Now it is almost official – we are in a recession!
Well that’s pretty much what we are getting told by the politicians now getting back to business as usual after all the election hoopla and we are pretty much guaranteed that is politicians are now using the “R” word they are now going to save Main Street America from the ravages of economic disaster, right !?!
On the other hand, we can rely on ourselves as always to steer a path through the recession which protects our businesses and gets us through to recovery. For those who have been through recessions before (which means you were in business back in the 90′s), it’s steady as she goes at the helm; do the same simple things that work, use tried and tested marketing which works to keep your business turning over while avoiding the unknown – now is not a time to start trying new fangled methods and business ideas.
But it is not all doom and gloom!
The dollar is hitting all time highs against the major export markets for American goods and services; a friend of mine is in Europe and changed his humble US greenbacks for the might British pound expecting to get much less and was pleasantly surprised when he was given a $1.54 to the £1; six months ago he would have had to pay $2 to get £1.
Why is this good?
If you are importing goods it means those countries who’s currency has dropped against ours now pay less to sell them for dollars here in America!
If you are importing goods and services into the US, you really should be banging the drum about your pricing and making sure you are using the advantage handed to you by foreign exchange movements.
Buying that fancy European car just became 25% cheaper for the dealer as a simple example.
Trade show promo work is already seeing a trend towards foreign based goods and services being promoted which may not help America’s unemployment issue but certainly keeps Mainstreet America ticking over