PR in Challenging Times

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PR in Challenging Times

By Lee Yew Meng

Hard economic times are, ironically, the best times to launch an aggressive PR campaign.

When times are challenging, often one of the first decisions a company will do is to cut cost and stop all marketing; when in reality, it is the most important time to attract attention to your products/services/businesses. The cost of marketing is lower but the impact may be bigger. As the saying goes, "when all is quiet, even a pin drop can be heard".

Some line functions that may appear to be superfluous may actually be the very ones that can spell short-term success and long-term staying power.

Public relations are just such an example. The ability to manage perception and influence decisions has allowed many a company to rise above the crowd.

Nothing builds and supports a brand like public relations. And it is the strong and trusted brands that win customers' favour. It is also the most cost-effective way to spread a message compared to advertising, direct mail and other sales initiatives.

For listed companies, PR remains an essential tool to communicate with investors and shareholders, even during an economic downturn.

Keep up your reputation and brand values and maintain your image, creatively if you need to.

A good PR programme includes four important elements of trust: integrity, honesty, promise-keeping and loyalty. It helps to attract new customers and keep the old. It also helps with galvanizing employees, a challenge companies now face more than ever with salaries frozen and employees' benefits cut.

Some companies in human resource management, training and education have benefited tremendously from engaging the media during this economic recession.

So how do you go about implementing a good public relations programme in challenging economic times?

Stratagem Consultants will be showing you how in a half-day PR workshop next month.

Do register your interest with us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will keep you posted.

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From Left: Mr Anand Joseph and Mr Lee Yew Meng (Stratagem Consultants) with Mr Dinesh Singh (ZoMedia) at The Asia Business Forum "Strategic Press and Media Management in Crisis Situations Conference" in May 2009.

Mr Lee gave a talk on the topic Engaging, Developing and Maintaining Harmonious Relations with the Media in Singapore. He has more than 25 years of journalistic experience working in the newspapers, radio, news wire agency and magazines.

4 comments so far ...

Has a date and time been confirmed ?
If not, will it be on weekday or weekend?

The PR workshop is open to both the public and corporates

Is it open for registration to public or only for corporate members ?

Especially in this turbulent time where some major used-to-be major companies are falling apart, it is very confusing to the investors and the general public as to which are the firms to trust. So a good reputation/image plays an important role in helping the investors. In fact, the article published in the Straits Times on 22June09 has outlined and reinforced the importance of investor relations management for companies. A timely reminder indeed.

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