Seth on marketing in down times

I really think this whole 'po us, we in a recession' talk is more hype than substance, but it does take its toll when the idiots in the MSM keep harpin' it over and over. They have predicted seven of the last two recessions, so you can listen to them or not...

Anyway, the points that Seth makes in this unfortunately named post are very good. (I think the more we buck the flow, the better it would be to stem it, but acquiescing to the doomed is not my way... it just isn't.) I think it is something for us to think about. How to maximize the value of design and photography to a point that we can differentiate it clearly - and make it even more important to get the best of both instead of settling for cheap, crappy work. When money gets tight, maybe we have to work even harder to show that paying for a few great works is actually cheaper than paying a little for a lot of crap. Get your thinking caps on... how we gonna do this? I know we can...

Seth's Blog: Marketing in a recession: "Starbucks was the indulgence of a confident person happy to blow $4 on a cup of coffee. Starbucks can become the small indulgence for the person who just traded down to a small rented apartment.

The challenge for marketers is to figure out how to change the story they are living so that their customers can change the story they tell themselves. What you make, where you make it, who makes it, how it's priced and sold and ... it all adds up to a perception. If you change these elements the story will change too."