How to Market in a Downturn – The Story of Chester Bowles

I started reading The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam, a historical account of the Vietnam era. One of the many political personalities who emerges in the story is Chester Bowles, a state governor and congressman from Connecticut who played a minor role in the Kennedy administration and, incidentally, was opposed early on to involvement in that conflict.

Chester Bowles came from an established New England family, studied at Yale and founded an advertising agency called Benton & Bowles with his partner Bill Benton. While they started the venture with meager resources, it was quite successful and Bowles became a self-made millionaire, back when a million dollars meant even more than it does today. To me, the most interesting aspect of the story is the date when they founded the agency. It was July 1929. Three months later the great stock market crash of October 1929, known as Black Tuesday, occurred. This was part of a chain of events that led to the Great Depression and a nearly decade-long economic downturn. It was the worst our country has experienced.

Yet it was in this environment that Bowles achieved his entrepreneurial success. The book does not say much about how he did it, except that large companies "were ready for a change, any change, in the early days of the Depression."

Which brings me to the topic of this post – how to market in a downturn. The glib answer is you market in a downturn the same way you market in an upturn, except with one key distinction: Keep a keen eye out for new opportunities. Dark clouds have silver linings, and tumult and chaos open doors that otherwise would not crack. So find and seize your opportunity and, like Chester Bowles, you may encounter a great fortune in the worst of times!

P.S. If you want to kick-start your sales by developing the two most important marketing elements for your business – in a mere three hours – then I have good news. The next Apropos Marketing Foundation Workshop is scheduled for February 17, 2009. "The practical info was great. It was helpful to actually work on the statements and ideas in class," said a recent attendee. Check out the details and sign up here.