The amazing drummer who has torn it up with Christian Scott and Michael Lee Firkins at gospelchops.com and on You Tube puts his mojo to work with The Mars Volta, to dramatic results. Drummers are clamoring for this story on one of the most exciting drummers to come along in years.

Plus this issue features a Percussion Miking Guide, Tomas Haake, Classic '80s transcriptions, and much more. Read on.

Material Due
February 5, 2008

On Sale
March 17, 2008

Off Sale
April 14, 2008

Classified Advertising
Eric Kamm
408-971-9794 x 208 Email

Strategic Complaints
Phil Hood
408-971-9794 x 203 Email

How To Thrive In A Recession?

How should you view advertising and marketing decisions in a recession? This is a subject of more than academic interest for us today.

In a study of U.S. recessions, McGraw-Hill Research analyzed 600 companies covering 16 different industries over a five-year period. The results showed that firms that maintained or increased their advertising expenditures during a recession averaged significantly higher sales growth both during the recession and for the following three years than those that eliminated advertising. Within three years, sales of companies that were aggressive recession advertisers had risen 256% over those that cut advertising. Similar studies document these effects for the recessions of 1981-82 and 1991.

Robert Evan Wilson tells the following story. "A few years ago when my wife was expecting our second son, we realized it was time to move our first born out of the nursery and into a regular bed. So, on a Saturday afternoon, we retrieved my old bunk bed from my parent's attic. All we needed to do was buy a couple of new mattresses. The following morning, as we lingered over cofee and the Sunday paper, mywife pointed to several ads and exclaimed, "Look at all these sales. We picked theperfect time to buy a new mattress!"

Being in the advertising business, I chuckled, and said, 'Honey, that's the beauty of advertising. Mattresses are always on sale, but no one ever notices that until they're in the market for one.'"

It's the ready-to-buy phenomenon. You have to be available to your customers when they are ready to buy, with info like "What's for sale?" and "Which product is best for me?"

Advertising has short term benefits--it drives sales. But it's long-term benefits are even more powerful. It works cumulatively, building a relationship of knowledge and emotion between potential customers and your products. They don't want to buy products from someone they don't know, so you need to take advantage of every chance you get to establish yourself with prospects.

Maintaining brand advertising in a recession is crucial. There is an old saying, "It's great to advertise when times are good, but you MUST advertise in a recession." That doesn't mean you don't change anything. You have to tighten your focus, save where you can, and try not to damage your long-term brand building.

The best reason to advertise in a recession is that it helps you achieve market dominance, as stated at the beginning of this article. Research says that firms that market in a recession can take share away from competitors who cut back, thinking that the consumer isn't buying or watching. These aggressive marketers become more visible to future customers, and their short-sighted competitors fade from memory.