A positive recession
Posted by Kevin Kent on February 27, 2009 in Industry comments with 0 CommentsAll the talk at the moment is that we are in/will go into/have been in a recession.
There has obviously been a significant amount of negative coverage of this and the next few months will show the extent that it will have on marketing.
However, it does not necessarily need to be a negative time for marketers; it could prove to be a turning point for marketers, marketing budgets and marketing channels.
The question should be: Will marketers accept the challenges that they will inevitably face?
1. Get accountable
In a recession, there will be the usual bad news for marketers as the chaps in finance take out their red markers and start slashing advertising and marketing budgets. However, rather than accept this faith, marketers can embrace it and potentially also do a job at improving our reputation with the lads in finance and the rest of the departments.
Maybe we can shed the image as being cost centres that spend money willy nilly and have no interest in what it delivers. Now more than ever marketing spend needs to be accountable and now is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the value we add. By highlighting the key business objectives that marketing campaigns and activities are supporting and then reporting back on the campaign against the objectives set at the start you can justify your spend and create an argument for more investment.
Even in times of recessions brands still need to work, campaigns need to deliver and the marketing job goes on. It is continually demonstrated that the companies that marketed themselves well in the bad times rather than go into hiding, perform considerably better in the good times than those that come back out of hiding.
2. The emergence of new media
The last time there was a recession in Ireland (mid 80s), one of the marketing results was the mass development of direct mail – a tool that enabled targeted of contacts and offered reporting mechanisms. Now, twenty or so years on, there could be another new dawn for marketing. Whether social media or new media will be the answer to the current budget slashes and need for accountability will only be seen over time; however, it does possess the two critical components to make it possible. It is still relatively low-cost (or no cost) to do and do well. In addition by linking the activity into your website or creating a dedicated online home for your new media work ,your investment can be accountable, enabling you to report on it.
3. The death of traditional media
Will the downturn or evolving markets spell the death of traditional media is another question. Steve Rubel (link: micropersuasion.com), a much thought of Social Marketing commentator who is Director of Insights with Edelman predicted its death pre-Xmas (http://www.micropersuasion.com/2008/11/the-coming-end.html). It was counter argued in a number of places and one such place was here by Mashable (http://mashable.com/2008/11/15/the-death-of-tangible-media-is-a-little-murky/).
Now, while the talk of death is probably premature, there will be a rationalising of certain channels and they will be a number of people/publication exiting stage left. Traditional media still has a strong roll and while there are a significant percentage of people moving to online consumption of news and information, traditional sources of news and information have been through recessions and have come out the otherside.
We will see over the next 12-18 months what happens to marketing and if marketers accept the accountability challenge, if social media is the answer or one of the answers and will the media landscape change dramatically. One thing for sure is that the recession does not have to be a negative time for marketers but can be seen as a positive opportunity.
Kevin Kent 's focus is on brand management, with extensive experience across numerous industries. He is interested in the role of new media in marketing and the development of the marketing function within companies.Find out more at Kevin's Profile. Don't forget to subscribe if you'd like to hear more!
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