I noticed that one of the organizations I belong to is offering a Marketing in a Recession event. This struck me as a little funny like an event today for "How to avoid dying on the Titanic". Obviously, some better knowledge of what to do when a boat is sinking could be helpful for future reference, but I will not have the opportunity to test it out on the Titanic. This is the same for the recession. At this point, if you are not already marketing your company you have probably missed the boat.

Going through this recession has been an interesting learning experience for me and Brandwise for sure. The great thing is, when we did our "Marketing in a Recession" presentation a year and a half ago, it was relevant. This would have helped people make it through the tough times ahead. Today, however, I think we are officially out of the recession. Yes, things are not what they once were, but they are starting to get better.

I have seen many companies give up and go out of business. This is sad. Some of these people were friends. The loss of hope makes pushing through a recession very tough and the media continues to keep people down with all the doom and gloom.

I personally have found that the last 3 months have been picking up at a pretty good pace. This is exciting! So, part of the action that has helped us make it through is marketing. The more we do now the faster things turn around. This is true for any company. So maybe having a class on marketing tips to push out of the recession is good. But, it may be too late for the people/businesses that really needed this.

So if you are not already our there marketing your company, get to it! If you are, well then good for you. I am thinking all this recession stuff is partly just a state of mind. If you think you are not doing well, then guess what, you aren't due to your negative thoughts. If you think you are able to beat this thing, then chances are you are already doing it. A perfect example of this is the Cash for Clunkers campaign. Somehow at the tail end of the recession Americans came up with billions of dollars for new cars. How can this happen if times are so tough? Well, this was marketing genius at it's finest. Create a sense of urgency (limited time only, discounted rates, money back), create a call to action (get your clunker off the road and get $4500), promote it, then watch people beat down the doors to jump on the offer.

Now is the time to give up the idea of recessions and start thinking about how to create your "Cash for Clunkers" marketing campaign.

Good luck!