Recessions reward near-term thinking.
How can we identify more leads...and fast? What will it take to close this deal today? Are sales trending up this quarter?
The funding of hard-to-measure investments in brand promotion and public relations are typically relegated to the low-priority list. It's understandable as many companies are simply in a struggle for financial viability. Yet, this stings ad and PR executives who war for budget, even during prosperous times.
That's why the advertising industry has sought to educate the C-suite about the positive impact ad investments have on the long-term growth and health of the organization. Consider this research report from 1991 touting the success of companies that advertise during recessions. Although now two decades in the can, many of the points raised remain true today.
At Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), we have experienced a comparable level of day-to-day thinking when it comes to the funding of social media marketing campaigns. Part of this can be attributed to the early adopter stage of social media, yet the hesitancy to bless annual social campaigns is also symptom of trying economic times.
And then along comes NeuStar, a long-standing client that has moved aggressively this past year to integrate social media marketing into its mix of external communications activities. The company's Mobile's Next Big Thing blog has emerged as a must-read for advertisers, technology providers and marketers that have an interest in mobile barcodes.
Most recently, NeuStar introduced a socially-oriented news and thought leadership site called TheRegistry.biz. It's editorial includes an example of content curation at its finest.
However, there is recognition by NeuStar's marketers that the most prudent path to follow to met its revenue objective will take a bit of time. They planned and then budgeted accordingly.
Full disclosure: Strategic works with NeuStar on TheRegistry.biz social media campaign. We helped define a strategy and tactical plan, and now support the execution of the program.
1 comment:
If my experiences at my own company are typical, the challenge/impediment that companies face is the development of content; good, meaningful content. Charging into social technologies without an understanding of the need to define the kind of content to provide and establish the mechanisms for generating that content is folly. Recognition of that need is cause for hesitation as companies try to address the issue, define what content they want, and put in place the process(es) for generating and posting that content. And I'm assuming that each company has different needs relative to the type(s) of content that best addresses their markets and different challenges overcoming internal roadblocks to establishing new processes for producing content. As necessary as it is to integrate social media into long-term planning, it is not necessarily easy nor straight forward. We have been inching toward the goal for the past year or more and, although close, are not quite at the implementation stage.
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