A Culture of Learning and Adapting

When I came on as a new hire for Sanity Systems, I knew nothing. My experience was in restaurants, construction labor, and grocery stores. Aside from being an avid reader and having a few things published on writing sites, I had no experience or knowledge of how the world of marketing and selling worked. I knew things were ranked on Google, but I didn’t know how or what went in to assisting that process. I was a blank slate.

I entered this world with anxiousness and hope, and was immediately tasked with cold calling, letter and email campaigns, and organizing information. Staring at the screen I found myself often confused. How do I make this program do what I want? How do I fulfill the expectations put upon me?

I had to read and learn about SEO, watch videos on sales techniques, and learn new systems. It was overwhelming, and I would bombard my boss with questions throughout the day. Through the process I started picking up on things that may be more intuitive for others, but for me were arduous.

I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to give up. The old way of thinking would rear its head and say, “This isn’t for you. You are no good at this. Go do something else.”

This was a poverty mentality. I wanted to seek comfort in the familiar.

Why am I bringing this up? In order to explain that taking steps toward change can be beneficial, even if there is initial discomfort or frustration. There are many businesses content with the status quo, with staying local in their reach. I cannot count how many businesses I have found that once had an online presence, and now they are simply gone.

Those are dead dreams, eliminated by a lack of knowledge and understanding of how marketing works. If you cannot change in a changing world you will not realize the potential for your business and for yourself.

Let’s look at some of the changes we have had over the last few years:

Technological Changes

• Algorithms: How algorithms work changes constantly. If you are unaware of these changes, you are losing traffic to your website.
• Cell phone proliferation: Most searches are done through cell phones. Having an outdated site will make it look horrible on a cell phone.
• Social media: Social media follows trends. Too many businesses are content with Facebook, which is losing younger people to other alternatives. Advertising solely on your business’ Facebook is the equivalent of only telling your friends who you are.
• The internet: Yes it’s been around, but combined with cell phones, every consumer can find what they are looking for based on search results.

Economic changes

• Covid: Covid has put many through hardship. This makes them choosier about where they spend money.
• Rising prices: The cost of gas has forced many to make choices at the pump. Spending for pleasure is declining.

The truth is life is changing for us constantly. How we adapt will decide whether our business is one of those that suddenly disappears, or if it is one that perseveres and carves out a market in the new frontier.

We know how real these decisions can be for our personal lives and for our business. That is why we believe in educating our clients about the potential for new ways of engaging the public. It is not always glamorous to invest in having someone noodle around on the back end of your website to fine tune SEO. It certainly isn’t fun to put money into a project that you are unfamiliar with.

But it is necessary.

I moved to Lynchburg, Virginia in 1995. I have seen a lot of change over the last two and a half decades. The thing I love about this city is the same thing that is drawing people from all over the country to move here. The cost of living is cheaper than most other places. The housing for college students has boomed and created a nightlife. It is continually voted one of the best places to raise children in the United States.

As a Lynchburg based company, the biggest challenge we face is clients not wanting to change how they approach online marketing. They are content with the status quo. They do not realize that Lynchburg is changing, and those changes will bring competition from places ahead of the learning curve.

With these changes are also opportunities. The influx of people means more potential clients. New business opportunities will arise.

Our goal at Sanity Systems is to assist you with these changes. We want to grow with you. While it is true that our clients are nationwide, our focus is here first. We follow a concentric circle model, working outward from the center.

We invite you to join us in this changing climate, to push forward into success.

Jason Thompson

Director of Client Services