A very strange occurrence happened 79 years ago today. A squadron of five Navy planes were on a training mission off the southern coast of Florida. It was a clear day and the planes made it to their training site. But during their return trip, something mysterious occurred. The flight leader was an experienced pilot. He radioed back to the base that he had no idea where they were and they had lost sight of land. His compasses were not working. He seemed confused. Later, another airman radioed back to the tower and again, seemed confused. As darkness fell, the control tower lost contact with the five planes. Two floating rescue planes were sent to find them. One of them was never heard from again. A total of six planes and 27 crew members simply vanished over the Bermuda Triangle.

How could something like this happen? The flight trainer was an experienced pilot who had flown this course many times before. All five pilots had hours flying these planes. They had a detailed schedule and a flight plan. They were fully fueled. They had the best technology available. What happens when your best-laid plans fail you? You might not be conducting business over the Bermuda Triangle, but there are times when things go awry in commerce. What do you do then? Marketing can help.

Typically when things go wrong, the climate has changed, but you might not have recognized it. That clear day in December 1945 ended with some choppy waters in the Atlantic. There were no major storms to cause concern, but something was making the waters churn. Might that have caused something to go wrong? In business, something new can cause the marketplace to also churn. That can come about through something new being added to the offerings to consumers. Think about the way we store data now in a cloud server as opposed to a storage device like we did a few years ago. It can also come about with a new way of thinking that trends into society at large. An example would be the way we use smartphones to access many common chores such as regulating the temperature in our homes or remotely turning appliances on or off. It changes the attitudes of consumers about products and services. You have to be aware of these sometimes subtle (and sometimes, not so subtle) changes that occur in the marketplace. Then you need to adjust your marketing to align yourself with them.

For instance, when was the last time you looked at the impact technology is having on your customers? Have you had a conversation with them about the way it is effecting their business? You might think that has nothing to do with what you are selling them, but I will tell you that technology causes the business climate to change. You must align yourself with what they are doing or risk losing them as customers. And when you do, market it to them.

Don’t lose your way in business. Find out what is changing in the business climate and market the changes you are making to position your brand in line with those changes. Your future in business depends upon it.