The reasons are obvious. High gas prices are fueling inflation, coupled with a housing and financial mess that have a lot of consumers keeping their hands in their pockets and not on their wallets. Did I mention continuing escalation of credit card debt and an increase in unemployment to 5% nationally, which takes the economy out of what economists consider full employment?

I had lunch with a Minneapolis salon owner last Thursday and we discussed the current economic situation. She said this was the worst December she has seen and she has been in the business for more than 15 years. Joyce Humble, a salon owner in Texas and reader of this AH-ha! wrote:

• I thought the holidays were disappointing, not like previous years. The days that should have been super busy (the Wed before Thanksgiving and New Years Eve) were not like they had been in previous years. We had some good weeks but didn’t set new sales records in Dec, which we expected to do. I wonder why and if others experienced the same thing, I bet they do too.
  
• Then I saw this in the Ah-ha! from a couple weeks ago (catching up on email) and it got me wondering if I’m missing some sort of trend. It’s the end of the bit about Comp USA and Bart’s comments on it.
• Baker also noted, “The Company also lost ground to the office supply chains in the small business category and conceded share in the consumer segment to the specialty CE channel. They went from No. 1 to also-ran in many areas, and without TVs and content they couldn’t offset the margin declines in PCs."
• I closed that section by saying, “Comp-USA management held a one-dimensional focus. It didn’t focus and react to the changing market dynamics.”

This week’s AH-ha! is that there is not one trend. There are always many “trends” in motion. Sometimes they clash and offset each other or mask a bigger trend. Other times, they line up and we either go full steam ahead (remember the dot com boom), or the economic, social and psychological forces turn against us. Did I mention that the dollar is weak and the Euro is strong? Yes, even this matters. Why? Because the Wall Street Journal is telling us to take our money and invest it offshore at the same time foreigners, flush with capital, are buying up America.

The Marketing Implications

Unless your marketing plan already forecasted a sales decline, you may be visiting the C-Level suite to re-explain your plans. The knee-jerk reaction will be to cut marketing programs while the brands ride out this latest trend.

Last Thursday, when the poor sales results were published, I was challenged with the idea that retailers should have cut their advertising to promote “sales” in the 4th quarter and take those savings to the bottom line. This follows the theory that customers were not going to shop anyway so why throw good money after bad money.

Taking extra dollars to the bottom line has a great ring to it and CFOs love it. However, that is the best way to unravel a brand’s market position. While mass media advertising is losing its grip on the American consumer, marketing should be rethinking how to leverage business opportunities in a time of unstable, weak brand performances.

There is no one marketing answer for every brand. But there is one marketing challenge that never goes away and that is HOW DO WE INFLUENCE OUR CUSTOMERS TO PERFORM BETTER.

The answer is by performing better ourselves. My five success keys for this week are:

1. Keep your product and/or service mix fresh
   
   
2. Do things to make it easy for your customers to do business with you
   
   
3. Reward patronage and positive behavior
   
   
4. Stay connected with your customers
   
   
5. Distance your brand from your competition
   
   

This week, ask your team to evaluate how well your 2008 marketing strategy addresses these five success keys. They all work in harmony.

Have a profitable week and remember the glass is always half full.