Focus on YOUR value in this economy!

Wow! I spent last night, like many of you, watching the news and hoping for a great result in the election. For those of you who hate politics, I'm sorry. Yesterday was truly a great day for America. Not because Barak Obama won (although that was the highlight of my evening - first time in my life I did not vote Republican), but because I think the American people truly had a voice and I've never seen people get more involved than they did in this election - I think people TRULY cared and it showed in the way BOTH candidates performed. Regardless of the result I think America is going to be much better for it.

It's also been an interesting (and concerning) couple weeks. While the Presidential Election has taken the vast majority of the local and national media attention things that affect us everyday folks continue to get worse. E-mails from colleagues who have been layed off, press releases on company downsizing and many of my fellow agency friends calling concerned about their customers cutting budgets have become almost a daily occurrence.

There has never been a more important time for you as an individual to focus on how YOU can provide value within your organization (if you are on the client side) or for your clients (if you are on the agency siide). This means taking a step back and asking yourself; "If I were not here what affect would it have on my company and/or clients? What value would they NOT get with my absence?"

There was a recent article "Recession Data On The Value of Marketing Through Downturn!" that gives some historical perspective on how marketers have been affected during other economic downturns. You can find it at:

www.gtms-inc.com/tip_marketingrecession.htm

I also wrote an article on this in the Sales Lead Management Associations e-newsletter:

www.salesleadmgmtassn.com/July2008Newsletter.htm

It was on "Creating Opportunity in a Down Economy". I touched on the importance of lead nurturing, marketing accountability, understanding your customers buying process and overall effective marketing in a down economy.

Both I feel do a good job of communicating the fact that this has happened before and if you look at this as an OPPORTUNITY you will come out of it much better than you went into it.

Additionally, I hit on marketing accountability multiple times in my blog as well. Just search for marketing accountability and you should find plenty of content to help you become more accountable and thrive in this kind of an environment. Just want to do my part! Good luck!

-Robert