Brexit – The Implications For Marketers

Unlike the global financial crash of 2008, Brexit – dreadful word – is an altogether different proposition. The crash of 2008 sucked the confidence out of the market like removing the air from a vacuum bell, and confidence is the driver for trade. The marketing industry, at least for those practitioners with a conscience, was clobbered as business owners had to decide whether to retain staff so they could provide for their families or ‘do’ marketing and promote their wares to customers who hadn’t the confidence to spend. Most did the right thing – I don’t blame them; I’d done the same myself – and put the brakes on their marketing spend. Pretty lean times all round.

The decision for the UK to leave the EU, rightly or wrongly and this isn’t the place to discuss that, poses a totally different set of problems however. Whereas the global crash was spread across all industries whilst everyone from the great and the good (?!) in power to the small business owner floundered around trying to find out what the heck to do next, The EU issue will present as many opportunities as it does obstacles. Watch the news, watch the markets and watch to see who is making progress, as these are all pointers to trying to improve the sales leger.

We’ve always said at Big Red Moose that when it comes to the strategic side of marketing, half of what we do is sleuthing: where are the customers? What are they buying? What messaging are they responding to? Whatever the outcome will be after this – I can’t see that many people disagreeing with the next bit – clumsy and dysfunctional handling of the whole sorry saga, we’re all in for a bumpy ride. However, like a roller-coaster with a wobbly wheel, it could yet be fun, providing we hang on tight.