The Beginning of a New Era

Having said goodbye to 2009 and welcomed in 2010, I must admit that there is a lot of uncertainty in front of us. I have just submitted our budgets for the financial year of 2010, and I found it even more difficult this year than last.

Last year it was obvious, sales budgets had to be cut, and with that you needed to cut your costs to say in business. Well, it is great still to be in business, but do you increase your sales budgets this year and ramp up your resources again.....? I suppose it wouldn't be any fun if the answer to that question were known, but it sure ain't easy to see what is in front of us in Japan in 2010.

On the up side, I am beginning to see recruiters again. There is very easy entry into the recruiting industry in Japan, so when you start running into more and more of them at networking functions, you know that companies are employing again. New employment means there is growth in certain industries. From what we see, medical related industries, low end consumer products and those investing in environmental development are moving forward quite rapidly, but with banks not eager to lend and the finincial sector not back, there seems like there is still alot of snow to be cleared before many industries can back out of their parking losts and get back on the road. Once on the road of course visibility is poor, and conditions make it difficult to get to the highway of growth quickly.

Futher on the dark side, bankruptcies were up 2.1% in December 2009 compared to November, although they are down compared to Dec 2008. For those of us in Nagoya, things appear to be going for bad to worse, as 138 cases of bankruptcy from a total of 1,021 were reported in Chubu in December, which is an increase of over 30% for the second consecutive month.

Well amongst all the uncertainty, one thing is for certain. We need to change. Last night, I was priveleged to attend a presentation by David Meerman Scott, who introduced a bunch of us to the new rules of marketing and PR. In a nutshell, it was all about getting "attention" on the web by using social media; getting your company on YouTube, creating an eBook and using "word of mouse" to reach your clientele directly.

This YouTube video was one David used to make his point



This new era calls for us to be creative and sell ourselves through social media. This is one of my new challenges for 2010.

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