Post-Recession Sales & Marketing

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.