Check out the Slide Share here. However, it may make more sense if you read the text below.

Please note that I drew from the knowledge of many gifted professionals both near and far and have tried to provide the appropriate links to the source. Also, I have modified the original text of the speech for easier reading in this format. (Apologies in advance — it’s a looong post)

Have I missed any kernels? Do you disagree with what I’ve said? Please provide your feedback. Thank you.

Today, I will do my best to share everything I know about being successful in business in the midst of great and daunting counter forces — economic conditions, the likes of which have not been seen in many decades. How will we survive? Will we ever see black ink on our ledgers again? Am I going to need to start renting my forehead for advertising revenue in order to keep the lights on?

The topic of my presentation is: “How Should I Market During a Recession?”

The short answer is, yes. You should. Any questions?

Maybe I should spend a few more minutes talking about this subject in greater depth.

Should you market during a recession? Absolutely. There’s an old aphorism that says, “When business is good, it pays to advertise. When business isn’t good, you’ve got to advertise.” In addition, research shows us that companies who continue to advertise during a recession not only average higher sales during that recession, but three-years later they realize 256% higher sales than companies who did not advertise. This statistic has been validated with studies following more than 600 businesses during both the 1981 and 2001 recessions.

Similarly, of those who wait until the economy recovers to increase promotional spending, only 20% see any increase in market share. That’s because everyone else is increasing spending, too. There is more noise in the marketplace and it’s much harder to gain attention.

Assuming we can all agree that you must continue marketing, the question then becomes, “what are ways I can keep my name in front of current and prospective customers when my cash-flow is more restricted or the banks are not able to provide additional capital?”

For nearly 20 years, I have built a successful career working with some amazing brands. I have studied the theory and practice of marketing communications from top to bottom. I have served as an adjunct professor at Texas Christian University, sat on experts’ panels at conferences and conducted many executive-coaching sessions.

And through all that, my belief is that the real answer to the question about how to market during a recession is — like so many service-oriented products — “it depends.”

It depends on your particular business. Your competitors. Your goals.

However, there are some things you should consider regardless of your unique situation. I have put them together in a list I like to call “the 7-2/3 kernels of insight.” Allow me to spend a few moments describing each one.

Kernel #1: Know Thyself

And to thine own self be true. Billy said it best. And, it rings true as kernel number one. Before you can convince others to buy what you are selling, you must first know precisely who your company is. What it stands for. What are the core values and beliefs for your organization? What truths do you hold in your gut — truths which are inviolate? What is the businesses purpose? Put another way, what would the world be missing if you ceased to exist?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, and you’ve got some time in between orders, take a minute (or a couple of days) and figure them out. Because, if you aren’t crystal clear about this, your clients/customers will know. Much like a lion smells fear, consumers can spot the disingenuous and you can’t cover it up. We are amazingly insightful creatures.

Kernel #2: Know Thy Customer

Does this feel like what you’re seeing in the business world today?

Don’t try to pull a fast one on me. I’m wise to your tricks sonny. Customers seem defensive and stand-offish.

How many times have you heard lately, “I’m just looking,” or “not really ready to buy today”?

The truth of the matter is that one of the results of this recession is consumers have had a re-evaluation of “wants” versus “needs.” I know that’s true in my house and in my circle of friends. On the surface, that may make you think that if your product isn’t a necessity like toilet paper or toothpaste, you should just curl up in the corner and wait this one out. Not so fast. Understand that value has so many definitions. You’ve just got to figure out what value means to your customers and how you can deliver it. If you take the example of an iPhone – is that a want or a need? For Mrs. 8th Idea, the iPhone was, and I quote, “the most romantic gift you’ve ever given me.” I gave her the gift of time. That is value.

Kernel #3: Be Remark-able

The very first time I saw that light of recognition and understanding in the back of my client’s eyes, I was hooked. The feeling of connection and understanding has driven me professionally for almost 20 years. I thrive on making those connections for me and my clients. My story is the story of the spark.

The phrase Be Remark-able is something I borrowed from Steth Godin. The idea is that in today’s world, where human time and attention is the most valuable resource, you should be providing a product or service that is worthy of being remarked about. Something that will grab attention, hold on and spread through word of mouth. Often that comes down to the ability we have as businesses to provide our clients/customers with the elements of stories.

Stories matter. Which do you have more interest in? A pair of tube socks from Target? Or socks that are custom-knit by Swiss grandmothers to your unique specifications? Would you like some celebrity’s cologne or a fragrance which incorporates your unique DNA (examples thanks to Trend Watching)?

OK. Which would you be more apt to respond to? A telemarketer? Or a call from your friend telling you about the great experience he’s had with Skype?

Stories sell. Stories matter. They connect us emotionally. And, after all, every single purchase decision we make is made emotionally.

Kernel #4: Don’t Be Terrified By Change

If you’re not comfortable with change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less. (Gen. Eric Shinseki)

(Note: slide showing Fortune Magazine cover, Miracle Whip jar, Gillette Sensor razor package and iPod)

What do these brands have in common? They were all launched during a recession…Fortune launched in 1930. Four months after the great stock market crash. Miracle Whip launched in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression. Gillette Sensor Razors launched during the 1990 recession and Apple launched the iPod just a month and a half after 9/11. The point is, don’t be afraid to proceed with a great product if the economic conditions aren’t just perfect. (For more in-depth analysis of this, check out this article.)

Also, be willing to experiment in low-risk ways. There is a wealth of very interesting books out there to consider and I also recommend looking for case studies from businesses in other industries to understand how they have been successful. You might just find some lessons that have applicable parallels to your situation.

Kernel #5: Take Simple Steps

Social media. If your workload has slowed down, take some of that time to establish or expand your presence in the social networks. Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and others provide great ways to strengthen ties with customers and prospects at no out-of-pocket costs. However, be sure you have clear goals in mind and fully understand the benefits and limitations of each site. They are fantastic tools, but can consume a lot of staff time if not managed correctly. (Thanks, Eric Whittington for the succinct language here.)

How about current customers? When was the last time you called one and asked how they are doing? Learned whether or not they were having all of their needs met because of your fill in the blank product/service? Do you know if they were missing anything that you could help them with? Will they would recommend your business to a friend? If not, why not?

Speaking of referrals, have you created any type of referral program that rewards your customers for making recommendations? It doesn’t have to be complicated it just needs to be genuine and provide an incentive with sincere gratitude when the new customer buys from you.

Kernel #6: Think Different

With apologies to both my 11^th grade English teacher for the grammar errors and Apple computers’ campaign, I would ask you to consider your business and its marketing in a new way.

First, operations. The roles of operations and marketing are quickly merging. Not that an operations person could necessarily manage the marketing function for you. Or, vice versa — I don’t know that many marketing professionals who would be very adept at keeping the factory floor running. However, every action you take as a company is an opportunity to have an impact on your brand. For good and for bad. Let me back up. You realize that you don’t own your brand, right? Your customer owns your brand. See, a “brand” is nothing more than the sum total of all impressions your customer has with your company, your competitors, friends, colleagues and on and on. Every time someone’s world intersects with your business, another impression is made. How can your operations provide an opportunity to intensify that relationship with the customer. How you can provide a valuable service, even if you are not in the service industry?

Kernel #7: Consider Your Relationships

Consider your relationships. There is a wealth of marketing talent available on the market today. If you are currently working with a good marketing or advertising partner for your needs, and you are happy, please, please stick with them. However, without having to incur the overhead of an agency, there are many amazing resources for you to tap into for ideas to help your business. If you agree that you should maintain exposure, but don’t want to sink a sizeable portion into overhead, look for independent practitioners or freelance help.

I hope you’ve found some kernels in this talk that will be valuable to you. At the end of the day, marketing is just a way to bring people together into a conversation. The only way to do that is by building messages based on trust and authenticity. Much of it is common sense, but sometimes it takes another perspective to help us see it.

What does the “2/3” kernel mean? Frankly, I wanted to let you know a little bit about me and my business, but didn’t feel a shameless plug warranted an entire point.

It’s been said that there are only 7 original ideas in the world — the rest are just combinations and interpretations of those 7. I tend to agree. However, I also know that there are an infinite number of ways to pull together the wisdom of the ages with the context of today. That’s what 8^th Idea is all about. 8^th Idea is bent on helping those in the “care” industries (healthcare, hospitality, not-for-profit) define and refine their marketing strategy, insights and implementation. Helping discover that 8^th Idea that will help you achieve your business goals.

Here is where you can find me. (Note: contact information displayed shamelessly here)

As I mentioned before, the magic of marketing comes when the light of understanding goes off in the back of someone’s eyes. My hope for you is that your products and services will find that light using some of the ideas I mentioned today. Thanks for your time. Now, are there any questions?

Pets make us happy

Found this fascinating.

From the Brakke Report, a veterinary consulting firm’s weekly email, comes this juicy tidbit:

> HUMAN ANIMAL BOND A survey of 12,000 women in 21 countries conducted by Boston Consulting Group found that pets were by far the most common answer to a question asking what makes them extremely happy; 42% of the women surveyed said that their pets make them “extremely happy.” Other responses included sex (27%), food (19%), and shopping (5%). (Chicago Tribune)

In it, he proposed that script writers think about writing cross-platform characters with rich pasts and futures. This way, the stories would contain even more dimension and the characters would be infinitely more compelling.

…the form of storytelling is evolving, which means producers, agents, and everyone that comes in contact with your story, in addition to your audience, will be expecting it just as they expect interesting characters, dialogue they’ve never heard before, and situations that they’d either hate or love to experience.

I think it is quite smart. And, of course, I want to consider it in the context of the characters I work with every day — brands.

All brands in the market have a real (as opposed to a fictional Hollywood invention) past and a real present. While some are certainly more compelling than others, are their back-stories and present-day tales contextually rich? Can they be made deeper and more meaningful in a responsible, authentic way?  Or, if we tinker with the history, does it tarnish the future?

Standing alone in the waiting room of a 24-hour animal hospital, with a half-cup of untouched coffee, and the tinny echo of Ron Popeil as he hocked knives from the plasma screen, I began to consider a lot of things. And, without trying to sound crass or macabre about it, the experience surrounding this decision highlighted some important lessons for businesses and marketers to understand when trying to connect with customers.

1. Everyone has a back-story.
For nearly six months, Paco had suffered with a mysterious condition. Thousands of dollars and countless consultations, second opinions and research only brought us more questions instead of answers.

What we did know was that this mutt — the vivacious puppy we adopted after the original owners couldn’t afford his Parvo treatment and abandoned him at the clinic more than 13 years ago — couldn’t stop panting. Twenty-four hours a day, he sounded as if he had just run a marathon. Even in his sleep, he was breathing and snoring so heavily he couldn’t have possibly been resting.

A veterinarian was the one who gave Paco a second chance, by paying for his original Parvo treatment and finding a home for him with our family. Our current veterinarian was very thorough but simply could not pinpoint the root of the problem. A variety of confounding symptoms, but no clear-cut disease. We thought it might be a thyroid issue. Or even Cushing’s disease.

We even took Paco and his 3-inch-thick file to an internal medicine specialist. Same problem. No real answers.

After a succession of seizures at 3:00 last Tuesday morning and the resulting complete loss of bodily control, we called our regular veterinarian and the answering service told us to go to Metro West Emergency Veterinary Clinic — their partner for this kind of situation.

I drove down the empty Interstate with him in the passenger seat and conferred with the doctor on staff when I arrived. There really wasn’t much we could do at this point. My wife and I had to make the excruciatingly difficult choice to end his suffering. To bring him peace.

I was there for his last breath. His final pant as it were.

Thanks for indulging me. I needed to get all this off my chest. Now, on to business.

The Metro West clinic staff was terrific and empathetic. Their synchronized grace helped me through a very challenging time. And I believe that fluidity stemmed from the fact that they intuitively understood I had a slide show of memories flying through my head in that moment. A back-story that meant a lot to me and my young family.

While you may not be selling an experience with the same emotional depth attached to it, your customers are bringing some form of bias with them. They are subconsciously comparing your interaction to their collective experiences on this planet.

And it’s not just service businesses who should understand the power of the back-story. The relationships we have with products or even appliances are just as dependent on the place our customers are at the moment of truth.

How well can you empathize with what your customers are going through and authentically connect to this web of context? How can you improve this?

2. Details matter.
From ensuring that my paperwork was complete prior to conducting the procedure (so I could leave without delay), to giving me a personalized remembrance of our dog (his final paw print in clay), this clinic considered every last detail. And, every detail was finely tuned to the situation.

The back-story and the transaction should greatly impact the tone and manner in which you speak to customers. The founder of a very successful car dealership in this region, Carl Sewell, built a thriving brand and lifelong customers by paying excruciating attention to detail.

Are you and your team situationally aware? What tools do you use to fine-tune the details of your processes?

3. The emotional can turn physical.
By receiving Paco’s paw print in clay, I watched the intense, yet intangible emotion over losing a loved family member transform into a physical artifact on which my wife, kids and I can project our fond memories.

That the emotional can become tangible is nothing new. It’s happened since the first painter picked up the first brush. However, the way we use that metamorphosis to develop deeper relationships with our customers can be powerful, profound and profitable.

Apple took the feelings we have with our music and created a physical connection through the design of the iPod. The Lance Armstrong Foundation wrapped pride and strength around our wrists in yellow silicone.

Where are you able to bring the emotions your customers have into the physical realm?

These are just a few
The process of losing a pet helped me gain some perspective. I hope you will forgive my sharing this story, but it seemed to contain a lot of important reminders for me about the way we connect companies to people.

Have I missed the boat here? Are you offended? Are there other lessons you would extract from this situation?

It’s been a crazy week. Trying to launch a business is fun. Full of pitfalls, but fun. I am so grateful for the huge numbers of people who took the time to read my blatherings and actually send me comments in return. I’m attempting to respond in kind to each of you. If it takes a while, please be patient.

Some great opportunities and interesting conversations already. One thing is for certain. The spirit of entrepreneurship is alive and well out there. It’s sort of like an underground protest against the macro-economic conditions. Many of the people I conversed with today are thumbing their noses at the bleak outlook and remaining optimistic. They like the idea of 8th Idea. The niche of working with the “care” businesses — healthcare, animal health, hospitality and not-for-profit. They are encouraged by the spirit of collaboration with small- to mid-size advertising and public relations firms.

How are you feeling? Are you optimistic or pessimistic? Do you fall on the side that think this is a great time to be entrepreneurial or a great time to hunker down?

The 7 original ideas can be molded like clay

Early on in my career, I learned a lesson. It just took me 15 years to realize it, and now I’m making a major life change around it.

The Inspiration

Gladys Pinkerton, the first creative director I ever worked with, told me that there are only seven truly original ideas out there. (Floating in the ether, I suppose.) The rest, she would say, are just interpretations of those seven. I am not afraid to tell you that as an energetic young professional, I dismissed this theory as the musings of a pessimistic veteran. Surely, in the ultra-creative world of marketing and advertising, you just had to try hard enough and that magic, never-before-discovered idea would appear.

Before I go any further, let me apologize to Gladys for ever doubting her wisdom.

What she ingrained into my well-coiffed little head was something that is so true, that it has come back in spades.

I read it in James Webb Young’s early 20th-century book. I hear it in David Hackworthy’s presentation at last year’s AAAA’s Planning Conference (Shakespeare’s 7 plots). I see it reinforced first-hand in daily work and second-hand in the work of others.

The fundamental truths are there for us to play with. To shape and pound together like clay or weave into a rich garment.

But, I mentioned a change.

The Catalyst

Last Monday, my position was eliminated. It wasn’t much of a surprise — economy being what it is and all. My former employer, GCG Marketing, and I took a collective risk together. We shifted my responsibilities away from dedicated account service and into account planning/strategy and business development.

For an advertising agency of fewer than 30 people, this was a bold move. We had some great successes, but in the end, there were not enough sustained billings to support a full-time position. I believe that if we had started it two years ago, it would have had enough inertia to weather this fiscal storm.

GCG made the right business decision. And, I have a new opportunity.

The Opportunity

Since that first job, I’ve spent more than 15 years exploring the ways in which we connect. I’ve worked with and for some amazing professionals and seen how the wisdom of the ages, those seven original ideas, can be interpreted and combined into an infinite number of solutions. An infinite number of eighth ideas.

Now that I’m a free agent, I see a chance before me to help others discover their own eighth idea. That’s why I’m starting my own business and calling it 8th Idea.

8th Idea is bent on helping those in the “care” industries (healthcare, hospitality, not-for-profit) and small- to mid-sized advertising and public relations agencies define and refine their marketing strategy, insights and implementation. I have particularly deep experience in each of these narrow areas, so that’s what I’m going to do. Help a specific group discover that 8th Idea that will connect businesses and customers. Organizations and donors. People and people.

The Future

For one, stay tuned to this space. Subscribe to the RSS feed, sign up for emails or become a fan of 8th Ideas on Facebook. In the rush to get this business going, I haven’t been able to post as frequently as I’d like and I also have to launch a Web site.

As the days and weeks advance, I plan on not only doing business, but also doing some good. I’ll continue to use this blog as a place to seek insight and explore truth. However, I’ll also try to help “care” industry marketers with some insight particular to their industries.

I want to know what you think. Do you agree that there are only seven original ideas? Or, do you believe there are still as-yet undiscovered gems?

The first subject I wanted to cover was an article I read in the New York Times about neurology. Benedict Carey penned a feature back in April about some researchers who  have uncovered molecules that may be responsible for activating memories in our brains. As an account planner type, I am curious about the catalysts these scientists have revealed.

Up to this point, researchers (and philosophers) have believed that experiences are imprinted on our brain cells and the cells can collaborate later to recall the event. Carey has a great way of describing this:

…brain cells activated by an experience keep one another on biological speed-dial, like a group of people joined in common witness of some striking event. Call on one and word quickly goes out to the larger network of cells, each apparently adding some detail, sight, sound, smell. The brain appears to retain a memory by growing thicker, or more efficient, communication lines between these cells.

Apparently, Dr. Todd C. Sacktor and André A. Fenton have identified a substance, called PKMzeta, that clusters on the outskirts of our synapses and connects the memory dots for the cells in our heads. In an experiment, Sacktor and Fenton were able to block this molecule in mice which caused the animals to forget lessons learned just the day before.

Are we on the verge of being able to control our memory? How soon will you be able to stop by your local Walgreens and pick up a pill to enhance what you remember?

Before you go rent a copy of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Carey dedicates time in the article to highlighting ethical concerns already being raised by this finding. As with any scientific advancement, it can be used for good or for evil. I wouldn’t want to ever risk losing the recollection of the birth of my two children, but could I deny the possiblity of helping someone stave off dimentia?

And what impact will this field of study mean for marketing? Can we draw any parallels between the chain of connected brain cells and the way customers recall our brands? Is there a way to enhance these connections? To improve consumer engagement through understanding these chemical connections?

What do you think?

I know it’s asking a lot of your personality type, but if you’re a planner, please give an opinion. The annual planner survey is live and missing just one key ingredient: your perspective.

Please note, this is for professional planners (not students or academics).

Let your voice be heard. Go here to express.

I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel from David Coiffier on Vimeo.