Crunch PR - Musings from Mr PR - Barry Walker. Rule 5.

Rule 5 - Never Cut Your Marketing Budget 

I hear you thinking, ‘yeah right, typical advice from a PR consultancy’, but this is one of the fundamental rules in a soft market. I’ll explain why. Never under any circumstances cut or do away with your marketing budget. A marketing initiative is like a snowball; hard to get going, but builds momentum the more you roll it. It is well documented that brands that increase their marketing in a soft market when competitors are cutting back can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times. As consumer purchasing declines, the consumer will purchase prominent brands. Are you a prominent brand? If not, you must become one. Moreover, your investment in your marketing has a value, as you have been investing in the budget for many years. Stop suddenly, and the tens, even hundreds of thousands of pounds are wasted. 

Crunch PR - Musings from Mr PR - Barry Walker. Rule 4.

Rule 4 – Don’t Fail To Plan 

In scuba diving, there is a saying – ‘Plan the Dive – Dive the Plan’. If you do this, nothing can go wrong. Yet in business how many of you are failing to plan for all eventualities? Write a simple business and marketing plan. This may even be a 'back of a postcard' scribble that says "make 10 new cold calls each week". Once you have done this, stick to it and keep sticking to it. Write down all the things you can do to market your business and form a monthly strategy. Look at the strategy each month and if you can improve on it do so, especially as increased sales will give you a bigger marketing budget. These serve as a guide and should be reviewed on a regular basis as markets change. Be adaptable to market trends, be prepared to be flexible and certainly be inventive. This doesn’t mean you have to be reckless, just structured and firm. Take into account all possible contingencies. 

Crunch PR - Musings from Mr PR - Barry Walker. Rule 3.

Rule 3 – Don’t Run Scared

Business is going to get tougher. However, business is tough, get used to it. A business associate once told me (you know who you are as you read this), that business is called business for a reason. If it wasn’t, it would be called play and then everyone would want to do it. In the coming months you are going to become more diligent in your marketing, prospecting and sales strategies, without giving off those telltale ‘running scared’ signals. Never run scared: stand firm with an air of confidence and sell well. People like doing business with confident individuals. 

Crunch PR - Musings from Mr PR - Barry Walker. Rule 2.

Rule 2 - Research The Customer 

Now, it is more important than ever to know your customers; know their wants and also know how they are responding to economic downturn. Consumers take more time searching for durable goods and negotiate harder at the point of sale. Customers are more willing to postpone purchases, trade down, or buy less. Must-have features of yesterday are today’s can-live-withouts. Trusted brands are especially valued and they can still launch new products successfully. However, interest in new brands and new categories fades. Be sure you know what it is your customers want and even more importantly, be sure you can supply it. 

Children flocked to see Santa in his summer home at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

What do Mike Read, Kim Wilde, Cherie Lunghi, Jane Horrocks and Santa all have in common? Barry and Vanessa met them all at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

Sun, Santa and Stars Shine at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

A fantastic day was spent in the sun at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show promoting and generating media interest and coverage for the launch of the new Inovar range of log cabins by one of our recent clients, Norwegian Log Buildings.

Norwegian Log Buildings' new cabin, Inovar, launching at the RHS Hampton Cout Palace Flower Show. 

Not only did the sun make an appearance, but so did Santa and some celebrity stars! The Inovar cabin was promoted on the premise of being “Santa’s Summer Home”, a concept which attracted a wide range of audiences, from schoolchildren clamouring for presents to Cherie Lunghi and Mike Read. The day started off with a glass of champagne for Mr. and Mrs. Claus and the day could only improve, although Santa might have melted slightly in the heat of the sun!

First to stop by for a visit to Santa (and his contemporary log cabin!) was BBC Radio Presenter, Mike Read. Sporting a navy Wimbledon blazer and white shorts, we thought he might be going for the job of an Umpire - Wimbledon finished on Sunday! He just couldn’t stay away from Inovar or Santa and returned later in the day to interview Nick Forrester, Managing Director of Norwegian Log Buildings, for a spot in his afternoon radio show.

Mike Read with Santa in summer! 

Next along came a Roman Gladiator, equally sweltering in his outfit as Santa was! He was followed by Kim Wilde, the 80s singer turned landscape designer. Having produced award-winning garden designs for the Tatton Flower Show and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, her authority within the gardening and landscaping sphere is growing fast and her interest in Inovar (and Santa!) was much welcomed and generated a lot of happy snapping from the media.

Kim Wilde in the Inovar cabin 

Cherie Lunghi, who you might have seen on Strictly Come Dancing in 2008, sat on Santa’s knee and then it was Jane Horrocks’ turn (star of Ab Fab). 

Cherie Lunghi and Jane Horrocks take turns to see Santa.

The day was the successful launch of the product which Nick Forrester had hoped for; “Santa’s Summer Home” was a brilliant premise with which to work and this novel, creative and quirky concept drew a vast amount of attention, allowing bridges to be created between Norwegian Log Buildings and new clients. Norwegian Log Buildings were awarded a Certificate of Merit from RHS Hampton for the outstanding display of their stand. 

Crunch PR – Musings from Mr PR - Barry Walker

Whilst I am an eternal optimist, I also tend to embrace the worst case scenario. I remember the last recession at the end of the 80s and the start of the 90s when the construction industry crashed and when, as a director of a major construction company, my world was demolished. That’s when I started to row my own boat and began working as a freelance PR consultant. God, those times were tough, but to me, that was a natural battlefield in which to do business, one that I remember to this day and continue to respect. To me that was the norm: for 5 years nothing in the UK was built, interest was running at 15%, negative equity was rife and architects were the highest candidates for bankruptcy and suicide. Forgive me for being alarmist, but this is fact and fact is fact. 

I wrote this article four years ago when the current downturn was beginning to bite. Looking at it now, it’s as true to the day as it was when I put pen to paper and Crunch PR was born. 

So, what is Crunch PR? 

Ensuring your profile is raised sufficiently high enough to be seen as a leader in your field when your competitors are struggling to find market share. Anyone reading this communication for the first time and not benefitting from BlackChilli client status may need a number of pointers as what to do in what is perceived, for some, as tough times. I shall be posting a blog a day, each containing a PR policy "must"...

Rule 1 - Know Your Product 

Inovar - the latest cabin from Norwegian Log Buildings, launched  at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

This may sound like a silly rule but it’s fundamental: be sure you know your product. As businesses grow, and the coalface becomes further away , it’s possible to become out of touch with the detailed elements of your business: after all, that’s what staff are for. Whilst you are working on the business, you may not be working in the business. Don’t let this trip you up: when markets shrink and it gets tougher, you may become involved in working in the business again. Yes, we all know you set the business up, but you may have become a dinosaur. Getting involved in marketing, sales, proposal and presentations makes sure you are up to speed.

Does SEX Sell?

Would marketing collapse if you took SEX out of the picture? Once again sex has hit the headlines as Girlguiding UK joins the campaign to end page 3 topless models in The Sun. And at the same time, women in Germany staged a topless protest in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin, deliberately using their breasts to draw the attention of the world’s media to their cause. So, is it ok to use sexuality or nudity to sell your message? Or, perhaps a more relevant question to ask is - when is it ok to use sexuality or nudity to sell? And have we become so accustomed to sex in selling that we no longer really see it for what it is? Whether you like it or not sex has become an intrinsic element of selling. Look at the myriad of perfume ads, Nigella Lawson’s cookery show, the latest Diet Coke TV ad, or David Beckham’s underwear ad for H&M. The common element is the use of sex, masculine and feminine, to sell. Which brings me back to the Girl Guides and their objection to page 3…where do we draw the line on what is acceptable and what is not? And how do you make that decision? We’d like to know what you think about sex and marketing so please click on the link below to take part in our short survey. Take the BlackChilli survey by clicking here