This is the first in a five-part series on some of the good economic news happening around the globe. As mentioned previously, we’re tired of the gloom and doom perpetuated by the news media. To be sure, times are tough and the economy is suffering. But the way we see it, you have two choices — wallow in the bad news and feel sorry for yourself, or acknowledge that things are tough right now and get working on digging yourself out of the hole.

Despite all the bad news reported on CNN, Fox, NPR, ABC, NBC and CBS, there are some glimmers of hope. The monthly tally of the Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose, contrary to expectations. It rose only 0.4%, but it continued the turnaround that began with a 0.2% rise in December. It was enough to prompt Ken Goldstein, an economist for the Conference Board, to speculate that the recession could begin to ease in the coming months.

In other news, Coca-Cola recently reported for 2008 an 11%  increase in revenues to $31.9 billion. Excluding one-time costs (such as write-down at its largest bottler) Coca-Cola net income was up 17% to $7.4 billion.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Coca-Cola will do well (in the future) because it sells an affordable luxury delivered through a strong global distribution system … It also is pushing more innovations into the market. Among those innovations, the company has redesigned graphics for Sprite and Fanta. It has extended Coke Zero’s no-calorie tag to other drinks such as Fanta and Sprite.”

So … what does all this mean if you’re a marketer or a business-owner?

Here’s the take-away:

1) We’d encourage you to stop focusing any energy on the bad economic news. Successful business-people surround themselves with energized, optimistic people. Be a successful business-person.

2) Remember, no matter how bad the economy is, there are opportunities for smart business-people. They’re the ones figuring out how to take the current situation and make the best of it.

3) Re-position your product or service to bring out the “value” and “cost-savings” aspect of it. (Side Note: When we launch 60 Second Online University in a few weeks, you’ll notice we’re positioning it as a cost-saving alternative to sending your employees to conferences and seminars.)

4) Get started on a path towards recovery. Once the economy starts ramping up again in full, you’ll want to be ahead of the curve so you can take advantage of the upcoming growth.

5) Finally, send your company logo (or just an email) to TheFriendlyPeople@60SecondMarketer.com so you can be added to our list of organizations that are refusing to participate in the recession. There’s a group of us out there who are determined to make something good out of these challenging times. Join us!

That’s it for today. We’ll see you tomorrow in Part 2 of our series on Good Economic News. Send us your good economic news and we’ll include it in one of our upcoming stories.

Onward!

Monday, February 23rd, 2009, 7:39 am   |   General Business  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback