Economy coming out of recession… are you?

There are indications that the world is slowly coming out of recession and companies globally are hoping to regain lost momentum. India, in fact, has outperformed predictions and is looking at a robust growth in 2010-11. While some may not, most companies will manage to survive this slowdown and some may actually come out stronger!

This does not sound very surprising if you look at some fundamental stuff that companies do, or should do, in a slowdown. Any company that engages in consolidating its market share and focuses on long term goals during a slowdown, is actually taking a step forward rather than cutting back.

So what type of companies will come out stronger? What do you need to do so that your business too improves with improving market conditions? Here’s my list;

Value proposition – Additional value offered to customers, rather than discounting price, will not only keep them motivated to be loyal but also help in retaining your margins and increasing your goodwill.

Costs vs. efficiency – Most of the focus is obviously on cutting costs, but there is a real danger of losing your competitive edge if you stop or marginalize activities that affect your customers’ overall experience. Many companies that stop marketing completely are at a risk of losing their ground; the focus should rather be on improving marketing efficiency.

Engagement with customers – Only your customers can tell you if they are, and how much they are likely to use your product or service. Market conditions for you will improve only when your customers’ confidence improves, so discuss these broader issues with them.

Efficiency analysis – Review various business functions and run marketing analytics to fill holes that may be causing leaks in your resource pool.

Manage relationships – It is very important that your vendors do not run out of business and your employees don’t lose motivation during trying times. You will need them to gain momentum once the markets are looking up.

R&D and innovation – Some amount of resources can be moved to research and innovation. For instance, you may not spend so much on sales and promotion and instead channel some of these resources to develop new capabilities or improve on existing ones.

Marketing for Social Change!

There are very few avenues in media and advertising that remain untapped today. Penetrating through the clutter of marketing messages and the mess thus created, is challenging than ever before.

It’s great to have a niche product to sell, for you can plan targeted campaigns and precise messages. Reaching out to a wider audience… now that is a real challenge! Take for instance the telecom industry, or insurance, or consumer goods… You cannot get away without spending top $ if you are to create any impact in the market.

Competition has forced marketers to move from creating simple & clear messages, highlighting real benefits & value that their products create… these days it’s about creating messages that hook the audience, at times even coarse them into paying attention!

The marketing buzzword these days – ‘innovative’; it’s mostly about doing the same things differently, using relatively newer communication platforms.

So what’s next? I say Social Change! Think about it, there is an endless supply of social problems, especially in India… poverty, crime, disease, health care, education, energy… everything is a challenge here. Take one of these issues, create a small sample base, resolve their issue and harp about it everywhere… you found a potential solution to a real problem, you helped some people and you got to talk about it…

But was the money well spent in marketing terms?

If your objective was to be heard and talked about… yes

If your objective was to create goodwill… yes

If your objective was to create new customers… yes

If your objective was to create loyalty among existing ones… yes

Besides, your story is worth carrying, so many in the media will… think of the potential savings on media spends

Although, this can’t be a short term strategy, but a directional change… towards creating a framework of ideas for sustainable business and social development.

Idea Cellular’s ‘what an Idea Sirji’ campaign is an example, but not a good one… it’s just an advertising campaign, a pointer to future direction? maybe… no real value created so far!

But there are others… many entrepreneurs are building businesses & products for social change. Be it clean energy, or affordable day to day solutions for the rural and poor, everything is being done… Aiming to be a social entrepreneur is an almost definite success story, right from the start.

And what is the marketing strategy there? Have a good heart and common sense!

Saurabh Shroff