With the economy in the dumpster, I have noticed people are taking divergent directions in their approach to the situation. Some see this as an opportunity: they may have less money, but they have more time and see this as a chance to take a new direction. Others are little johnny thunderclouds, seeing only despair and futility in everything around them.
This is equally so in marketing and branding. Many companies are taking this time to re-evaluate themselves and how they do business. Others are howling at the moon and blaming everything else for their problems. Such negativity can often lead to ugly marketing, where companies believe that beating up their competitors will gain them an advantage. And they are dead wrong.
Negative marketing works in politics, but that’s often because you only have a choice between two products (and sometimes neither of them are ideal). In the marketplace, there are usually many competitors, so beating up on one or two won’t necessarily help you, and it in fact may backfire and help them (via the sympathy vote from their loyal customers screaming “unfair”).
Besides the fact that too much can go wrong with negative marketing (and that karma’s a bitch), it runs counter to why most of us are in marketing and branding in the first place. We are motivated and driven to build things, not tear them down. We aspire to create, not destroy. History has shown over and over again that the marketplace rewards those who build and create. Spend your energy on building your own brand, not slamming someone else’s.
