Ideas on: bNET, Special Section, Smart Business in Tough Times

With no apparent end in sight, it may help to look at the recession from a different perspective. (After all, a fresh perspective can bring inspiration even in the darkest hour.) If we look at the recession as a sports game, (as suggested in bNET’s special section, “Smart Business in Tough Times”) we may find that as in other games, on both offense and defense, some of the players are fumbling and failing.

Needless to say, in a real sporting event it’s hard to play both sides of the game and win. However, in this example, playing both sides actually has its advantages. The defense involves covering your bases and ensuring that no area of weakness is exposed. Meanwhile, the offense involves takings risks that others may be too afraid to take, which may or may not pay off in the end.

A key point the article makes is in regard to advertising/marketing:  the best defense in today’s economy is a good marketing offense.

As Susanna Hamners and John Maas discussed in their bNET  article,“Double down on Strategic Advertising,” innovation is the time-tested key to success.

Hamners and Maas believe that, now more than ever, it is important to fine tune one’s message to the customer’s changing attitudes. And if we are playing a good marketing offense it may also be a good idea to employ the internet’s new communication opportunities, for example, to target new customers and markets.

The internet removes the fourth wall, thereby granting customers access to a company’s inner workings and creating a more open relationship between them and the company.

So in the end, the more customers, or “fans”, a company has, the more likely it is to survive in this economic game.

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