All You Need Is A Good Idea!

Ostrich or Owl?

Let's see. Your cost of goods and shipping is up, they want you to pay additional taxes on everything that doesn't have a pulse, politicians are planning on placing tolls on bridges that have always been free, your customers are taking longer to pay their bills and many are staying home immersed in headlines about fraud, bailouts and defaults that seem to dare you not to read the unpleasant details.

On one hand it seems a good time to do your best ostrich imitation, or pull the blankets over your head and wait it all out. "Across the globe," according to an article by martin Fackler, in a recent New York Times, "companies are battening down the hatches—reducing spending, laying off workers and pulling back on…research and development."

But this is a blog about marketing, not quitting. And though I wonder why we never batten down anything else but hatches, let me follow with a more positive quote from the same article. "We need to take a longer-term view, " said one executive. "If other companies slow down spending, we can stay ahead."  Another added, "Unless our sales dry up completely, we have to continue investing." If we stop, our rivals and competitors will quickly catch up."

The article makes the point that many are cutting back less, investing instead for the day the downturn ends.

While we are all waiting for that happy day, it simply can't be marketing as usual, it must be marketing as unusual. We must be wiser, cleverer and smarter. For complete details, read my book. And read a few other small business and marketing blogs, easily found on Alltop, (click button link on my page) to help give you direction.

And good luck to us all.

Tock Tick

The Sunday edition of the New York Times is a big paper. Yesterday's first section alone had 34 pages. Because we are nearing Father's Day, 10 out of those 34  pages had an ad for watches. 6 were full page ads, and of those 6 full pages, 5 were in full color. So someone is very serious about all this.

Do manufacturers run these ads for watches because consumers believe that watches are good Father's Day gifts, or do people think that watches are good Father's Day presents because they see so many ads for them?

Don't really know, my research department is out sick today.

But I do know that if I were advertising watches in that section, I would be certain that it was more than just the beauty shot that everyone is using because the manufacturer supplied the art work and is paying their share of the cost of the ad. I would actually put an idea into the ad. Or even wait till a different occasion to feature my product. Even though I would lose out on the holiday buying frenzy, I would gain from standing out in the media when my ad did appear. (There is an interesting example in my book of this approach in an ad I did for Sharp watches.)

Bigger is, well, bigger

There was an article in today's New York Times discussing the new smaller version of the Flip camcorder. Jonathan Kaplan, Pure  Digital's chief executive, was quoted as saying "We resist 'feature creep' like no other company in the world today. When our products get more complicated, they get less easy and less fun."

And in the Today in Business section came the news that with gas near $4 a gallon, more people are deciding that big vehicles are not worth the cost. Which is why they also reported that General Motors announced stepped up plans for smaller cars and engines.

So if the trend in many categories seems to be that "Less is More," how does that affect you? it is not just time to consider downsizing your products. Maybe you should consider briefer, shorter, crisper communications. In your brochures, user manuals, ads. But remember, there is one place where "More is More." Your customer service. Slim that down at your own risk.

It's tough out there

Dunkin' Donuts has just pulled an internet commercial featuring Rachael Ray. It was because she was wearing a fringed black-and-white scarf which some viewers maintained showed her symbolic support for Muslim extremism.

Yesterday I saw a billboard for Jet Airways. It had a closeup shot of the head and crown of the Statue of Liberty, with the copy line: India just got closer. Oh yes, one more thing. In the center of the forehead of the Statue of Liberty's face was a red dot.

Is this in better taste than Rachel Ray's outfit? Worse? The same? Does it matter that she is a celebrity and gets lots of media attention, and that people saw her advertisement on the internet, as compared to a solitary billboard on Seventh Avenue in New York? I don't know, and since I am late for my book party, I will let you decide yourself.

But I do know it is a good idea to think about how you would react to a media crisis of your own. Ignore it, respond to it, pull your marketing? While the answer is important, the good thing is that in all probability, six months from now no one will remember the incident or your response. Okay, two months. But you and your people will. And you will either be proud or embarrassed.

Whaling

Today's New York Times Business Section has an interesting article by John Markoff on whaling, phishing and spear phishing.

According to the article, the tactic of aiming a scam at the rich and powerful is referred to as "whaling," as opposed to the general term "phishing," aimed at more general e-mail users. As you might guess, "spear phishing" is  aimed at one particular person. (All words clearly defined in the article.)

Two thoughts for you. One, you have to stay current with all this new language. It is not enough to be aware of just your industry's latest jargon. In the fast changing world of technology you have to be conversant with today's and tomorrow's terminology, because your clients may be. The bad thing is that because of the pace of the ever advancing technology, new words are coined every day. The good news is that thanks to the ever advancing technology, it is easier to keep up with it all.

Secondly, small business or not, someone may consider you wealthy and go whaling for you. Which leads to today's good idea...

Be careful out there.