Perhaps you saw Richard Edelman’s post last week on five key points we need to remind clients about in a recession. It was an interesting piece on the value of PR in the current media environment. Much was said, some of which was on par (image: prosperity symbol by sharlini). Perhaps the best comment in the whole post was:
We need to ensure clients are equipped to convey PR’s ROI and credibility advantages over other communications disciplines.
Last recession, I was in a tech heavy firm, and though times were tough, walked out of it with a promotion and a significant increase in wages. Recessions often create opportunities for those who can navigate the troubled waters. Keys to success during this time:
1) A positive attitude no matter what. You cannot underestimate the importance of maintaining a we can attitude.
2) Redirecting business strategy to win away lower tier clients from the big agencies as well as stable industries sure to spend through the recession.
3)Finally, intrinsically tying our PR and marketing service to ROI.
Moving forward, PR and marketers have an opportunity to accelerate through the recession and differentiate themselves by focusing on ROI. Remember, companies are in business to generate revenue, and that’s the predominant reason why they hire us. If communicators focus on intangibles like "credibility" or "conversations" that cannot be tied directly to their clients’ or company’s bottom lines… Well, they put themselves at risk.
Yes, credibility is the primary benefit of PR services, and smart companies know this is necessary to survive and grow thorough a recession. But unfortunately some companies can’t see beyond three months into the future. Others simply have to make cuts. These less visionary or unfortunate players will focus solely on the bottom line.
Here are just a few of the ways that PR (note this does not say media relations) and social media services impact the bottom line:
- Social media campaigns engineered correctly provide significantly more qualified contacts than advertising at a much lower cost per contact. Strong social media firms are likely to grow during the recession.
- Speaking engagements also create direct relationships, as well as many lead opportunities.
- Events created for stakeholders can create outstanding value… and leads
- Both traditional media hits and social media — if targeted with precision — can inspire leads, speaking engagements, and the right kind of SEO
- White papers can turn into calls-to-action on the web site, in turn creating leads
Get creative. Stay positive. Inspire your strategy to position you to win, and impact your clients’ or company’s bottom line. And prosper through the recession.
Good post Geoff, thanks.
Appreciate your enthusiasm on the topic and thinking about potential impact for social media and pr. Reality though, pr firms (no matter how digitally-savvy) have never played at the dm table and get completely dismissed. The measures you suggest are proxies and hopes for bottom-line attribution. Reality #2, companies/brand/organizations are not equipped to handle, initiate, track and report on said activities to actually spin them into ROI. Great post. Just added you to my reader.
MJ: Thanks for your insights. No one is saying that PR is direct marketing, which is very transaction oriented. Direct marketing is really a function of advertising.
PR can create direct relationships, and in fact that is truly what the discipline is about, creating better relationships with stakeholders, both through third party credibility and directly. Social media, media relations, etc. are just tactical tools to achieve that result. Highlighting direct relationship tactics and opportunities only makes sense in tight times. And good PR and marketing pros know exactly how to track these kinds of results.
Thanks for coming by and contributing. I hope you’ll be a regular.
Social media campaigns engineered correctly provide significantly more qualified contacts than advertising at a much lower cost per contact. Strong social media firms are likely to grow during the recession.
This is exactly the reason we’re giving SMM a go. As I mentioned on my blog, a cost of $13,000 in terms of time spent, should definitely generate high quality leads at lower prices points. Perhaps however, the payoff comes after an initial investment of N weeks? The number of leads may increase geometrically over time while the costs to maintain the SMM efforts essentially stays flat (i.e. 10 hours a week) or decreases as the company becomes more SMM savvy over the same period. Thoughts?