For the past several days the turmoil in Egypt has dominated the media. When and under what terms Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt for the past 30 years, will turn over leadership to a newly “elected” leader has yet to play out. However, whenever major eruptions like this happen, I think about what business/marketing take-aways or lessons we can learn from events like this.
- The first thing that comes to mind is, if it’s broke, fix it. We can stand around and “hope” the problem will go away or “hope” that our customers or even employees won’t notice it, but in the end, “the chickens come home to roost.” When we ignore a problem, it can blow-up in our faces. And most importantly, the consequences of a blow-up may be a lot more expensive to correct than correcting the problem in the first place. Witness the billions of dollars in revenue Egypt has lost over the past few weeks. Be proactive in addressing business and marketing issues.
- Be sure you have a sense of how long is too long in your industry, in your market, or with your target audience? Clealrly, after being in power for thirty years, Mubarak has lost touch with his people. He’s not in sync with what’s important on the ground. When was the last time you checked in with your customers or employees? Are you meeting their needs? Have things changed without you taking notice? Are you assuming something is simmering when is really boiling over? Never stop checking in. Beware of the “in-thinking” that can happen when you’ve been at a place too long. Sometimes it’s necessary to have someone from the outside step in and offer a different perspective.
- Don’t try to bribe or fake your way out of it. It was rumored that the Egyptian government hired thugs to go in and attack the protesters. Of course, we may never know if there was any truth behind this rumor, but if in fact it was true, it was clearly unsuccessful. What’s the corollary from a marketing perspective? I think of the Walmart fiasco several years ago, when they hired fake bloggers. I think of businesses that post fake reviews when there’s a customer complaint. What happens? Either the plot is uncovered, or it simply doesn’t work. You have to deal with the real problem.
- Shutting down communication might not be the best thing to do. – One of the first things the Egyptian government did was to shut down communications. The one thing we do know is that this strategy didn’t end the protest. In fact, it pulled in support from people that may have otherwise just been spectators. At this point, communications are either fully or partially restored, however, there is much speculation as to themotivation behind this decision. Perhaps Mubarak saw it as a way to enable his allies to communicate. Perhaps it was seen as a way to track communications from protesters. The bottom line is, when you shut down communication it appears as though you have something to hide. Though you may need to take the time to get a handle on the situation, ultimately, open communication channels can be a major asset in fixing a problem.
- Don’t throw out a few peanuts and expect resolution when people are famished. As of today, the government has offered several concessions to the protesters, and they are still there. There’s a chance that if Mubarak had made these same offers before the situation erupted, he could have had a much more successful result — then again, maybe not, this is clearly outside of my area of expertise — but my key take away here is to start with a “real” solution if you can. Skip the peanuts.