10 Marketing Tips From The Great Depression

Posted by Sonal on December 15th, 2017

10 Marketing Tips From The Great Depression

The Great Depression was an era in the history of the US that most of us today cannot imagine. 25% of American people of working age were unemployed. As bank after bank failed, the savings of those who tried to put away a few of their earnings for a rainy day were wiped out! Save for your wedding day, save for a vacation or save for your kids’ education all gone in an instant! All that hard earned money was taken from you.

So how can you live? Imagine yourself back in these dark days when suicides were common and only the strong and smart survived. We can all learn from those days. We can learn how to make the best use of our money and avoid these problems in today’s ‘consumer society.’ Here are ten marketing tips that we can use that originated from the Great Depression.

1. Talk up Your Product

Back in the 1930s, it was not enough just to advertise a product at a standard price. You had to give your customers a reason to buy your product. Prior to 1930, there appeared to be a philosophy of price being irrelevant: people had no concept of the term ‘value for money.’ If it did what they wanted it to do, then they purchased it. Come the 30’s and that all changed.

Today: Learn how to talk up your product like the dollar shave club which increased the company's value. In the 1930s, people would buy a product that costs less and did twice as much. In 1937, a Colgate Toothpaste ad stated: “Though it costs only half as much I like it twice as well.” A great sales slogan, and one that you could copy to fit your own products.

2. Selling Cheap Doesn’t Always Work

Low prices may help you sell more initially, but it can be rebound on you. Most people expect to pay less for more when prices are low. They do not purchase knowing that they may get inferior quality for inferior prices. It’s a human trait to seek more for less, and unless you can give them that, low prices can come back and bite you.

Back in the Great Depression, people paid low prices because that’s all they could afford. In the same way, merchants sold their products at lower than normal prices, because that was often the only way they could sell and make a living. Better to sell 10 items at 10% profit than just 2 at 40% profit. You make against just.

Today: Budget stores have learned this lesson, and sell more at a low price/low margin than they would at a higher price/higher margin. 99 Cent stores make large profits because they sell large numbers of goods. Better to sell 1,000 items at 5 cent profit than 100 at 40 cents profit. If you drop your price to get sales, make sure you make the profit you need, but that your quality is what your clients/customers expectation.

3. Promote the Benefits: Value and Needs

During the Great Depression, people were reluctant to part with their money unless they were sure they were spending it wisely. They wanted value for money. Advertising then focused on that for anything from soap to high ticket items such as luxury cars.

Today: Always stress the value of your product to your customers. Whether that is a physical product or a service, people and companies want to know they are getting value for their money.

4. Provide Extra

During the Great Depression, those companies that provide more than the customer believed they were buying tended to be more popular. Some companies gave away free items that were part of a set of three or four. For example, one wine glass of a set of four, or another item of a set that would encourage customers to purchase the full set. MGM offered 2 movies for 1: the beginnings of the double feature or A and B movies.

Today: Offering a free gift with your product often works. Or simply offer more: A struggling restaurant can offer a free sweet, and sports stores could offer a free soccer ball or basketball with every purchase over a certain level. Let your customers know that you are looking after them and that you offer them more than they paid for. Figure it out for yourself.

5. Advertising Matters

The companies and brands that survived best during the Great Depression never stopped advertising. They understood the importance of maintaining a high public profile when money was short. Some companies, such as Procter & Gamble, actually increased its advertising budget. It took advantage of radio as an advertising medium and played a part in the popularizing of soap operas as an advertising technique. Procter and Gamble came out of the Great Depression relatively unscathed by maintaining a high public profile.

Today: Keep in the public eye and never relax on advertising and promotions. The most successful companies become synonymous with the product, such as Hoover and Google today. If you want to find something online you Google it.

6. Offer Savings

Offering to save people money worked well during the Great Depression. Either offer people more for their money (as above) or save them cash elsewhere. During the Great Depression, Westinghouse offered a refrigerator with a ‘meat keeper.’ They advertised it as:

• Saves food

• Saves time

• Saves money

• Ten hours out of 12 it uses no current at all!

Today: Offering savings works just as well today as it did then. Then, car dealers could play upon the benefits a particular vehicle offered. “Saves on streetcar costs” for example. Today, you can promote electric or hybrid vehicles by emphasizing gas or petrol savings and cleaner air. Energy efficient electrical goods can save on power costs and so on. Don’t allow people to overthink state directly what benefits they can get if they use your product.

7. DIY: Buy it Or Make it Yourself

If the Great Depression changed the attitudes of many people to make the best of the cash they had, it was largely to save money by doing things themselves. They grew their own food, made their own clothes, carried out their own repairs (on clothes, homes and vehicles) and cooked for themselves: no more canned foods or eating out!

Today: You can do all of the above and a lot more. As a business, check out the raw materials and intermediates you purchase for your company. Can you:

• Purchase raw materials yourself direct from the suppliers or on the spot market

• Manufacture your own intermediates, or even

• Come to agreements with others in your business to buy in bulk for lower prices and share the materials between you.

They do not have to be direct competitors just others who use the same materials for their own purposes. By combining all your needs, you may be able to purchase materials at lower prices between you. Then, apportion them according to the relative sums paid by each for the combined order. You may then find marketing to be easier because more eyes make for more information.

8. Get Unique in Your Marketing

Back in the 1930s marketing was very much the same as it has always been: advertising posters, newspaper adverts and the like. However, some businesses were able to get their name and brand splashed all over town and on the roadsides. Billboards became common and provided the ideal advertising opportunities for those that were able to design and print their adverts in letters large enough to be noticed and read by passing motorists.

Today: Today’s billboards are on social media. Sure, you can still see the traditional billboards occasionally, but advertising on Google, Facebook and other social media do the same job. Get eyes on adverts!

9. Make it Obvious and Target the Hungry!

Back in the late 1930s, businesses, even ‘mom and pop stores, learned the importance of getting noticed. They knew how and when to get their businesses noticed. Think about McDonald's! When do you see that welcome big ‘M’ logo! You see them close to the approaches to most expressway and freeway ramps. That big M sign is almost on you, so you tend to cut off into the Drive-Thru or even sit down for some relaxation and a comfort stop.

Today: Now, almost everybody looks for the McDonald's logo as they approach a ramp off a freeway. Stop for a drink and a burger, and also some personal relief and a rest for a while before recommencing their journey. This is another example of what the Great Depression can teach you about marketing. Be there when and where people need you, meet their needs when they need you to, and be there at the right time.

10. Flash Mobs

Nope, there were no Flash Mobs during the Great Depression but there were mobs! If you want to be out of the ordinary, and are prepared to take a big chance to get your business or product advertising to die for, then how about a flash mob? Saatchi and Saatchi used a flash mob to promote the Life’s For Sharing campaign for T-Mobile.

In January 2009, a flash mob apparently appeared in a London Underground tube station and performed an amazing dance routine. It was videoed, and that video ultimately become a sensation on YouTube. What is that type of advertising worth!

Sure, the Great Depression gave rise to many different marketing techniques as companies tried to attract as much business as they could get. However, don’t lose sight of the opportunities and possibilities provided by modern technology. You can use the old and the new with marketing, but often the best is a combination of the two. Yesterday’s ideas were brilliant, and today’s business acumen can make the best use of these ideas.