So what are we going to do now?

My answer is three-fold:

1. Get better about what we’re doing elsewhere
2. Redistribute – believe it or not, there are other low-cost high-efficiency channels out there
3. Reset expectations all around.

The answer above means that we’ll have to work harder in managing more programs as well as putting more work into the actual maintenance of these programs. That’s okay, though, because it has always been known that SSP would eventually cease to exist.

On top of working harder and finding new channels and ways to expand current ones, we’ll have to reset expectations. Our job is to help our clients not only explain the SSP change, but it’s also to help them reset expectations within their organizations if possible. While it’s true that ol’ faithful is leaving us in December, we’re not in a position where we need to cut spend – in fact it becomes even more paramount to solidify our presence in other channels.

In other words, we Texans love our bluebonnets. Tell a Texas expat that the bluebonnets are out and you’re likely to get:

1. Tears
2. Smiles
3. Stories about home, Shiner Bock and hot weather
4. All the above

And then, just like that, they’re gone. Hot weather settles in for the next six months and the Texas bluebonnets are the first to go. The next few months are spent pining for them until the fall, when we can be mesmerized by high school football instead. With such a short window for the bluebonnets, you really have to make the most of them.

Unfortunately, times are tougher this bluebonnet season, even though Texas seems to be weathering them better than a lot of other places. It’s a great reminder, however, of the opportunities that lie ahead of us, even in the face of a recession. Sure, customers are harder to find these days and maintaining marketing budgets is a tough sell – let alone increasing them. Everyone’s feeling the pinch right now.

That includes your competitors.

You know, the local guys who had just a little bit of a leg up on you before this? The huge national chains that seem to have you beat on size of selection and price point? They’re all having to cut their budgets, too. That means that there are going to be fewer voices fighting for the attention of your potential customers. There’s a vacuum that can be filled by anyone who has the courage to step up and keep their profile high during this time.

While it’s tougher to get shoppers to buy than before, the bar for being able to reach customers and to put your brand in front of new faces is lower than ever. Finding ways to make the most of your branding opportunities and ways to reach new customers through targeted and low-cost methods online – especially through SEO and paid search programs – will not only help you to find new customers to take the place of those that aren’t buying right now, but will help establish your brand in the minds of consumers at a time when everyone else is pulling back their efforts to do so.

Like bluebonnet season, however, the window is short. By some estimates, the US will be pulling back into positive territory as early as later this year, at which point everyone’s advertising budgets will start to rise again and it’ll be just as difficult to get your unique message heard across the din. Optimizing your current campaigns and looking for ways to drive new, free or cheap traffic via natural search, social networking and feeds or even stepping out into broader branding campaigns are ways to find new revenue now and plant the seeds for further revenue down the road.

Bluebonnet season 2009 is definitely in the sunset of its days, so in Texas we’re all looking for ways to squeeze in a few more memories while the opportunity is there – how about you?

The frustration felt when you see a client throw hundreds of thousands of dollars at short-lived, easily forgotten campaigns while allowing their brand positioning in something as basic as paid search to be ignored is maddening. You go home after days like that and just beat your head into a wall. Then you wake up and go at it again.

That is until now.

Because now, in the ad world, while the news is bleak all around, the light at the tunnel is finally shining in our direction. It sort of feels like you’ve been in a one sided relationship and all the sudden the other one decides you’re the partner of his/her dreams. You’re expected to just accept this, but the history lingers in the back of your mind. See, I completely understand the decision process here – now we make sense to CMOs. We didn’t make a lot of sense when we asked you about branding or share of voice but dollars on spreadsheets? That feels real now. That feels painfully real.

I’m not ungrateful – Quite the opposite. It’s our moment to shine, but a couple of things stick out at me. First and foremost – we want your programs to not only work, but be wildly successful. I’ve gotta tell you, though, you sure picked a tough time. You can’t steal from Peter to pay Paul. People are scared, conservative and downright unsure, but that doesn’t mean they don’t watch TV or flip through the glossies or give the billboard 10 seconds of a loving gaze. I fear brands will dial down spend in one media channel hoping to make it back in the one that they’re currently fixated on. But then that’s our job and I suppose it always has been: to be honest and set expectations. Sure, I think we can do more, but all of the channels working together to support one another? It’s beginning to sound like science fiction to me.

I mean, really? This is what people want to spend tons of money on?