Let’s talk about marketing. Not because I’ve decided to change my job, that’s not my intention. But because in one way or another, I encounter marketing activities on a daily basis as I carry out my work: I receive newsletters and promotional material from this or that company, I meet and listen to people who advertise products or services and so forth.
I want to talk about marketing because there is something that I find a little strange and I would like to compare notes with you in this respect. But, before we start, I would like to mention something.
As unfortunately we all know,
this moment in history is exceptionally complicated from an economic point of view.
Given the global health emergency first and foremost. And then also given the contrasts between USA and China, Brexit, the collapse in the sale of vehicles due to emission problems and the uncertainties on the fuels of the future and the environmental emergencies in continuous growth. And then there are also the redundancies in many sectors (in primis the banking-insurance segment), the imbalance between supply and demand in the employment sector, which generates on the one hand severe unemployment and, on the other, lack of resources. And so forth.
From what I see and hear regarding the manufacturing companies with whom I have direct or indirect contact with at present, there is an array of very different situations out there, some of which diametrically opposite. There are companies without orders (or almost). And there are others overloaded with work. In general, however,
I fear the majority of businesses are witnessing a consistent and worrying decrease in demand.
We all know what to do in times like these: don’t panic and, on the contrary, exploit the time to grow and improve. We have experienced some excellent results in recent years so why not invest part of the resources in technology and human resource training?
This would allow us to be ready in the starting blocks as soon as the market is back on its feet. Because it has always been this way, because it is the law of economic history:
sooner or later markets recover, and it will recover this time too.
OK. Yet what do I see a lot of companies doing? I see them remembering that marketing exists along with all the related activities (activities which – for many enterprises – are completely absent during the months when work is thriving). I see them send presentations, company profiles, brochures that inform you what they are capable of doing, what infrastructures they have and which machinery and tools they use.
But don’t misunderstand me: I am not saying that they shouldn’t focus on marketing, then or now. Not at all. I would just like to ask a question to those who are in charge of these activities only when things are not going too well:
