Remember 2001?
October 22nd, 2008 by Paul Hughes
Raise your hands, how many people remember the meltdown in 2001?
Back then, we jokingly referred to our clients as being in three categories: B2B, B2C and B2N, (Business to Nobody). Did any of us really think a company with a website, a clever sock puppet and VC funding was viable? Maybe, but when we look back objectively, we can see that, in too many cases, the business model was flawed. It was bound to collapse.
Today, companies need to take a look at what they do, and adapt to the times. Some companies are in trouble, but for the most part, there aren’t very many B2N companies out there. We learned that lesson from 2001 – it’s the business model that matters.
Tough times, though, are not an excuse to stop talking to your customers and prospects. Now is the time to tell your story – loud and clear. Sure, watch the bottom line, but don’t pull back so far that it leaves your customers wondering what’s going on. You need to continue to get the word out…to reassure your customers that you are there for them. And now is the time to take advantage of all the cost effective tools available to get the word out. While it might not be time to do a big branding ad campaign, it certainly is the time to use your PR agency to leverage new communications techniques to get the word out. Your agency can help you do that.
Ultimately, we’ll move beyond this phase into a new, more exciting phase, much like we did after 2001. In the meantime, if you are interested in the ways a PR agency can help communicate to your audience, let us know.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Marketing, Media Relations, PR, Social Media, Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
October 26th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Just when I thought my brand of PR — creative mass consumer campaigns — was going to witness a decrease in demand, our agency has noticed an increase in demand for these types of programs. Corporate clients want to stand out in the most cost-effective way possible.
October 27th, 2008 at 11:28 am
That’s a great example of what to do in tough times. Keep communicating, just do it smarter! In tough times, that’s when PR shines as a cost-effective alternative to reach the target audience.
October 27th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I endured the fallout of the Y2K tech bubble while on the client-side, and fully agree that ongoing visibility is more essential than ever in a soft economy, even at a reduced marketing spend. We continue to counsel our clients in that vein, and have seen social media programs gain increasing favor alongside traditional communications tactics since they can so readily — read measurably — be tied to SEO and lead-generation to gauge true ROI.