Surviving the Recession: Try Something New

My previous posts have been about saving money as a way to survive this recession. That is still relevant. However, today I am introducing another idea, one that has given Americans some of the greatest products and companies ever established. It is one idea that some of you may not like. But, don’t click away just yet. Read on, I think you may just like what I have to tell you today.

3 Reasons to Try Something New When Others are Cutting Costs

An economic downturn is the perfect time to get your business in the forefront of the consumer’s attentions. You can do so by offering a new product/service and by advertising. Just think about it for a moment.

• All of the larger companies are slashing advertising and marketing budgets—or eliminating the departments altogether.
• Advertisers, in an effort to lure customers, have slashed their prices as well.
• Also, consumers are making conscious decisions about what they buy. But, let’s face it, if the product is priced right, they always go with the known name.

What does this mean? The playing field has been leveled. There are fewer ads, commercials, direct marketing materials bombarding customers. This creates a void that your company can fill with new a new product launch or a local ad campaign. It is the perfect time to get your company and/or product out there.

Five People Who Made It Happen

This strategy has worked several times over the years. Here’s the short list of companies and products that have come out of recessions, depressions and economic downturns over the years because the business people involved sought to fill the void.

1. Out of the need to make a cheaper more versatile mayonnaise to use on the veggies and sandwiches that the population subsisted on during the depression, Kraft foods bought, marketed and manufactured “Miracle Whip” in 1931—two years after the stock market crash.
2. Four months after the same crash, Henry Booth Luce launched a new magazine that is a staple in today’s world. It served the people’s need to understand what exactly happened that day in 1929. The magazine was called Fortune.
3. Federal Express began in 1971 (remember the oil embargo years?) as an idea from a college student’s paper. Frederick Smith studied that route used for parcel shipment and surmised that they were inefficient. The company he started after a stint in the military cut delivery times in half, saving what little money people had during that recession.
4. In 1958, during the Eisenhower recession, Al Lapin Jr. decided to give the public an affordable breakfast with a little variety. The International House of Pancakes or IHOP was that restaurant. It was an instant hit.
5. Let’s not forget the innovator Steve Jobs of Apple. The entire financial community thought he was nuts for introducing a new product in the recession after September 11, 2001. No one’s laughing now that the iPod has amassed massive sales numbers (over 11 million sold in the first quarter of 2009).

What it Means to You

If your company isn’t struggling to stay afloat (or even if it is and you are a risk taker), now is the time to try something new. You have a captive audience who is still buying, albeit in smaller amounts. Your competition has dropped their guard and their marketing strategy. There is a little risk involved, but the rewards are sometimes worth it.
Next time, I will lay out some tips to help you explore how use this strategy to help your business to not only survive in this recession, but also thrive in it!