Winning Moves: The New Vocabulary

January 2009 • www.visionsmc.com • 410-849-8095

Editor's Note

My three-year-old son loves music, especially guitar playing. We take him to live performances as much as we can. However, when the weather puts an end to outdoor family concerts, we are more limited, usually finding appropriate offerings only at Sunday brunches. YouTube has been a big hit this winter as he can watch his favorite musicians daily.

A few weeks ago, he was singing a song in the backseat of the car. He stopped in the middle of a song. The he started singing again, picking up where he left off. He started singing a second song, and stopped again in the middle. When I started singing to keep the song going, I was quickly interrupted.

It's loading?! He's only three! It took me a split second to remember that the computer he uses has a slow connection and sometimes, often enough for him to get it (obviously), the video pauses.

I didn't know about "loading" when I was three. I didn't know about cell phones or emails or iPods. Or about derivatives or income-only loans or bail-outs.

As the times change, so does our vocabulary. A colleague once told me he had gotten dressed that morning and "put on" his cellphone. A phone had morphed from something on a table or a wall to something he "put on" daily. My husband thinks phones will eventually be implanted, and he's not alone. The times we are facing right now call for a new vocabulary. And the sooner you start using it, the better off you will be.

Molly Hughes Wilmer

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Feature

The New Vocabulary

The economic recession is impacting people around the corner and around the world. Here in America, conditions have been ripe to change well-entrenched behaviors and attitudes.

According to the Federal Reserve, U.S. household debt, which has been growing steadily since it was first tracked in 1952, had its first decline in the third quarter of 2008. In the same quarter, U.S. consumer spending growth had its first decline in 17 years. America reversed a 56-year trend and a 17-year trend in the same quarter. This is a huge cultural shift.

Americans are admitting publicly that they have replaced paper towels with washable rags, cancelled cable television, begun cutting their own wood, switched to consignment stores, started clipping coupons, and switched from shaving cream to a bar of shaving soap to save $6. Business Week's cover story last week commented, "As joblessness creeps up, many more Americans will receive their own crash course in frugality. "

This personal frugality and thrift has been spreading in the business world at the same time. Businesses cancelled holiday parties and are cutting other expenses, firing workers, or closing doors altogether. "Companies are also getting creative about finding ways to encourage employees to embrace frugality, "according to the New York Times.

Moving from "Shoppertainment" to "Staycation"
The most important part of this for marketers right now is to understand the shift that is influencing attitudes, behavior and vocabulary. As the New York Times put it, "Even companies not feeling a pinch are finding frugality is now in vogue." The Guardian was a bit blunter: "Greed is no longer good and luxury is a shameful word." Mall of America-style "shoppertainment" is being replaced with "stay-cation."

It's easy for impacted businesses to understand the need for sensitivity. These fall in the financial sector, obviously, those that offer consumer products or services and organizations carrying heavy debt burdens. Some B2B businesses are a bit more stable, especially if they orbit the B2G sector, as that area offers some promise.

However, even those companies that appear to be doing the best right now need to be sensitive to the cultural shift we are experiencing. The government market, well-capitalized companies poised to take advantage of this downturn, and those offering the basics of food, clothing and shelter can't afford a scandal like the auto industry. The highly-publicized uproar after the executives flew their private jets to Washington wasn't abated by driving their hybrids down the second time. After the initial blunder critics complained they didn't carpool!

Marketers facing the tighter budgets of consumers and businesses need to embrace a new vocabulary that appeals to the rising popularity of frugality.

Gross discounts devalue the product or service. A customer may think, "If it wasn't worth the full price, do I need it at this price?" Companies are wise to consider package discounts in way that demonstrates their compromise between price and offering.

Example: Outlet stores are often on cheaper real estate, meaning a longer drive from a metropolitan center for cheaper prices.
Example: A seafood retailer could shift marketing emphasis from their premium offering to a sub-brand that includes less expensive types and cuts of seafood.

Status symbols are being turned on their head faster in some markets than in others. Appealing to ego or status is much trickier than before.

Example: Orvis, IBM, and other heritage brands will go farther with allusions to a history of depression-era values, quality and perseverance than references to elite fishing or hunting weekends or executive-only services.

Reactions to the economic downturn vary. A minority aren't feeling it yet, and don't think they ever will. Others fear they will be impacted, and still others have already lost their job. Some people want to escape while others want to be reassured, feel a sense of stability, or hear optimistic viewpoints. They do not want to feel guilty about spending money.

Example: Paying attention to your comprehensive brand environment is more important than ever. What is your brand promise, and are you delivering it? Customers want to get what they pay for, including the experience.

Value propositions may need to be rephrased or reshaped to be more relevant in today's economic conditions and changing cultural sensitivity.

Example: TurboTax is emphasizing their ability to get the largest tax refund, increase the speed of tax returns as well as offering a line of credit in advance of a tax return.

It's not what you say; it's how you say it. Today, most companies need to be saying it differently than they were before, if they are not already.

What Can You Do?

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. But realize not all your customers are alike. Imagine the variety of new and unfamiliar situations your customers are in. And then scan your marketing materials, your call scripts, and your entire customer experience to see if your messaging still resonates.

Re-examine your value proposition, your sales offers, and your promotions to see how you can increase your relevance in today’s environment.

Ask the Expert

Question
If my offer was solid before, shouldn’t it still be now?

Answer
There are many offers that are as solid now as they were before. And you could decide to stay the course. You could decide that customers will appreciate the familiarity and constancy of the same brand experience that they had before. How could this impact you?

Well, if you are a pizza delivery company, you will probably lose some customers. Not because of anything you did, but because some of your customers can no longer afford to buy pizza—they are going to have to make spaghetti at home. But, you may gain some customers, people who can’t afford their previous, more expensive dining options. Are the demographics the same between the lost and the new customers? Do the same offers appeal to both? Maybe, but probably not. Could you lose less of the old customers and gain more of the new customers if you tweaked things (such as offering spaghetti as well as more gourmet pizzas)?

The reason you are supposed to review your will regularly, even if your own financial and family situation has not changed, is to re-examine your situation in light of any laws that have changed. If the legal environment has changed, you may need to adapt your will.

The economic environment has changed. Need I say more?

Submit your questions to the editor: molly@visionsmc.com

Want to Know More?

Vision Strategic Marketing & Communications helps select companies with high growth potential reach their business goals through marketing strategies. Whether you are re-evaluating your current positioning in light of the new economic dynamics, expanding your product offering, services, or market proposition, looking for additional customers in new or existing markets, or really need to get the right people to hear the right message, a strategy can help you do it better, faster, and more cost-effectively. Operating in a unique space spanning strategic planners and marketers, Vision Strategic Marketing & Communications brings growth-oriented critical thinking as well as marketing execution and expertise to the table. We're here to help you evaluate what you're currently doing and improve it, or help you get launched in a fresh new direction. We'll work with you to define your specific objectives, and develop and implement the communications necessary to achieve them.

Unlike traditional marketing firms, Vision Strategic Marketing can offer high quality, low cost execution through scalable resources with skills paired to clients needs. Quality and creativity are yours at competitive prices as the result of intelligent management. When you're ready to get started, start with Vision.

Give us a call at 410-849-8095 or email me at molly@visionsmc.com.

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