Dealing with COVID-19: Uncertainty? Yes, But Prepare for Return to Normality

This is temporary. Anticipate changes. Plan for different rules. Remember, as with the virus hit, everything can change in just a few days. This global effort to contain the virus will require a six-month effort at a minimum, but things will gradually return to normal and at different paces. Things will start changing after just two weeks. You want to be ready to respond to the markets that recover first. The last problem you want to face is things returning to normality and not being prepared for it!

There's so much an audio brand can do in terms of effective promotion (that all important "P" in the marketing mix). And it all starts with the humble but mighty press release. It is amazing how so many "grown-up" people in the audio industry - including many consumer audio, and almost all high-end audio and hi-fi companies - completely ignore what a press release is about, what it is used for, or simply disregard the fact that when they actually "release" a new product, they need to tell the press, which will help tell the world about it.

I learned to attend trade shows in the era when it was crucial to bring back a large bag weighing 80 pounds filled with catalogs, price lists, and product manuals. In fact, I quickly learned to look at the global trade show calendar and sometimes attended regional trade shows just to find new products ahead of the major international events and establish an early relationship with a new company. Those local shows were mainly targeted at meeting final clients and end users for the region, but they were an effective way to meet key people with more time available, and learn how they defined their sales pitch in their own - sometimes more mature - markets.