ZDO Blog
The "Old Tried and True" isn't working so well this year. Is it? Part 2
In Part 1 of this blog, I likened marketing and advertising to your financial investments. Perhaps a more accurate likeness would be an investment portfolio, because the job of marketing directors is to work with their brand managers and agencies to manage the portfolio of marketing and advertising services to best enable growth in the company’s value.
Here’s where I want to begin Part 2, then.
In a less-than-perfect economy, if you have money, and are making money, and you aren’t in any real danger of losing everything, while tightening your belt may not be unadvisable, it would be in your best interest to keep funding the very instrument that will be your sustenance in the coming years, would it not? Because the moment you stop funding your investments, they stop growing, and oftentimes, the opposite occurs.
The key to ultra-successful brand marketing is summed up in one word. Momentum. And the momentum you’ve been developing for years is like that rubber tree in your sunroom. You’ve got to keep watering it, and you have to keep it in the sun in order for the leaves to stay green. Similarly, your brand needs to be constantly fed (or funded) and kept in the light in order to perform and to maintain its momentum. The minute you pull your brand from the light, you have lost momentum. You’ve lost the attention of the public that you spent years trying to attain. You’ve lost your spot.
If there is one thing that I would tell brand managers and marketing directors who are struggling or whose companies have drastically reduced their budgets in this economy, it would be to tighten your belt, if you need to—a little—but do not allow your brand to slip out of momentum, because there will be companies—perhaps even competitors who will not allow themselves to lose momentum and will pass you by. Keep funding the marketing efforts that will keep your brand in front of the very public that will support your brand. Become a smarter shopper, yes, but don’t stop buying!
In Part 3, I’ld like to offer a couple different marketing strategies that perhaps you haven’t thought about, or perhaps don’t know much about. But be assured that it’s the companies that are daring to persist, even in a soft economy, that are going to stay top of mind with their public and will maintain the highest level of brand loyalty. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Bryon D. Zimmerman, CEO
24.03.2009. 12:43
I believe it was the former president of a large automotive group who said that customers like it when service workers smile cordially. But, he added, if you fail to provide what you promise a consumer, when you promised it, all the smiles in the world won't make them happy. In other words, customer service begins with performance--consistent performance. Cordiality is important, but it's really more the frosting than the cake.
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