The PR industry is fairing well in the recession
January 29, 2009 by ShannonCherry
Filed under Marketing
It comes as no surprise to me that as marketing budgets are being slashed, more companies are turning to public relations and publicity firms to help them get more bang fro their buck.
According to several industry reporters, many companies are cutting advertising budgets, but not PR budgets. That’s because public relations is easier to measure.
Think of it this way:
Although advertising can produce measureable results, it takes a ton of impressions (meaning seeing an ad multiple times) for someone to usually make a purchase. Plus, most of the ads I am seeing today are really to enhance or remind people about a brand. (Think of all those big game ads we’ll be seeing soon enough!)
When one creates a publicity campaign, you can easily see (and measure) the results with clickthrus on websites, people buzzing about it on social media, and people making purchases.
And with budget tights, people usually cut their branding efforts first, and go back to some basics.
What are you doing this recession? Advertising? PR? And what are your reasons?
image credit: birdfarm, on Flickr
At my company, we are seeing clients cut on both sides. Every client who has cut on the ad side has cut on the PR side as well. The good thing about this is we can still use both avenues to reach their target audiences, just at smaller scales than before. This actually works well for a social media marketing push where we can push the message through PR and reafirm placement through advertising techniques.
How refreshing to hear someone saying that PR is easily measured! All too often this is one of the challenges we face when selling our services: PR can’t be measured. This is a topic that we’ve addressed multiple times on our blog.
I find this topic very interesting. I am a student that will be graduating with a PR Certificate from Humber College in July. My classmates and I often ponder the outlook for new hires in this tenuous economic environment.
I recently listened to a podcast of Inside PR (Episode 147) where Guy Skipworth interviewed PR intern Kim Geiger. Kim expressed a concern over the number of positions that are available for new graduates looking to cut their teeth in the business. There certainly isn’t a shortage in organizations interested in hosting interns. My hope is that this interest will also apply to new hires. I was hoping that this would translate into a market for lower priced entry level positions.
Is the PR industry fairing well on all levels?
Any tips for a tenacious newcomer looking for a foot in the door?
Sad story related to recent PR grads and the recession: one of my friends who graduated in June 2008 with me just got laid off from a PR firm. She started interning there immediately after graduation and was hired two months later. Losing her job had nothing to do with her performance; her agency needed to cut 3 of 32 employees and she was the most recent hire.
My more experienced mentors in PR suggest that recent grads can still find jobs if they think outside the box, look for jobs in healthcare and government, and develop expertise in social media. Other tips?
Advertising can produce measureable results, it takes a ton of impressions for someone to usually make a purchase. Plus, most of the ads I am seeing today are really to enhance or remind people about a brand.Aerial advertising means that your company’s message is towed behind a small airplane. The location could be a crowded highway at rush hour or a crowded beach at spring break. The idea is that your message is seen and remembered by thousands of potential customers.