Crisis?! Double on the rocks please.

My Sunday evening meditation on monsters, cake, human nature, crisis, advertising, flip side, sexy lingerie and that it's time to zag because others zig. In four short chapters.

Chapter One

There is always more than one way…

Crisis.

If I had a cat I’d call it that.?

Crisis.

I’ve been telling folks for about a year now that it will come and that it will be deeper than the one from 2008.

I’ve been kind of waiting for this ugly bugger to show up.

Why?

Because in the face of a monster most people, literally 99% of them, hide.

It's human nature.

Fear is a powerful demotivator.

And crisis breeds fear.?

But, in the face of anything, there is always more than one way to deal with anything.

Pessimists will see only thorns no matter how beautiful the rose.

Optimists will see the rose before the seed is planted.?

And then there is a realist who doesn’t get emotional about a rainbow because he knows it takes rain and sun to create one.

Chapter Two?

There is always some cake

Because of my work I talk plenty to shop owners, online and offline.

Recurring theme of those conversations is - we don’t spend, we don’t overbuy, we just? sit and wait.?

On the other hand Amazon increased its revenue to another record. On all fronts and in all divisions.

Now, you can think “I am not Amazon, I cannot compete with them” or you can ask yourself different questions.?

What can I learn from past crises? Gosh we had plenty of those…

What can I do other than cut costs and hide under the rock?

What can I learn from Amazon that be working for me?

Etc.

I believe the reason why Amazon is growing from strength to strength is the fact that everyone else is scared to make any move. While everyone is “playing not to lose”, Amazon, and some other companies, are “playing to win”. And those are completely different strategies.?

I also believe that anyone who will start playing to win, especially in the face of a crisis that is spreading like a virus, has a massive chance to actually win because the rest, the most, will not play at all.?

When the size of the cake is the same but the number of people who want a slice is much smaller you get a bigger slice. Duh!

Chapter Three

There is always something to moan about?

For the last two years the majority? of the world kept talking about uncertainty. We did not know what would happen, we did not know what to do… And yet, here we are, marching on. Moving on. [And most are still talking about uncertainty.]

The earth is still spinning around the sun, as far as we know.

Day and night continue to follow one another in cycles.

Rain still falls down from the sky to the ground, not the other way around.

People still crave love, happiness, connections, someone to be with.?

It does not matter how uncertain the future is, some things are - and always will be - certain. Some things never change.?

One of those things that never changes is the fact that in the face of any crisis some people will hide, fold, and lock themselves in the basement while others will not.

One of those things that never changes is the fact that there always is more than one way to deal with anything. One of those ways is to just do nothing and moan.

Chapter Four

Apocalypse anyone?!

Tony Robbins, one of the biggest names in the mentoring and coaching business, has 50 running adverts on Facebook, Instagram and all other Meta platforms. If we are in a crisis, if people have no money, and everything is as bad as news headlines suggest, why would he do that? Burning money? Or making money?

Boux Avenue - a lingerie shop with over 230,000 followers on Facebook and twice that much followers on Instagram currently runs 20 ads.

And finally - Marks and Spencer, established in 1884, quality fashion and outstanding food store in UK with nearly 8 million followers on Facebook and Instagram runs 230 ads.

Why?

Why do they do it?

They already have followers and stuff?

Two reasons.

Reason one - advertising works.

Reason two - if you’ve built the cathedral, you have to tell them that you did, and where they can find it.

That’s why we are going to continue investing an insane amount of money in all sorts of marketing and advertising, for ourselves and for our clients. While everyone else will cut costs, let people go, shrink their expenses and tighten their belts - all of which will only deepen the crisis for them - we will be pretty much the only thing people who still have to buy stuff see. It’s easy to?stand out when no one else advertises.

When they zig, we zag.

Easier said than done in the best of times but in the dire times… it's particularly easy to implement.

Because what's the alternative?

Waiting for the apocalypse?

What’s your game plan?

p.s. in case you didn't know... I do not write as often as I'd like, I publish even less but every Friday around 6 pm UK time I publish 300 words [never more than that] on sales and marketing that works... and this coming Friday edition is particularly harsh...