It sounds counterintuitive – invest more while the economy continues to flatline.

But if you’re running an organization or playing a key role in maintaining your organization’s competitive edge, we hope you’ve figured out that you can make lemonade out this sour economy.

The economy is cyclical, just like a force of nature.  It will inevitably get better. After 18 years in our marketing consulting and public relations business, we’ve witnessed just about every type of upturn and downturn. Our theory is: The bad times are preparation for the good.

Simply put, ramp up your marketing now.

What does this mean for you? A few thoughts:

1. If the C-suite or board of directors is focused on slashing and burning its way through the recession, it’s time to get them refocused on the future.  The best way to refocus is through the exercise of marketing planning – it provides solid strategy, a road map to the future as well as a spotlight on strengths and weaknesses.
2. A down economy gives you the opportunity to test market ideas and products, as well as interaction with customers or key stakeholders. It’s a perfect time to boost your brand the old-fashioned way, by having conversations with your audiences. Some of the best ideas emerge this way.
3. Have you done an audit lately? An audit carries a negative connotation to many business executives, but to a marketing professional it means a gold mine of information. Basically, an audit helps you analyze what marketing tactics have worked well and what haven’t. It’s often the perfect prelude to starting a marketing plan, as mentioned above, because audits are usually conducted with metrics. Sometimes numbers can tell an interesting story and can be the convincing factor to get your team involved in a full-scale marketing plan.
4. Invest in building and maintaining your brand now. If you delay, you begin to lose brand equity, which will have to be made up in the future at a considerably higher cost.

Position your organization now to prepare for the upturn (yes, it really will happen!). If you vow to keep one New Year’s resolution in 2012, put marketing investment at the top of the list.

A few months ago the Carr Marketing Communications staff had the pleasure of attending a Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) seminar presented by Dr. Joseph V. Trahan, III, APR, fellow PRSA. Dr. Trahan is president, CEO and media trainer at Trahan & Associates and has more than 25 years of public relations/affairs experience in governmental, association, educational and non-profit public relations.

A retired Lieutenant Colonel of the United States Army Reserve and former Commander of the 314th Public Affairs Operations Center, Dr. Trahan successfully operated four Joint Information Bureaus and one Joint Information Center and has also served as the former media trainer for Colin Powell.

Dr. Trahan reinforced many of the tools and tips we use to conduct media our training program, which we have conducted for more than 20 years.

We’d like to share a few of our takeaways with you:

• In media training, you will develop key messages that will help guide you through the interview and serve as talking points. Key messages should be short, clear, honest and simple.
• Always, always prepare for an interview. Try to find out as much information as possible beforehand about who will interview you, where the interview will be and what questions will be asked.
• Saying “no comment” in today’s world means you’re guilty. When preparing for an interview, identify any questions that cannot be answered directly and craft answers so you’re not resorting to this media relations no-no.
• There is no such thing as off the record. Anything you say to a reporter can or will be used. Their job in interviewing you is to tell a story, and if you give them information that they can use in the story, whether disclosed as on or off the record, it will most likely be used.
• People remember 85 percent of what they see and 15 percent of what they hear.
• Always get professional help and don’t assume that you can adequately prepare yourself for an interview.

At Carr, we believe all company executives and spokespersons should experience media training in order to represent the brand and articulate messages clearly. Contact us if you’d like to be media trained or spruce up your skills. You never know when you might face a camera or field questions from a reporter.

By Andrew Brown, Guest Blogger

Brand champions are passionate advocates of your organization. They are critical in promoting and referring your business to others. And, in an ever-evolving, instantaneous digital environment, their experiences with your brand are more likely to be heard now more than ever.

So, don’t delay – have a plan to keep those brand champions engaged.

For years, we’ve worked with Special Olympics New York, an organization that is driven by brand champions. Volunteers in this organization are some of the most dedicated brand champions you can find, even to the point of rappelling off buildings and plunging into cold lake water to raise money. They are involved with the organization on a multitude of levels from coaching to helping to organize events. Combined with the enthusiasm of the athletes and their families, the Special Olympics experience is a boost to a truly inspirational brand.

Not every organization has the capacity to generate that level of commitment. But just about every organization has brand champions at some level; and perhaps, it’s a resource waiting to be tapped.

Some organizations reach out to brand champions through traditional means such as hosting open houses, organizing community days and involvement with charitable and industry events.  Events like these provide the opportunity to talk to your loyal audience members one-on-one, and hear what they are saying about your brand.

There are also lots of opportunities to harness the enthusiasm of brand champions online. With so many technology tools available, you can exponentially affect audience share and increase positive word-of-mouth via online communication with this target audience. Brand champions can bring a whole new energy, for example, to your Facebook page or Twitter feed, as long as you provide them interactive and genuine content that continues to peak their interest.

Brand champions are your brand loyalists. Ask them to volunteer or help you trial a new product or service. Request their opinions and ideas, and let them tell you how your organization could be better. Then thank them and let them know you are listening.

If you’re lucky enough to have passionate and trusting brand champions on your side, keep nurturing those relationships. You can’t realistically build a brand without them.

By now, you know your business needs a social media policy. It should discuss the rules for employees and the company to abide by when using social media. But when was the last time you updated it? Did you know that with continually changing laws and regulations your policy might not protect your company at all?

The legal pitfalls of social media can be a nightmare for companies, so it’s important to really understand the ins and outs of social media in the workplace. Let’s take a look a look at what to keep in mind when revisiting your social media policy.

First, it’s important to familiarize yourself with regulations that may affect your social media policy. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is enforced by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and covers proper labor practices. An employee’s rights in regards to a company’s social media policy is covered in these regulations, so take a look at it and make sure your social media policy aligns with it. Also, new FTC guidelines provide regulations for the endorsement of products on social media sites, so if your employees are involved in any product endorsement, make sure your social media rules follow these guidelines.

Next, bosses or managers need to understand they should not request a social media connection with employees so employees do not feel pressured to accept. The legal liabilities and consequences of these online relationships far outweigh the positives. To give an example, if an employee mentions on Facebook that they are sick and happen to be let go from their company the next day, regardless of whether the two incidents are related, if a manager is friends with this person and can see this post, the employee can make a case against the company saying they were let go based on this information. In order to prevent any potential lawsuits, it’s best to completely avoid these online connections at all.

Finally, be aware that you may need to incorporate new elements into your social media policy. A technology usage policy should cover rules for all technological devices your company provides (cell phones, company email, etc.). In addition, encourage employees to use privacy settings, have separate professional and personal accounts, and prohibit posts that are discriminatory, harassing, leak confidential information or harm the reputation of the company.

Once you’ve updated your policy, review it with your attorney to make sure you’ve covered all your bases. Make sure you’re company is protected and that your employees are knowledgeable and informed. Being prepared is the best way to avoid the legal battles of social media.

Blog inspired by the presentation “Planning for the Pitfalls of Social Media in the Workplace” presented by Trevor M. Torcello, Esq. for the Public Relations Society of America.

In a competitive marketplace, companies are constantly vying for media space and attention. A great way for organizations to be noticed is through special events. Creative special events can give your organization a public persona and portray it as an active participant in the community. So how can you develop special events that fit your target audience and capture the attention of the media? Ask these questions:

1. What is a typical special event for our organization (a dinner, auction, etc.)?
2. What demographic comes to these events?
3. What does the target audience like about these events?
4. What does the target audience not like about these events?
5. What other special events have captured your interest?
6. How can you take these ideas and incorporate them into a special event that will work for your demographic?
7. What is the newsworthy element? (For something to be newsworthy the event should be either timely, unique, incorporate human interest or have a large group of people involved.)
8. How does the event benefit the organization?
9. How does the event benefit the community?

One great example of a unique event is Special Olympics New York’s “Over the Edge” fundraiser (see a video from this year’s event here). Launched in 2010, Western New Yorkers are invited to rappel the 27-story Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel if they raise $1,000 for Special Olympics as part of the “Over the Edge” fundraiser. All proceeds from the event go directly to local athletes. The community benefit is clear, and with its uniqueness and nearly 100 participants, the media are naturally fascinated by the event. The Special Olympics athletes come out to participate in and support the event; so all angles of a successful special event are covered.

Creating a unique special event will ensure people leave remembering their great experience and the wonderful organization that planned it. Be creative, think outside the box, make it relevant and make it interesting to your audience, community and media.