To me the Ultimate Marketing Wisdom for surviving a recession, or any other business setback, is simply this…just don’t quit!

Over the more than 35 years that I’ve working in the marketing trade I’ve noted that persistence is the sole characteristic that typifies all successful businesses and individuals. Those who survive – whether they be organizations or individuals – unfortunately aren’t always defined by their worthiness, talent, devotion to others, intelligence or beauty. Some say survival depends on luck, but that’s merely creating a causal factor after the fact. Luck, unlike persistence, is not a choice. The key to surviving is to choose to persevere.

I believe that there are keys to persistence, beyond merely not giving up, though an unwillingness to call it quits, whether it’s due to faith, will power or just plain stubbornness…or a bit of all…can’t be discounted. I have a friend who emphasizes that one of the keys to survival is learning to thrive in your circumstance, whatever those circumstances may be. Folks who read the Bible will be familiar with the scripture that tells us to…”in all things be grateful and give glory to God.” Those who take comfort earthly wisdom may choose to simply “…direct your feet to the sunny side of the street.”

All well and good, you say, but the Gospel According to Pollyanna wears thin when I’m sitting in my office staring at a silent phone, my e-mail in-box is empty, and the postman brings only bills and promotional material from competitors. In other words, what does this persistence look like?

At this point I must confess that I’m a charter member of the Chicken Little Society, and like all CLS members it’s all too easy for me to slip into a damp, dark and lonely place when my life doesn’t fit my fantasies.

So…

Rule Number One: Separate Fantasy From Reality. In other words, take stock of yourself, or your business. If you’re a small business person, by which I mean that you rank somewhere near the bottom of the Fortune Five Hundred Thousand, you and your business are probably inseparable. Stock-taking is really a basic and potentially and excruciatingly painful process of determining at what you’re really good at doing, and (even more important) what you’re less successful at doing. Two things are essential, brutal honesty and a willingness to hear the truth. Having an objective spouse or friend who you respect (or fear) too much to ignore is useful in this process.

Big Business, by which I mean huge, impersonal enterprises that thrive on euphemism call this focusing on “core skills.” Management Gurus publish books reviving this principle every few years. Buy one if you like, or you can save your money and ask someone who cares about you enough to tell you the truth.

Okay, so you’ve asked and been told what you’re good at. Hopefully, it wasn’t too painful, but if it was you can rejoice that – if you take the wisdom to heart – you don’t have to go through this process again.

Rule Number Two: Put Your Heart and Soul Into What You Do Best. Sounds like a noble purpose doesn’t it but – in practice – it’s usually easier said than done. It’s all fine if you’re calling is something you’ve always aspired to doing, if it’s widely appreciated, and (best of all) if others will envy you for your activities. Unfortunately, most of us are called to more or less mundane tasks rarely celebrated in inspirational books. I doubt that the Wall Street Journal list of Best Sellers will feature, “The Joy of Sewer Maintenance” in my lifetime.

So, how does one find the passion in doing something less fantastic than entertaining a stadium packed with rabid fans? Personally, I take pleasure in developing my skills, such as improving my command of Adobe Illustrator; adding to my knowledge base about things like Search Engine Optimization and stretching my brain, lately it’s been learning Spanish. Since the region I live in is about 28% Hispanic, the latter is not purely academic.

Rule Number Three: Be Grateful. I readily admit this is the hardest of the three rules for me to practice. Like all Founding members of the Chicken Little Society I can easily fall into believing that things either are getting worse, or soon will go south. Gratitude, on the other hand, takes a sincere appreciation of things the way they are. Like the other two rules, I believe that this rule is a choice. I envy people born with a “sunny disposition.” Unfortunately for me my DNA is overcast so I have to discipline myself to focus on positive things.

How to do this? I can tell you from experience that ungratefulness is more than just a bad habit – it’s an addiction. Like all addictions you fight it daily or hourly. If you believe in God, pray. If you don’t, meditate. The bottom line is: if you’re willing to honestly look around you will find things – lots of things – to be thankful for…even in a recession.

Today’s tidbit of Marketing Wisdom focuses on the two things that one must do before tackling such a challenging task as to tell another person something that you think is important in the hope that you can persuade them to agree with you.

Please understand that I’m not talking about simple statements about which there is little controversy such as, “Its 3PM,” “Politicians make me sick,” or, “Madonna is an outstanding example of the principle that a monomaniac can be successful absent any real talent.”

The type of “telling” that I’m talking about has to do with statements of belief that one hopes will persuade another to take a certain specific action. Examples might be: “Go there. Buy this. Don’t do that.” And, one statement that’s popular lately, “Vote for me.”

The MEDIA – the omnipresent, self-anointed political king-maker, arbiter of taste and oracle of ALL THINGS TRUE – under the guise of an impartial interview loves to blind-side anyone who they’re not predisposed to faun over with questions designed to make that person seem ill-informed, unprepared and outfight foolish.

So should one decide to undertake this quest – whether you’re talking to an individual, an auditorium full of people or a camera lens with a red light above it – the two things you must do avoid being made to look, or sound, a fool are homework and legwork.

Homework – Simply put, this means study up on the point you wish to make. And not just on your side of the argument. Any experienced debater, or general for that matter, knows that one had better know how his or her opponent will respond before engaging with them. A corollary to this is to know one’s limits. In other words, know what you’re talking about and don’t talk about what you don’t know. It’s quite tempting for some, when a microphone is thrust in their face, to want to seem omniscient. An unfriendly interviewer, when they sense this tendency in a victim…subject…will then assist Mr. or Mrs. Know-It-All to hang themselves with their own tongue.

Legwork is just another word for personal research. Formal research, by which I mean received data that has been processed by someone other than you, is almost always a trap. Unless you have been trained in how to read a research report – not just the “Executive Summary,” a.k.a., the Fool’s Cheat Sheet – don’t rely on it. Why? Doesn’t impartial data trump opinion or hearsay? Not any more it doesn’t, and that’s because every group with an agenda commissions research to prove their foregone conclusion.

Statistical “Truth” – whatever it is – will not, in and of itself, give you the means to successfully communicate your point. On the other hand, doing your own inquiry will give you a faith in your point of view that is more powerful than anything you’ll get from received wisdom. Nothing beats saying, “I was there. I saw this. I smelled the smell and heard the sounds.”

As our quadrennial, national puppet show grinds to a conclusion, I personally am sick of watching and listening to people tell me or my neighbor what they’ve been told I want he hear. I’m fed up with phony empathy and self-righteous anger. Listening to people whose position in life insulates them from the consequences of the actions they enthusiastically that I take makes me sad in my bones. I hunger for men and women who will tell me what they think and feel based on their personal experiences.

At this stage in the election, or in my life, I don’t care if I agree with them. I just want to hear someone tell me something what they are personally committed to. If they’ve done the homework and leg work I will give them my ear and my respect, whether or not I agree with them. And, who knows, an authentic honest argument might even cause me to change my mind.