Marketing Jam ‘09
09
PR and Marketing in Times of Turmoil
May 12, 2009

Question #1:
How many of you h
H f have iincreased your
d
marketing effort in the current business
environment?
i t?
Yes No

Question #2:
How many of you f l you must do more
H f feel td
with less?
Yes No

Situation
• Recessionary period
• Unemployment high
• Capital is constrained
• Demand is down
• Resources are scarce
esou ces a e sca ce
• Nothing seems easy

Never enough…
Money
Time
Leads

Must haves…
Strategy
gy
Targets
Message
Differentiation

Strategy
• What is
Wh t i my most compelling message?
t lli ?
• Where is my market sweet spot?
• Who are the decision makers?
• Should I shoot at the top first?
• How do my targets get their information?
• How can I penetrate those channels?
• Can I secure referrals first?
• What will be my follow-up plan?

Target / Focus
• Research
R h
• ID your targets
• Narrow your activities
N ti iti
• High frequency / high impact
• Work harder
W kh d
• Work smarter

Messaging
• Message session
M i
• Sharpen
• Simplify
Si lif
• Document
• Get internal folks on board
G ti t l f lk bd
• Test for message pull-through

Low Cost Tactics…
Ask for Media
Referral Relations
Power
Be Host
mapping
Letters E-Newsletter
Speaking
Gift Books
Networking
Entertain
…can keep eyes
Partner Events
on your firm

Reach Out and Touch
• Early ft
E l / often
• Reinforce relationships
• Take
T k no one for granted
f td
• Wine / dine
• Seek
S k new i fl
influencers

Do Something Different
• Host luncheons
• Tasteful PR series-like events
• Marketing Jam ‘09
g
• Speed networking
• C-level dinner
• Unique client gifts
• Reward referrals
• Involve employees in marketing

Sales
• Be b ld
B bold
• Ask for referrals
• “We h ld b
“W should be working t
ki together”
th ”
• Call former clients / customers
• Start
St t small, b ild t t
ll build trust
• Ask for projects

The Beauty of a Recession
• Perfect ti
P f t time for differentiation
f diff ti ti
• The tough get tougher
• Tests
T t your resolve
l
• Spurs innovation
• Successes are sweeter
S t
• Organization becomes stronger

Recommended Reading
“Selling to VITO” (the Very Important Top
Officer),
Offi )
Author: Anthony Parinello
“Getting to VITO” (the Very Important Top
Officer),
Author: Anthony Parinello

Defending the Role of
Marketing

Marketer’s Role
• Are you concerned about being laid off or losing
accounts because of cutbacks?
– You’re not alone
– Organizational advocate vs. individual role
vs
• As marketers, how do we advocate internally for
y
the good work that we do?

Ask Yourself
• What really drives your executives?
– Sales?
– Goodwill in the community?
– One-upping competitors?
One upping
• Besides your direct supervisor, how
many people do you really have a
relationship with at your organization?
• More importantly, what do they know
about you?

Ask Yourself
• How often do you report the results of your role?
• When and what do you report?
• Do your executives really understand how to
evaluate your work?
• Who initiates reporting?

Tracking and Reporting
• Report your success on the same schedule used
to measure operations
• Demonstrate your impact on what matters to them
y p
(member satisfaction, product inquiries, sales)
• Sh
Show correlations and draw reasonable
li dd bl
conclusions (don’t need scientific results)
• Words I don’t use: “branding,” “awareness,”
“coverage” – Mean a lot to us, little to executives
coverage

Look to the Marketplace
Find benchmarks to Track the activities of
reinforce expectations competitors

Become a Planner
• The only way to demonstrate success is to
defined what success is
• Minimize the impact of fly-by projects that derail
p y yp j
your most important initiatives
• B a team player, b a team player with li i
Be l but l i h limits

Marketing in a Recession
Initiative Outlook Your Action
Cost Cutting
C t C tti Eliminate
Eli i t non- Use t ti ti
U statistics and d
essential analysis to show how
functions first y
you’re essential
Executive New executive Demonstrate your
Changes “doesn’t get” strategic value in a
marketing language they do “get”
get
Budget to Believe marketing Demonstrate how
ot e depts
other depts. ta es esou ces
takes resources marketing c eates more
a et g creates o e
away from R&D, resources for operations
production, etc.

Questions? Call us…
Stacy Armijo Michael Russell
512-448-4950 512-448-4950
sarmijo@piercom.com mrussell@piercom.com