Marketing & the “R” word.

As the world is facing “Recession”, India and Indian economy is no different.  However it might be time for us to make the most of it by channelizing marketing in the right direction. I wish I could have said that this is not a time for worry; but I would further add that it’s a time for some strategizing.

As the US Economy slackens, Indian economy fear a danger; no matter what sector we are talking about. Can we say that It's Just a Recession, and hence we need to differentiate between the Necessity and Luxury.  

What we have learned from the banking crisis or let me rephrase have me made an attempt to learn anything out of it. The Global Economic Crisis has lead to lesser work, lesser profits and even the fear is sinking of having work taken away from organizations. However even the fact that we are going through turbulent times panic wouldn’t help us, rather we need to prepare ourselves well for what is to come. Is it the Time to get serious about strengthening your systems and work towards shaping your marketing strategy for the downturn to emerge stronger when economic growth returns.

With Fed dropping Funds Rate To Zero, is a clear indication that in Depression Economics, Normal Rules Don't Apply and hence we need to make the most of what marketing costs offer you in a slump. How to Market in a Recession is a question that seems to be on every marketers mind, or are we all waiting for the the next Great Disruption?

As the economy slows down, and in pursuit of Preparing for the Future this is the time companies can leverage to the utmost by investing in its image to find The Secret of Success in a Failing Economy and build the Brand in Difficult Economic Times

If you present your strengths at the time of a slowdown, it puts you at an edge around your client. If you show results and enthusiasm at a time when all is not well, you are bound to reap benefits in the long run.

Instead of worrying over the US economic slowdown, it is a time of cost saving for most Indian companies. However pure cost saving would not lead you nowhere; hence we need to systematically think about rerouting our marketing dollar to get closer to our customer(s). That is the only way you can recover from loosing profit margins. When you concentrate on confidence building with clients at this point, you are bound to make a stronger statement that will stay with them much after the slowdown has recovered. You can focus on some image building, find newer clients during the slump, and who knows, you might win a whole new set of friends. This is the time where we need to dive deeper into our existing clients building stronger and longer ties.

It is up to the Indian industry to make the most of the situation now. If everyone’s cutting costs in the US, which is where most of India’s business comes from, there are all the more chances that more varied work will flow into countries like India. Imagine we are thinking about the effect on outsourcing but are we realizing that the companies in US, and due to the economic slowdown that never thought about outsourcing has now been forced outsource to optimize cost.

Raman Roy in a recent interview opined that “Downturn is definitely an issue. But is it a long-term issue? I don't think so. In the short term the discretionary spend is likely to get affected but not the non-discretionary spend.” Another interesting perspective that Ibrahim Ahmad articulated - “ A very interesting reason for this boom in current mobile subscriber base came from an industry senior who said that with everything becoming unaffordable for the common man in the last few months, being able to chat and gossip with other people is one of the cheapest things people do today. Jokes apart, I know that my own maid now uses her cell phone more to talk to her sisters because the cycle rickshaw fares have gone up, and its cheaper to talk to them rather than visit them.”  He further adds that “ I believe that slowdown presents itself as a great opportunity for the mobile phone.” John Todor brought an example from spending pattern of Starbuck customers “ Unemployment is up, the stock market is down, and people are worried about their financial future", but Starbucks customers are spending 36% more than they were a year ago. What’s more, if you look at the month to month trends, there was no systematic decline associated with the deepening recession”.

Hence the examples somewhat highlight the importance of positioning your company, and how effectively you are able to comfort your existing or new customer(s).

When in peace prepare for war. And that is what we ought to do. Utilize the time to strategize and innovate new marketing techniques | resources to Weather the Storm and even reap benefits in medium to long term.