UNDERSTANDING MARKETING IN 2011: INSIDE A TORNADO
If you believe – really believe – in marketing, your time has come. If you are skeptical, your time is about to run out. There is a huge growth window of opportunity for your company in 2011, but it will close quickly if you do not act.
As mentioned in 2010 blogs, the market has radically changed. Brand loyalty is gone. Trust is gone. The bond between your company/products and your customers is gone. You need to rebuild your brand and reestablish your relationships with your customers in 2011. No matter who or what you are, you are starting from scratch. And it does not matter if your company is in a fragile financial state because of the Great Recession. Everyone is.
You need to market. You need to advertise, to expand your web site, create a blog, send news releases to traditional media, send mail and e-mail blasts, hold events and webinars, go meet your customers in person, face to face, motivate your sales force, and on and on.
This is awful news for stagnant old companies. But it is great news for vibrant, energetic companies. It makes me both exhausted and enthused just to think about it. So many forces are at work that it is like operating inside a tornado.
Pent up demand has come to a head. People who can spend are spending again.
In American today, 5% of the market owns over 90% of the nation’s wealth. If you sell luxury goods, that 5% is the only segment you care about, and they can easily afford your products. They have lost value in their homes, but that happened years ago. These are the movers and shakers of our economy. They are ready to move forward in their lives.
As for the other 90%, most have jobs. They are being afraid and careful. But slowly, they are starting to spend again. And that means business.
A large number of people are unemployed. Of course, they are only buying food and the barest of necessities. During 2011, some of them will be able to find work (at long last!) but most will not.
People who can retire already have done so, so there is a big senior market. The baby boom starts retiring this year, and that is a whole new tornado. (The baby boom began in 1945 and lasted 17 years. If you have the right products, you now have a great, captive market. There are 70 million baby boomers!)
And every person in every market is ready for change. If you are an aggressive and intelligent marketer, perhaps they will change to your company or products. This is your chance, and it won’t happen again for a long, long time.
As an economy, we have stopped contracting and started expanding. But we have just begun, and we don’t have as much money or security as we used to have. So every change will be painfully slow for every business and consumer in the USA. Nonetheless, for the first time in years, the window of opportunity has cracked open. Market and make the most of it, and your business will live and thrive. Be timid and cut your marketing budget, and your company will stagnate and die.
It’s frightening. It’s thrilling. It’s capitalism at its best.
Ed Sucherman
THE MARKETING MACHINE