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August 28, 2008 In Archives By Advent

Fly Fishing Advice for Marketers

WHY YOU SHOULD MARKET THROUGH THE TOUGH TIMES

Wanaka, NZ

One rea­son Paul caught more fish than any­one else was that he had his flies in the water more than any­one else. “Brother,” he would say, “there are no fly­ing fish in Mon­tana. Out here, you can′t catch fish with your flies in the air.”

–Nor­man Maclean, A River Runs Through It

I am loath to add more.  Dear old 14^th cen­tury logi­cian, William Ock­ham might argue that this quote is suf­fi­cient to explain why com­pa­nies should mar­ket through tough times cit­ing his famous razor which dic­tates that the sim­plest expla­na­tion is best.  But cav­a­lier as ever, I′ll flirt with dan­ger and sally forth into the fray of expli­ca­tion at the per­ilous risk of vio­lat­ing the law of par­si­mony with zeal­ous hopes of impart­ing clar­ity and depth of under­stand­ing unat­tain­able by brevity.  Yet fear not for I will sac­ri­fice nei­ther suc­cinct­ness nor lucid­ity upon an alter of super­flu­ous fluff.

Har­vard Busi­ness School pro­fes­sor, John Quelch, advises com­pa­nies how to mar­ket through the tough times.  He urges com­pa­nies to main­tain mar­ket­ing spend­ing.  “This is not the time to cut adver­tis­ing.” While other brands are slash­ing bud­gets and cir­cling the wag­ons against reces­sion, brands that increase mar­ket­ing dur­ing a reces­sion can increase their mar­ket share and their return on invest­ment for a lower cost than dur­ing good times.  Now is when you can nego­ti­ate and lock in favor­able rates with com­pa­nies eager for your busi­ness.  The fears of timid con­sumers are assuaged by the reas­sur­ing vis­i­ble pres­ence of strong brands.  When that pres­ence takes the form of direct mar­ket­ing the sales impact is immediate.

It is well doc­u­mented that face-to-face mar­ket­ing is the most mem­o­rable form of mar­ket­ing.  Though the cost per touch is high, it is not as high as you might think.  A study released by the Event Mar­ket­ing Insti­tute reports that of con­sumers who reported a pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence, 98% will rec­om­mend you and over half will tell at least 4 peo­ple.  Ide­ally those peo­ple would then tell oth­ers and quickly one expo­sure has turned into many.   Word-of-mouth is the most trusted source of infor­ma­tion for con­sumers.  The value of expe­ri­en­tial mar­ket­ing makes it a great buy dur­ing slow times.

The myr­iad of vari­ables that affect trout behav­ior is daunt­ing.  Loca­tion, depth, water color, struc­ture, time of day, amount of sun­light, sea­son, hatch, fish­ing pres­sure, pre­sen­ta­tion, mend­ing, fly choice, leader length, taper, and dumb luck all play a major part.  Catch­ing con­sumers is no dif­fer­ent.  There are a mil­lion vari­ables and options.  If your head is swim­ming, one thing remains clear: if what you are doing is not work­ing, then try some­thing else.  I′ve heard insan­ity defined as “doing the same thing over and over and expect­ing dif­fer­ent results.”  Be creative.

In your office, you will not increase sales by sit­ting next to the phone.  Answer­ing the phones faster is not a viable strategy.  Remember, you′ll only catch fish if you fly is in the water and your sales will only increase if you focus on marketing.

Related

Mar­ket­ing Your Way Through a Reces­sion — John Quelch

Grow your busi­ness in spite of the slow­ing econ­omy — Rhonda Abrams

Mar­ket­ing in a Slow Econ­omy — Bill Taylor

Authored By Advent

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