Perhaps the essence of Marketing Wisdom is found in the definition of wisdom itself. Wikipedia’s article on wisdom contains a useful list as a guide to identifying wisdom in another:

“A wise person can discern the core of important problems.

A wise person has self-knowledge.

A wise person seems sincere and direct with others.

Others ask wise people for advice.

A wise person’s actions are consistent with his/her ethical beliefs.”

Fair enough. Now let’s see  what happens if we modify these five statements by substituting the word “successful” for “wise” and “company” for “person.”

A successful company can discern the core of important problems. And provide reliable and effective solutions. Since primitive man began divvying up his tasks so that he could focus on, say, fishing confident in the knowledge that another was skinning his previous catch, and yet another was cooking it, enterprises have been born and thrived on meeting peoples’ profound needs.

A successful company has self-knowledge. By differentiating its strengths from its weaknesses a business can concentrate on doing what it’s best at. All too many companies expand to the point of incompetence. Jay Chiat, who founded Chiat Day Advertising and is by many accounts one of the pioneers of modern advertising, once remarked when discussing the growth of his agency, “Let’s see how big we can get before we get bad.”

A successful company seems sincere and direct with others. In other words, its marketing messages avoid hype, borrowed interest and self adulation. As with individuals so many companies, in their pursuit of “importance,” forget that they are still human. Sharing one’s humanity was, is, and will always be one of the basic tenets of successful communication.

Others ask (a) successful company for advice. A hallmark of industry or business category leadership is that others recognize you as an authority. Because of this, the urge to claim leadership is so strong that the FTC regularly has to slap down advertisers for false claims of superiority. Smart businesses constantly reassess themselves, evaluate the results honestly, and invest in improvements to their products and services.

A successful company’s actions are consistent with his/her ethical beliefs. Lately it seems that financial companies, in particular, succeeded by avoiding ethics altogether, though now that the weasels have been dragged from their holes ethics may enjoy a renaissance. However in many other industries a determined commitment to critical standards has turned brands into adjectives for quality or excellence. Once the benchmark of American cars, Cadillac fell on hard times and the brand declined dramatically. Lately however, the company pulled up its shocks and reemerged to reclaim its position as a preeminent luxury car.

I believe that not just Marketing Wisdom, but some kind of Marketing Defense is called for now that advertising spending has shrunk to the point where my local daily newspaper is down to just two sections: Bad News and Sports.

There haven’t been too many voices of optimism in the last few months amidst the overwhelming chorus of Jeremiahs, but I have found some cheer from Warren Buffet with his much cited quote: “The time to be afraid is when others are greedy, and the time to be greedy is when others are afraid.” While Mr. Buffet was likely talking about investing strategy, his words seem to me to apply to many more aspects of life…including marketing.

It’s Monday morning as I’m writing this and in my e-mail I find the weekly update of Brandchannel.com, which is a must-read website / newsletter / blog for anyone toiling in the marketing field. Granted, it’s produced by Interbrand the self-proclaimed “world’s biggest branding resource,” but the self-proclamation notwithstanding, the site is a trove of useful information.  One such nugget is an article by Kevin Randal, Director of Brand Strategy & Research at Movéo Integrated Branding, a brand consulting and marketing communications firm based in

Speaking of my local two-section daily paper, buried amongst the gloom and doom in today’s edition was an article mentioning that Fed Chief, Bernanke was predicting that the recession will “probably” end this year if banks loosen their purse strings. I suggest that businesses unfreeze their ad budgets as well. Some modest ad spending with the resulting expansion in newsprint would be a strong signal that American commerce isn’t taking French lessons.

“Could my recommendation be tinged by more than a little self-interest,” says the grumpy guy in the back? Just so you know I’m not an “ad agency,” which means I don’t commission paid media and therefore have no stake in any media buying. Nor am I a great fan of the local media who readily offer free ads to advertisers so that the advertiser has no need to hire folks such as myself.

What I am is a passionate believer in the value of marketing and the fundamental need for commercial ventures to communicate their goods, services – and most importantly – their benefits to others…whether or not I’m involved in the process.

Now that people have started using the word “recession” in a positive context, while praying that it doesn’t become replaced with the dreaded “D” word…as in “depression”… here’s a bit of Marketing Wisdom.

As a marketing business, my own personal recession began a couple of years ago, when the more prudent, or petrified, of my clientele began to cut back on their marketing and promotional budgets. Now – I’m glad to say – I see some signs that more forward-thinking businesses are tiptoeing, albeit gingerly, back into marketing.

Despite this ray of hope I believe the future of marketing will not be a replay of the past. This week, the Wall Street Journal says that the stock market is at 1997 levels. Investors – well everybody – is hunkered down for the long haul thinking, “Maybe things will turn around in 2010…maybe not.” So, how does a business communicate with a world of people who are expecting things to get worse, while praying that they don’t?

For starters, I would tell anyone who wants to connect with future customers, or reconnect with current or past customers, to “Be Real.” Coincidently, as I was musing about this I checked in with Brandchannel.com and came across this article: Get Real, by Claire Ratushny (March 2, 2009 issue). You can find it at www.brandchannel.com / brand features / brandspeak, or click on this link: http://www.brandchannel.com/brand_speak.asp?bs_id=213.

In point of fact, “reality,” that is to say a connection with a genuine, profound personal need or concern, should be the basis of an enterprise’s brand in the best of times. Unfortunately more and more “me-too” businesses searching for some sort an edge over their “me-too” competition have seized upon the idea of a brand as a differentiator, with the result that a great deal of branding has slowly retreated from being a meaningful expression of a company’s value into just more advertising hype.

Still, as long as one is still standing, there is always opportunity to repent and rebuild. And, with that in mind, I suggest that your communications begin to reflect four qualities – if you will – the Four H’s of Reality. Okay, okay, I wish I could have made them the “3 R’s of Reality,” but these will do.

Honesty – Tell the truth in a clear and direct manner. Communicate the “who,” “what,” and most importantly the “why” of your product or service in plain language. If your message lacks the “magic” that you hoped would disguise the fact that you’re just one among many, and then perhaps your candor can make the connection with the reader or viewer.

Humanity – Appreciate that you’re most likely better off than a lot of others and as such you’re in a position to offer some help. Next, figure out a way to do so, whether it is a price roll-back, added value, or a real person who speaks English, lives in this country and actually understands the product to answer customer concerns.

Humility – Recognize that we’re all in the same boat. In other words, you customer is not a “them,” he or she is you. A reality with generic businesses (Who of us really unique?) is that they need their customers more than their customers need them.

Humor – Lighten up. Very few of us who labor in commerce are selling essentials. This current recession points up the fact that most of us were selling and buying discretionary stuff – otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to cut-back so quickly and – in view of the impact on our economy – so disastrously.