Marketing Lessons From Hurricane Sandy
Last year towards the end of September, Hurricane Irene absolutely decimated the town I used to live in (which is about 2.5 miles from where I am now).
The water levels hit record-breaking heights. Our house got flooded (thankfully our basement only – we were lucky) and my old town is still recovering.
… and it’s happening again.
Hurricane Sandy is about to PUMMEL us, yet again. Here’s a quick picture…
Last year towards the end of September, Hurricane Irene absolutely decimated the town I used to live in (which is about 2.5 miles from where I am now).
The water levels hit record-breaking heights. Our house got flooded (thankfully our basement only – we were lucky) and my old town is still recovering.
… and it’s happening again.
Hurricane Sandy is about to PUMMEL us, yet again. Here’s a quick picture.
Apparently we’ll be facing a true hurricane.
Considering I live in Pennsylvania, as far as I know that’s never happened before. We always get the outskirts of hurricanes which send us some pretty good storms, but this time we’ll be caught right in the eye of the storm.
And that brings me to a few marketing lessons.
Marketing Lesson #1: Do What You Need To Succeed
They’re calling for power outages of a week or longer. Since I can’t exactly afford that due to existing deadlines (I have FOUR between Monday and Tuesday), I worked most of the day Sunday to make sure I was prepared to hit those deadlines. And the rest of the day was spent preparing for the actual hurricane, to keep my family safe.
Yes, clients would understand if I missed the deadline.
But I don’t miss deadlines.
Marketing Lesson #2: When You’re Caught In The Eye Of The Storm, Buckle Down And Ride It Out
Sometimes your business gets caught in the eye of the storm. You’re scrambling around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying your hardest to figure out what to do… where to go next.
Every business has its ups and downs. But your downs should not be tragic. Instead they should allow you time to reflect and brainstorm new ways to dig yourself out of the hole you’re in.
Too many people base their decisions on FEAR. Yet if you can learn how to control that fear, your business will typically come shooting out from the flames like a rocket, instead of smoldering.
The lesson here is to harness fear and turn it into a new opportunity.
Marketing Lesson #3: The Worst Is Never As Bad As You Think
The worst is NEVER as bad as you think it’ll be.
Your mind has a unique and pretty powerful way of conjuring up images of the worst case scenario.
But the fact is, that worst case scenario rarely happens.
When it does, it’s never as bad as you first think it would be.
I can tell you from personal experience that every single time I’ve experienced a traumatic event in my business (losing a major client which made up over 50% of my revenue, for example)…
… it ended up BETTER because of that event.
Things only look bleak in the present.
In most cases, those bad events happen to pave the way for better opportunities.
Keep this in mind next time something traumatic happens. It always gets better.
Sandy Can’t Slow Me Down…
I’m likely to get a few days where I can’t use my computer. They’re expecting the power to be out for 1-2 weeks.
Maybe I’ll head to a Starbucks nearby for an hour or two per day, but the next few days are going to be filled with a lot of planning… reflecting and thinking.
I’m not getting upset over it.
Will I lose thousands of dollars in lost productivity?
Yep.
But I have a feeling, in the next few days with all the planning and reflecting I’ll be doing, I’m going to come back with a huge breakthrough.
So again… temporary setback which paves the way for future growth.
I’ll finish with this.
Hurricane Sandy won’t slow me down a bit. The reason is because of my attitude. If you can change your attitude and beliefs… the world is your oyster 🙂
If you’re in the storms path like I am, stay safe.
And make sure your family is protected.
