No Country For Old Marketing
If You're Pining For the "Good Ole Days", You're History In Today's Marketplace
By David Miranda
Pundits opine daily whether the country is in a recession or merely a "slowdown" as the President recently described the present economic malaise.
Whatever term one decides to use, the fact is that record foreclosures, credit card debt, trade and budget deficits, and gas prices; declining value of the dollar; 48 million uninsured citizens; soft housing market; a credit crunch and a volatile stock market set the stage make for a challenging time moving forward for marketers.
What companies will do is predictable - they will contract and adapt to survive or be added to the "endangered species list". In a slowdown or recession, there is a "culling of the herd".
In this environment, advertising and promotion will not solve their company's revenue problems. As a matter of fact, desperate measures by desperate competitors could exascerbate the problem.
This is no country for old marketing.
What to do?
- Don't panic.
- Recognize and protect your base (your most loyal and frequent customers) from being "poached" by competitors.
- Improve your price/value offering to consumers, i.e. adding value rather than reducing price.
- Manage "stratactically", i.e. although economic slowdowns are typically characterized by tactical warfare, always consider the strategic implications of your tactics. Example: reducing prices instead of adding value will have long term negative implications on revenue and margins.
- Be proactive, not reactive. A "me-too" tactical approach, i.e. waiting to see what the other guys are doing, can be fatal in a hyper-competitive environment.
- Amputate anything that is extraneous to success, i.e. products, services, people.
- Get back to basics.
