The disruption is too great.

We will never get back to the Normal we knew before Covid.

The financial arena is in turmoil but the predicted inflation problem is the least we have to worry about. The growing separation of the wealthy and the poor is the real problem. When a tank of gas costs well over $50 your commute from the suburbs, the only place you could afford a home, gets more and more expensive. And if you are not a corporate officer parking will have to come out of the same pay check you are already stretching for food and education and medical care.

Millions of people are walking away from jobs each month.

When you can’t stay ahead of the cost of goods and you don’t see a way out with a current employer you go looking. You look for a better position. You look for a side hustle. Many become desperate.

Hope becomes the best marketing tactic.

Those anxious millions become reckless and impulsive. You will see deals with benefits that are unbelievable.

They are. At the con man level the Nigerian Prince hustle morphs to a perceived charity that selects you as a winner in a drawing. When your situation seems hopeless you are most prone to buy in to schemes cloaked in righteousness.

Trust becomes more valuable than ever.

When the economy is stripping away your lifestyle you begin to look for friends, people that you know really well, merchants that you like and brands that haven’t let you down.

Suppliers that know that Trust is important to you will do everything they can to not betray it. They will stay consistent, truthful and engaged with you. That is how you extend the life of your service and your company.

You can’t go back. You can only go forward.

Your business will have to cope with the disruptions. Your marketing will have to accept the changes and communicate that understanding to customers that are disheartened but yearning for words of shared beliefs.  Heed their words and their actions. The life of your company depends on it.

And so it goes.

Jerry Fletcher is an international keynote speaker with clients from Singapore to Spain and across the Americas.

He guides consulting individuals and organizations to become more memorable and more profitable.