Thank goodness, I say, for social networks and social marketing. E-mail is great and so are many other things like blogs, podcasting, videos, etc. but social media … it’s like the best thing that could have happened for marketing *especially* in challenging financial times like these. Social media brings all the marketing efforts together, it seems. It’s the place where all that blogging, video, emailing and podcasting come together and make the most sense.

Social media is a relatively low-cost way to really get a message out there, which can rescue a marketing program that’s being considered for cutting or reduction. You can still keep it going, creatively and cost effectively despite cuts, through social marketing.

I don’t want to overlook here, in my generalizing, that social marketing is not about spamming. But I think in this blog, I’d be preaching to the choir, right?!

From what I see, hear and learn daily, looks like a huge shift towards social or digital anything is the direction most marketing, branding and PR campaigns are headed. Unfortunate, though, that the push towards more social/digital route seems to be primarily a downturn in the markets (as opposed to being encouraged by management to seek out and engage in social channels).

Even if we were in terrific economic shape, this direction should have been the road marketers traveled regardless. It is budget friendly, targeted and measurable and, most of all, consumers want and expect your business/brand to participate and engage.

So as far as creative ways to get the word out for clients, I don’t think the creativity will change, per se; rather the execution of that creativity via social media venues will be the change agent. In the last 4-6 months, in fact, I think that (some will disagree with me) even the standard press release is dead or is dying due to the social accessibility of journalists, editors and citizen bloggers at large. Most of the press or publicity I’ve gotten for my clients as of late has had little to do with any press release. It was more about connecting with like-minded folks, getting the word out organically, sharing the story(ies), giving lots of value and always having a creative spin associated with the story telling.

I can definitely see myself doing more and more of this in 2009…

The first reaction may be to cut marketing activities across the board, but taking a closer look at low cost/high ROI marketing tactics such as email marketing can help you stay in front of your customers during a downturn.

This article published in DM News by Campaigner’s Huw Griffiths offers some relevant insights on email marketing in a down economy: http://www.dmnews.com/The-e-mail-imperative-in-a-down-market-Dont-sell-engage/article/111112/

And compared to multi-channel marketing and advertising campaigns, the value of PR is hard to beat – bust or boom.