By Marlys Fox
(Marlys Fox is founder, president and CEO of Fox Associates.)
Businesses, CEOs, Everyone: Do not give up just yet! Don’t listen to those who say the economy will never get better, that a major recession is looming, that America will never be the same!
It’s been a challenging year for many of us so far, I agree. It’s also been not so great ever since the pandemic started.
Marlys Fox.
But I do see some progress lately. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, a promise of a good second half of 2023!
Our company, Fox Associates, is a smallish business. But even those in bigger businesses know instinctively that if you fall victim to believing what you hear on television and read in a lot of email newsletters, then the forecasts of doom become self-fulfilling prophecies. If you stop advertising, stop branding yourself, and end up making yourself invisible, then no one will know you’re there by the end of the year. And that won’t make for a successful 2024!
So, to paraphrase Gene Kelly, the great mid-20th century movie star and dancer, don’t wait for the storm to end, learn to dance in the rain!
Waiting it out is not a wise idea. Waiting it out puts your company at risk. It’s possible your share of market will be eroded by a competitor who is bolder—a competitor that knows it’s best to “learn to dance in the rain!” There’s plenty of research showing that marketers who continue to advertise in tough times come out way ahead of those that didn’t.
So don’t make retrenchment, hunkering down, a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now is the time to be bold, confident, aggressive. Give me a call if you want to talk, or send me a note with your thoughts. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs, full steam ahead.
Just do it!