From recession to revolution?

The day that the recession was called you could hear the financials within a company tell their poor downtrodden marketers ‘I want accountability, accountability, accountability.’

What we saw then was an interesting factor that started slowly then really took pace. This was the time for e-communications to step up. What was a relatively new technology a few years ago was effectively accelerated by the recession, as cost-effective accountability was seen to be provided.

Immediately we saw advertising spend drop amongst our clients. Most retained a fairly consistent PR spend as this was seen as more tangible. New literature and printed direct mail were almost shelved, as it was seen as an expense too far. Hence the reliance on e-communications, a system that delivers to the desktop, is inexpensive and massively results orientated.

Using fairly basic set-ups we can now give those oppressed marketers something to fight back with, with real time analysis about who’s looking at what from your communication, if it has pushed them to your website and if they have forwarded information to a colleague. Marketing heaven.

In fact, this embracing of new direct communications has eased and accelerated the use of social media within the business community. What would have been the use of Linked In in buoyant times?

We’re all aware that it is the first port of call for anyone on the hunt for a job. As we come back into better times, we’re all networked up, helped by our friends that were out in the wilderness, so now we get alerts about what’s happening out there. We’ve joined groups on the site with like-minded people. Without realising it, we’ve bought respectability to social networking within the business community. So when you’re asked by the board ‘What’s our social media policy’ – you may already have some converts within your own company without them knowing it.

It isn’t therefore a massive leap of faith to consider Facebook and Twitter as extensions of this move to social networking.

Is this a revolution? Certainly. If and when we return to good times, when we have an interactive out-reaching, inclusive social media policy per company, what will be the need to return to old ways of communicating with our audience? For some of us and our clients, we are part way there already.

The tools are there to be used right now and (tell your FD’s), it can cost next to nothing compared to pre-recessionary activities. It’s how we develop them to a construction focussed audience is the most exciting part of the challenge.