Choice Crickets

B2B technology marketers spend their time in a fairly rarified world: complex products, sophisticated buyers, intertwined programs.

We’re schooled in thinking strategically, acting tactically - and making sure that when we’re acting tactically, we’re thinking strategically.

We work hard at getting the message, the mix, the metrics right. We debate whether the “4 P’s” are changing - or timeless.

We weigh our options, analyze our budgets.

We have our own lingo, our A/B, B2C, CRM.

It’s not a bad idea to occasionally take some time out to think about what marketing must be like where there’s zero budget, and where marketing may be a real matter of survival.

I thought of this when I saw an article in The NY Times last week on how gasoline prices are really clobbering the rural poor. The article is absolutely worth a read, if only so those of us who think we’ve got it bad should occasionally pause and think a bit about folks who use 20% of their income to drive long distances in old beater cars to ill-paid and thankless jobs.

The article mentioned how one hardware store manager, whose “sales have plummeted to $30 a day from $250 a day a month ago” - yes, you read that correctly - who “tries to attract customers by putting out choice crickets for fishing bait beside the front door.”

When any of us start thinking that we have it bad - we’re underpaid, overworked, unappreciated, misunderstood… When we roll our eyes at the miserable budgets we’re operating with, and the high expectations “they” have of what those budgets will get them….Let’s think for a moment about Pam Williams, trying to move her business above the $30 a day mark by leaving a pail full of “choice crickets” outside her door.

I’m guessing that, even if this “program” doesn’t “work” in terms of growing revenues back to their earlier level, Pam’s gesture will be recalled as a high touch effort that demonstrates that she knows her clientele, and appreciates the times they’re going through.

---

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically each day to your feed reader. If you don't have a feed reader, you can always have these articles delivered to your email inbox every day. Click here to sign up.

The Opinionated Marketers | Powered by WordPress | ElegantBlue is a custom theme by Nathan Rice