January is certainly a busy month for PR folks. With the new year comes the task of presenting the new public relations plan and strategy to our clients and colleagues. Often, these plans are developed with a good deal of communication and coordination with the people to whom they are presented. Of course there will still be some nuances and details they haven’t seen or haven’t completely embraced yet. But, generally, if it’s a solid plan in which you’ve incorporated relevant insight and considered the client’s history, things should go well.
But I feel compelled to drag up that phrase that seems to pop up everywhere now: “In the current economy…”
Why does the recession affect our year-long outlook and strategy? A lot of companies are getting thrifty and the PR budget is commonly one of the first to get cut down or axed completely. So the PR plan needs to really stand out as necessary and beneficial.
So what if the account is secure and you’ve created a great strategy for the year, and then the budget gets cut? How do you manage your client’s expectations?
I’ve got faith in you, so I’m going to assume you did a great job in 2008. How do you keep that up or exceed that success with a smaller budget? Do you find ways to be thrifty on behalf of your client? Or do you sit down and tell the client that they need to be realistic about what they can expect you to achieve with that budget? What do you think is best practice for handling this kind of situation?
*Image by strawbleu
libby started a blog 
Don’t know why I *just* saw this — anyway – hope all is well up in the ‘burgh.
Btw — for some reason (not in a bad way, but kinda made me giggle) “Libby Started a Blog” just totally reminded me of “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” (great movie – you should check it out btw)
Try to keep sane — that’s my struggle on a daily basis down here