The recession could be your best PR opportunity yet
By Paul Green
So, how’s business in the recession so far?
This is my first downturn as a business owner, but I’ve already learnt a lot by observing the way our clients are reacting.
Some are fast. They made a series of changes before things got tight and are acting on opportunities as soon as they arise.
Others are slow. They’re talking about change now but there’s no action.
Some of our clients have cut back or cancelled their PR spend; others are spending more.
You won’t be surprised to hear I think those that are still spending on PR are the smart ones!
These patterns are going to be repeated in every area of marketing, across every industry, in every country that is affected by a slowdown, recession, whatever you call it.
And that presents nothing but opportunity for you.
See, where your competitors are cutting back on marketing spend, you have an opportunity to get in there and take their position.
Let’s look at this from a pure PR point of view.
Suppose you have a direct competitor who dominates the media outlets you are trying to reach.
Their strategy is to be “the expert”. A key person in their business has turned themselves into the “go to” person when journalists need a comment or an opinion on their specialist subject.
Achieving a position like this requires lots of work over a long period of time to get it going properly.
But once started you benefit hugely from momentum. You only need to give it a little push now and again to keep the journalists coming to you.
In a fit of madness, this competitor of yours cuts back on their PR to cut costs in the recession.
Bad move. Because in time their momentum will run out… and there’ll be nothing there to get their PR going again.
That leaves a void for your business to break into.
Over time you can build up your perceived expertise among the journalists, who will eventually start to call on you as the expert in place of your competitor. It may take a while – especially if your competitor has been their expert for a long time – but will happen eventually.
People move on, preferences changes, things go out of fashion.
Journalists are as fickle as your customers – when a better, easier option comes along they will take it. And as long as it satisfies their needs, they will go back to it again and again.
On the other side of the recession, your competitor will start spending on PR again. They could find all the years of hard work they put into profile building have been destroyed by you.
So keep your eyes open and watch what your competitors are doing, or better still not doing. Monitor their online media rooms and listen to industry gossip.
You never know, this recession may bring the PR opportunities you have been looking for.
