Pessimism is not good for sales. If the world is seen from a glass-half-empty perspective, it kills enthusiasm, it deflates joy, and stomps all over hope for the future. It is a bad thing for business when consumer sentiment becomes skeptically pessimistic. With all that has happened so far this year, there are enough half-empty glasses in the mindset of the marketplace to fill the ocean (or at least half of it).

If you are involved in marketing at your company, there is a big task ahead of you. How do you change the negative sentiment into a positive outlook? In times like these, what you communicate in your marketing becomes crucial to effective business sales. Why? Simply because people believe what they hear and if the predominant word out from your marketing is positive, they will believe it. So it becomes imperative that the message you are sending is positive, easy to remember, and sent out often. This is not the time to cut back on your marketing, it is the time to inundate your target market with it.

What should you be saying to your customers right now? Tell about your success. Highlight the stories of satisfied customers. Use their testimonials to feature your best foot forward. Use your own social media to promote these success stories. Offer incentives to those who allow you to use their story on your website. Get mentioned in blogs. You need to pay attention to the light in which your brand is seen. As a marketing professional, you are the guardian of your company’s brand. Bad news devalues your brand. Positive news builds it up. Make your own positive news from your successes. However, you need to be more than just a cheerleader for your brand. Your marketing should also show how you solve real problems. Since we are talking about turning back the downward spiral of pessimism, there is nothing that turns around a bad attitude than a solution to a problem your customer cannot fix. Talk about the fix you supplied to the customer. It sells well.

One more thing, brand the name of the fix. Come up with a catchy, easy to remember name for what you do that makes life better for your customers. Attach it to your logo as a tagline. Make it the focus of your marketing campaigns. Promote, promote, promote! Get people talking about it. Products and services that ease our pain are easy to sell, but much easier when people understand them by their brand name.

Here is a list of taglines for brands that ease our pain. How many can you identify? (Answers are at the bottom of the page.)

• Save money, Live better.
• You’re in good hands
• Do what you can’t
• The quicker picker upper
• Everywhere you want to be
• When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight
• Belong anywhere
• We Bring Good Things to Life
• When you care enough to send the very best
• Move the way you want

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Answers:

1. Walmart

2. Allstate

3. Samsung

4. Bounty

5. Visa

6. FedEx

7. Airbnb

8. GE

9. Hallmark

10. Uber