If you’re still struggling to visualize your 2022 resolutions, maybe it’s time to take a different approach.
Yes, another article about New Year’s resolutions when we’re already well into January. What makes this one (hopefully) worth waiting for?
The creative mindset.
As customer-focused creative experts within SAP – designers, strategists, video artists, and writers – we are fiercely committed to the regular assessment and evaluation of new ways to remain relevant and avoid retreading the same ideas. Even more so when starting a new year.
It’s why we’ve compiled a collection of the best of the best of our team’s resolutions with the aim of boosting our ability to tell better customer stories and more adroitly articulate the SAP value proposition in 2022.
We hope these resolutions will aid anyone who wants to refine or reinvent their approach to connecting with customers in the year ahead.
Think More About Resolve, Less About the Resolution. Everyone globally at SAP plays contributor to a big idea – for instance digital transformation or sustainability. We all have different roles in the distribution and presentation of these big ideas with our customers. Therefore, we should not think of our New Year’s resolutions as tactical lifehacks. Nor should resolutions be attempted like playground dares. We should approach resolutions as positive vectors for bigger patterns of change. This removes the abstract or over-simplified notions of how we measure our resolutions that often winnow them down into “all or nothing” flops. What’s your 2022 BHAG (big hairy audacious goal)? By resolving to pursue a larger, more abstract goal, you are creating opportunities for success in a manner that’s achievable, realistic, and definable by you, for you.
Be Open to New Ways to Engage the Customer. It’s no secret, there’s a real-time upheaval that’s now taking place in managing customer expectation. Augmented by widespread uncertainty around “the return to the office,” an influx of new communication channels threatens to silo clear messaging irrevocably. Intended or not, the fear of message obfuscation is real.
But there are reasons for optimism in 2022. For one, a resiliency to adapt we’ve seen since the start of the pandemic. Almost two years ago, delivering a pitch or software demo via video would have been rare. Today, many of SAP’s biggest initiatives come in the form of virtual participation – look at the strides our colleagues are making in VR learning and other ways to reimagine the future of work. These changes didn’t happen overnight, but they did happen over a shorter period of time than anyone could have predicted. This shows us the power of embracing new tools and skills when it’s imperative and existential. Change is possible, and we can adapt to a transformative mindset. The other good news: while the multitude of new ways to engage with customers is becoming more layered and complex, so is their ability to effectively resonate. The metaverse will expand. Immersive experiences will become more immersive. Our customer’s customers are now operating in a world of hyper-personalized interactions, spurred by a willingness to trial new messages and experiences at every stage of transaction, so too must be our approach in how we present our ideas and generate new solutions. What are you willing to try?
Analytics First. Then Execution. As an internal agency for content creation, we meticulously monitor which published customer assets are getting the most views and why. The “why” is what shapes and informs our current service offerings for today and ensures we are adequately prepared to tackle whatever waits anxiously on the horizon. An analytics-first mindset is not about second guessing or neutralizing the intrinsic value of the creative process, but rather quantifying difficult decisions with data then turning the results into more efficient processes and more effective creative concepts. Creativity and problem-solving go hand in hand. Resolve to end the “chicken-or-egg” conundrum of which comes first analytics or execution in 2022.
Build on Piqued Curiosity. “Show don’t tell” has been a universal rule for generating memorable experiences in literature, stage, and screen from Mark Twain to the Wachowskis to Joan Didion. However, when it comes to articulating a complex concept or relating a strong empathetic narrative for an audience rigged with distractors, an experienced storyteller knows it’s not about one or the other, but which messages are better shown and which messages better told, employing each technique in a deliberate manner for maximum effect. The artfulness of this delivery is what generates curiosity. But with interest piqued and attention grabbed, where do you go next? Too often in our practice, we overinvest in hooking our audience without a successful plan for sustaining interest to our core message. Diminishing attention spans and competing voices are commonplace today, a powerful break-through-the-clutter introduction can only do so much to refrain customers from scrolling to the next and the new. Ask yourself, from the customer’s perspective, “so what?”, and this can help guide your message to continue hitting new heights. This year resolve to find new ways to gain your audience’s attention from the start and keep them captivated until the very end. Much like we’ve attempted to do here…
Stay Focused. We’ve intentionally saved this suggestion for last. If you’re still reading, you might even conclude we’ve been somewhat successful in our own attempts to hold your attention. But ask yourself these questions: Did this article try to cover too much? Did it drift down too many tangential side roads when more direct routes were readily available? Resolutions are best stuck to when they remain on topic and firm of purpose. Resolve to stay focused by asking the right questions of your customer initiatives this year. One idea, one message, one concept can only pack so much punch, but when its aim is targeted and unwaveringly specific, it will connect faster and have a deeper impact.
In the end, we can all resolve to reignite our own personal creative fires to be more effective and customer-focused in our roles. Whether developing solutions directly or implementing them in the field the message is the same: SAP is helping the world run better and improve people’s lives.
What are some of your resolutions you’re adopting in 2022? How can SAP’s creative experts help you achieve your customer’s #digitaltransformation or #sustainability goals this year?
