Welcome to my Blog on Guerilla Marketing

Welcome to my blog on the beauty that is Guerilla Marketing.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, guerilla marketing gives smaller businesses a way to level the playing field with the big guys.  It’s more than tactics, it’s also a mindset.  Before I merged in with the CMC team, I had my own company built by guerilla marketing.  I teach several classes locally on this form of marketing, and many clients have asked if I’d like to share this info to a larger audience.  So, here’s the result:  my blog on thinking like a guerilla marketer.

All Good Things. . .

OK, so I’ve been a very bad blogger the last couple weeks and haven’t posted anything on schedule.  I could blame the usual “Dog ate my blog,” but the fact of the matter is that I’m working on transitioning to a new life.  While I’m someone who loves to talk (more than I should most of the time) and to write – I was at a loss for words when it came to what’s been going on the last couple weeks. 

Recently, as a company exercise, everyone in the office read the book “Who Moved My Cheese?”  For anyone who hasn’t read it, I highly recommend it.  It’s a very quick read – took me less than an hour I think, but it has a very poignant message in it.  While this was intended to enlighten everyone on a professional level, it also enlightened me on a personal level. 

It all boils down to the fact that things are changing in our lives constantly, and we need to be ready to change with them.  We tend to hold on to things because they’re comfortable.  We don’t always notice when something becomes less enjoyable because it’s still comfortable.  We keep thinking it will become what it was when we found it, even though all the signs say it won’t.  The people around us can see how things have changed, but we can’t because we’re still stuck in the same mindset.

It could be that the situation has changed, but we think it will change back to how it used to be.  It could be that the situation changed, but we’re in denial so we pretend it’s the same as it was.  Or it could be the situation is the same, but we’ve changed – things that used to be a priority don’t matter as much as they did.

In my case, the latter is the reason I’m “transitioning”.  The priorities in my life changed quite a bit after some very serious upheaval in my personal life last year.  Ever since then I’ve been trying to make my old situation sync up with my new priorities – understandably, it wasn’t working.  Then a couple weeks ago another change to my situation made me really take a look at things again.  This time I took a really good look at things and the starkness of it all stared me in the face.  I made a decision to let go of the past and move on.  Once I made the decision things became much easier.  While the road ahead has me more than a little scared, it also has me very excited.

So my friends, like the title of the post implies – All good things must come to an end.  This will be my last post under this blog.  I will most likely set up another one in the near future dealing with similar topics, but in the interest of making a clean break and starting with a clean slate, I think I should go ahead and close this chapter. 

When I launch a new blog I’ll announce it through one of my social networking pages.  So, if you’re interested on what’s coming next, be sure you’re connected to me on LinkedIn or Facebook.  (Links to my profile are in the sidebar of the blog page.)

In the meantime, keep thinking up those gonzo ideas.  Take care and I’ll catch when I return to the blogosphere!

“A Rose by Any Other Name May Smell Sweet – But It Won’t Get Sniffed It if It’s Called Porcupine”

Those of you who read my posts regularly (I know you’re out there, I can hear your eyes moving.) have probably noticed my blog has a new look.  We’ve decided to rebrand ourselves, changing Clear Message Communications to Ignite It Group.  So this seemed like an ideal time to talk about branding & rebranding.

 

One of the toughest things a new business owner faces is developing the brand for his/her company.  Much like naming a child, once its on the birth certificate (or tax certificate as the case may be) it’s done.  Keeping in that vein, let’s think about your brand like it’s “your baby”.

 

Your brand needs to stand the test of time.  Branding your business after a passing fad is a recipe for regret, much like naming your child after someone with fleeting celebrity.  Imagine going through life named “Spuds” because your parents thought the Budweiser commercials in the 80’s were cool.

 

Once you land, stay there.  If you called your daughter by a different name every few months you’d be looking at some serious therapy bills.  But I’ve known business owners who change their name every six months.  One of my networking groups had a member known for this. It happened so often that it because an inside joke:  “So who’s Robert this week?” (Not his real name, by the way.)  Nobody ever focused on what his business offered because his fly-by-night brands kept speaking louder than anything else about him.  You shouldn’t rebrand just because you’re tired of your current brand or because a handful of friends/family are critical of the brand you’ve recreated.  You and those closest to you see your brand more than anyone else.  You get tired of it long before anyone else even remembers it.

 

Get ready for a nickname.  Sometimes we go to a nickname because it’s easier or faster than the full name.  Richard becomes Rick, Robert becomes Bob, etc.  Sometimes we use a nickname to avoid confusion.  I once worked someplace with four different guys named John.  They became John, Johnny, J, and Jack.  We hit both of these reasons with CMC.  It wasn’t long before Clear Message Communications became quite a mouthful for folks to say repeatedly.  People who knew us quickly adapted to calling us CMC.  We also hit an unexpected wall of being compared to a popular media company.  I can’t count the number of times I smiled through gritted teach I’d was introduced as Gerry with Clear Channel.

 

So with all this talk of consistency – why should you rebrand? 

 

The first reason to rebrand is the most unwelcomed – lawyers.    As a start-up you should have done your due diligence before you opened your doors.  You should have  checked to be sure your business name wasn’t taken & you weren’t copying anyone else’s brand.  However, there’s always a chance you missed something.  If you did you could get a letter saying “cease and desist”.  Some companies have entire teams of experts who do nothing but seek out those who come close to infringing on their brand.  It doesn’t matter if it was accidental or intentional- you either stop or they could end up owning your livelihood.  Check out http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/metaschool/fisher/domain/tm.htm for a quick overview on trademark law.  (In the interest of keeping appeasing any of your legal types out there – I am not now, nor have I ever been, nor do I ever wish to be a lawyer or someone who offers legal advice.  I just thought this was interesting reading so please don’t sue me.)

 

Rebranding with an acquisition.  A more welcome reason for rebranding is expanding your business with an acquisition.  A fairly recent example of this is Sprint.  A few years ago Sprint purchased Nextel.  Sprint didn’t want to alienate the existing Nextel customers, but they needed to keep asserting the Sprint brand.  The result was a brand similar in appearance to the traditional Sprint logo, but with the icon noticeably changed from red to yellow – the signature color for Nextel

 

Rebranding for growth and clarity.  This is one of the main reasons CMC is now Ignite It Group.  While consistency is key, you don’t want to look like you’re selling buggy whips in Detroit.  No matter how much research you do, we live in the real world not on the theoretical textbook planet.  All the preparation in the world can’t match the experience of running your business.  CMC has maintained the same brand for over five years.  The experience we’ve gained has given us insight we didn’t have when we started.  Our rebranding is to reinforce our core strengths, our new direction, our growth, and the power we’re infusing into our client’s businesses.  If also helps us eliminate the previously mentioned confusion with Clear Channel.

 

Summing it all up.  Developing your brand is one of the most important aspects of developing your business.  It’s part of the foundation for your marketing, and without marketing you don’t have a business (just a very expensive hobby).  While you don’t want to hop frivolously from identity to identity, sometimes changing your brand can be a good thing.  It can mean you’re growing in new and unexpected ways.  It can open new doors by conveying a more contemporary message and can serve as a springboard, taking your business to new and exciting heights.

 

You Can’t Churn Butter With a Toothpick

Guerilla marketing is all about getting maximum results with minimal resources.  However, you shouldn’t get this confused with the futile effort of trying to get maximum results with NO resources.

In the current economic times you want to cut waste as much as possible, but I’ve talked with a lot of misguided business owners who are saying things like, “I’m not going to do any marketing that costs money until the economy turns.”  Obviously, that’s their choice – I happen to think it’s a wrong one, but they’ll have to learn that lesson themselves.

Ironically, the people who are saying this haven’t adjusted their sales expectations to account for the decrease that will happen when they scale back to zero on the marketing budget.

I have a client who’s currently learning this lesson.  We’ll call him Tom (not his real name).   We developed a marketing strategy for Tom around a year ago.  In it we outlined a list of campaigns & tactics to get him to his sales goal for the next 12 months.  We showed him where his company was lacking in the marketing department & how we could work with him to fill those holes & get him on track.  We started working with him and everything was running along fine – then (you guessed it) the issues with the economy started rearing their ugly heads early this past fall. 

At first it was relatively minor things like reducing the size of a mailer or cutting back on the number of promotional products ordered.  Then it got more drastic.  Tom was printing his own letterhead on cheap paper and cutting entire programs.  Finally it got to where he said he didn’t want to spend any money on any marketing, but he was still expecting to get the results we projected from the full strategy.  By this point his solid strategy has been stripped down to the bones.

Free and do-it-yourself marketing can only take you so far.  And if you’ve been putting out a professional presence and do a quick 180 to the amateur zone – it can do a lot more harm than good.  People will think someone else has bought your business or, worse yet, you’re about to go out of business.

A long time ago I heard someone say, “You can’t churn butter with a toothpick.” And it rings very true when it comes to marketing your business.  You can (and should) go through and trim the fat – take a look at why things did or didn’t work. But if you cut it to the quick expect your business to drop along with it.  For all of you who are thinking of marketing as something that can be cut completely I strongly urge you to take a look at my post Follow the Advice of Douglas Adams. 

Just a reminder:  I won’t be posting next Monday because I’ll be attending a conference/expo all week.  However, I’ll be back on January 19^th.  Have a good one folks & keep out of the box!

Turn “Should I” Into “I Will/Won’t”

It’s that time of year again- when we start wrapping up this year and planning for next year.  As you work your way through the piles and decide what to store & what needs to be handy, I strongly encourage you to take a good look at your marketing efforts for the year.

One of the key elements of the guerilla marketing tactic (and the Clear Message Communications tactic) is to be analytical & strategic.  We develop 12 month marketing strategies for our clients all year long, but no matter what time of year we start – as the end of the 12 months comes up, we take a good long look at the previous efforts to decide how to proceed for the next 12 months.  This way we know our clients are moving forward and continue growing.

So what should you think about when you’re looking back and planning forward?  There are several variables you should look at, including:  changes in the marketplace, changes in the habits of your target, technologies and advancements affecting your industry, and a whole lot more.  But in the interest of keeping to one point I’ll stick to one element – analyzing your previous marketing.

When you look at your previous marketing, you need to go beyond the surface.  Something I hear all too often is, “I tried ___________.  It doesn’t work.”  This always makes me chuckle because it’s usually not the medium’s fault.

A good example is direct mail.  Successful direct mail isn’t just a matter of sending out a postcard and waiting for something to happen.  Before you decide direct mail does or doesn’t work, you need to look at each component of the mailing & determine if it all measured up:

• The List. Is it too general to get a response? More names don’t always equate to a bigger response. If you’re buying a list, make sure it’s appropriate for your message and is reaching people who need what you offer.  Make sure they  can afford your product/service and can make a decision to act.
• The Creative. Does the creative (the look & feel of your piece) say what you want it to say? Does is accurately portray the image you want people to see & does it appeal to the people you’re trying to reach? Does your creative looks “DIY” or unprofessional? Does your piece hold it’s own against one from your competitor?
• The Offer. Do you have an offer and a call to action on your direct mail? It amazes me when I get a direct mail piece that doesn’t do anything but say, “Hi. I’m here.” Direct mail needs to tell your audience to respond & you have to give them a good reason to do it. Give them a discount for responding within a certain timeframe or offer them exclusive access to information, or whatever. The offer needs to support the goal for the mailing.
• The Tracker. You can ask how they found you, but without a tracker you won’t know for sure. People try to remember when they’ve seen your marketing, but they aren’t always accurate. One of the easiest trackers is to put a promotional code on your mailer. Next to your offer include a line that says “must mention promotional code MAILER2009 to take advantage of this offer” or something similar.
• The Repeat. Unless you have an amazing mailer, you’ll typically need to “touch” your audience a second or third time. If possible, put a different tracker on each one so you’ll know which version got their attention.
• The Follow. Before you send out your first mailing, have a plan in place for following up with those who contact you. If they respond and never hear from you again – the direct mail worked, you didn’t.

Take this same type of analytical logic & apply it to the rest of your marketing for the year.  Once you do, you’ll be prepared to sort your good from bad marketing campaigns & be more effective with your marketing in the next year.  You won’t have to ask “Should I?” because you’ll be better prepared to know what you should & shouldn’t do in the next year.

Speaking of learning from the past, a final note:  When I started this blog, I made a commitment to post weekly & Thursdays seemed like the best day of the week to do it.  Since then a lot has changed with my schedule & I find myself writing my blog all night to get it done on time.  I don’t feel too bad about missing this past Thursday (wasn’t gonna think about blogging on Christmas), but several people have told me they look forward to reading it & I don’t like disappointing them.  So, for 2009 I’m  gonna shoot for posting on Mondays.

This will be my last post of 2008.  My next post will be on the 5^th, then I’ll be skipping a week while I travel to a conference.  And my next post will be on the 19^th.  Hope everyone has a very happy and safe New Year’s and I’ll talk to you all in 2009.

Just Be Creative – I Trust You

The title of this post is a phrase that usually leads to disaster.  At Clear Message Communications every design project we do starts with a kick-off meeting.  We meet with the client and gather information to determine the creative direction for the project.  Without the kick-off we’d be trying to design in a vacuum.  

Occasionally, we’ll have a client who will say something along the lines of, “Just be creative.  I’m sure it will be great.”  Good theory, but when we do this, its usually followed by the phrase, “I don’t know what I want, but I know I don’t want that.” 

I compare this to a game called Bring Me a Rock.  Here’s how it goes: I tell you, “Go outside and bring me back a rock.”  When you come back I tell you, “That’s not the right rock.  Go get another one.”  When you come back I say, “That’s better, but it’s still not right.  Go get another one.”  When you ask me what’s wrong with it I respond with, “It’s just not quite right.  Let’s see what the next one looks like?”  We keep repeating this over and over.  How long before you started throwing rocks at my head?  Trying to design something without direction is just like playing this game. 

So, how can you give your creative team guidance if you don’t know what you’re looking for?  Start making use of your junk mail. 

We all get bombarded with bulk mail, e-blasts, sales letters, & flyers on a daily basis.  Some are good, some are bad, and some are outright ugly.  Set up three boxes for you them into.  Use one box for the good, one for the bad, and one for the ugly.  Once you have a good selection, go through them and REALLY look at them.  Determine what makes you love them (or hate them).  Make sure you’re comparing apples to apples.  If you’re doing a postcard, be sure you’re comparing postcards.  Compare e-blasts to e-blasts, logos to logos, etc.  

Next determine exactly what it is that makes you like or dislike these pieces.  Make notes on them so you can easily spot the similarities.  If you have a group of friends or family members who fit your target market bring them in to make sure they share your opinions.  (Remember, the likes and dislikes of your target are more important than yours.  They’re the ones buying your product, not you.) 

Now you have the information your designer needs to please both you and your target audience.  And you don’t have to get pelted with rocks in the process. 

Every time I do a sorting of the good and the bad I come across at least one piece that makes me think, “Wow – someone actually wrote that down.  There was a first draft and edits.  That was the best possible version they could get.”  What pieces have you seen that would make you say the same thing?

The Dog Ate My Blog – The Sequel

Ahhh, the holidays.  Kids are thinking, “It’s never gonna get here.”  Adults are thinking, “I’m never gonna get it all done.”  Unfortunately, I’m an adult (although some people would be willing to debate the issue) and the holidays throw my schedule into chaos.  In all honesty, I completely forgot yesterday was Thursday until it was almost over so I didn’t get around to making my regular blog post – hence the title.  (If you don’t get the reference, take a look at this post:  The Dog Ate My Blog)

This lends itself to a good topic for today’s post – planning out your guerilla tactics.  (How’s that for a smooth segue?)  Guerillas don’t throw out random marketing and hope something sticks.  By definition, guerilla marketing is about setting an objective & planning on how to get to it with minimal resources.   If you don’t plan out what you’re trying to do, you won’t be able to do it with minimal resources.  Lack of planning usually means you’ll be paying rush charges or you have to cut out important pieces of the campaign because you won’t have time to get them done. 

All of your marketing should have a strategic plan attached to it.  At CMC we don’t do anything for our clients without having a strategy behind it.  By starting with “What are you trying to do?” you get results.  If you start with “I’m doing this,” and then try to squeeze your goal into it – you usually end up with a lot of headaches. 

I met with a new business owner awhile back who was just launching & was ready to take out a bunch of ads.  He had no idea what he wanted to say, how it should look, or what he should be trying to get out of it – but he wanted to take out these ads.  After we talked for awhile I was able to show him how, while ads may be a good path for him at some point, it wasn’t a good starting ground.  He needed to develop a strategy for getting where he wanted to go.  Then, when the groundwork had been laid and the time was right, we could take a look and see if these ads were still a good idea.  If he had started down the path he was going, the first impression his target audience got from him would have been the wrong one. 

Whether you’re doing a big campaign or a simple flyer – start by asking yourself, “What am I trying to do?  What’s my strategy for getting there?”  You’ll be glad you did. 

I’d love to hear about the strategic high’s and low’s you’ve seen.  What was the best use of strategy or the most ill-conceived campaign you’ve seen?  Let me know.  

In the meantime I’m gonna chase down that dog and see if I can keep him from eating my blog again.  I can’t guarantee he won’t be back, but I’ll do my best to keep him on his leash.

Hit Your Target!!

 A common issue I see is a company who hasn’t accurately defined their target market.  The guerilla way (and the CMC mantra) is to get the right message to the right people at the right time.  When we ask why someone isn’t targeting their response usually fits into one of these two categories:      

#1 We Don’t Want To Alienate Anyone 

This may be a good idea in theory, but it isn’t very practical.  Think of it like planning a wedding.  It would be nice to invite everyone you, your spouse, your parents, & your spouse’s parents know.  But every person you add to the list means another invitation, managing another RSVP, fitting another person into the reception, getting a bigger cake, etc.  With this list you would be faced with either seriously increasing your wedding budget or reducing your “cost per head” to attend.  If you can’t increase your budget, you’d be having a reception dinner with 3 potato chips and a bottle of flavored water.  The practical solution is to thin down the guest list to the people you really want to attend so you can have the wedding you want to have.  

Target marketing is the same principle.  If you waste time, energy, and money on prospects that aren’t a good fit for you, you’ll be forced to reduce your marketing efforts toward the people who will build your bottom line. 

#2 Our Target Market Is Everyone

I recently met someone selling a well-known skin care line.  When I asked about her target market her response was, “Anyone with skin.”  While it may be true that anyone with skin could use her product, this definition was far from accurate.  In reality her target market is anyone with skin who:

- Is female (they have very few products for men)

- Lives/works within her area

 - Thinks skin care is a priority

- Will pay the price she charges

- Will switch from the skin care line she’s using

- Has a good opinion about the brand or will give the brand a second chance if they have a bad opinion

- Isn’t buying the product from another representative or is willing to stop using the rep they have 

See what I mean?  Think of her costs to reach the newly defined market vs. trying to reach “Everyone with skin.”

Aside from the costs, targeting is necessary to impact the people you’re trying to reach.  Effective marketing speaks directly to the target.  Consumers in the United States are bombarded with more than 30,000 marketing messages each and every day.   It’s impossible for our brains to process all of those messages, so we unconsciously filter out the unimportant ones.  Defining your target makes it possible for you to create a message to cut through the filter and spark interest.  Once you’ve cut through the filter, you’ve created awareness and taken the first step towards leading them to the sale.

Bloggers United – World AIDS Day

Today’s post is in support of Blogger’s Unite.  In case you missed my explanation last month, “Bloggers Unite is an attempt to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By asking bloggers to write about a particular subject on 1 day of the month, a single voice can be joined with thousands to help make a difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or supporting 3rd world countries”  

 This month’s subject:  World AIDS Day.  Sadly this is a subject I know far too much about and probably one of the hardest subjects for me to speak on.  I was in high school when I first heard the word AIDS.  I was in my early 20’s when I started to watch a generation of people fade from existence. I never expected to witness so many lives ending just as mine seemed to be beginning.  Men and women under the age of 30 morphed into hollow versions of their former selves.   Almost overnight they seemed to age decades. The sharpest of minds became confused by the simplest of tasks.  Eyes, once so full of life, became vacant, desperate, and terrified.  It broke my heart over and over and over again until I couldn’t feel it anymore.

Contrary to what a lot of people think, AIDS doesn’t kill you.  It destroys your immune system to the point that an insignificant germ, harmless to everyone around you, becomes deadly.   Just when I thought I’d seen every bizarre infection, I’d run into someone with a twelve syllable disease I’d never heard of before, and found out they could have gotten it because they liked their eggs sunny-side up.

Back in those days the treatment for the disease wasn’t much better than the disease itself.  I had friends who made the conscious decision to discontinue treatment and plan their funerals instead.  Others made back-up plans.  They set up pacts with those they could trust to help them put an end to things if they became stricken with the infection that terrified them the most.

Today we mark the 20^th anniversary of World AIDS Day, and to the next generation I’d like to say:  It’s not over.  Infection rates are on the rise in groups that once felt they were insulated from exposure.  Sadly, if it hasn’t touched your life in some way, the odds are it will.  Just because you don’t see it in the news everyday, doesn’t mean it isn’t still a deadly disease. Some experts even think we could be on the verge of a second coming of the disease.  This new version, mutated by failed therapies could be even more insidious than the first.  And in countries where regular medical treatment isn’t accessible, this threat is even more of a reality.  Please, don’t be complacent.  I hope none of you have to witness the images that burned themselves so deeply into my mind’s eye.  But if you do – Don’t give up the fight.  Don’t give up hope. 

I’d like to close by honoring the memory of four people who meant the world to me:

Ty L. Goodnight – left us in 1991

Phil “Causha” Exstrom – left us in 1994

Shawn Eric Roe – left us in 1999

Lester (Shawn) Cummings – left us in 2000

Each of you helped make me who I am today & I thank you for it.  I think of you often, miss you more than you know, and I’ll remember you always.  My happiest mornings are the ones when I wake up after dreaming you’re still alive.  We’ll meet again one day & we’ll laugh so hard we cry – only this time I won’t have to cry alone afterwards.

The 30 Second Copycat

Earlier this year I had the privilege of being asked to teach a couple classes at a local Expo.  For one of the classes I was on a panel with two other speakers.  We each taught different facets of marketing.  One of the other speakers gave a presentation on how to guarantee that you get referrals when you give your 30 second elevator pitch at a networking event. In a nutshell he suggested the best way to get referrals at a networking function was to include the following in your pitch:

 ”Today I’m looking for (fill in the blank).  If you know of someone who (fill in the blank), please write their name & e-mail on the back of your card and pass it to me before the end of the meeting.”

He went into more detail about how and why it worked for getting introductions to qualified leads.  All of it was very good advice and I made a note that I should try it one day.

The next week I attended a networking meeting & several of the people there had been at the Expo and attended the class I taught.  As I listened to them giving their networking pitches a theme emerged.  One by one they all gave the same pitch, word for word:

“Today I’m looking for (fill in the blank).  If you know of someone who (fill in the blank), please write their name & e-mail on the back of your card and pass it to me before the end of the meeting.”

After hearing it from the 5^th person I had to fight to keep from laughing.  As I looked out at the room, I could see people mouthing along with what they new was coming as soon as someone started in with, “Today I’m looking for. . . “   Looking at those lined up to do their pitches, I could see fear in the eyes of the people who thought they had struck gold with this new technique, only to discover it was fast becoming a joke & they didn’t have anything else prepared.  Even though I could see it pained them to do so, they gave the pitch anyway, hoping some form of amnesia would strike the audience and they would forget the fact that they’d heard the exact same words from at least 10 people that day.

This is an extreme example, but it illustrates an important point.  No matter how good your elevator pitch is you need to be prepared to mix it up a little and play to the room.  In order for an elevator pitch to be successful it has to grab the listener’s attention and draw them in.  No matter how much people want to pay attention, if things become too predictable they tend to zone out.  As the person who’s giving the pitch, your job is to snap them out of their slumber and get them to take an interest in what you’re saying.    It’s a catch-22.  People need to hear your message several times before it sinks in, but if the same people are hearing the same thing every time – they’ll stop paying attention because they know exactly what’s coming next.  I usually recommend having 3 or 4 variations on your pitch to keep the audience interested.

Has anyone else ever been to a predictable copy cat meeting like this one?

By the way – I attend this same group every week.  In the 9 months since this happened, nobody has given this pitch again.  Maybe I’ll use it next time.

Because of Thanksgiving I won’t be making a blog entry next Thursday, but I will be making a post on December 1^st for Bloggers United.  Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving & I’ll talk to you on the first.

When It Comes To the Economy – Follow the Advice of Douglas Adams

Those of you familiar with Douglas Adams know exactly what the title of this post means. For the rest of you, Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (If you want a good laugh I highly recommend it.)  Throughout the book, he reminds you how the cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide clearly states: “Don’t panic!”  And with all the news we keep hearing, I recommend repeating this phrase over and over.

In the course of my work I meet a lot of business owners who are freaking out over the financial news we’re all hearing daily.  They’re trying everything under the sun to avoid spending anything.  And while I’ll be the first to admit the news could be better, I’m urging all of them not to panic – especially when it comes to their marketing. 

The effects of cutting your marketing budget might not be felt overnight, but you WILL feel them & the results have the potential to be devastating.  Just like you (the business owner) want to cut spending, so does your audience.  They are trying to cut costs wherever they can.  So now, more than ever, you need to do everything you can to show them you’re a necessity they can’t do without.  If they start thinking of you as an unnecessary expense, when the economy turns around they’ll have learned to live without what you have to offer or they’ll be getting it from your competitor. 

During the Great Depression, the biggest economic crisis in US history, companies who marketed smart were able to thrive.  Leading brands who cutback on marketing were taken over by brands who marketed like they weren’t affected by the situation.  They boosted their marketing to stay top of mind with their audience.  This gave consumers the impression their competitors could be gone at any time because they weren’t as visible as they had been before the crisis.  Their competitor’s audience felt abandoned and turned to the companies who showed them they were here to stay.  Once the economy turned around a new brand loyalty had been established and the audience stayed with their new favorite rather than returning to the previous industry leader.

Studies of spending habits during the depression showed this to be true whether the products were necessities (food), deferrable purchases (cars or clothes), or non-essentials (at that time they used cigarettes as an example, but for today a better example would be consumer electronics.) 

People don’t stop spending in a tough economy, the just spend smarter.  They’re looking to get the most value from every dollar they spend.  Your job is to show them that you’re the best value for the buck.  You do this using a solid marketing strategy, hitting them hard and often with your message.   

Here’s a little food for thought.  GE, Disney, Hewlett Packard, and Microsoft were all start-ups at a time of severe economic slowdown.  Hewlett Packard actually started during the Great Depression.  Where would we be without these companies today?  They’re proof you can make it through a tough economy if you’ll just remember to play it smart.