well. Since, I know what can and will go wrong during a major re-launch of a new website, I have often stopped my client’s creative (a.k.a dangerous) ideas from ever seeing the light of day.

Over the year’s my business partner, Lianne Bridges, and I have had a continuous debate about the flexibility required by marketers and the rigidity demanded by IT experts. If you have read some of her blog entries on this site, you will know that Lianne is all about communications and messaging. Time after time, she would challenge me to convince her that it was a good thing to have technology limit her ability to effectively market.

Well folks, I am here to admit that I have seen the light. Today, more than ever before, the controls of the corporate website are being put back in the hands of the business owner.

As technology has evolved, a new paradigm for website development has come of age. Business-controlled website navigation and structure has now become possible with the maturing of Web Content Management technology (WCMS) that allows the integration of solid, controlled functionality, with the content and web page flexibility needed by Marketers.

Gone are the days where website changes had to be submitted way ahead of time to the IT department for development. In today’s modern websites, key transactional based-web components that require the traditional security, consistency and accuracy can be developed using robust “portal” technology. At the same time, more dynamic content areas of the website can be changed and adjusted on the fly by business subject matter experts.

The emergence of component-based web development tools that use a common Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems linked to a robust web platform, now allow IT departments to partition areas of the corporate website to allow for maximum stability and flexibility.

Now is the time for me to come clean.  For years I have dedicated my career to the preservation of the “IT” way of life.  My training taught me to explore my client’s business requirements with an open mind, and then limit their potential impact through sound risk management.  We have all experienced the challenging dynamics of this left brain, right brain relationship.

It is my hope that through this and future blogs, I will help to inform and educate the “Marketing” folks  to allow them to approach their “IT” colleagues with a clear understanding of what is possible.

In reference to the opening quote of this article, I now know the following to to be true:

“As beginners become more adept, the experts will become more open to the possibilities.”

Posted by: Don Rosenthal

Don is Vice President, and a founding partner of Bridges Horizon, providing Marketing Transformation Consulting Services. Don gains his unique perspective from a combination of functional experience in Marketing, Project Management and Information Technology.  His over 25 years of experience developing leading edge technology solutions for world class organizations such as Aeroplan, Air Canada, Sunlife Financial, Standard Life, Bombardier and others.

Marketers and business leaders are like the proverbial “doe in the headlights” when it comes to reacting to the Social Media movement. They are frozen, eager to react, but not certain which way to go.

I am fortunate to have been in the business long enough to have seen the transition from Mass to Direct marketing, then to Web and Electronic marketing. What I see today with the new media rings a familiar tone – a herd mentality – that has marketers abandoning their strategic fundamentals, rushing toward the latest tactical solution.

Those of you who remember the early days of Web will recall the uncertainty around whether or not, and how to venture into that new medium. The first web sites, with their bright colours and flashing banners, made marketers twitch just thinking of associating their brand’s reputation with such a medium. Then User Experience Design was born, which essentially had the new electronic whizkids turning the tables on the Brand folks, creating a whole new benchmark for customer-centric experience.

The transition from Mass to Direct marketing was wrought with just as much uncertainty. I remember trying to develop an integrated Brand and Direct strategy in the mid’90s for Plan Canada when the direct agency said, “You can do that branding stuff on your mass vehicles, but leave direct response vehicles alone…the objectives of branding and generating a response are not compatible.” This sounds foreign today, when we all believe in the mantra of a consistent branding experience across all channels.

Ten years has gone by since then, but today as in the past, marketers are clamouring to adopt the latest method to engage their customers, while ignoring strategic fundamentals. Many are approaching the new medium tactically at first, rather than taking a thoughtful, planned and integrated approach.

When I asked the question, “what are you were doing on the Social Media front”, a leading marketing executive said he had asked his team to recommend the top three Social Media tactics that they can executive in 2009.  Another, who manages a multi-million dollar marketing budget, said her company had asked facebook to come in to present!

Others are frozen, afraid to act. Those I have spoken to in the Financial Services sector, for example, are stopped at the gate, not knowing how to address the highly regulatory nature of their business.

While marketers are feeling the pressure to venture into the new media arena, they would be advised to do so in a prudent and thoughtful manner to ensure their efforts are successful and  sustainable.  Specifically, they should:

• Assess their organization’s readiness
• Develop an integrated strategy
• Get their house in order to help protect their brand’s reputation
• Prepare for the impact on their operations
• Determine how they will measure success

In a nutshell, marketers and business leaders need to employ the fundamentals that they apply so well to all other aspects of their business before entering into the Social Media arena: assess, plan, design, execute and measure!

Stay tuned for the next blog entry: Assessing your organization’s readiness to venture into Social Media – 5 things you should consider first.

Posted by: Lianne Bridges

Lianne is President, CEO and a founding partner of Bridges Horizon, providing Marketing Transformation Consulting Services. Lianne has spent the past 20+ years managing and consulting across an array of sectors from B2B to Not-for-Profit, including such world-class organizations as: Aeroplan, Bombardier, Pfizer,  Nabisco, Southam News, United Technologies, the YMCA, Plan Canada and Alcan, to name a few.

“You must find ways to spread – in a new manner – voices and pictures of hope, through the internet, which wraps all of our planet in an increasingly close-knitted way,” he said in Italian.

According to Pope Benedict XVI, “New technologies have an extraordinary potential, if used to favour understanding and human solidarity. These technologies are a real gift to humanity: therefore we have to make sure the advantages they offer are put to service of all peoples and all communities.”

Posted by: Lianne Bridges

Lianne is a founding partner of Bridges Horizon, providing Marketing Transformation Consulting Services. Lianne has spent the past 20+ years managing and consulting across an array of sectors from B2B to Not-for-Profit, including such world-class organizations as: Aeroplan, Bombardier, Pfizer,  Nabisco, Southam News, United Technologies, the YMCA, Plan Canada and Alcan, to name a few.

I have paraphrased some of his key messages below:

Leading through difficult times

• Humbled by the task before us
• Grateful for the trust bestowed
• Mindful of the sacrifices of those who have come before

The Choice belongs to the people

• Hope over fear; unity of purpose over conflict and discord; proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and warn out dogmas that have strangled our politics

The time has come

• To set aside childish things; to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that noble ideal that all are equal, free and deserve the chance to pursue their full measure of happiness

Greatness is never a given

• It must be earned. Our Journey is not based on short cuts or settling for less, nor has it been a path for the fainthearted, or for those who prefer leisure over work or seek only pleasures of riches and fame. It has been the risk takers, the doers, the makers-of-things. Some celebrated, but more often those obscure in their labour that have carried us up the long rugged path toward prosperity.

Change is required

• Our capacity remains undiminished, but our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions has surely past. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking…to meet the demands of a new age
• The ground has shifted beneath us; the old political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.

Responsibility of leaders

• Those of us who manage the budgets will be held to account to spend wisely, to reform bad habits and do our business in the light of day. Only then can we restore that vital trust.

Lessons from the crisis

• This economic crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation (organization) can not prosper when it favours only the prosperous. The success of our economy depends not only on size but on the reach of our prosperity and the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart, not out of charity but because it is the surest route to our common good.

To those who wish to destroy

• People will judge you on what you can build not on what you destroy. We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To those who wish to ignore the call

• To those nations like ours who enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer ignore the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to the effect, for the world has changed and we must change with it.
• We can not help but believe that as the world grows smaller that our common humanity shall reveal itself.

To those who wish to join

• Embody the spirit of service – a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves at this moment…it is this spirit that must inhabit us all, for as much as leaders can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the people upon which we rely and which decides our fate.

• What is required today is a return to the basic truths and a new era of responsibility, recognition by all that we have duties to ourselves, to our friends, family, colleagues, our community and the world. Duties that we do not grudgingly accept, but rather seek gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing more satisfying to the spirit or more defining to our character than giving our all to the task. This is the source of our confidence…the knowledge that we are called to shape an uncertain destiny.

Values upon which success depends

• Honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism. These values are old, but they have been the quiet force of progress through history.

Our Legacy

• With hope and virtue let us brave once more the icy currents and endure what storms may come. Let it be said that when we were tested that we refused to let this journey end. That we did not turn back nor did we falter. And with eyes fixed on the horizon we succeeded.

Posted by: Lianne Bridges

Lianne is a founding partner of Bridges Horizon, providing Marketing Transformation Consulting Services. Lianne has spent the past 20+ years managing and consulting across an array of sectors from B2B to Not-for-Profit, including such world-class organizations as: Aeroplan, Bombardier, Pfizer,  Nabisco, Southam News, United Technologies, the YMCA, Plan Canada and Alcan, to name a few.

There is a lot of talk today about the new social media, which includes: YouTube, Wikipedia, facebook, Delicious, MySpace, blogs, or the Smartboards that are bringing the transformative potential of the Internet into our children’s classrooms. It is clear that social technology is increasing the amount of interaction and information sharing happening globally.

There is a plethora of blogs, discussions and forums debating the pros and cons and “How To’s” of this new media/marketing phenomenon.  Small, entrepreneurial entities are the early adopters, with the larger companies trying feverishly to catch up.

The question I have is whether or not all this energy is having an impact on raising social consciousness and creating positive social transformation?

The negative impact that media (traditional or new) can have on the mass psyche is well known. I often wonder if the current global recession would be as severe without all the media doom and gloom naysayers.

Obviously, the potential to spread despair is obvious, but I am encouraged by the number of recent examples of positive mass social consciousness raising:

• Obama’s social media campaign, which resulted in over a billion emails and text messages sent out to millions of people with his message of Hope, Change and Action.

• Who wasn’t touched by the story of hope and inspiration of Randy Pausch when he delivered his famous Last Lecture across cyberspace to millions of viewers?

• The recent phenomenon, Playing for Change, was designed to inspire, connect and bring peace to the world through music. Their YouTube teaser videos spawned a mass viral initiative that resulted in millions of views of their documentary’s trailers before they even launched (which is coming out in the Spring of 2009).

• On the spiritual front, authors like Ekart Tolle, with his message of a New Earth, and Deepak Chopra’s I take a vow of non-violence,  have been able to reach an unprecedented size of audience with their messages of hope and peace.

• Al Gore, with his Solutions for the Climate Crisis, helped create an incredible environmental social movement.

These are pretty large examples to make the case. There are other, less known examples, like the organization DeafUK,  which is connecting deaf people in a way that wasn’t possible until recently. Or, iJourney.org, which started when a couple of people got together to sit in silence once a week in their homes and has since transformed into a community of almost 60,000 people from across the world meeting in cyberspace.

One of the most innovative and touching stories comes from a friend of mine whose life-long friend was dying of cancer. He put a posting on eBay called “Eleven to Heaven” promising to deliver messages to loved ones who had passed on when he got to heaven. The money he raised on eBay was to help his family cope financially when he died.

On a personal level, I see the power of this new social media each day. Whether it was when my seventy-something mother became my “friend” on facebook, or the multiple inspirational emails I receive, like this week’s favorite: Are You Going to Finish Standing. Because I am a half-full kind of person, I would like to believe that all this connecting is having a positive transformative impact.

When I was the Director of Marketing and Fundraising for Plan Canada, I experienced first-hand the incredible stimulating effect an inspiring story can have on a community, whether local or global.  That is why I would like to hear from you.

If you know of a story that is inspiring, positive and about connecting us through the new social media, I would like to hear it. Add a comment to this blog, add a link to a story on your blog or Web site or send me an email. In the future, I plan to highlight some of the most inspiring and unique stories in my blog.

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Posted by: Lianne Bridges

Lianne is a founding partner of Bridges Horizon, providing Marketing Transformation Consulting Services. Lianne has spent the past 20+ years managing and consulting across an array of sectors from B2B to Not-for-Profit, including such world-class organizations as: Aeroplan, Bombardier, Pfizer,  Nabisco, Southam News, United Technologies, the YMCA, Plan Canada and Alcan, to name a few.

As a business owner and a consultant who coaches companies on organizational effectiveness and improving efficiencies, the recession has affected me on a number of levels.  I recognize that the best practices I normally recommend to clients are just as relevant for my own firm, and even for our family facing the worst economic crisis in memory.

Like any traumatic or life changing event, dealing with the recession has many stages that one goes through:

1. When the shock hits remember there is always Hope

When the bad news hits, whether it about job loss, potential bankruptcy or just tough economic belt tightening, we all begin to function in a state of shock. The first reactions are, “How do I process this…How should I react…What do I say to people?” Then, as the news starts to settle in, the next questions become, “Can we get through this and what should we do next?” It seems like most of the people, governments and organizations around the world have been functioning at this level through the last quarter of 2008…in a state of shock.

Hope can be like a ray of light that can guide you out of shock and help focus on decisions and positive actions that are required. Hanging on to hope can be difficult with the media blasting the latest doom and gloom statistics each day. But, being realistic is key. Don’t bury your head in the sand, hoping that the economy won’t affect you. Instead, a positive sense of realistic hope can help propel you to proactively seek out opportunities to survive and potentially prosper in this difficult time.

2. Take a critical and realistic assessment of the situation

Too often, companies just react, cutting a percentage of their workforce or expenses. In the case of governments, they throw a ton of money at the problem, without really doing a proper assessment of the situation and the impact their reactions will have on the future health of the company or country. It is critical that you better understand how to address the challenges you face by going through your own Discovery Process. As in a traditional SWOT analysis, review your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Assess what has been successful or not in the past. Explore and look externally for ideas and potential solutions that might work for you. Seek out information by talking to experts that can help you deal with your specific challenges.

3. Develop your Roadmap

Develop a vision of where you want to be and compare this to where you are today. This will help you identify the gaps that will provide the foundation of your roadmap. A roadmap helps determine your “best fit” course of action, based on your circumstances and vision. It outlines the strategies that you should use to help you get a new job or help your company through the economic slow down.

Planning your course of action in detail with milestones and contingency plans to help you keep the course, especially if things get more difficult. Part of your plan may include major cuts in expenses to deal with the short term situation, but this may put your business at risk, have serious side effects or make recover that much more difficult. Other solutions should be considered, including moving to more cost effective methods. For example, moving some of your marketing budget from traditional media to modern social and digital media can help save significantly on overall costs. Another strategy is to review your current processes and structures to look for opportunities to improve effectiveness. Technology can also play an important role in helping to make your firm more efficient. Today, using supportive technology doesn’t have to cost a lot. There are many online Web applications that help companies improve their operations without having to invest significant dollars in technology.

4. Tap into Support Networks

A wealth of knowledge, expertise and support exist outside your doorstep. Professional experts both free and paid for can provide valuable resources in helping guide you through the difficult times. Today there are so many ways to access free information and support. The Internet provides an endless array of Web sites, blogs and podcasts dedicated to providing helpful information on every topic imaginable. Outsource expertise to fill internal business gaps without investing in additional headcount. Tap into social media and join associations or groups to share information and ideas for solutions. Or create a group yourself. Use mentors who you admire and trust. This could be a career counselor, successful entrepreneur or inspiring business leader. Listen to advise from caring and supportive people – surround yourself with positive energy that helps support a proactive approach to dealing with your situation.

5. Take Time to Recover and Rebuild

Recognize that the journey you are on can be educational and result in real positive change for you and / or your business. Take stock in these changes so you don’t lose perspective when things get back to normal. Celebrate the small victories as you go along. This will help you maintain the momentum needed to get through the difficult times. Take time out to rejuvenate. Too often we are so focused on the end goal of getting ourselves out of the situation that we put ourselves and our organizations under incredible stress which can be very harmful in the long term. Once the economy begins to turn around, reassess the situation and begin to plan for your recovery.

Posted by: Lianne Bridges

Lianne is a founding partner of Bridges Horizon, providing Marketing Transformation Consulting Services. Lianne has spent the past 20+ years managing and consulting across an array of sectors from B2B to Not-for-Profit, including such world-class organizations as: Aeroplan, Bombardier, Pfizer,  Nabisco, Plan International, Southam News, United Technologies, the YMCA and Alcan, to name a few.