Family and Friends Trump Recession Woes

It’s hard to ignore the relentless onslaught of bad economic news. If you’re in the Midwest, it’s also hard to ignore the relentless onslaught of winter weather.

Even though it’s a new year, with a new president, it may take a little more effort to look on the bright side.

Businesses are struggling. Money is tight. The holidays are over. And backs are sore from shoveling snow.

Nevertheless, we’re determined to put it all into perspective. After all, conditions will improve. They always do. And in the meantime, we can choose to focus not on what’s wrong, but on everything that’s right.

I’m not just talking about looking for silver linings in the economic news—although there are some to be found. For one, we should be thankful for every last customer or client. And how about those gas prices (even though they’ve begun to inch up again)?

But much more importantly, consider the bright side that’s always there, no matter the economy or the weather or anything else: our families and our friends.

We draw strength from each other in difficult times, and we share the joyful days just the same.

Resolve to Join the Conversation Online

We’re all trying to grow business without spending too much money. Good thing we have the Internet. Because online, there are all kinds of low-cost opportunities to reach more prospective customers and engage them like never before.

In this unkind economy, you owe it to the future of your company to explore how social networks, blogs, wikis and the like might fit in with your business objectives.

But for most businesses, especially in the B2B realm, Web 2.0 is uncharted territory. So, to get started, the Wall Street Journal has a helpful primer, The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World. The piece contains insights and advice from experienced web marketing types.

One key takeaway happens to be one of the most difficult aspects to grasp about the online environment: that the online community directs the conversation. You can’t force the flow, but you can interact with more people and in more ways than ever.

That’s why the WSJ article’s final pointer is also probably the most important: Embrace experimentation. Don’t be afraid to try things out. But along the way, keep analyzing whether the results you’re achieving support your overall strategy.

Marketing Efforts Must Begin with Accountability

Advertising Age’s Michael Fassnacht has a great column titled “Producing Accountability in Hard Times.”

In these days in which even U.S. Senators are clamoring for accountability for TARP Funds, Michael’s message should be heeded by anyone involved with marketing and sales communication expenditures.

My strong beliefs about being accountable for results shouldn’t be that surprising to readers of this blog. See, for instance, this post on the ROI/accountability conversation from 2006.

There’s Room to Grow in the Global Economy

Wisconsin manufacturers may be lagging the world’s best companies in doing the things they need to do to thrive in the 21st century.

But therein lies opportunity.

Take, for example, expanding overseas operations. That’s one area for improvement cited in the “Next Generation Manufacturing Study,” an extensive new survey released by the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

The study shows, as highlighted by The Business Journal of Milwaukee, that many Wiscoinsin companies simply aren’t yet doing much international business. Just 7 percent of the 500-plus firms in the survey reported non-U.S. sales growth of 51 percent or higher. Nearly two-thirds of (63 percent) said that they have no sales or distribution facilities beyond the United States.

So there’s plenty of room to grow globally for Wisconsin manufacturers. “Global engagement” is one of the six key tenets of so-called Next Generation Manufacturing, a set of forward-looking strategies to drive growth and profitability in the 21st century (per the WMEP).

Of course, international business is rife with challenges. Whether from an operations or a marketing communications perspective, success overseas takes a strong commitment to consistency, balanced with flexibility for local customization. You’ve got to make the effort to understand and respond to what customers really want in each market.

That’s a tall task to undertake on a limited budget, but a few good strategic alliances can help. For example, our agency helps ensure consistent, relevant messaging around the world for global clients through IPREX, one of the world’s largest networks of independent public relations agencies. Read more about our relationship with IPREX.

In the meantime, read the full WMEP report for many more fascinating insights on Wisconsin manufacturing. An executive summary and the full report are available for download at WMEP’s website.

Renaming and Redesign Was No Small Decision

We’ve seen an interesting change recently in our local business media market: the former Small Business Times changed its name to BizTimes Milwaukee and redesigned both its weekly print edition and its website.

On the surface, the move seems an obvious choice. Small Business Times has been about a lot more than “small” business for many years; the old name was pigeonholing the paper’s appeal in a way that no longer applied. Meanwhile, its website url, www.biztimes.com, already reflected the wider net for business news that the operation was casting.

So bringing it all in line under the name BizTimes—for consistency across the mission, actions and communications of the company—made perfect sense.

But that’s not to say the overhaul was an easy thing to do. Brand and name changes take a lot of time, money and guts. The move also put BizTimes into more obvious, direct competition with a much larger counterpart, The Business Journal of Milwaukee.

As times change, smart companies know they must continue to evolve, as must their marketing communications efforts. It’s impressive that the BizTimes team had the vision and will to undergo this transition and celebrate it as a positive step forward for the future.

How to Reduce Costs and Increase Your Flexibility

If you’re thinking about reducing costs right now, you certainly aren’t alone.

Unfortunately, cutting back is a necessity for many companies these days. But blind, blanket spending freezes or reductions aren’t good for business (at least not if you plan to make it out of this downturn in any position to compete).

Maybe it’s time for a more thoughtful analysis, particularly if any of your fixed costs can be converted to flexible expenditures.

In this downer of an economy, fixed costs like overhead really put the squeeze on your cash flow and your bottom line. Cutting these costs can be painful both emotionally and physically, maybe even dangerous. Flexible costs, on the other hand, easily can be turned on or off or in between.

It’s in your best interests right now to have as many costs as possible fall into the latter category. And the quickest way to do that? Outsourcing.

I’m sure you’ve already heard the whole argument for outsourcing non-core competencies, so no need to rehash it here. But at a minimum, I should point out that there’s more to it than simply reducing your overhead (which is pretty good by itself).

With the right outsource partner, you also gain access to broad, deep expertise, experience and perspective (as well as productive capacity) that you’d simply never be able to sustain in house. And you get those benefits without shouldering extra overhead burden.

At Scheibel Halaska, for example, we’re members of IPREX, one of the world’s largest networks of independent public relations agencies. Our IPREX partners provide global cultural knowledge and communications expertise—but only when our clients need it. So we don’t have to employ experts on the Chinese, European or Latin American markets whom we only need for certain programs. You can read more about our IPREX relationship in a previous post.

Your business may be able to unload fixed costs by outsourcing marketing, IT, HR systems or something else. Just make sure you do your homework, of course, to find the right partner. In the short run, it just might help you accomplish your goals while still keeping your CFO happy. And in the long run, it just might become your secret weapon.

Don’t wait around for your own bailout

After a long slog of an election cycle, we at last have a new president-elect of the United States. The campaign is behind us, but one huge factor in the outcome will be with us for some time: the current gloomy economic climate.

Late last week, as Barack Obama met with economic advisors to consider the crisis, we got more bad news—this time about rising unemployment and the failing American auto industry.

So, not good, obviously. And it makes sense for Obama’s team to start tackling these issues right away. However, something we’ve said before on this blog bears repeating right now: Don’t leave your company’s future to actions or assistance from Washington.

Rather, survival and success depend on your company’s will, vision and ability to compete. There’s never been a more critical time to carefully examine what you do that customers value and how you can most efficiently provide it. Then, of course, do everything you can to convince people to buy your products and services. In other words, focus not only your operations, but also sales and marketing efforts.

Regardless of what the new national leadership does, it’s your leadership that will determine the future of your company.