I rarely let my blood pressure rise over small transgressions, I would slough it off and move forward. This past Monday during the Lower House vote on the Bailout bill I was on Twitter posting the voting in real time. It had to be the most exciting political moment I have ever witnessed. I was enthralled by the minutes being counted down while the Yays and Nays were being posted.

Other Twitters were as captivated as I was. Then it happened. A tweet that came out of nowhere. “Hey Guys! Check out my client’s latest home page! It’s COOOL!”

Gasp.

Here we are in the midst of a Wall Street meltdown and with the Dow Jones on a free fall, we have a PR/Marketing person tweeting about a client! Doesn’t this PR/Marketing maven have the news on? Don’t they have an RSS feed? Don’t they have at least another browser window open? How could they put their client’s name out in the middle of a crisis? If you are a self-professed Marketing expert at least have one digit on the pulse of the people. Don’t jeopardize your client’s and your name because you cannot take the time to poke your head outside and see which way the wind is blowing. I can hear “Let them eat cake” pounding in my head, a quote that doesn’t loose its punch; attributed to Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution, her complete ignorance of what was happening beyond the palace walls lead to her date with the Guillotine. Ignorance is not Bliss, its bad marketing.

I am Dancing as Fast as I Can

How do you market a product in this economy? Be observant. The market that will buy your product is shifting, it is not the ones you expected last week. For instance, Linkedin has been experiencing an influx of new users from the layoffs from all sectors of the workforce, and it will not abate in the near future. That market is growing, how can you sell to that group? They will need help finding jobs, they will need coaching, and all the while their income will be spent only on essentials. We are all scrambling to find equilibrium, find that product that will help us right the ship. And market it with consideration of the struggle people are going through this historic time.

Be the Weather Vane

We as an online community need to help one another, and to do that we need to go beyond our insulated worlds. Take time to explore news feeds that you would not normally read and pick up a newspaper that has a different opinion than yours. Our communities ebb and flow with the ripples caused by events we have no control over, take time to see how it affects others outside of your comfort zone. As a marketer take this into consideration; the playbook you are using today will be outdated tomorrow. Use the shifting winds to sow your seeds by understanding which wind is going to carry your message the furthest. Read, listen, watch; the sign of a true leader is not that they lead, but that they push everyone forward.

(Image) (Forum)