It’s no secret that the new economic boom spoiled many technology companies and the numerous industries that supported them. As businesses raced to build their brands overnight, advertising, marketing, public relations firms and in-house professionals were given carte blanche to do as they pleased, regardless of cost or estimated return on investment.
In 2002 and throughout most of 2003, the world sang a different tune. Long gone were the prime-time ad campaigns, expansive trade show booths and bottomless marketing budgets. Surprisingly, despite the downturn, a large number of businesses have yet to retrofit their organizations to meet the challenges of the strained economy.
Doing more with less: Some companies initially made reactionary cuts to marketing, advertising and PR expenditures, and they’re now beginning to see how these reduced budgets negatively impacted sales, name recognition, brand value and credibility. Clearly, the focus will be on doing more with less.
Public relations, in particular, has been ripe for a renewed focus. During the boom, PR programs — like their marketing and advertising counterparts — were often big on costs and not as big on return. Fortunately, it’s possible for today’s businesses to reap the benefits of PR without buying the entire farm.
Five steps for a PR program success:
1. Stay Focused: More often than not, scaled-down PR programs live and die by a company’s ability to focus. As such, this initial stage is critical to the program’s long-term success and will require some “soul searching.” The process begins by taking everything that is already known about the company and using it as the framework from which strategy sessions will be conducted. Given budget limitations, PR professionals will be required to be more intelligent and efficient in their strategy planning meetings.
To accomplish this, the PR staff should engage the organization’s executives and thought leaders in a frank, yet focused discussion on strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. They must also ensure all decision-makers are a part of the meetings, and zero in on the most relevant and productive questions: · What does the company do best? · What is the organization’s compelling story? · Where do reality and external market perceptions about the business meet? · Who most influences the company’s target market? · To ensure long-term success, where does the business need to be in three months? Six months? A year?
By focusing on these questions, companies can quickly identify the strengths and opportunities used to build the platform on which all PR activities will stand.
2. Identify: Once the business has found its focus, public relations professionals must move forward by identifying the most relevant tactics and target audiences. When it comes to doing more with less, focused media relations generally makes the most sense. The trick here is to scale down this outreach to ensure precious time and budgets are not spent on contacts that yield no strategic value. During this phase, it is the PR practitioner’s job to determine which media outlets and influencers are best positioned to reach a company’s key audiences. Additionally, PR staff must consider which channels wield the most influence.
3. Build: Great PR results in momentum that builds on itself because of the strategies used to attack the market. A focused budget means spending more time than usual building relationships with fewer people. Remember, in the context of this model, it’s the quality of contacts that counts, not the quantity. Start with five editors and get to know them inside and out. Read all their articles, spot the trends and determine how a company’s strengths best fit into the editor’s scope. Most importantly, don’t waste the media’s time. In this model, building trusted relationships with key editors is as important as securing actual coverage. By focusing on the relationship aspect, PR professionals can help their organizations build momentum, leading to more “bang for the buck.” That is to say that the time spent on establishing rapport with select media will go a long way to ensure future success.
4. Remember: Business has always been about business. Somewhere along the way, the corporate world lost sight of this, as did the PR, marketing and advertising worlds. How will the dollars spent impact the bottom line? If that question can’t be answered, companies should keep the money in their pockets. PR, if done correctly, offers a tremendous opportunity to impact the bottom line in an extremely cost-effective way. Sales, recruiting, partnerships and funding are all heavily impacted by PR. 5. Elevate: The right senior people will yield the best value in PR, despite popular beliefs that PR can be delegated to less expensive junior personnel. Could that be why so many people are not happy with their PR programs? PR takes a broad skill set, strategic thinking and day-to-day, think-on-your-feet strategic execution that can only come from senior personnel.
Putting a public relations program second will only yield second-rate results. However, placing the proper importance on PR will most often produce exponential results. Budgets should be appropriate and adequate, PR professional choices should be taken seriously, and senior executives should give it proper attention and importance. Historically, businesses have been pleasantly surprised by what can be accomplished through this dedication.
