EDWARD S. SUCHERMAN & ASSOCIATES LTD.

Exactly how did we become the USA? Did the world welcome us and throw money at us? Generation after generation has fought its way through every obstacle and every moment since the pilgrims set sail from England. Americans are brilliant, hard working, tough, innovative and courageous.

Above all, courageous.

From the Pioneers in the Colonies to Marines in Afghanistan, Americans on the front lines always had guts.

Now, we need to fight our way out of this jobless recovery. We can only do it together. It sickens me to watch the hateful politicians on both sides in Washington. And much of the Tea Party seems to be the remnants of the Klan. How many liberals and conservatives, blacks and whites, Christians and Jews, northerners and southerners fought together, side by side, and died in their foxholes defending our country and our freedom? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands?

Your neighbor is not the enemy. Fear is the enemy.

I have already laid out a simple, sensible, honest, extremely inexpensive strategy to rebuild trust and gain market share in our current situation (Flipping the Funnel – see my past few blogs on www.edsucherman.com). This is not war. This is not blood and guts. This is just business, the business of understanding and motivating human beings.

A few years from now, the winners will have emerged from this terrible economic period in American history. They will be the ones who had the drive and common sense to act decisively when everyone else was lying in a fetal position, shivering in fear.

The last one with the balls, wins.

IMPORTANT: I HAVE BEEN OVERWHELMED WITH SPAM COMMENTS…1997 RIGHT NOW, THIS MORNING.  I CANNOT ANSWER THESE AND STILL HAVE TIME TO CREATE NEW BLOG ENTRIES.  SO PLEASE FORGIVE ME, BUT I WILL NOT BE ANSWERING COMMENTS ANYMORE.  IF YOU NEED TO CONTACT ME, PLEASE DO SO THROUGH MY WEB SITE AT WWW.EDSUCHERMAN.COM.

Ed Sucherman

The Marketing Machine

www.edsucherman.com

edsucherman@gmail.com

Tags: Uncategorized // 5 Comments »

Dear Readers: This is a continuation of my last blog on Flipping the Funnel.

Yesterday, Joseph Stack, an engineer in Austin, Texas argued with his wife, set his home on fire (neighbors saved his wife and daughter), jumped into his private airplane, and flew directly into an office building that housed an IRS office. He had cracked. He had committed suicide. He had murdered.

Certainly, he had gone crazy. But the most frightening thing to me as a marketer was his suicide note. Though it was full of rage, it also made some compelling points (and believe me, I am not a part of any tea parties). He had grievances against corrupt politicians, the IRS, bankers, corporate executives, the Catholic Church, etc. But he felt that, in the end, violence was the only answer. And violence is never the answer.

Again, I certainly do not condone violence as an answer, ever. Yet without being judgmental or political, but strictly from a business and marketing perspective,  I saw in his anger fabrics of the blankets of frustrations that many millions of Americans are sensing. We see it here in Chicago every moment of every day. They may be out of work or out of their homes or just feeling out of touch and unrepresented, but together, these are the people who make up the great mass market – for most of us, these are our customers and prospects, circa 2010. Hopefully, none of them are this venomous. But almost all are heartbroken. Many feel disrespected, cheated, lied to, and alone. And they are continuing to vote for change – in their everyday purchases.

Brand loyalty? It is long gone. We as a people have been beaten into submission. We only know distrust and feel betrayal from bosses, companies, products, and stores. Americans have been taught by retailers not to buy anything unless it is on sale. Our relentless demand for ever-cheaper prices have driven merchants to buy from ever-cheaper labor markets, especially in China, and forced millions of manufacturing jobs out of our own country. We are caught in a quagmire of our own making. We are confused and out of work and our products are of poor quality and food habits/lifestyles are fattening and our standard of living has evaporated and our great middle class is gone – we are now a have-and-have-not nation, with 95% of us in the have-not category. We are mad as hell – and we’re not going to take this anymore! But we don’t know where to turn.

As marketers, we need to completely rebuild trust.

On the flip side, with so many people seeking change, what an opportunity to gain market share!

To totally rebuild brand loyalty and the sales and revenues that follow it, we marketers need to gain SHARE OF SOUL. This is our number one goal in 2010. And here is how to do it: Flip the Funnel.

I am talking about the sales funnel and the brilliant new book by Joseph Jaffe, Flip the Funnel. Jaffe suggests that instead of pouring all your money and effort into the wide end of the traditional sales funnel (and wind up with a tiny trickle of sales at the bottom), turn the funnel over. Start with your customers, pour your money and efforts into them, make them your champions and missionaries, and let them grow your company through word of mouth. Do you think that there is nothing new here? Yes, there is – the Internet!

Your customers/champions/missionaries, using the Internet, can spread the good word about your company to thousands of prospects, opening a new world of sales and revenue for marketers with the insights and guts to do it.

Note that almost no executives in large companies will have the aforementioned guts.  No one is going to risk his or her career for such a novel and sensible strategy.

Jaffe absolutely obsesses on customer service. For Americans raging over their treatment in the past few years, he insists on delighting them, thrilling them, gabbing them by their souls with products, sincerity (not just talk), and service, service, service. It’s word of mouth in today’s world, for fun and profit.

Does this mean that we marketers should completely ignore traditional media? Of course not. This is not so much a media revolution (that has already happened) as a path and a call to action. It goes deeper and is more fundamental than a marketing gimmick or an ad campaign.

Flipping the sales funnel is an honest and sensible strategy and a solid, sane answer to the enraged nut case that flew a plane into a building, ending it all with sheer violence and taking an innocent IRS employee with him (and injuring 13 more). Devote all your company strategies and focuses to customer satisfaction and brand building. Build champions and missionaries who will, in turn, build your company by spreading the good word through the Internet. Bond with those lost souls who are searching for someone – anyone – who honestly cares about them.

Your strategy is laid out for you. It is simple and clear-cut. Have you got the guts to make the necessary changes and make it happen? If so, you will have a good 2010 and a great 2011, since by then you will own a lot larger share of your market.

IMPORTANT: I HAVE BEEN OVERWHELMED WITH SPAM COMMENTS — 1996 THIS MORNING. I CANNOT ANSWER THESE AND STILL HAVE THE TIME TO CREATE NEW BLOG ENTRIES.  SO PLEASE FORGIVE ME, BUT I WILL NOT BE ANSWERING COMMENTS IN THE FUTURE.  IF YOU NEED TO CONTACT ME, PLEASE DO SO THROUGH MY WEB SITE, AT WWW.EDSUCHERMAN.COM.

Ed Sucherman

THE MARKETING MACHINE

edsucherman@gmail.com

www.edsucherman.com

Tags: Market Share, Marketing Strategy, Share of soul, Uncategorized // 7 Comments »

So, what is happening to our nation?

In Washington, the DNC is meeting and members who are up for re-election are afraid. The Dems have already lost their super-majority in the senate. Here in Illinois, a guy who put a knife to his girl friend’s throat and threatened his ex-wife won the Democratic primary for Lt. Governor. His money won him the primary, but he has no such plan to actually be elected – or to govern if he does. Things in Illinois just have to change!

In Nashville, almost 400 people are paying approx. $500 per plate at the first Tea Party convention to hear Sarah Palin speak (she gets $100,000). In the past couple of days, the stock market has dropped about 250 points and is barely above 10,000. Today, the unemployment rate dropped to 9.7%. Last week, the numbers came out and the economy grew by 5.7% in the last quarter. Haitians are still suffering terribly – it is estimated that the earthquake has killed some 210,000.

Is there a single thread to all this? Perhaps it can be found in the new book, Flip the Funnel, by Joseph Jaffe, an e-mail marketing guru. (More on this later.)

Let us analyze. While the relentless cable news channels – right, left, and center – are pounding pulsating emotions into our heads, the truth is that the nation is continuing to vote for change. Much as I hate their views, this is what the Tea Party is all about. Though it is a Republican sponsored phenomenon, it is not really a Republican movement. It is a movement for change, away from both traditional parties. The Dems are disillusioned, too. They cannot get passionate about a super-gutless super-majority that could not agree on anything. Out with the incumbents! In with change!

The economy is also changing for the better. Much as conservatives hate to admit it, the banks have become stable and we have not fallen into a worldwide depression. And Obama seems very aware of the excess spending he has had to do to accomplish this. He is already moving to fix this latest problem, something Bush never did. No, we will not become another Zimbabwe. As always, the American public is not as dumb as Washington insiders believe. Most Americans know full well that Republicans have blocked Obama’s efforts at every turn. The Republicans cannot dodge their own guilt in the matter – they caused the problem and they are stopping it from being solved. Have you noticed that they are great at putting out a single message, but awful at governing?

So, Americans are voting out the incumbents in both parties. Since there are more Democrats in office, they stand to lose the most. But both parties deserve it.

We marketers are businessmen. We can already see the year forming ahead of us. The economy will grow, but the unemployment rate’s improvement will be painfully slow. Slowly but surely, things are getting better. What’s more, everyone clearly sees the problems now. China and India have grown at our expense, especially China. Our manufacturing sector has been lost to them because they cheat. And their products are destroying us – wallboard in construction, poison in infant formula and dog foods, faulty mechanical parts in Toyota cars, and on and on. (You didn’t hear that the defective parts are from China? You will.) Chinese products are lowering our standard of living and eliminating our manufacturing base. (We need to make American manufacturing companies tax-free. Do it and watch the investments pour in!)

And the oil-rich countries are our blood enemies. We are hooked on their oil and they are our rich and ruthless drug (oil) dealers. We have no choice but to hand them our wealth…until we replace oil, which will happen quickly, if the Republicans don’t block this, too.

It has all become so obvious. American consumers are rebelling. At last!

Meanwhile, Wall Street bonuses are so ridiculous that they have offended, in fact enraged, citizens across our nation. When the economy improves, the market goes down. When bad things happen to our country, stocks go up. I know they are betting on the future…but tell me the truth. Don’t you smell a rat? Or do you still trust the billionaires who work on Wall Street?

Haiti has shown us first hand what a terrible government does in a natural disaster – nothing. Just like ours did after Katrina. It also showed the goodness of Americans.

Back to the single thread: the American people are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take this anymore. This gives me great comfort – never bet against Americans, once they have woken up. Change is in the air. It’s good for us, good for our government, good for our economy, and good for our country.

Marketers: 2010 is going to be a hard year, but a good one. It is an excellent opportunity to regain the trust of your customers, gain market share, and re-build your brand. Instead of pouring money and effort into the wide part of the sales funnel and have it trickle down to sales – mass marketing with little concern for the consumer – start with the small end. That is, start with your customers, pour money and effort into serving their needs, turn them into champions for your company, and grow your business that way. With the Internet, word-of-mouth can instantly reach thousands of people. Flip the funnel, for satisfaction, growth, and profit.

Do you have the guts to do it? If so, I think you can spend a lot less and make a lot more.

IMPORTANT: DEAR READERS, I HAVE BEEN OVERWHELMED WITH SPAM COMMENTS — 1996 THIS MORNING.  I CANNOT ANSWER THESE AND STILL CREATE NEW BLOG ENTRIES.  SO, PLEASE CONTACT ME VIA MY WEB SITE AT WWW.EDSUCHERMAN.COM.  OTHERWISE, I WILL NOT BE ANSWERING YOUR COMMENTS.

THE MARKETING MACHINE

Ed Sucherman

edsucherman@gmail.com

www.edsucherman.com

Tags: Emotions, The Marketing Machine // 12 Comments »

As an employer, it is my guess that you are bewildered about health care. You know and work with your employees each day, and you want to do the best for them and their families. On the other hand, insurance premiums are dramatically and directly harming your business and your ability to compete. On top of all that, you have heard wildly conflicting stories and statistics coming out of Washington. As a nation, we spend the most, by far, on health care and are nowhere near the top in terms of life expectancy and the overall health of our citizens.

My son is an Anesthesiologist and the smartest person I have ever met. He is also my son and does not lie to me. Here is his insight:

· We do indeed have the best health care and medical treatment in the world.

· We die early because of our lifestyles, which are sedentary, and what we eat. If we change our habits, we will live far longer.

So, if you really want to help your employees, encourage them to exercise more often. Perhaps give them bonuses if they lose weight and/or get yearly check-ups. Also, drive them away from the calories, sodium (salt) content, and portion sizes of restaurant meals. Try to motivate them to eat more fish, nuts, fruits, and vegetables.

Their health and longevity will generally improve, doctor and hospital costs will be reduced, and over time, insuring them will cost you less.

It’s not a matter of medicine or insurance plans. It’s a matter of lifestyles and choices.

Ed Sucherman

THE MARKETING MACHINE

edsucherman@gmail.com

www.edsucherman.com

Tags: Uncategorized // 11 Comments »

Christmas sales, 2009: It appears to be soundly up from last year, 3.5% nationally, and more profitable. All those unbelievable deals weren’t discounted that much, after all. That’s good news for small business and our economy.

Better yet, stores did not order as much this year. Instead, they cleaned out a lot of their inventory. That means jobs in the near future.  Every marketer should take a close look at Apple, which had a huge Christmas with high prices and without any discounts.  This was/is the result of great marketing, great web sites, great products (not just i-Pods), great design, and an overwhelming and pervasive company-wide focus on Mac customers.

Economists are predicting a much stronger retail environment in the second half of 2010. And up to an 8% growth rate for the year. Temper that with a painfully slow job market.

There is more. As the inventory of homes starts to clear out, housing and new home construction seem to be slowly starting back up. And housing prices also seem to be on the rise, albeit very slowly. And the Fed is keeping interest rates, including mortgage rates, extremely low.

So, things are turning around before our eyes. Unless you are unemployed, of course.

Now, I am looking forward to seeing what our government will do with China. If they continue to manipulate their currency, should we continue our trade with them unabated? Not that we can easily stop it, since almost anything you buy is manufactured in China. I think that is affecting our nation, as poor quality goods arrive in our ports each day. That makes for a lowered standard of living. Thank you, Wal-Mart.

Like all Americans, I am also anxious to see how the above will affect the 2010 election. With an economy improving, health care about to be passed, and one of two wars ending, plus the never-ending change in our national demographics (we are fast becoming a non-white majority), I don’t think the Republicans should begin cheering quite yet. I also see the Republicans splitting into two parties – one of intelligent fiscal conservatives and one of former KKK members. I would not be surprised to see a third party in 2012.

And for us marketers? We need to be consumed with the changing status of American consumers. There are a lot of fearful people out there, not really understanding all this change – in demographics, politics, terrorism, Middle Eastern oil and Mexican drug wars, the increased competition with India and China, Wall Street, unemployment, family values, the aging population, the global economy, climate change, the Internet, etc. Trust is a thing of the past. In our local marketing efforts, we need to address consumer fears and rebuild bonds of trust with our customers.

People are battered and bruised, but they are still people.

Happy New Year.

Tags: Uncategorized // 7 Comments »

This is a bit off my marketing focus, but it very much affects business:

One of the big issues in health care that both parties agree upon (!!!) is our need to change from a system that pays physicians for patient visits to one that pays for keeping them healthy. Ditto, teachers tied to test scores. I am thinking, and I’ll bet you are, too, that perhaps merit pay might apply to all American workers, from manual laborers to professionals and top executives.

In Hollywood, crews, directors, producers, writers and stars are now hired by the movie. They used to be under contract to a studio. And guess what? Everyone is making more than ever, including the studios (sans permanent overhead). I believe that the films and performances are better than ever.

In China, Japan, and Singapore, the highest performing students are selected for upper level education and training as early as ten years old. Should we be doing the same? Am I spouting Ayn Rand? I am a lifelong bleeding heart liberal Democrat. Have I forgotten about the underachievers? What happens to them?

I have no answers, just questions.

How would the system work? Would it be like Wall Street, where stockbrokers are paid a minimal wage until the end of the year – and then receive outrageous bonuses based strictly on performance, as dictated by the numbers? That would not be a bad system at all. It would allow every employee to get by and reward those who do the best jobs. For years, raises or bonuses for most us have been a small percentage of our regular pay. Maybe it is time to change. Certainly, such a system would jack up our nation’s performance in all areas.

What about factory jobs? Performance in that case would need to be based upon team performance and success. Again, this is not a bad thing in theory. Do you think it would work well in practice? How would you bonus only the best guy on the assembly line? If everyone is paid the same, we have socialism and proven failure.

Would a marketing man like myself be paid according to company sales? But we don’t make the final sales – that’s basing our pay on a significant variable that we cannot control. What about a retail store sales clerk? Isn’t much of his or her performance based upon the traffic driven to the store by the marketing department? What about intangibles, like brand building, image, identity, or positioning? What role does pricing have in sales? Or quality? Or package design?

Would lawyers only be paid if they won? Right now, they are paid according to the amount of business they bring into the firm and the number of hours they can bill. What is best — and more important, what is right?

What about those unable to perform? I mean, individuals who are mentally, emotionally, or physically challenged? Certainly, merit pay would favor the educated and experienced and end most age discrimination. That would be nice, not to mention fair. But who ever said life, or capitalism, is fair?

Would merit pay favor kids who went to the top colleges? Would there be a special bonus for the person who just graduated from Harvard, vs. the person from a Junior College. There probably should be – guaranteed, the Harvard student has worked longer and harder to get into and through that school. Or should that person have to prove him or herself in the real world?  Would this all lead to a European-type aristocracy, the kind America fought a Revolutionary War and a Civil War to eliminate?

And what about aesthetics? How does one put a number on excellent art or music or dance or design or writing? Life isn’t all left brained.

Merit pay is a revolutionary way of thinking that would change our culture, our economy, and your business.

Any ideas?

Ed Sucherman

THE MARKETING MACHINE

edsucherman@gmail.com

www.edsucherman.com

Tags: Uncategorized // 7 Comments »

I’m not certain where I heard it, but I heard it last week. It was a quote from some famous person. The question was: Which is more important – your character or your reputation? The answer was: Your character. Your reputation is what other people think of you. Your character is who you really are.

As we marketers slowly and painfully begin to recover from the Great Recession, we need to reflect on what has happened in the past two years, when the chips were really down. Management – our wealthy bosses – tended to react with fear. En masse, they fired their most valuable employees (who were most loyal, experienced, and expensive), tossing quality and service out the door. They stopped almost all expenditures, including their marketing budgets. They cheapened their products.

In short, they listened to their CFOs. They forgot that their companies were founded and grown by entrepreneurs and inventors, driven and fearless men and women with the same courage and bravado that won war after war and weathered a Great Depression (as well as many recessions). These were true leaders who created jobs by the thousands, trained and cherished their best employees, and built the greatest economy and standard of living the world had ever seen. Yes, they were greedy and selfish, but you cannot begin to honestly compare their morals to our current Wall Street and banking executives. Compared to our current economic “leaders,” they were Saints.

Today, those managers (not counting the financial industry) whose companies are still in business face near-impossible challenges. Their market shares have drastically eroded, their customer loyalty is gone, their employees are less productive and not necessarily in alignment with their corporate cultures, their health insurance has gone up, not down, even as they fired their most trusted and reliable employees, and whomever is left has seen what happened and has no trust in or sense of loyalty to their company.

Meanwhile, these CEOs and Presidents are lunching right now with their CFOs and toasting them for their great financial leadership the past two years. Unless, of course, they have stepped back and reflected on the decisions they made, based upon the recommendations of those CFOs.

In these cases, they are firing their CFOs.

It is time for American businesses to get back to basics and start seriously marketing their products again. They need to reinstate all that was great about their companies before they retreated in fear. They need to reinstate service policies. Find a way to regain the loyalty of their employees. Start hiring for quality again. Raise – that’s right – raise prices so that everyone can begin to earn a fair profit and have a solid income again. We marketers need to communicate this to American consumers, who are struggling financially yet have pent-up demands for old-fashioned quality and service. Retailers need to demand quality from their vendors and suppliers, which pretty much eliminates Chinese goods. Let BUY AMERICAN mean BUY QUALITY again.

Marketers have huge opportunities to gain market share by gaining share of trust. And they have new vehicles – websites, e-newsletters, webinars, blogs, forums, social media, i-pods, cell phones, etc. – as well as traditional ones, so that they can communicate with both mass markets and individual shoppers. It’s a marketing person’s dream come true.

Yes, over the next few years, we will be coming back as marketers and Americans. We will be rebuilding a robust middle class. But this time, let’s not forget the character and core values that built our great nation. Let our reputation not be based upon pure greed. Let it be based upon character – who we really are.

“If we could do it all over again, knowing what we know today…” Well, we can. This is our chance.

PS: I HAVE GOTTEN A HUGE RESPONSE TO THIS BLOG.  PLEASE CHECK OUT MY MANY OTHER BLOGS AT WWW.EDSUCHERMAN.COM.

IMPORTANT: I HAVE BEEN OVERWHELMED WITH SPAM COMMENTS — TODAY, I HAVE 1995 TO ANSWER.  THIS DOES NOT ALLOW ME TO CREATE NEW BVLOG ENTRIES.  SO PLEASE FORGIVE ME, BUT I WILL NOT BE ANSWERING YOUR COMMENTS FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE.  PLEASE CONTACE ME VIA MY WEB SITE AT WWW.EDSUCHERMAN.COM.

Ed Sucherman

THE MARKETING MACHINE

edsucherman@gmail.com

www.edsucherman.com

Tags: Fear, Great Recession, Market Share, Websites // 591 Comments »

2010 is 4 weeks away

It’s been several weeks since I have written a blog entry. Frankly, I had exhausted all my optimism. Unemployment had risen to 10.2% and I knew better – it was more like 17%. I hurt for my peers and fellow Americans. I knew that no serious economic recovery was coming for marketers until jobs recovered. I was bummed.

Then, yesterday, came the news: 11,000 filed for new unemployment last month and unemployment was reduced to 10%., the first reduction in two years. That’s still a loss of 11,000 – and terrible for those 11,000 families – but it signals that the job recovery is on. 11,000 is a lot better than the 750,000 that confronted Obama just 10 months ago, when he took office.

What’s more, the President is now focusing on creating jobs. Not the banks – that is done. (Who knows? The bastards — I’m sorry, bankers — may even start lending to small businesses again soon!) Not Middle East wars – that decision has now been made. Not healthcare – the crazy and bitterly divided senate is now fighting over those details, and it is out of the President’s hands. Not climate change – for the sane, that debate has ended.

Jobs.

You can bet that we will be seeing a growth – that’s right, growth – in employment all through 2010, starting in January or February. And living through a comeback is a lot more fun than the opposite!

Marketers – expect an unusual Christmas, with lots of sales and little profit, due to price reductions. But also expect that next year, your efforts will begin to pay off. And for those of you who have been marketing this whole time, congratulations. You now own a larger share of the market, and your comeback will be faster and larger than your competitors.

For those companies who were driven by fear and took the easy way out during the recession, by letting your CFO fire expensive and valuable employees (especially just prior to your CFO going to the bank for loans), you are in deep do-do. You probably don’t even know it, but you bet against America and lost (you always will when you bet against America). You no longer have the trained employees you need to attract and keep new business in 2010. And you have lost market share, as well as the trust of your customers, your industry, and your staff. Best of luck – you listened to disconnected number crunchers, not historians and marketers, and you will now pay the price…if you are still in business. Look into a mirror and say out loud, “A fool and his money are soon parted.”

“Wait,” you are thinking. “Things will get worse soon enough. The recovery will not hold up. Soon, we will see an economic collapse.” Keep reading Forbes. The rest of us need to get back to earth now.

Yes, for the rest of us, 2010 is going to be a great year, with a painfully slow job recovery, but a recovery nonetheless. And we can look forward to a long period of sustained economic growth. An improving economy helps everyone – like in the stock market, a rising tide lifts all boats.

Ed Sucherman

THE MARKETING MACHINE

edsucherman@gmail.com

www.edsucherman.com

Tags: Fear, Market Share // 8 Comments »

We may officially be out of the Great Recession, but it is downright depressing out there! Our nation’s unemployment rate is officially 10.2%, but we all know better. If you include those who have stopped looking for work, that number becomes 17.5%. Add in part time workers and people earning half or less than they used to earn, and I am guessing the real rate is about 25%. This makes me angry at our government, our business leaders (though we certainly have not seen much leadership from them), the Chinese and Indians and others with slave labor-level, low-cost labor markets…and heartbroken for my fellow Americans, the hardest working, most dedicated, talented, innovative people in the world, people who can do their jobs better than anyone else on earth, and who are out of work.

Here in Chicago, the city has just lost two enormous conventions and an estimated $54 million that they brought to the city. Why? Because the unions at McCormack Place were simply too greedy. The shows cost much more to hold here than in Orlando. I am in favor of the unions, as they prevent employer abuses against employees and allow the middle class to thrive, with good, solid jobs. But obviously, unions can also go too far.

Then I read that MacDonald’s, the most sophisticated and successful fast food organization in the universe, is busy preparing for the RECOVERY. They are building 1,000 new restaurants in the USA in 2010. What do they know that we don’t?

Well, history, for one thing. In the last recession, it took over two years for employment to reach pre-recession levels. It could take longer this time. But the important thing to understand is that, slow as it seems to all of us, things are getting better. We are a vibrant economy and a brilliant populace – our best universities are still the best in the world – and our economic system allows us to start new businesses, even if our last ones failed. In fact, it encourages it.

A couple of articles ago, I wrote that the American economy was not built by tax lawyers, CFO’s, stockbrokers, and financial advisors. When unregulated, that group just brought the entire world’s economy to the brink of destruction. The people who created our great businesses were inventors and entrepreneurs — fearless and inspiring motivators. Man, could we use a few more of them right now.

But as always, it seems that if you want anything done right, you need to do it yourself. Rather than look around for courage and leadership, I believe we need to look inside ourselves. Each of us.

In the past eight years, I am ashamed to say that our long, grueling, bloody wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been fought not by our entire country, but by 150-200,000 soldiers and their families. These few (compared to nearly 350 million in all) have returned to the Middle East in tour after tour. The rest of us have complained, but not done any fighting, or dying.

Just after Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill spoke before Congress about the gall and audacity of the Japanese military, who were betting that the American and British publics were timid and afraid of their armed forces and would simply give up. “What kind of a people do they think we are?” Churchill shouted. Over the next four years, the Japanese and Germans would find out.

It’s time for us to stand up and be counted again, to take risks, to start new businesses. Boomers: let those HR departments and companies who would not even glance at our resumes because we were too old, compete with us. We have come back from recessions many times before, and MacDonald’s knows that we will come back again.

And here, in the home of the brave, marketing needs to lead the way. Marketing drives sales; sales drive revenues; revenues drive business growth; and business growth drives employment. It all starts with marketing and marketing starts with courageous leaders, tough and smart fighters, not spoiled and fearful rich-kids-gown-up and greedy number crunchers run amuck.

For the last couple of years, the American middle class has been relegated to the role of the victim, the punching bag of Wall Street, CFOs, greedy executives, China, India, and the world’s oil rich nations. Does anyone really think we are going to remain victims forever? We did not just create the best army the world has ever known – we created the world’s greatest economy and the world’s best inventors, entrepreneurs, and marketers. None of these came from a weak people, but from a middle class that was and is tough as nails.

To those who have taken full advantage of us and kicked Americans when we have been down, I say: Come on – hop back into the ring with the American people, if you dare. Because now, you have awakened the sleeping economic giant. Let the recovery begin with marketing in the home of the free and the brave.

Ed Sucherman

THE MARKETING MACHINE

edsucherman@gmail.com

www.edsucherman.com

Tags: Great Recession // 31 Comments »

My last article discussed selling to the changing face if the baby boom in 2010.  This time, I want to concentrate on other demographic groups.

The baby boom began in 1946 and lasted 17 years, until 1963.  They were followed by Generation X – the Yuppies themselves.  This group is even more materialistic than the baby boom.  Also, they can be quite sheltered.  I will never forget when my niece, who was magna cum laude at Michigan (suma cum laude in her field) and then went on to NYU law school, said to me, “You mean Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?”  She also did not know the name, work, or history of Leonardo da Vinci.

But man, has she made money as a lawyer!  And she married a lawyer.  How has the Great Recession changed her and her spending habits?  Her portfolio losses have horrified her.  She will not buy anything she feels is un-cool.  No Hummer for her…but a BMW? Anytime.  Greed is out and opulence is out and ostentatious behavior is out.  But she buys strictly quality.  She knows about unemployed Americans, but does not deeply empathize with their suffering the way I do.  She is able to focus on her work, her children, and her husband and block out most everything else.  She will continue to spend (she is currently remodeling her entire home) because she does not believe this could ever happen to her.  And I think she is right about that.  She continues to prioritize her and her family’s health, education, prestige, professional reputation, and so on.  For her, healthcare comes first (and remember, 85% of all healthcare decisions are made by women).  She cares about climate change and is conservative about her fashion.  She buys gold, not designer, jewelry.  Drives luxury foreign cars.  Has traditional tastes.  Rarely looks at art.  She knows she has a lot, but she still wishes she had more. Quietly.

The next general demographic group is Generation Y.  By and large, in 2010, these people will have not yet reached the career heights of Generation X.  They are also not quite as materialistic or as well educated.  They are the ones who will be buying new and smaller homes, buying smaller cars (they cannot afford hybrids, shopping at Wal-Mart and not understanding that getting it – or caring – that discount buying is putting their neighbors (or themselves) out of work, because cheap comes from foreign labor, usually from Asia.  They are the great mass of consumers who are deep in debt and will be spending less and really struggling through the Great Recovery.  More women are working in this group, and men completely understand it – most have grown up with it.

Between teenagers (always market to them with energy) and Generation Y is the Echo Boom, the children of the Baby Boomers.  These people will lead the construction recovery.  They will be purchasing apartments or condos near trains and public transportation, in urban infill sites.  These young, hopeful, recent college grads will buy blue jeans for home and appropriate clothing for work. They will eat a lot of fast food, yet they are well aware of healthful alternatives.  No smoking, no gas guzzlers – but they will consumer plenty of beer at their parties.  They will buy all the newest, coolest electronics.  They are the future of our nation, and they are emotionally caught between their ideals and dreams and the brute cruelty of reality.  Their plans have been altered but not shredded by the Great Recession.  Careers, life, and children are yet ahead of them.  Their parents were Hippies who turned into the worst materialists.  They are much more spoiled but not as idealistic as their parents.  They anticipate good treatment on their first jobs, quick rewards for hard work, and more time off for enjoying life.  Work ends at 5 PM and does not start again until 9 AM.  Of course, all this may change with time.  But now, they do not demand good service or good quality, like their parents, but they certainly demand good treatment.  Their optimism is severely tempered by the lack of jobs as they come out of college in 2010.  Many service companies are “hiring” Echo Boomers  part time or as apprentices – for little or for free. They are also sensitive to their parents, who have their own job and financial problems. They have little or no family financial backup, so they have no choice but to be frugal.  They will frequently avoid health insurance and put off marriage and children, because their financial situations are so frightening.

This brings us back to fear.  I cannot emphasize this enough: as you present your marketing messages to your customers, keep in mind that they are full of fear.  Show them strength, confidence, leadership, empathy, and fearlessness.  As you know from my last article, I also feel that every company needs to emphasize trust in 2010.  And they had better mean it – talk alone will not re-establish the bond of trust, as Americans are way too skeptical to be toyed with, especially in banks and financial services.  This also means opportunity.  People trust no one, so they have no brand loyalty…so it is the perfect time to market aggressively and gain market share.

LATER: A great way to finish this article is by quoting an article that appeared last Sunday in Parade Magazine.  It agreed with me (my last two articles) on every count and gave numbers based on a national Parade poll:  79% of Americans have felt the impact of the downturn; 33% said it had a major impact on their lives; 80% were forced to do more with less; 61% said they did everything right and still lost (lack of trust!!); 71% feel they have been betrayed by their government; 76% will never trust investments the way they used to.  At the same time, basic values are changing — “creating a meaningful life” and “giving back” have become important to 68%; 83% are reconsidering what they actually need in life; 52% are forming stronger bonds with spouses.  Meanwhile, a new Parade demographic, “Anxious Moms” (the old soccer moms) “spend their time making ends meet” and are having marital problems.

Changes, and opportunities, are in the air. Keep your hands on the pulse of your market in 2010 – your business depends upon it.  It’s a great time to be a marketer.

Ed Sucherman

The Marketing Machine

edsucherman@gmail.com

www.edsucherman.com

Tags: Demographic change, Fear, Market Share // 4 Comments »