How Marketing Is Changing: A Challenging Economy Spawns New Strategies

Thirty-five years is a long time. That’s how long I’ve been running my company, Mid-Hudson Marketing. It’s long enough to have seen all kinds of economic climates. Fortunately, in all cases, marketing has continued to provide a prosperous livelihood.

Economies go up and down, round and round, but marketing is a discipline practiced by the most successful companies. Marketing is one of those professions that relies on innovative thinking, creativity, and psychological manipulation. Using such techniques, the savvy marketer finds ways to get around obstacles like the scare tactics used by some of the media in an economic downturn. When the masses are convinced that the end is near, the marketer seizes it as an opportunity to provide exactly what is needed: a way to restore life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness.

One way to do this is to ignore the media storm of negativity and stand firm in your commitment to the product or service you offer. While you may have seen a drop in demand for whatever you sell, you know that it still offers something that is needed, whether your market prefers to buy it now or not. The trick is to present your availability in a fresh new way, taking intimidated markets by surprise. This is where creativity and innovation come into play. Some may call it guerilla marketing, but I like to think of it as a new level of appeal. If they want it enough (translate: if you make it desirable enough), they will buy it!

One of my clients called me the other day to tell me that marketing has changed. As a result of your annual dental marketing seminar, you now know that social marketing is the new business marketing technique. of the day but with a big one consideration. He said you need to address your vulnerability to competitors who post negative comments about you, the results of which you will have no control over.

Another of my clients is enjoying the rewards of Google’s ubiquitous dominance over Internet commerce. With Google’s recipes for success, my client’s website appears at the top of various search results, giving it an edge over global competition that you never dreamed possible.

Oh yeah. We live in an age where a sole proprietorship can compete on an equal footing with an international giant if your marketing is truly inspired. Is it possible to be a part of today’s global business culture and yet still be objective enough to step back and see the forest for the trees? Can a marketer draw on the wisdom of their experience devising new recognition strategies in uncharted waters?

Just look at the success of such incredible entrepreneurs as Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of Google; Evan Williams and Biz Stone, co-founders of Twitter; or Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, who created Youtube; not forget so many others, like AppleSteve Jobs and Steven Wozniak; MicrosoftBill Gates and Paul Allen; AmazonJeff Bezos; gold eBayPierre Omidyar. All of these people had a vision to create entities to meet a need in an emerging culture. In fact, some might say that they created, rather than met, the need within the culture through brilliant marketing and astonishing business acumen. While all of these companies continue to evolve as times change, how can we, as members of this society, not respect the audacity of their successes?

Surprisingly, each of them navigated uncharted waters and discovered new horizons of technological excellence in the process. Again, I ask, can a humble business owner draw inspiration from such geniuses to elevate his own business to a level of continued prosperity despite economic uncertainty? I say that everything is possible because we are perpetually in a state of economic uncertainty, whether in 1975, 1995 or 2015. All that is needed is to believe that there are no limits to one’s creativity and that self-confidence is the strongest force. powerful. in achieving the impossible. “Be true to yourself …” – Shakespeare, Village

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