Chances are, you’re starting to wonder if and when this talked-about recession is going to hit and how bad it will be. Or maybe you are already feeling the pinch. Either way, it doesn’t take long to make you start wondering about the next question: is my job safe?
One of the age-old problems of being in the PR business is proving its value to the people paying the bills, whether it’s your boss inside a big organization or your outside client. When times are good and everyone is busy, proving our value is often unnecessary. But when budgets get tight, we may suddenly find ourselves having to justify our work: how it helped drive revenues, how it tangibly protected the value of the company’s reputation, why it’s as valuable as other competing budgetary priorities.
Earlier today, I moderated a webinar on this topic (sponsored by Bulldog Reporter) called “Recession Proof PR: How to Prove PR’s Value to the C-Suite.” The speakers were:
- Kirk Stewart, executive vice president and leader of the corporate communication practice at APCO Worldwide
- Ken Eudy, CEO of Capstrat, which provides PR counsel to clients including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund, RBC Centura and the University of North Carolina.
- Shelly London, vice president and chief communications officer for Trane, a market-leading global manufacturer of heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems and services.
Among their recession-proofing tips:
- Build your allies: you’re not going to win over the CEO in a day. But if you have allies in senior management who believe in the value of PR, you’ll have an easier time when you get to the C-suite;
- Talk the language of the C-suite. That means you need to talk business outcomes, revenue impact, metrics. Often, we talk marketing-speak (messages, positioning, ad-equivalency), and the C-level execs simply don’t know what we’re talking about;
- Choose your projects wisely, and think BIG if you want to demonstrate business impact.
