Against the Grain: Hot Topics

A lot of people ask me why I closed Genesis Marketing and Research, Inc. and joined Trilix Research after 9 years.  The short answer is that it felt about time to do something different. Why?  The economy had gotten tougher the last couple years, clients were tightening their budgets more and I was getting ready to do something different in my life.  As many of you know, my life has changed drastically in the past two years and I wanted to make some changes to embrace and enhance my new life.  Trilix Research offers me the great opportunity to interact with bright, creative people daily and to actually see my research and strategy implemented.

Fortunately for me and my clients, Trilix was open to the idea of having me join them to start a research division.  I have known Todd Senne for almost 20 years and trusted both him and his partner, Ron Maahs.  In short, these two have grown Trilix Marketing to where it is today with nearly 30 employees by being good to their employees and their clients.  Few agencies have done so well in recent years.

What does me joining Trilix mean to customers of Trilix Research?  Your research will be completed to the same high standards as we had at Genesis Marketing and Research, Inc.  We will use the best research methodology to match your research need.  The work will be done accurately and the research projects will be competitively priced.  If you are a former client of Genesis, you will not see big price changes on similar projects done in the past.

Best of all, Trilix has more resources to help you.  Resources come in the form of talented people, the investment in new technology and creative problem solving. Our full-service research capabilities allows us to offer focus groups, online surveys, telephone surveys, advanced research techniques and fast turnaround times.  With all of the additional support backing me, Trilix Research will serve your client needs even better than before. I am excited to be working at Trilix and excited to be working with many of my former clients and many new ones as well.  

Times have changed… and how quickly it’s happened. 2007 might as well be two decades ago. Marketing strategies have most certainly shifted in response to the changing economy. Marketers have been forced to cut back, put projects on hold and maybe even cut staff. But chances are they haven’t done the one absolute imperative in tough times…

They haven’t changed their marketing message. (Have you?)

Regardless of how a company is doing, its customers are likely struggling. Their pain points have changed. They have different needs than they had 12-18 months ago. And if marketing hasn’t changed to address those new pain points, then sales are being left on the table.

Crisis plans – every business has one, right? You probably spent a lot of time and money putting a plan together. So where is it right now? Probably on a shelf in an executive’s office, collecting dust. How should you keep that plan top-of-mind so it can be used in the case of a crisis?

Let’s back up for a minute – you made the crisis plan to keep your company’s communications running smoothly in case of a crisis. For some organizations, a crisis can mean bankruptcy, mass layoffs or facility closures. For others, a crisis is only related to death or catastrophic loss. Does your plan define what a crisis is in your organization? If not, that may be a good place to start.

After you’ve defined what a crisis is for your company, take that crisis plan off the shelf and look at it! Ask yourself the following questions:

• What personnel or structural changes have taken place at my company since this plan was created and how do those impact the plan? Employees leave, job titles and responsibilities change. It’s important to keep the plan updated to include the right people.
• Do the procedures in the plan make sense?  Can they be simplified? Simpler is always better. Less confusion and more time for action!  
• Are key people at the organization aware of their roles and involvement in the plan? Do they have a copy of the plan? Keeping the plan at your desk is fine, but key executives should have copies at home and, if possible, in their vehicles. You never know where you’ll be when a crisis hits.
• Does the plan reflect current communications tools? Believe it or not, three years ago, no one would have thought to include messaging on Twitter or Facebook in a crisis plan. If your company uses either of those mediums to communicate with customers or employees, they should be included in your crisis plan.

Depending on your answers to the questions above, you may have some work to do. Of course, you should review your crisis plan roughly every six months and make sure key people have copies both on and off site. This way, when a crisis hits, people refer to the plan first. Too many companies spend money to develop a plan just to find it is lost or outdated during an emergency.

In the middle of a crisis, it’s important to keep a business-as-usual attitude when it seems like things are quickly spinning out of control. A good crisis plan doesn’t get shoved on a shelf “just-in-case.” It’s pulled out a few times a year so employees can familiarize themselves with it and use it when a crisis hits. When that crisis hits, and it will, your crisis plan is a road map to keep your company running smoothly.

It’s not any big secret, so we’ll just say it. The economy stinks right now. And as much as they say “don’t cut marketing when the economy tanks,” most marketers are being forced to make cuts. It’s only prudent, we understand.

But are the right things being cut?

Be sure to maintain a presence in the big pubs and shows. Be visible. And don’t stop communicating with current customers. #1 rule of a downturn — retain current customers. And lastly, focus on those efforts that can be directly tied to sales — e.g., trim sponsorship budgets but keep up lead generation.

There's a malady we see quite a bit in this business. We call it "chasing the flavor." It happens when sales and marketing executives are constantly dropping one initiative for the latest flavor of the month. One month it's 3-D videos. The next, they've forgotten about the videos and are onto Twitter or sales incentive programs or giant inflatable pink gorillas. All valid ideas (ok, not the gorillas...), but none of them will ever work if you keep chasing the flavor.

It's impossible to know if a new marketing or sales initiative is working after a few weeks or months. Sales people have to adapt, dealerships and distributors need to adjust and customers need to be educated. Runaway successes are rare in this world. You put the program into action because the strategy was sound and the numbers made sense. Trust yourself. You'll be glad you did.