Talking Point: I refuse to take part in this recession
“I REFUSE TO TAKE PART IN THIS RECESSION”
The speaker beamed down at us from the stage, awaiting our reaction.
Now, I attend a fair few of these business conferences and seminars, I even organise a few myself and I’m always a fan of a bold statement. Anything’s better than “a few house-keeping rules before we get started”.
There was a bit of coughing and chair scraping but after a while, we began to see he had a point. I’m not about to sit under a tree humming wishing for a PR brief to “manifest” but there is something to be said about the correct mindset and looking for the silver lining amidst the gloomy clouds.
There is also something to be said about the fact that right now, you can get more bang for your marketing buck. I would urge you not to cut your marketing costs (turkeys and Christmas) and not to even think of them as costs but as investments - investments that cost less than they did a couple of years ago and could see you reap healthy dividends in the future.
I appreciate that for some it really is a case of keeping heads above water but that doesn’t necessarily have to mean hibernating until the Spring. Do that and you may find that whatever hard work you have done to date has been all but forgotten by the time you emerge blinking into the sunlight. In fact, you may find a competitor has been lurking in the media space you’ve vacated. Nature abhors a vacuum so somebody is going to fill it.
Take stock of what has worked for you before and what hasn’t. What is your niche? Where can you excel? Notice I’m not writing this piece for Heat Magazine. I’m not advocating that you put all your eggs in one basket but do at least sort the rotten ones from the good uns.
If on the other hand you are the one stalking the media territory of a hibernating competitor, now is the time to act. Use your agility, your fresh approach and new ideas to plant a stake in the ground, however small. Editors and journalists want balance to every story. Look and learn from your competitors, formulate your plan and ACT. Your rivals won’t be quiet forever.
So, on “refusing to participate in this recession”, I’d actually disagree. I’d say dive right in and splash about making as much noise as you can. Challenge your PR consultant and/or your marketing team to find an extra spark. What do you do now that you could do that little bit smarter or you could leverage to work that little bit harder for you?
Could your regular press release campaign form the skeleton of a newsletter? Could your expert commentary in Insider be the beginnings of a blog? Depending upon where your audience gets its messages, is a Facebook or Twitter presence a good idea?
Your news and your expertise is freely available within your organisation. Once you’ve found that valuable content, make sure you squeeze every last drop of value from it and get it out there.
Greg Simpson, Press for Attention PR
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