The Puget Sound Chapter of American Marketing Association held an interesting panel discusion this week on "How to Recession-Proof Your Brand". Despite this somewhat presumptuous title, there were several points that I found valuable nuggets of insight.
1. Now is the time to be authentic and consistent with your brand promise. There are two key points here. The first is to avoid the temptation to dilute or cheapen your brand image with promotional incentives that might damage the brand when the economy rebounds. The example cited was Macy's which has run 40% to 70% off on every item in their store for the past two months. The Macy's brand has always been about value, not low prices. Special sales are a retail mainstay, but I believe that they are approaching a point where many customers will be hesitant to pay regular price ever again. The second point is to avoid any overpromise as a way to entice new customers. As I have said in previous posts, today's consumers are unforgiving if they feel they have been duped, and the internet gives everyone a forum to express their disappointment.
2. Now is the time to focus on your unique market niche and deepen customer relationships with your brand. This doesn't mean you shouldn't explore new revenue streams, it simply means you should focus on what you do best and avoid trying to be something you are not really good at being. This is a good time to read Chris Anderson's book The Long Tail, if you haven't already. His hypothesis that the future of business is to develop and own small niches could never be more important than now. We live in an over-choiced world. It's best to stick with what you do well than venture too far afield.
3. Now is the time to make sure all of your brand communications are consistent with your brand image, and the first place to look is your web site. Joe LaPla made an excellent point when he said that "the web site is the front door to your brand." In today's wired marketplace, the internet is the first place most people will go to make decisions about your brand's benefits and quality. A poor web site can destroy customer confidence and potential sales. I continue to see too many companies (especially small ones) with an inadequate web presence. Last week, I interviewed a new CPA on the recommendation of someone I trust. My first step was to look for his web site to make my own evaluation and discovered that he didn't have one. When I met him, I asked why he didn't have a web site and he said that he does most of his business on referral. When I told him that I almost cancelled the meeting because he didn't have a web site despite the referral recommendation, he was shocked. But he also asked me to refer a web development company to build him a site.
4. Now is the time to be your promise on the inside and the outside. People will ultimately make the difference between success or failure regardless of economic conditions, but now is the time to arm everyone on your staff (in every department) of the importance of delivering the brand promise everytime they interact with customers, or anyone for that matter. As a new business consultant, I advise my clients that everyone on staff is part of the new business team. They must be armed with a knowledge of the company positioning strategy and brand promise. And they must be committed to living up to that promise any time and every time they have the opportunity.
One final thought was expressed by all panelists -- a recession is an opportunity to strengthen your brand and emerge in a better position than your competitors if you do the right things. One example cited by Ted Leonhardt is the case of Hornall Anderson, an excellent local design firm that continued to aggressively market themselves during the 2001 economic slowdown and now enjoy a strong leadership position.
As one panelist said, 2009 can be a time of opportunity or calamity. The choice is yours!
