3 Christmas Signs For The Lebanese Economy

Retail sales around Christmas are said to equal about 30 to 40 % of the year's sales; you should not be surprised that you are getting bombarded by heavy-duty advertisement in December. That said, here are three signs the Lebanese economy is getting worse year after year:

1- Advertising messages are focusing on "sales". This indicates a desperate attempt at getting more clients. We have heard that Zara Home called its clientele one by one to announce their sales on the 26th, and Timberland is already on a 15% off sale. 

Take a look around your SMS or e-mail inbox, what are the most prominent advertising messages?

It could either be that:

• the retailer's Christmas sales predictions were not matched by the current sales, and he is left with extra stock he needs to get rid of; 
• or, the sales were too low, and the retailer failed to reach his target, so he is resorting to desperate measures to get a piece of the pie.

When more ads focus on a "sales" message, wouldn't that mean that the pie is actually getting smaller? 

2- Christmas in Lebanon means an incoming boost to the economy, as more expatriates come over to visit and spend valuable amounts of money. This phenomenon generally tends to cause crazy traffic congestion around this time of year. 

Did anyone else feel that traffic was way less than the previous years?

3- More and more families are limiting their Christmas purchasing to the kids. Of course, the children were always a priority on this particular holiday, yet, never to the extent of being the sole beneficiaries. 

Take a look around the stores... Where's the real crowd?

I would have also added a point on gift budget changes, but I have no way to prove that...
That said, Lebanese people have always been whining about their economy, will a change to the worse ever be news?

Judging by... Her Shoes

So, here's the thing: two clients walk in at the same time, you try to juggle them both at once, then get caught up and find yourself in an awkward moment where you have to choose whom to give preferential treatment to, what do you do? 

My advice to you is simple: look at the shoes.

I have long noted that women with classy colorful shoes tend to spend more; and what I mean by 'colorful' is mainly 'anything but black' (of course, this stereotype excludes men, teenagers and any kind of trainers; it's mainly for lady leather shoes).

Before you start calling me names, it's not a question of discrimination.

...and I kind of found the rationale behind it today!

If ladies were to buy only one pair of shoes, it would be black. That done, they would consider other fanciful colors. The likelihood that someone would have many colored shoes is higher if that person is actually wearing colored shoes.

Ok, skip.

If the shoes don't give you enough clues, the next step should be the handbag color. The same applies here.

Pippa Middleton, matching shoes and handbag

Finally, you know you've got a client worth a jackpot when the handbag color matches the shoes.

...and that's it for today's sales lesson!

Knowledge-based Marketing: How to Establish Market Leadership

Theoretical and Practical
There are times when we thirst for knowledge, and others when we rather retract ourselves and ponder upon our experiences to come up with our own conclusions.
While both means compel us to develop some sort of wisdom, the second can be much more rewarding. How so?

Knowledge we acquire on our own can:

• boost our understanding of the matter at hand
• develop our self-esteem
• compensate for our failure

After-all, life is full of "stages" we go through in order to shape up our personalities, learn new tricks or simply wake up from our procrastinations, right?

Acquired, but Innate
...and you might think I am being too reflective about something as intuitive as knowledge. Yes, I said it, and I will say  it again, "intuitive", just in case you have missed it.

While knowledge, itself, can only be acquired, our capacity and tendency to learn are, them, innate.

By now I guess you are wondering where I am going with this since, this was a marketing blog. Well, rest assured, it still is.

Market Leadership
How do you establish leadership on the market? When you become a leader.
How do you become a leader? By gaining followers.
Why would people follow you?

A very famous, viable, yet old fashioned manner to create followers is knowledge sharing. It simply shows people that you have the know-how and that you are a reliable source.

Knowledge Marketing
Knowledge marketing is especially popular in technical fields, such as engineering firms, consulting firms, electrical/ technical equipment companies... and most recently - don't laugh - online marketing.

If you're in the marketing field then you probably have been invited to, at least, one conference about digital marketing or social media, right?

Now since everyone in your field is doing it, if you haven't shared anything different from your counterparts you're not quite positioning yourself as a leader, now, are you? More like a copy cat, actually.

My advice is just take a step back from hammering your shareholders with theories we all know, and try to come up with another type of knowledge, one unique to you, compiled from your own experiences. 

Put your heart into it and see how people will be more eager to  hear what you have to say.

Maybe then you will reap the benefits of knowledge-based marketing and finally achieve the leadership positioning you were longing for.

(You weren't just doing it because everyone else was doing it, right?)