Rethinking and Rebuilding: Marketing Priorities After September 11

As individuals, most of us are still struggling with the shock of September 11 and just beginning to consider the larger implications for our families and communities. As marketers, though, we know that our work will now change substantially. The economic slowdown will continue and probably deepen; marketing resources will shrink further; remote activities will become even more important than personal interaction—to cite just a few of the most obvious impacts.

The biggest challenge right now is focus. How do we think about priorities as we reorganize our work in the days and months ahead? What are the key issues? Are we looking just at modifying tactics and reallocating resources, or at more fundamental changes? What strategic guidelines are most applicable in our new situation?

Quite understandably, we have spent much of the last two weeks dealing with the immediate fallout. These early reactions, often in the face of tremendous personal distress and grief, deserve high praise. ITSMA members and other technology firms immediately organized crisis response teams and donated time, money, equipment, and space to help affected businesses cope with the destruction and get back on their feet. Companies large and small organized volunteers and donated substantial funds to relief and recovery operations.

Marketing professionals have played central roles in fashioning and communicating their firms' responses, moving quickly to reach out to clients, reassure employees and their families, and respond gracefully to the media, investors, and other key constituencies.

Marketers have certainly differed in their approach to such issues as how much to continue previously planned activities and how best, if at all, to publicize their donations. With very few exceptions, though, technology firms have "done the right thing" in terms of pulling back from business as usual and emphasizing immediate support and relief.

But now what? How do we get back to some semblance of normal? It's a daunting challenge, even viewed from a strictly professional perspective. From a marketing perspective, we have to wrestle with at least six critical issues.

Critical Issues

New Opportunities. The fallout from September 11 will also create new opportunities, with increased awareness for such services and solutions as storage, security, contingency planning, disaster recovery, outsourcing, virtual meeting services, defense systems, and military and law enforcement support. As Nancy Voith, EDS director of Americas communications and delivery, notes, "this is a validation of some of the services we have always believed were important for companies and governments. As opposed to optional, they are now required."

As Voith also notes, however, marketing such services now will be extremely touchy. "It's such a difficult line between trying to be helpful and seeming opportunistic. No one wants to look opportunistic in this environment." Addressing the new opportunities means developing new solutions, shifting resources toward existing capabilities that were not being promoted, and developing sensitive and tasteful initiatives and messaging.

Refining Tools and Tactics. Our repertoire of marketing tools and tactics will have to change. The most obvious changes are likely to involve replacing in-person meetings, seminars, and trade shows for remote activities. Given the primary of personal contact in marketing and selling services, it will require a great deal of creativity to overcome the shift toward virtual interaction.

The broader changes in the social and political landscape emanating from the attacks may have an even larger impact on marketing tools and tactics. In a more conservative and patriotic climate (at least in the U.S.), business buyers may become more cautious and skeptical about marketing claims even apart from their economic concerns. The issue of tone becomes critical. Uses of humor, irony, and violent imagery will be very difficult.

Global Sensitivities. The global nature of the new campaign against terrorism may have important impacts on international marketing initiatives, especially from U.S. companies. Marketers always need to take account of local differences, but tensions arising from the new situation could increase dramatically. For example, U.S.-based marketers rallying around the flag may gain favor at home but potentially alienate clients and prospects in other countries. The Middle East is not a huge market relative to other regions, but global firms can ill afford these days to risk alienating anyone.

Moreover, the politics of the current situation suggest that U.S. and other Western leaders will likely encourage corporate investment precisely in countries like Pakistan, India, and Egypt to support political coalition building. Marketers will have to tread even more carefully in reaching out to different markets while minimizing the dangers of backlash against American corporate presence.

Continuing Threats. The depressing reality is that we must consider prominently the chances of repeated and even more destructive terrorist assaults in the months and years ahead. Contingency planning is no longer an option, and marketers need to play a central role in preparing for the worst. Many technology firms had contingency plans in place two weeks ago, but many did not. And few existing plans addressed dealing with such a horrific and far-reaching attack.

Sadly, we all need to review, revise, or develop new plans for the future. "A lot of firms have done planning for crisis operations but not for communications," according to Jennifer Sheehy, director of the Crisis Communication Center at Clarke and Company, a public relations firm in Boston. Marketers need to assess carefully their emergency plans and capabilities for reaching out to customers, employees, and other stakeholders in a crisis. They might also need to address such prosaic issues as which employees serve in the armed forces reserves or have other skills that might be needed in an emergency. They may well need to develop and communicate new training and security measures, as well as new guidelines for marketing operations in "normal" as well as crisis environments.

Transition to Normalcy. Even as we grapple with all these issues, we face the immediate task of managing a smooth and respectful transition from crisis mode to a more normal, albeit changed, mode of going to market. Many firms immediately pulled back from normal marketing activities on September 11 (e.g., advertising, events, direct mail campaigns); highlighted relief efforts on their home pages; launched special communication efforts for employees and clients; and offered special services without charge to clients and others.

Already we're beginning to get somewhat back to normal, but we're understandably caught in a difficult transition period. Especially with the economic shock, we're all going to have to shift back to revenue producing activities. But bringing back "normal" activities means carefully evaluating the content, tone, and targets of each initiative to ensure they remain appropriate. It may also mean judging when it is okay to restrict or eliminate free recovery services. And it certainly means looking at how we might incorporate some of the special efforts of the last several weeks into productive ongoing initiatives.

Differing circumstances will inevitably affect the ways each of us responds to these concerns. But as we rethink and rebuild our marketing programs and priorities, several guideposts can help direct our work.

Guideposts

Relationships. A more cautious psychological as well as economic climate will likely put an even greater premium on trusted relationships. We should shift more marketing resources toward existing clients and partners. Many will want to circle the wagons with existing providers, thereby creating good opportunities for deeper client engagements. "Trust becomes extraordinarily important," according to Phil Dover, an expert on services marketing at Babson College. "We want that security blanket as tight as possible." By the same token, failures to go the extra mile for existing clients will be even more noticeable than usual. Prospects, meanwhile, are less likely to cast a wide net for new providers. Short lists will get shorter and more difficult for newcomers to penetrate.

Communication. Marketers wisely made immediate and extensive communication, internally and externally, a top priority on September 11 and after. It was critical to touch base, offer condolences and assistance, and reassure friends, colleagues, and partners wherever possible. We should continue with a heightened level of communications to help assuage all the obvious concerns in the days and months ahead. "You've got to keep people informed and you've got to keep people's morale up," notes Cynthia Curtis, director of global services marketing at EMC.

Given the likelihood of reduced face-to-face contact, we'll have to work harder to make sure that phone, e-mail, and other electronic contacts are well planned and effective. Strengthening CRM systems and corporate intranets and extranets are even more important now. And we would be well served to keep as much of our real, human voices in this effort as possible. One of the most heartening aspects of any disaster is the way in which pretense is dropped. If we can now move forward with less marketing-speak and more human-speak we'll all be better served.

Community. Crises are moments of truth. With little time and much pressure, corporate reactions generally reflect the organization's core values. The wonderful response to September 11 from our industry was a reminder that the community impulse was not just a passing fancy of the late 90s boom. That impulse is likely to gain more importance in the months and years ahead as employees, clients, and other stakeholders seek trusted partners in an increasingly challenging economic and political environment. Building on current relief efforts with a stronger commitment to corporate ethics, social responsibility, and community engagement - and honestly communicating the implementation of that commitment—should therefore yield substantial dividends in terms of loyalty and professional credibility.

The old rules of marketing are certainly not irrelevant, and the guideposts noted above would be useful anytime. Now, however, the social and psychological impacts of the attacks in the U.S. suggest that a more personal, human-scale, and community-minded approach to marketing will become critical to success. President Bush and many other leaders have argued that getting back to work and getting back to normal is the best response to September 11. How we do that will make all the difference.