Keep your cool in this economy

By on February 25th, 2009 In Best Practices

What do you do in a down economy when clients aren’t buying? Or they’re not getting back to you?  I’m hearing it from independent practitioners and agency friends alike — times are a little challenging right now.

I don’t take it personally anymore if a company doesn’t respond to me after meeting with me or asking for more info.   There are a million reasons why they might not want to use me — they planned too far ahead, they planned too late, there’s another candidate that really fits the bill better, they need sales help rather than PR help, their job priorities have switched…

I go back to the PR basics.  It’s all about building relationships, not one-way communication, right?   I try to help out the clients and potential clients as best I can because I’m a giver, not a fighter.   I also don’t worry about it, seriously.    Once a freelancer friend asked me, “How do you line up clients for the future?”   And I responded, “You know what, they just kind of show up.   A bus comes by every 15 minutes.”   When I focus on helping the people link up to the right fit, and not worry about myself, it all resolves itself.

But I’m no Pollyanna.   I get out to networking meetings.   I like to meet new PR people, particularly if they’re in markets I don’t normally cover, just for a fresh perspective.   I buy regular coffee now, instead of tall cafe mochas.  I use social media to connect.   And most important, I read blogs, lots of blogs.   Information is power.

Comments

Abbie S. Fink Says:
February 25th, 2009 at 10:05 am

couldn’t agree more. it might be a little tougher out there, just means we have to work at it a little harder.

Kari Mather Says:
February 25th, 2009 at 10:16 am

I love this post! Sometimes a good common sense reminder is all we need for a swift kick in the motivation pants.

Happy Says:
February 25th, 2009 at 10:18 am

You tell ‘em, Linda!

Suzanne McCormick Says:
February 25th, 2009 at 2:10 pm

One word of caution, however, if you finally hear back from a client in these trying economic times, it may be because you’re their last hope.

I wasn’t aware of that when I and another PR pro starting working with a small business, doing ad placements and pitches/press releases that led to media coverage for the business owner, resulting in an uptake in business. But ultimately the business decided it wasn’t enough and closed its doors, regretting we weren’t brought in sooner to assist.

As a result, some TV bookings had to be cancelled. While no real harm was done to our reputations and we were paid for our efforts, I’ve learned that in these current economic times client conversations must now include a realistic discussion on the health of their business.

Marketing Sociologist Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 7:55 am

Several weeks ago this was addressed on Social media leader reminds us that PR is a face-to-face business, http://toughsledding.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/social-media-leader-reminds-us-that-pr-is-a-face-to-face-business/

Keep building that network! « Carristo’s Blog Says:
March 12th, 2009 at 9:27 am

[...] chance of being heard now.  But there are things you can do to continually get the message out and build relationships. Make sure that you are updating your Linked-In network and adding to your network of people. I [...]

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