Corina’s Concerns Be lowly wise, think only what concerns thee and thy being.– John Milton, Paradise Lost

Briefly put, there are two main schools of thought in terms of managing a company in times of recession: survivalism and forethought.

Survivalism means steering the company through the recession with a steel hand on costs, and a focus on keeping the company afloat despite the economic troubles.

Forethought entails management with a post-recession goal in mind. The company assumes survival and focuses on keeping the level of resources and assets (mostly intangible) constant throughout the recession, so it can leverage its superior position at the end of the downturn.

With respect to marketing, the survivalist company will retrench: cut marketing budgets (and staff), refocus what little money remains from branding campaigns to purchase incentive campaigns, price promotions, and other tactics that impact the bottom line more directly and immediately. Survivalists switch to predominantly push, vs. pull strategies and hope to weather the storm with as little investment in marketing as possible. (Even to the point of none)

Foretought recognizes the value of the brand, understands that once out of a customer’s evoked set of products or brands, reentry is amazingly hard, and that without maintaining it, the efforts invested in the past will be largely eclipsed, because the brand equity will erode and at the end of the recession, the brand will be in a weak competitive position.

At a first glance, the second strategy seems more intelligent, and indeed, many marketing thinkers (e.g. Laura Ries) recommended it. However, the survivalists also have a point: what if at the end of the recession, you still have brand recognition, but no company, or no people to deliver on the values of the brand?

The key, then, is to strike a balance. And that’s where the real work of the marketer begins.

Posted under Marketing vibes

A few days ago, prior to the big Steelers vs. Ravens game that I know about because some of my American friends on FB are fans ( I can’t tell American football from rugby – or mashed potatoes for that matter, except that some players look hot, definitely hotter than New Zealanders doing some tribal dance in all-black outfits), the Mayor of Pittsburgh changed his name from Ravenstahl to Steelerstahl (since the Ravens are the rival Baltimore team, and the Steelers the local idols). This gutsy move (which is, as far as I can see, temporary) earned him a lot of positive coverage, including a spot on the Yahoo home page.

The recognition is enormous. Think about it. Even here in Romania, someone has heard and wrote about him. I can only guess what levels of sympathy he has garnered in his home town. Wonder if he’s up for re-election?

I’d like to meet his PR guy. He deserves congrats.

Posted under Marketing vibes, PRealities

If you’re in marketing or PR, chances are you’ll be working with at least one agency, at least once. Heck, it’s part of the job description. Whether that agency is providing you with creative services, media buying, event or PR services, there are 5 things a good agency should do for you. If they don’t, ask them to. And if they still don’t, change them. I can recommend a few

1. Insight

Your agency should provide you with insight. By default, they’ve had more exposure to the ins and outs of their specific field, and they should be able to guide you. For example, I was recently organizing an event to open a new premise, and it was my agency that guided me on start times (I was thinking of a different hour, which was Bucharest-appropriate, but not necessarily appropriate in that particular city.) They advised me on press gifts (what is customary there, what would be best received) and the timing of the food service. This is not rocket science, it’s just insight into how people act (and react) in specific circumstances. But it can make or break an event.

2. Competence

A good rule of thumb is that your agency should know more than you. If it doesn’t, you’re in for a rough time. For example, you can’t become a marketer without knowing at least the basics of media buying, understanding some measurement, and some terms. Your agency should be way beyond that. The merest junior should know more about all of these things than you, or your whole department combined. You are trusting your brand, and a whole lot of money to your media agency, and you’re relinquishing a lot of control over the audience for your message. They’d better be competent to handle it, from the strategic to the execution. They should be able to see flaws, if the campaign is not gelling correctly, they should be able to balance frequency and visibility for your messages, and they should be able to see what you want, rather than what you ask for. This leads me to the next must:

3. Creative execution

Few marketers or communicators are excellent in any one, let alone all, the skills needed to conduct good marketing activities. Sometimes, you have vision, but you have no idea how that vision can be executed. This is what your agency should do for you: take that vision, and turn it into actionable material. If your vision is for quirkiness and unconventional media, the agency should translate that into fact. They should scout unusual opportunities, create some new ones, integrate them and deliver on your vision creatively. If you come up with a concept for a design, your agency should be able to deliver a design that embodies your message, and incorporates your requirements without compromising their creativity and design knowledge (which is, or should be, as per point 2, superior to yours).

4. Reach

It’s not difficult to explain this one, although it has a double meaning. Your agency should be able to tap into a pool of contacts, suppliers, media outlets, journalist etc. that is much wider and more diverse than yours. In addition to its wider reach, your agency should be able to actually reach the people you need: contact them, and get them to act or to respond in ways you cannot.

5. Strategy

If needed, they should be able to strategize on your behalf. If that is not needed, that they should understand your strategic imperatives, and make sure that their part of the campaign, event or project, is in alignment with those objectives you set forth. The biggest fault of an agency is being an island, where all it needs to do is respond straightforwardly to client requests. If you communicate your strategy, your strategic concerns, and your strategic constraints to the agency, it should be able to work to accomplish them.

I am fortunate that all the agencies I work with meet these 5 requirements. And how could they not, when they employ this caliber of people.

Posted under Marketing vibes