Can a Recession Help Your Brand?
08.28.08

I spoke with a real estate broker whose local market took a hit before the national real estate market famously slowed. In an area that two or three years earlier had seen building moratoriums and upwards of 30% annual appreciation, home prices fell at well-into double digit percentages. As a result, roughly 50% of real estate agents in his county did not renew their licenses. The downturn got rid of half of his competition in one year.

During a boom time, lots of people jump into your competition pool—trying to glean from the flux of business. In a recession, your industry has to share fewer transactions. The Darwinian nature of capitalism tends to sift your weaker competition from the herd. The buying public's attention is left to focus on the stronger players still in the game, players like you. Economic lulls can be a great time to establish and even grow your brand—your company's public perception—and not just by attrition.

During a slump, consumers grow more careful in their purchasing decisions, as costs and mistakes are more difficult to absorb. So, value grows in importance. The value associated with your brand will separate you from the pack faster during a recession than in a boom period.

Here's an example as close as my driveway: six months into 2008, MINI sales rose 33.3%, while BMW (MINI's manufacturing big brother) sales dropped 8.7%.
"'The last three months have been the best in our history as the significant structural shift to small cars has brought into our dealerships a diverse range of vehicle owners that currently drive large cars, SUVs and trucks. Our retailers tell us these people recognize the combination of efficiency, great dynamics and premium values MINI provides and it allows them to downsize their vehicle without downsizing their aspirations,' said Jim McDowell, Vice-President MINI USA."*

(Lest you to doubt my objective research, know that Honda—a manufacturer whose lineup contains far fewer trucks and large SUV's than their slumping competition's lines—saw their sales rise 8.5% domestically in the first half of 2008.**)

MINI Coopers are expensive compared to cars of similar size and fuel economy. But their value appears much higher due to intentional selection of amenities and the consistent, targeted marketing of the brand (and the rising cost of gas).

So, I'm not telling you to charge less for your services. biplane productions isn't; and it's seen an increase in auctions to advertise over (a record) 2007, year-to-date.

You've just got to prove you're worth your price—regardless of your price. What do you do that's different than your industry's standard? What don't you do, that most of your professional peers are wasting time, energy, and resources to offer? Tout both. Illustrate your track record or services with comparison charts, easy-to-read graphs, and referral quotations in your proposals and marketing. Show the towns, counties, and/or states you have served with a map. If you have the data, illustrate your company's reach by exhibiting where your customers or web visitors call home.

While your competitors are cutting their marketing, their presentation, and their support staff, their brand recognition in the marketplace drops. Even if you must scale down your company promotion—or direct it to a smaller, more targeted public—your dedication to a consistent, corporate image will build residual advantage, regardless of economic conditions. If you can establish yourself as the value brand in your market during a recession, you will accelerate into the growth periods faster than my MINI does out of a clover leaf ramp.

Well, almost.

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* July 1, 2008. www.autonews24h.com,
"Auto News : Auto Industry : BMW : BMW USA Reports June Sales"

** July 29, 2008. www.world.honda.com,
"Honda Sets 10th Straight All-Time Record for Worldwide Auto Production in First Six Months"

Taking It Personally

It's said that humans only need God in hospitals, funerals, and fox holes—as if he's a crutch (or at least a vehicle) for hoping and coping. For some, that may be true. For the true follower of Christ, it's about a dynamic, everyday relationship with a good friend. That sounds like Pollyanna hyperbole or televangelist crap to many, and it's hard to explain in concrete, empirical terms.

Some days it's like your church and your God know you better than you do, energize you better than anything else, and empower you to live life the way you dreamed. Some days life sucks. And on some of those days, church doesn't cut it; and only your private conversations with Heaven and heaven-sent friends prove cathartic.

Life cycles in various sine waves, just as the economy does in a free market system. People who don't walk intimately with Jesus want to see in the people who do something different when the days are gray, the results are black, and the bottom line is red. It's hope. It's joy. It's that peace you can't explain—not confidence in the outcome going your way but that God will somehow hug you and sit next to you regardless—that he loves you and has the best in mind for you.

When you take that realization into the good times, you'll feel his presence in amazing ways.

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