Black Holes Always Put Things in Perspective

By Leslie LaRue | 1 Comments | Posted in in Marketing | Permalink

I’ve been losing sleep lately. I hear the end of the world is coming. Really. September 10^th. Mark your calendars.

Some scientists on the Swiss border will seek to re-create the conditions of The Big Bang Theory in the form of The Large Hadron Collider (LHC); the largest particle accelerator ever built.  27 kilometers of experimentation designed to answer that fundamental question. What happened in the very beginning?

Similar experiments have been conducted in the past, but never on such a massive scale. In previous testing, tiny amounts of anti-matter, or “dark material” were released. The stuff of creation. The stuff that shapes a universe, or can take it down.

Most scientists are elated. It’s their chance to prove hard-core theory, study anti-matter, the possibilities are endless. But there is a slight catch. This experiment could create a series of small black holes, or turn Earth into a vast chasm of grey matter. A former nuclear safety officer actually filed a lawsuit trying to get them to stop the experiment.

I should mention, there is also a chance that dragons and unicorns could fly out of the LHC. It’s about that slim. But scientists being who they are, they won’t discredit that possibility. This makes me a bit nervous.

But it also gets me thinking. When faced with a decision that the world is ending, what do I care about? What really matters? Would I pull up a chair and have a cocktail? Medicate? Meditate? Gather all my friends and family and give them a hug? (Yes)

Surely, you say, she’s not going to make an analogy for digital marketing. Please. Of course I am.

Not that I would focus on performance marketing during the crisis of a black hole. I’m sorry ZAAZ, I love you. But no, I would not. But I do tend to think about the swirling masses of extra “stuff” we create in the world of marketing.

How much of all this is really necessary? Do we do it out of anxiety to prove our worth? Validate we’re consistently churning out results? Now is the time to simplify.

(What better excuse than the end of the world?)

Scale back. For lack of a better term, eliminate the extra crap you’re doing.

Look at what matters to growing your business, to developing it long-term and putting money back into what makes it all worthwhile. Only you can be the judge of that based upon your overall goals for success.

Maybe it’s condensing your KPIs from a list of five to two.  Maybe it’s hosting a panel instead of constructing a booth. Do you REALLY need all that, or is just extra stuff? 

Oh, and don’t forget to wear a sweater. Black holes tend to be chilly.