demonstrate safety and
provide relief in times of turmoil
three questions that will save your job

What is the company doing differently now than one year ago? What are the company’s competitors doing differently now than one year ago? What new and innovative approaches is the company taking to address customer problems during this crisis?

Your customers and prospects are likely wary of investing too much emotionally or financially in your company if it is operating in financial services or any one of a number of other distressed industries. What steps you take to understand and guide this behavior will determine whether you succeed or fail in the coming months.

Today’s economic slump is merely a warning sign of an underlying array of forces stealthily upsetting lives, jobs and companies. The recession has served to expose systemic weaknesses and hasten changes that were already well underway. Traditional media were already losing readers, listeners and viewers to the World Wide Web, for example. Likewise, domestic automakers were losing customers to greener and more energy efficient motor vehicles. Public confidence in America’s business icons was also eroding after significant legal and ethical lapses at Enron, WorldCom (MCI) and Tyco, among others.

“Changes in technology, the environment and government regulation are having profound effects on people and businesses,” says Tim Coco, COCO+CO. president and chief executive officer. “Since the human psyche requires thousands of years to evolve, people cannot possibly adapt quickly enough to these perceived threats.”

Turn back the clock

Given the resulting consumer fear, resentment and protectiveness, it is obvious marketers must demonstrate safety and provide relief in times of turmoil. If you are working in any one of the many distressed businesses or industries, correctly answering the following three questions will help you move in the right direction.

• What is the company doing differently now than one year ago?

• What are the company’s competitors doing differently now than one year ago?

• What new and innovative approaches is the company taking to address customer problems during this crisis?

If customers once purchased stock index funds, for example, and that behavior led to a 52% decline in their financial safety nets, they likely will now be looking for something different and safer. If your business continues to operate as it has in recent years, customers will perceive you as, at best, taking too many risks or, at worst, arrogant. For proof, look no further than public outcry over automakers taking individual private jets to Washington or insolvent AIG executives receiving bonuses.

Consumers want to turn back the clock – to what they perceive were safer times without the immense greed and excesses. Because human nature hasn’t changed, this reaction is as normal as pulling one’s fingers away from the stove after getting burned. However, they also want some TLC for those burns they may have already suffered.

This approach is supported by Abraham Maslow in his landmark 1943 “Theory of Human Motivation.” Maslow discusses the human hierarchy of needs (food, shelter, love, etc.) and concludes that depriving people of these needs leads to illness or evil behavior. As the stock market drops and crime rates soar, Maslow’s theory takes on added significance.

You also must monitor the competition. Like you, competitors are trying to grab a piece of whatever new business might be available  – and your customers or clients are likely high on their prospect lists.

How one responds to today’s seismic events will determine whether success or failure lies ahead.

COCO+CO. is working with client partners to make substantive survival-modechanges as attempts are made to answer the questions above. For more information, call 800.374.4103 or 978.374.1900.

Submit your comments to creative@cocoboston.com.

deadlines near on Yellow Pages

COCO+CO. is a leading provider of results-oriented Yellow Pages advertising throughout New England. Here are some upcoming, selected Idearc (Verizon) directory deadlines.

April

Massachusetts
Lawrence April 24, 2009

New Hampshire
Salem-Derry April 24, 2009

May

Maine
Portland May 29, 2009

June

Massachusetts
Fitchburg June 5, 2009

July

Massachusetts
Fall River July 31, 2009

New Hampshire
Manchester July 31, 2009

August

Massachusetts
Lowell August 14, 2009
Bedford August 28, 2009
Boston-Brookline August 28, 2009
Boston-Cambridge August 28, 2009
Canton August 28, 2009
Cohasset August 28, 2009
Dedham August 28, 2009
Malden August 28, 2009
Newton August 28, 2009
Quincy August 28, 2009
Wayland August 28, 2009
Woburn August 28, 2009 

For assistance in determing whether telephone directory advertising makes sense for you, or to reserve space, call 800.374.4103 or 978.374.1900.

Submit your comments to creative@cocoboston.com.