The consumers and businesses we were selling and marketing to before the economic collapse were much different than the people and companies we are selling and marketing to today. Think of them as "post-recession", and know that they are going to be "post-recession" for quite some time.
One in ten Americans who wants to be working is unable to find a job right now. That in itself changes the game when it comes to sales and marketing. One in ten Americans is struggling to pay for food and shelter, so how do you sell them something that is not necessarily an absolute need? Even those of us who are still on the job are being much more discretionary with our discretionary spending.
Despite it all, however, companies that are looking forward are asking today, "How do we market to consumers and businesses once we finally get out of this mess?" The businesses that are going to survive are hunkered down, weathering the storm, but also being proactive and looking to the future.
It is important to keep in mind that while a small percentage of consumers will quickly forget the hardships of the past year, a larger majority will be changing their spending habits for years to come, some of them, even, for the rest of their lives. I bet anyone alive today that lived through the 1930s in America is as spend-thrift today as they were in the 1940s and 1950s.
As businesses, we are not only going to be asked to provide something new and exciting, but today, and well into the future, are going to need to provide value, and lots of it. Consumer relationships with businesses, and business relationships with vendors will be under a microscope for the foreseeable future. Gone are the days of the whimsical purchase, because gone are the days of easy, endless credit lines.
So, what we do now? We get to work. We need to look at our products and services and ensure that they are providing real, tangible value to our customers. We need to ensure that our customers are having the best experience possible with our businesses, because their post-recession dollars are going to demand it.
We must be aware that there is not going to be a magic day when all of the sudden things are back to how they were before. We may not see that day within our lifetimes, and even if we do, it will probably just be an indicator of another coming collapse. Think back to the opinion page writer for a local newspaper in 1946. The depression was long gone, the war was over, and things were swinging, but it would be over 50 years until we saw a similar pre-depression upswing. That is where we are all at today. Take your age and add 50, and that is how old you may be the next time we can market and sell like it's 2007 again.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Why Cap-And-Tax Is A Horrible Idea
What is Cap-And-Trade, or Cap-And-Tax, as it is more properly called?
It is the Waxman-Markey bill, which has recently passed the house by a razor-thin margin, and would place a cap on the total carbon output that the United States can produce over the course of a year, with that total amount decreasing year over year. Oh, and by “the United States”, I mean every business in the country, and you, the Americans who work for those businesses. Imagine being given an amount of carbon that your business can emit over the course of a year, then having to buy excess carbon permits from people who are not using all of their carbon allotment if you go over, or even worse, having to pay large fines if you cannot scrounge up enough carbon offset permits. When you get down to brass tacks, there are three huge problems with this bill:
#1 - It will raise the price of everything, literally, first energy prices, then the food and other goods that we all purchase as virtually every manufacturer and producer scrambles to pay more and more for their carbon permits, then pass that cost on to the end consumer.
#2 – The cost of operating manufacturing equipment will be rising in the U.S. and falling in every nation that has not implemented a Cap-And-Tax policy. Large, multi-nationals will have even one more reason to ship jobs overseas. While this may, in turn, help in the area of rising prices, many more Americans who rely on manufacturing jobs will be out of work.
#3 - While we are screwing ourselves into higher prices to reduce our carbon emissions, this bill does nothing to address the carbon emissions of other nations in the world. China’s carbon emissions are skyrocketing and they will be doing nothing to stop them while we slow down our already reeling economy with this bad piece of legislation.
While support for this bill does cross some party lines, there is clearly only one party that is supporting this bill as stated in the Wall Street Journal: “Even as Democrats have promised that this cap-and-trade legislation won't pinch wallets, behind the scenes they've acknowledged the energy price tsunami that is coming. During the brief few days in which the bill was debated in the House Energy Committee, Republicans offered three amendments: one to suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon; one to suspend the program if electricity prices rose 10% over 2009; and one to suspend the program if unemployment rates hit 15%. Democrats defeated all of them."
It is the Waxman-Markey bill, which has recently passed the house by a razor-thin margin, and would place a cap on the total carbon output that the United States can produce over the course of a year, with that total amount decreasing year over year. Oh, and by “the United States”, I mean every business in the country, and you, the Americans who work for those businesses. Imagine being given an amount of carbon that your business can emit over the course of a year, then having to buy excess carbon permits from people who are not using all of their carbon allotment if you go over, or even worse, having to pay large fines if you cannot scrounge up enough carbon offset permits. When you get down to brass tacks, there are three huge problems with this bill:
#1 - It will raise the price of everything, literally, first energy prices, then the food and other goods that we all purchase as virtually every manufacturer and producer scrambles to pay more and more for their carbon permits, then pass that cost on to the end consumer.
#2 – The cost of operating manufacturing equipment will be rising in the U.S. and falling in every nation that has not implemented a Cap-And-Tax policy. Large, multi-nationals will have even one more reason to ship jobs overseas. While this may, in turn, help in the area of rising prices, many more Americans who rely on manufacturing jobs will be out of work.
#3 - While we are screwing ourselves into higher prices to reduce our carbon emissions, this bill does nothing to address the carbon emissions of other nations in the world. China’s carbon emissions are skyrocketing and they will be doing nothing to stop them while we slow down our already reeling economy with this bad piece of legislation.
While support for this bill does cross some party lines, there is clearly only one party that is supporting this bill as stated in the Wall Street Journal: “Even as Democrats have promised that this cap-and-trade legislation won't pinch wallets, behind the scenes they've acknowledged the energy price tsunami that is coming. During the brief few days in which the bill was debated in the House Energy Committee, Republicans offered three amendments: one to suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon; one to suspend the program if electricity prices rose 10% over 2009; and one to suspend the program if unemployment rates hit 15%. Democrats defeated all of them."
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
An Important Update From The Social Security Administration
The U.S. Social Security Administration has fantastic news! Straight from the insert that should have arrived with your annual statement (wonder what it costs to print and mail all of those instead of posting them online), the Social Security Administration is happy to report that by the time those of us in our 30s go to retire, we have the prospect of getting up to 78% of the benefits that we are supposed to be getting! Isn't that fantastic news?!
That means that for every $1,000 that we are supposed to get, in essence, for every $1,000 that people on Social Security are getting now, we are going to possibly get up to $780! So, when we go to retire, we just need to come up with the other $220 somewhere to make up for the $220 that was stolen from us and given to today's retirees!
Given these revelations, how about we be allowed to keep $220 of our $1,000 to invest for ourselves? Go ahead and ask the Social Security Administration that, and watch them just smile and laugh at you, crazy little taxpayer. You can't take care of yourself without big government! Why, that's just crazy. If they let you keep your $220, they'd have to cut benefits to people on Social Security today, and that just wouldn't be fair at all to them.
The burden of benefits being cut is reserved for those of you retiring after 2041, silly goose. The Social Security Administration is just going to hold their breath, close their eyes, and hope that there is some miracle between now and 2041 that will magically occur so that we can get our full benefits. Great plan, folks!
I have a fantastic idea! Why don't we put the idiots in government in charge of all of the banks and large industrial manufacturers in the land to ensure that nothing goes wrong with our pseudo-capitalist system. Oops - am I too late to stop that? Or even better, let's take our very health and well-being and let them tax us even further so they can provide us with a universal healthcare plan (I'm not making that up - there are bills in the congress right now that are going to tax you on the health insurance your employer provides to pay for health insurance for those who aren't working - a tax on families making under $250,000 a year - breaking a certain promise from a certain someone who just happens to be the leader of the free world right now). We're going to have to sit back, watch, and see what passes and what gets vetoed.
In fact, with Taxington, D.C. doing so well with managing our retirement fund, why not let them handle every aspect of our lives?
That means that for every $1,000 that we are supposed to get, in essence, for every $1,000 that people on Social Security are getting now, we are going to possibly get up to $780! So, when we go to retire, we just need to come up with the other $220 somewhere to make up for the $220 that was stolen from us and given to today's retirees!
Given these revelations, how about we be allowed to keep $220 of our $1,000 to invest for ourselves? Go ahead and ask the Social Security Administration that, and watch them just smile and laugh at you, crazy little taxpayer. You can't take care of yourself without big government! Why, that's just crazy. If they let you keep your $220, they'd have to cut benefits to people on Social Security today, and that just wouldn't be fair at all to them.
The burden of benefits being cut is reserved for those of you retiring after 2041, silly goose. The Social Security Administration is just going to hold their breath, close their eyes, and hope that there is some miracle between now and 2041 that will magically occur so that we can get our full benefits. Great plan, folks!
I have a fantastic idea! Why don't we put the idiots in government in charge of all of the banks and large industrial manufacturers in the land to ensure that nothing goes wrong with our pseudo-capitalist system. Oops - am I too late to stop that? Or even better, let's take our very health and well-being and let them tax us even further so they can provide us with a universal healthcare plan (I'm not making that up - there are bills in the congress right now that are going to tax you on the health insurance your employer provides to pay for health insurance for those who aren't working - a tax on families making under $250,000 a year - breaking a certain promise from a certain someone who just happens to be the leader of the free world right now). We're going to have to sit back, watch, and see what passes and what gets vetoed.
In fact, with Taxington, D.C. doing so well with managing our retirement fund, why not let them handle every aspect of our lives?
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