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Thank you all for your great suggestions re: a topic for my speech next week at the New Marketing Summit. 

Judging by the comments on my last post, and on Twitter, many of us are feeling pretty lousy about the doom&gloom in the financial markets, and so I got an outsized number of requests to discuss “Marketing in a downturn.”

So here’s the abstract for my gig:

Social Media Marketing in Tough Times: Who Should Do What and What Should They Do?

Times are tough all over. When marketers are called on to cut budgets, or else, some hard decisions need to be made about how to achieve objectives on a shoestring.  This decision-making process is complicated by the fact that Social Media concepts had most marketers on fire with curiosity and ambition just a few months ago.  So, what are the "bare essentials" of Social Media Marketing?  What's the right mix of internal and external resources?  Is it time for a strategy do-over?  Should marketers re-trench to old-style marketing approaches?  Can marketers still have it all?

You should come!  Say hello.  I really don’t enjoy public speaking all that much, so, all supporters are welcome.  Register here.

Are you a marketer?  Are you a marketer who is based in Boston (or can get here next week)?  Are you keen to learn more about all this Social Media Stuff?  Would you like to learn about all these shiny new objects from some of the brightest & most experienced folks in the field?

Then, you’re already signed up for The New Marketing Summit, right?  (If not, pull out your wallet and register here.)

Just attending the speeches by the inimitable Chris Brogan (the host), the sagacious Paul Gillin and the inspiring David Meerman Scott would be worth the admission price.  But Brogan’s a value-conscious fellow, so he’s also offering a jam-packed agenda. 

Some of my favorite people will be there.  Not just the aforementioned gurus but some additional must-see personalities like C.C. Chapman of The Advance Guard, Twitter-Queen Laura “Pistachio” Fitton, Don Peppers of Peppers & Rogers fame, Aaron Strout of Mzinga, and many others.

So, yea, I’ll be there too.  Chris asked me to show up and when Brogan asks for anything, I just do it, no questions asked.  (Although, I probably should have asked “what do you want me to talk about?”)

I think I am slotted to speak on Wednesday at 3:15pm.  I have a topic in mind but am open to your suggestions!  I need to let the organizers know ASAP so gimme your ideas in the comments?  Thanks! 

Will I see you next week?

You can choose to read this post as “shameless self promotion” (you’ve been warned!), or, as a wake-up call to pay closer attention to the inner workings of your agency partner.

A client – we’ll call them SUPERCLIENT – recently launched into a new market.  Afterwards, we checked in to make sure that they were pleased with our team’s performance. 

The note that came back blew me away with its attention to detail regarding every single team member’s contribution. 

Further, this SUPERCLIENT was aware of the limitations of his company’s story.  Despite tour results that were “OK - very respectable – (but) not a home run,” he placed those results in a common-sense perspective – and was able to do so, in part, because he had paid close attention to his team’s efforts all along the way.

I’ll redact the client and team members’ names but otherwise am pasting the note in its entirety below. 

What I’d like you to wonder is whether or not you (or your PR manager) have the same level of familiarity with your own agency program?

Do you have the same calm, rational analysis of your company’s market position? 

Do you know just how hard your team is working (or not)?

If not, consider this email below a kick in the booty.

“Thanks for checking in… Overall - on a true scale - the result of the tour was OK.  It wasn't a home run in terms of coverage, but still very respectable.  I think we got solid set of meetings and had a decent story, as good as it could be.  I think that our reach and results were limited by the inherent ‘attractiveness’ of our story (and the fact that SUPERCLIENT is small and relatively unknown), but not by a level of effort or pitching abilities.

“On the contrary, I was proud of SHIFT's efforts, as a team, and we all did the best we could with (our) ‘new news.’  Over time as SUPERCLIENT gains more wins, we'll continue to build our reputation and get more coverage.  So out of the gate it was great showing for (us); we strongly planted our flag in the space, and the tour was a success.

“Your team performed very well.  I thought ‘Bev,’ ‘Ellie’ and ‘Madge’ were all very professional and assertive getting our story out there and booking meetings.  They did a good job providing insightful feedback, prepping us with very valuable bios, getting everything coordinated well, being punctual, flexible with both our and the reporters’ schedules to make things happen, etc.  I also felt like we got in front of some of the top analysts in particular, which is very good.  That foundation will continue to pay dividends for us.

“Ellie and Madge both did a very good job of evaluating what messaging was working and feeding that back so we could continue to tighten our message.  I am also aware of a lot of good follow-up with reporters and doing everything possible to find ways to get ink (e.g., I know Madge and I talked about reminding a reporter of our live date later, even though the reporter signaled he may not cover the actual announcement - I like this kind of tenacity and ‘creating your own opportunities’). 

“I also should say that I knew Ellie the least before this process, because I think her personality is slightly more reserved and we often met in groups.  However, working with her one-on-one, I was very impressed with her intelligence; ability to articulate crisp, honest feedback; and I'm not sure how to describe this, but she has a nice style - calm, but respectable, a strong presence.  I guess she is more of a listener.  Do you know what I mean?  She's very good.

“Bev and I had a good collaborative effort on the two releases.  Your team are made up of good writers who care about the language, which I appreciate.  Bev also has a good ‘do whatever it takes’ attitude.  She jammed on revisions of the release until we had it right, and late into the night.  I liked that the team was energized and willing to pull in the release dates to draft off the competitors’ news.  Sometimes you get groans when you change things around, but your team actually leaned into it and stepped up without complaint.  It was appreciated.

“Also, though I realize she is junior, I think ‘Mary’ is doing a great job monitoring and summarizing the news as well as following up unapologetically with me to keep me on track for events and such.  This can be hard for someone earlier in their career, and although I do not bite, I could imagine her wanting to make sure she is sensitive to me as a client.  She is doing great.

“Thanks,

“SUPERCLIENT”

Again, I fully realize and acknowledge that this is practically a love-letter to SHIFT (thank you, SUPERCLIENT!), but luckily I get a fair number of those.  This note impressed me not so much for the praise but for the level of detail; for the visceral sense of partnership between client and agency.  Nothing’s getting past this guy.

Typically, such analytical notes are written when the client programs are going off-course (of course). 

But, when clients take the time to expound upon their agency team’s efforts in a constructive manner, even when things are humming along fine, it energizes the team – while keeping them focused on what could be done better next time. 

It’s the difference between coaching and judging.

It’s worth emulating.

When I talk to my PR industry colleagues, there’s a fair bit of trepidation about all the economic woes. 

We’ve been here before.  We’ve seen the bloodletting.  We’ve seen corporations slash marketing budgets at the exact moment when they should be pushing more of their chips into outbound efforts.

In fact, the Harvard Business Review noted earlier this year:

“It is well documented that brands that increase (marketing) during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.”

Still, sure, we all worry about the headlines.  Even the marketers who know better can’t seem to resist cutting their budgets (as seen in the graphic above).  No one will be immune from a truly vicious economic hit. 

Smart agencies took a hint from the last downturn.  For our part, having been founded in the fiery ashes of the Dot-Com Debacle, much of our own strategic planning has gone into hardening ourselves for the next recession.  And meanwhile, I can’t help but wonder: 

Perhaps Social Media will provide some additional protection for forward-looking PR agencies?

A recent CMO Study by Epsilon (covered in MarketingVox) provided some insights that support this hypothesis.  While 2/3rds of the CMOs acknowledged that the recession will ding their budgets, “digital marketing” was a bright spot:

• Social computing (including word of mouth, social networking sites, viral advertising, etc.) was the most popular emerging channel with 42% of marketing executives expressing interest in adding it to their marketing mix.

When the going gets tough, the tough start talking.  Despite the recessionary climate, most of the marketers surveyed viewed Social Media as a worthwhile addition to the mix.  They know that now is the time to rally and reassure customers and prospects. 

That’s the critical factor to remember about Social Media: it is not only helping brands spread the word; it also helps the brand to shore up support among its current customers. 

The agencies that survive the coming crapfest will be actively helping their own clients realize the benefits of socializing through the recession. 

How about you?  How are YOU feeling about the economic news?  Do you expect it to affect you and/or your agency?

It’s no secret that most every consumer fires up their browser and starts off with a Google search.  Heck, even your sainted grandma knows about “the Google.”

That’s why so many companies pay so much attention to SEO and SEM.  That’s why Google is minting money.

But don’t forget that there is yet another reason for PR pros to care about Google: journalists use it, too, for their research. 

And that doesn’t just mean, “they’ll Google your client” in researching a story.  It also means that whenever the reporter searches for terms related to your client, you want the client’s name/content to crop up frequently.  

Don’t forget that while you are doing PR for Client X, somebody else is doing PR for Client Z – their competitor.  Every now and then, despite your canny communications skills, Client Z’s agency is going to create an opportunity that you know nothing about.  (We’ve all gotten that call, eh?) … But if you’ve done your job right, every Google search on Client Z (and related terms) will also prominently expose content on good ol’ Client X.

SEO is not necessarily “PR’s job” but the savvy PR pro knows that they ignore basic SEO tenets at their peril.  At the very least, use free tools like PressReleaseGrader to optimize clients’ news releases.

And give strong consideration to Social Media Optimization principles, too.  The more noteworthy, shareable and embeddable content your client is pumping into the web-o-sphere, the more likely they are to be “found” by Google, by journalists, and by random surfers.

Basic stuff?  Maybe for loyal PR-Squared readers.  But, worth a reminder.