I think one of the underlying messages here is that in a down market companies need to case all the vaporware / cheerleading and keep communication specific to customer benefits. I think people’s threshold for b.s. gets even lower during tough times. The rah-rah lame duck announcements need to turned down to zero. In the IT industry, this means less fluffy marketing speak about Web 2.0 and “Aligning IT With Business Goals” types of vaporware announcements. This means less ditsy / superficial huffing and puffing and more authentic / bottom-line focused messaging.

Another point possibly worth noting is that companies should (even more in this economy) stop making noise for noise’s sake and figure out the right places to hit their specific audiences. In a down economy, the opportunity exists to much more easily dominate presence in a specific niche. Ad inventory is cheap, presence at events is cheap, etc. If there is ever a time to roll the dice and “own” the mindshare of a particular customer segment, this is the time to do it. This means suspending all marketing efforts that are general, and doubling all efforts that hit the exact target customer.