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Welcome to the first issue of The Marketing Source e-newsletter! Our
goal is to provide you with real-world marketing tips that you can put
right to work in your organization or business. If you have any ideas
for articles, please send them along.
Lessons Learned from Hurricanes
It's been five weeks since Hurricane Katrina pummeled Louisiana and
just days since Hurricane Rita cruelly doused us with even more wind
and rain. As residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, we are storm weary,
wind blown and beaten up. But we know that we are also very, very lucky;
our homes are in good shape, and our lives are returning to a more "normal" pace.
But, it's a new normal, and the old "normal" seems like a distant
memory.
Watching our friends, neighbors and families pick themselves up and
brush themselves off, enroll their kids in new schools far from home,
buy new houses and restart businesses is an education. Years hence we
will all sit around and talk with the certainty of twenty-twenty hindsight
about what should have been done and could have been done. But is there
anything we can really do to prepare ourselves for a storm of this magnitude?
Categorically, absolutely, no questions asked - yes. Here it is: no matter
what the storm is - personal, financial, competitive, natural or man-made
- we need a back-up plan or at least a way out.
Media Storm
Without warning, you could find yourself and your organization in the
middle of a situation that attracts media attention. What if a product
malfunctions and causes injury? What if someone is hurt on the job or
a key staff member is in legal trouble? What if a client sues you? It
might be unforeseeable and not your fault - someone drives their car
through your office or there is a fire in your building. It may not even
be negative. What if you have an overwhelming response to an event or
activity? Lots of clients tell us "this will never happen to us," but
the reality is you just don't know.
The only way to be prepared for a crisis - good or bad - is to plan
ahead. Brainstorm with your team to unearth all the crises that could
affect your company and what you would do to respond to those crises.
Know in advance who will be your media point person, and your spokesperson.
Then create talking points so you know in advance what you will say to
buy time and divert the media storm away from your company. Be prepared
to talk about what action you are taking and when you will be able to
provide more information. In an emergency, you may not have access to
your computers and offices. Know how you will contact the media and who
is responsible for up-to-date contact information. Also know how to contact
your suppliers, customers and employees in case you need to get news
to them.
Competitive Storm
A competitor has moved into your territory, threatening your space with
a snappy new ad campaign. You should be doing something - anything -new
just to show them, right? You need to protect yourself and your livelihood.
After all you were here first.
Guess what? Your competitor doesn't care. They want a piece of the proverbial
pie. Competition can be scary, but don't panic. Remember when your mom
told you to count to ten before you yelled at your sister, talked-back
to a teacher or generally lost your temper? Don't act simply to react.
Before you place a random ad, invest in new creative or buy media you
can't afford, go back and read your marketing plan (assuming you've read
our web site and know that you need a marketing plan). Study it, find
the strategies and tactics you have already mapped out and invest in
those. Then figure out what new strategies, territories you could pursue
that will allow you to grow, expand and leap-frog your competitor in
a manner that makes sense for your company and doesn't compromise your
mission, budget and long-term goals. By all means act, but only after
you think.
Brainstorm
You have an idea and it's great. You were up all night. Today you will
tell everyone in your office to hit the ground running. Brainstorms provide
our most creative, out-of-the-box thinking. However, they also need some
perfecting. Architects always draw blueprints, artists draw in chalk
or pencil before committing paint to canvas, and sculptors make small
versions to perfect their grandiose visions.
We all need to work out our ideas with a pencil and eraser before committing
ink to paper and, more importantly, before committing valuable resources.
The real brilliance of your brainstorm may not truly emerge until you've
wrestled with your staff, worked out the kinks and reformed your light
bulb moment into something that may barely resemble your original idea.
The trick is to have enough flexibility in your organization and confidence
in your team to let them help you make a good idea great.
You never know what will happen next. That's the beauty of marketing
and business. One thing you can be sure of: it's a lot easier to deal
with the unexpected when you have already thought through the worst-case
scenarios and have planned for them.
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