The Obama administration’s $815 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Program (ARRP), the largest fiscal stimulus package ever in the United States, is on its way through Congress.
A big part of the plan is to invest the funds necessary to rebuild America’s roads, bridges, sewer systems, power grids and communications infrastructure. Priority will be given to “shovel ready” projects – those that have the requisite approvals and permits in place—so that federal funds can be spent against them as quickly as possible.
Some of the obvious beneficiaries of this spending bill include companies in infrastructure-related industries such as construction equipment makers, engineering firms, IT infrastructure vendors, basic materials providers, healthcare technology providers and utility and alternative energy firms.
Because the program is so far-reaching, even companies that don’t consider themselves infrastructure builders will be able to find a place at the table. The plan covers investments in everything from education to energy, housing to highway construction, and broadband access to advanced battery research.
For the most part, these monies will not begin to be allocated for at least a year, given the appropriations process in Washington. In preparation for this spending tsunami, thousands of businesses will be jockeying to position themselves for a piece of the infrastructure pie. The good news is that there is still time for marketers to go to work on their branding issues now.
Four steps to building a shovel-ready brand
In this emerging era of unprecedented opportunities, it’s a good idea for companies large and small to revisit some of their most basic assumptions about their brands. Organizations that typically don’t invest much in brand-building, and even those that are very conscious of their positioning, need to take a hard look at how they can use their brands to get access to this wave of infrastructure investment.
How can you make your brand shovel-ready? Here is a simple, four-step approach to get started:
1. Strategize: Revisit how your organization creates value. Throw out old paradigms and find new insights into what customers and partners really want and need in this new environment.
2. Energize: Create a “killer proposition.” Evaluate your core competencies and make a bold, convincing statement about the value you can provide. Make sure to back it up with case studies, testimonials and hard evidence that prove your case.
3. Mobilize: Involve your employee base at every step of the way of your brand positioning process. Take advantage of social media tools to involve stakeholders across the entire organization. Supplement online dialogues with a series of town hall meetings and in-person workshops.
4. Revitalize: Figure out which customer touch points matter most in driving acquisition and retention. Armed with this information, start re-prioritizing your brand-building investments.
Given the state of the global economy, this new reality should last for some time to come. As we learned late last year with the bailout of the financial services industry, building partnerships with the government can mean the difference between survival and extinction.
Brands that can adapt to this new environment will benefit handsomely over the next several years. As lawmakers in Washington debate the details of the stimulus package, marketers should be actively rethinking and retooling their brands. Those who choose not to embrace this new era of public-private partnership may find themselves on the outside looking in.
Denis Riney ([email protected]) is executive vice president, marketing, for BrandLogic.
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