Those of you who are familiar with my marketing consulting practice will recognize that I’ve recently launched an all-new website at www.RickardsMarketing.com.

This new site is a tactical reflection of some alterations I’ve made in my business model in response to a series of elemental changes I’ve perceived in the marketplace –– specifically changes in how emerging businesses view their marketing programs.

This blog post will detail the changes I see in business’ attitudes toward marketing. A follow-up blog post will focus on the changes I’m making in my business model as a result of these changes in the marketplace.

Today, many business owners/executives are nervous. They perceive that the overall business climate is sluggish –– that consumers and producers alike lack the confidence that leads to increased spending and strong economic activity. They perceive that the federal government (and in many cases, state government, as well) regards them with suspicion or even hostility, despite the well-known statistics that point to “small” business as the prime generator of new jobs. They perceive that government regulation and tinkering will make it even more difficult and taxing (pun intended) to hire people, operate a business, and generate a reasonable return on investment.

Frankly, I share their concerns. But I don’t share the view that the “safe” approach to this dilemma is to stop promoting, cut back on marketing, and “wait and see what happens.” I’m not clairvoyant, but I have a pretty good idea what will happen to a business that stops engaging in marketing initiatives: Marketing has residual effects, so at first, momentum will keep some repeat business coming in. This can lead to a temptation to conclude that, “Hey, we stopped marketing and we don’t see any difference!” But gradually, new customers (and even an increasing number of existing customers) will stop calling, stop buying, stop caring, and find somewhere else to spend their money.

In other words, if you fail to keep you company’s offerings in the forefront of customers’ and prospects’ minds, they’ll eventually forget about you.

Meanwhile, the businesses that continue investing in marketing have an easier time reaching new customers than before, because your abdication of the marketplace renders you invisible. That means your competitors are gobbling up your customers and market share, because you’ve left your customers unattended. Later, when the economy comes back to life (as it always does), your competitors earn record profits because they bought up market share while it was “on sale.”

So how am I changing my business model to meet these challenges? Excellent question! Tune in to Part 2 of this blog to find out!

Rick Rickards