"Dwindling budgets suddenly make low-cost social media look like the pretty girl at the ball." - Ann Handley
I love Ann's optimistic take on social media in the downturn. And I fundamentally agree. Big promotional budgets are hard to find, but you still need to get your message out there. And given how important an information source social media and communities have become, smart companies will amplify their presence in these scrappy times.
And I have noticed a corollary. We have seen a spike in companies investing in quick-cut efforts to define/refine their market positioning.
My data is anecdotal, to be sure. I'm going off a small and focused (we work in the technology and life sciences categories) sample. But in a time of fewer, smaller new business inquiries, we have had seven prospects recently come to us asking for positioning help. Our four most recent project wins (all in the last two months) have been companies wanting better, sharper, more differentiating messaging. By the way, we noticed a similar thing coming out of the dotcom crash in the early 2000s, which prompted us to refine our approach to positioning. Here are my hypotheses:
I asked one of our current messaging clients (a CEO of a software company) for why he launched the project:
"Targeted positioning and messaging make our demand gen and ad spend more efficient. It's about value, not volume. If you can't show a customer tangible value in a few short minutes, you'll be shown the door. Targeted positioning opens the door by speaking to the "pain of the moment" vs the aspirational ideals of most managers."
I like the trend, personally. Positioning feels like the smarter (and better looking?) alternative to just flogging the lead gen horse. There is a good argument that a bit of messaging will make any campaign investment--be it brand advertising, demand gen, or social media--a whole lot more effective.
I'm curious: are people seeing any other pretty girls at the ball?
