“be the change you want to see in the world”

I love this quote, widely (and perhaps falsely) attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.

Anyway, in the spirit of that quote we ask you to join us in fashioning a DIFFERENT KIND OF TREND LIST for 2008 — instead of looking back, or making predictions, we ask you to help us make a list of the TEN TRENDS WE SHOULD CREATE IN 2008.

I kick it off with number one:

1. Focus your identity. Also known as your brand essence. I finally got around to starting “Make it Stick” and it is completely blowing my mind. One point they hammer home is the importance of reducing your brand to its smallest essence. Nothing will stick if your core identity is floppy. They quote Carville on this: “if you say three things, you say nothing.”
2. A great number two thanks to Amy Sample Ward:
   

   I would add “keeping the audience first” as another trend. It is especially necessary for nonprofits who have very limited resources/time to devote to new media tools, and everyone else with the abundance of new/social media options popping up for organizations to leverage in spreading their cause, product, message, etc. At the end of the day, it is about which tools and strategies will help you better connect with your audience, and not how many tools or which popular sites you are using.

   So what else do we add to the list? Drop me an email at mark.rovner AT seachangestrategies.com and let’s see if we can come up with ten by December 31st.