The Power of Slow

1. Slow helps us grow fast.

Ironically, if we want to reach our destination faster, we need to slow down by a notch or two. This means to look at where we are going. Taking time to check the rearview mirror. Maybe, we missed a turn. Taking a few steps back is 50% faster than running ahead full steam.

We understand that to stay relevant, time is of essence. But the time in implementing a quick fix shouldn’t replace the time spent looking at the larger picture. With slowness and deliberation come clarity, which allows us to build systems that are scalable and flexible for years to come.

As Warren Buffet said, “Sound investment can make you wealthy, if you are not in too big a hurry.”

For instance, if we take the time to clarify a brand’s voice, it helps to understand how the brand expresses itself across any medium, for any piece of communication. On the other hand, if you have to think about the tone of voice and the brand personality at the start of every campaign, the process slows down considerably. Even worse – the brand dilutes quickly, is all over the place, and loses its voice and value over time.

A well thought out brand guideline gives you the much-needed head start for any creative expression. It enables you to focus your efforts on the message and the audience, and not worry about colors and type choices. Likewise, an intelligible brand architecture helps a brand to scale faster and allows for meaningful brand extensions and quick product launches.

2. Slow lasts long.

Often, fast is more expensive and time-consuming than slow. The Atlanta-based branding agency, Matchstic, explains this concept nicely. They compare companies that are moving extremely fast to meteors moving at 65,000 miles an hour. The moment they enter the atmosphere, they burn out fast – leaving little to no impact by the time they reach the earth.

Growing fast also brings a certain level of wastage of resources. The time invested – neigh, wasted – accumulates over the years. Provided the company manages to even last that long. By implementing small changes, evaluating results and scaling up the solutions, companies can grow in a manageable and more impactful way. That’s how evolution works!

The principle even applies to marketing. When it comes to paid marketing, many ad accounts spend tens of thousands of dollars each month without testing their audience, channels, landing pages, creative or copy. All from day one. Taking the time to come up with a few options for an A/B test is ideal. If the audience size is limited, rotating in fresh creative also helps avoid ad fatigue. Start by spending little on testing out a few campaign ideas and then investing in what works. This reduces spend on ideas that clearly don’t work. Give time to each campaign. We have seen optimizations kick in after 2-3 weeks sometimes, even at relatively larger spends.

Slow sets the expectation of getting it right first time around and taking the time to get to it.

By implementing small changes,
evaluating results and scaling up the
solutions, companies can grow in a
manageable and impactful way.

3. Slow helps collaborate.

Slowing down gives teams opportunities to bring their ideas to the table and talk through them. Teams can figure out the best approach and often trigger solutions that would have never come up without deliberating together.

“In this fast-paced, ambitious, have-it-all-now environment that our people and clients operate in, I’ve learnt that sometimes the job of the leader is not to make the boat go faster, but to encourage people to stop for a second, take stock, recalibrate how they’re showing up”, said the Ex-CEO of Wolff Olins, Ije Nwokorie

Companies going at high speeds have very little time for collaboration. This creates silos even in small companies, where one hand has no idea what the other is doing. The silos tend to diminish resources quickly as a result of miscommunication and overstretching in multiple directions.

4. Slow generates creativity.

Ask any Creative Director worth their salt, and they’ll tell you that instincts are overrated. The first creative idea that pops in our heads is usually something we have already seen. We are not downplaying instincts here. But experience has shown us time and again that coming up with something original or creative takes mulling over, trying a few scenarios and starting from scratch many times over.

Alternatively, it only takes a small misstep to bring down something that took years to build. Taking the time to explore all options helps us avoid those missteps that harm our businesses. It helps us focus on the long term, not just instant gratification.

We have all heard of those websites that ‘hack growth’ via black hat SEO practices. This often involves figuring out a loophole in the Google Algorithm and exploiting it. It skyrockets the growth of the website, helping it rank for months, and getting thousands of backlinks from other (mostly questionable) websites. This is not creativity. This is a short-term hack that usually gets you nothing but irrelevant traffic, which exposes the site to massive risk. The moment Google plugs that loophole (and those uber intelligent folks there, certainly will), the website will crash and burn.

If, however, the website takes the time to build creative partnerships, writes meaningful content, and sticks to their core set of keywords, it will grow steadily for years. There are many ways to do SEO creatively, but it takes time. The results are spectacular and likely impossible for competitors to replicate.

5. Slow produces quality

Businesses are often driven by goals. Quantitative goals in particular. Reach 5 million in revenue this year. Get 500 leads a month. These are all important goals and they help a business grow. But when we are going towards them in a frenzy, we tend to forget the qualitative side of goals. 50 excellent leads are much more valuable than 500 low quality leads.

Instinctively, we know all of this. But speed tends to erode certain perspectives in the moment. When we slow down during these key moments, we tend to have a balanced focus. It forces us to get to the root of the problem instead of a quick-fix band aid solution. We use strategies that don’t just help us reach our quantitative goals but also the qualitative ones. It helps us focus on what is truly right for the business.

In the words of Seth Godin, “Slow media is patient. It's not on a deadline. It isn't measured in column inches. It can be calm instead of sensational, deep instead of superficial.”

Instinctively, we know all of this.
But speed tends to erode certain
perspectives in the moment.

We often borrow ideas from the amazing Debbie Millman. Years ago, she said, “expect anything worthwhile to take a long time.” A piece of advice that holds true now, more than ever. Don’t get us wrong, fast is also good. Sometimes, really good. But when fast is applied to the building blocks of business, the foundation is shaky and lopsided, creating a Jenga-like structure that is extremely hard to build on.

If the starting point of a slower strategy is unclear, we recommend following Noah Selzser’s article on Slow Marketing. First, identify where fast is hurting the company. And then strategically slow down those parts. Alternatively, if there are parts of the company that aren’t doing well, it is likely an indication to slow down there and dig a little deeper. Take that purposeful step back, so that you can leap further ahead than you ever have.

Lately, we have all been thrust into a completely unknown situation. In a sense, we have been forced to slow down. So, let’s take the opportunity to do right by our businesses. Let’s rethink and realign our direction. So, when things do stabilize, we have all the ducks in a row and are able to grow faster.

TL;DR

No time to slow down and read?
Here’s an ASAP gist:

• Slow doesn’t mean to halt the presses. It only means to take time to strategize, move with intent and review at every milestone.
• Moving at a controlled pace allows you to determine your vision and scale more easily.
• With a slow and steady approach, your company evolves and lasts long, instead of fizzling out after a burst.
• Slowing down gives your team time to collaborate more effectively, refine their first instincts into powerful ideas and produce quality work that has a lasting impact.

It sounds counterintuitive, but as the adage goes –
slow is smooth and smooth is fast.