Sitting in traffic on 128 the other day, I saw a bumper sticker that said: “Rapture is coming. Will you be ready?”

It got me thinking – not about Rapture, but about recovery from the current economic conditions. Like Rapture, no one knows for sure when recovery is coming – though they are sure it will. And, like Rapture, some are more prepared than others.

Now, regardless of your views on Rapture, from a communications standpoint, companies need to assess their readiness. If you have slashed your marketing programs, gone “dark” on advertising, scaled back your PR and tradeshow efforts – there is a good chance that the recovery will be much further off for you than others.

Here’s the catch – how do you get ready for recovery without breaking the bank? Here’s two thoughts:

Social Media – have your agency step up activity with blogs, podcasts, tweeting and forums. Start to get back in the swing of things.

Public Relations – Ramp up your outreach activities. Haven’t talked to the press in a while – now’s a good time to do a tour – even if it is by phone.

*Don’t have an agency, give us a call, we’d be glad to help.

If we knew the exact date of recovery (or Rapture for that matter), it would be easy to get ready. But one thing we do know – there are signs in the economy that are pointing in the right direction. Maybe now is the time to get some of your communications activities back in action.

Recovery is, after all, coming. Will you be ready?

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Technorati Tags: Communications, PR, Recovery, Social Media

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I talked recently with reporter David Ward of DMNews about how companies are using social media to build their brands and businesses.

David has written a comprehensive story with plenty of examples of social media campaigns in action that are sure to get your mental wheels turning.

One of the most refreshing aspects of social media is that there are no hard and fast rules. It either works or it doesn’t. Many things that work well have frankly never been tried before.

David asked me about how social media marketing can be used in the B to B space. In business-to-business marketing, when it comes to PR and social media, the equation isn’t “either-or.” It’s “and.”

At Topaz Partners, we’ve been talking with OEMs, automotive engineers, investors and trade reporters about the Scuderi Group (our client) and their Scuderi Engine, using everything from Twitter to Facebook to video to podcasts to blogs. It’s been an effective campaign and lots of fun to put together. But we were also jumping up and down recently when the Scuderi Engine appeared in not one, but two stories in the Wall Street Journal. Old media? New media? Who cares? It’s all good!

Entering into the conversation via social media makes sense for businesses, whether you’re talking to consumers or to other businesses. It doesn’t mean you can or should ignore good old-fashioned media relations, but the benefits of social media marketing are becoming clearer by the day.

As I told David Ward of DM News, “We’re now finding b-to-b social media applications can have the same benefit as business-to-consumer in that you can really hone and target an audience—and with b-to-b, one big sale from an application might be enough to carry your company for a month.”

Click here to read David’s story in DM News.

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Technorati Tags: B to B, DM News, Social Media, Topaz Partners

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Congratulations to the whole team here at Topaz are in order. Our firm was voted #1 mid-sized tech PR agency in a national survey of over 800 IT and business media journalists conducted by PRSourceCode. THAT feels good!

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