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Yes, just like you, I'm sick of hearing how awful it is out there. I'm sick of hearing how my friends and their friends are out of a job or will be soon. I'm sick of seeing the struggle, the fear, and the despair. I'm tired of hearing how this whole thing may last another 12 months, 18 months, 5 years. But does anyone really know? So far, I'm not very impressed with any predictions. It's all speculation no more useful than trying to guess the winning combination of a lottery ticket. All we really know is that things today are very different from what we've grown accustomed to, and change is not always pleasant.
So what now? Are we going to just sit here like we're riding in the back of some bus without a driver going northbound at 80 miles per hour in the southbound lanes of a freeway?
In spite of how this whole circus feels, we do have some control.
Perhaps we can't control the global or macro picture, but we can do something about the immediate and nearby reality. Like my grandmother once said: "Even a mushroom cloud has a silver lining."
So let's focus on the things we do know. Let's focus on the things we can control. I want you to clear your mind for just a few minutes. Forget for a moment that the economy is what it is and that the newspapers and the TV channels feed us nothing but doom and gloom.
We know that not every market segment in the U.S. has been affected to the same degree. We know that certain service sectors continue to operate because people have to use them (the old adage of death and taxes is very appropriate here). If you don't believe me, try telling a dead guy he can't go yet because it's too expensive to bury him or try skipping your taxes on April 15 and see what happens. We know that when most companies go underground to "ride out the storm" it leaves gaps in the market and lessens competitive pressure and awareness. So in the end, it comes down to how we structure our priorities.
In the last 12 months I have run into two kinds of clients, those who do what everyone else is doing, always waiting for the other shoe to drop and cutting right and left even if they don't have to. And there's those who try to refine their operations, mutate their processes to match today's reality, and try to find the opportunities that others leave behind because they're too busy running around in a panic. While some are cutting costs everywhere and liquidating assets (and often killing their ability to operate), others trim the fat and reorganize themselves and their objectives in ways not outlined in their original business plan.
The problem with the first group is that they are still living with the old business plan and see this situation as an all or nothing scenario. Sometimes, the thing to do is shred the old document and draft a new one that truly reflects the new environment. And I don't mean making a few revisions here and there and putting a bandage on a broken ideal. I mean reworking the whole thing.
What if allowing for some flexibility and creativity yields more immediate results and a better long-term positioning for the impending rebound than digging a hole in the ground and hibernating?
What if you had the ability to benefit from the experience of seasoned professionals without breaking what's left of the bank?
Let's take your marketing department for example.
What if you could have an experienced VP level Marketing Director who can help identify key areas of opportunity and help guide a very efficient process without increasing your staff cost?
What if this VP of Marketing could work with you as much or as little as necessary to do what needs to be done with these opportunity segments?
What if you outsourced this position instead of eliminating it?
Do you see where I'm going with this?
The U.S. Hispanic market continues to respond in spite of the brutal slow down in other market segments.
In 2008, U.S. Hispanic purchasing power increased to nearly $870 Billion or 9.3% of the total current U.S. purchasing power,
and is projected to reach $1.3 Trillion by 2015 or 12% according to data from Research and Markets.
What if you made this segment a priority and had someone from the outside acting as your in-house marketing department? Hispanics are familiar with economic struggle. They are also very proud and hard-working people. For them, this is just another hurdle to overcome, not unlike others they have seen before. This segment is not worried about losing their membership to the country club or getting their Bentley repossessed. This segment continues to function and continues to spend. This segment continues to be an opportunity.
The percentage of Hispanics with any type of bank account has increased by 7% since 2004 to 77%, and is slowly but surely catching up to the general market which tracks at around 90%. So back to the second group of clients I mentioned earlier. These are the people who are currently implementing Hispanic market strategies and are succeeding.
Forget for a moment about the language and immigration debates and remember who we are. We are marketers, and it is our responsibility to identify and create opportunities where others don't see any, regardless of what they look or sound like. What if we just took a second to break through the stereotypes and focused on how the future will shape the course of business and opportunity in this country? What if you had the right people to help you do just that in a way you could afford it? That would be a good day, wouldn't it?
¡Vamos! Let's get started.
Augusto Cruzalegui President, CEO ARC Advertising |