It is amazing how many things can go wrong at once. The economy is sinking into oblivion, the financial sector is tottering, deflation is rampant, restructuring and downsizing are spreading, corporate misdeeds are endemic, and more. Everything seems to be falling apart at once, and things are tough all over.
  
Companies are responding by pruning non-core operations and focusing more tightly. This also holds for marketing, where brand strategies and customer-creation strategies are also subject to greater selectivity and focus. Yet despite this, many companies are not getting the kind of results they want. Because they are only talking the talk and not walking the walk. They are still spending too much time and effort on more of the same. They are still investing too much hope in the next big thing. And distracted, they have been less than ruthless in trimming their product lines, focusing their advertising, and concentrating on the core issues. They are talking about focus, but they are still trying to be all things to all people.
  
Whatever the endeavor, results are commensurate with the amount and quality of effort expended. Which is why it is so disheartening to see so many companies not doing what has to be done. Instead, they launch a new product, pull it when it does not immediately sell as well as planned, and then blame the poor sales on how it was priced in a tough market.
  
But precisely because the market is so tough and times are so hard, it is imperative the company do a thorough study of why this product did not sell better. What was really wrong? Fix it. What else? Fix it too. And keep at it until the product does sell. If you are going to do something, spend the time and smarts to do it right. Half-hearted efforts will never yield better than lackluster results. If you don't mean it, don't do it. If you do, do it right.
  
Yoneda Kiyonori
Marketing Soft