In the midst of the economic recession, many companies have already come up with new PR strategies to help them stay afloat or strategies to help them get a good investment return. Even so, the beginning of the recession caused many people to panic and question their next steps. The economic landscape has changed how companies do business, and they have had to buckle down and come up with new PR strategies to deal with something no one has ever experienced before.
In the beginning, there was a lot of confusion as brands struggled to communicate during the crisis, and public relations professionals quickly adapted to the new situation. Despite this massive shift, successful companies have now developed exciting and relatable content with the needs of their clients in mind.
Since the start of the recession, buying habits have changed, and brands have had to adapt their approach and their messaging accordingly. The good news is that public relations and marketing still continue to play a critical role during the recession. Brands all over the world still need to invest in creating an effective communications strategy, either by themselves or with the help of PR professionals.
How Pressfarm can help
PR professionals, like the team at Pressfarm, are experts in understanding trends and know how to help companies obtain media coverage in the midst of change. Pressfarm’s PR experts and writers work with companies to build effective PR strategies to help these brands survive change. The team at Pressfarm is also skilled at creating relevant, newsworthy content that can be sent to journalists or media outlets or used as optimized content in search engine results.
With a professional press release, some engaging guest posts, and an eye-catching media kit, you can capture attention in your industry. In addition to helping you create this content, Pressfarm can also help you distribute it widely. By submitting your content to the right media outlets and startup directories, Pressfarm can boost your online visibility. This distribution strategy is designed to help you feature in relevant search results across search engines. As a client, you also get custom media lists and you can access a media database of 1 million+ journalists, bloggers, and influencers. With these contact details, you can connect with the best media professionals in your niche and share your brand story with the world.
One of Pressfarm’s PR packages could be just what you need to generate publicity for your brand.
PR strategies for a recession
1) Be relevant
With not much else happening worldwide, news about the recession has dominated the news cycle.
There are so many conversations happening at the moment, from the recession to politics, economic unrest, racial inequality, unemployment, and beyond. Effective PR strategies should connect company news with timely social issues to achieve media coverage in an already saturated news cycle.
2) Be considerate and show solidarity
The recession has affected millions of people globally. For this reason, it’s important that any messages you share are empathetic and your approach to public relations and marketing is considerate. Of course, it’s always a good idea to offer the reader some entertaining content to take their mind off whatever is happening. Even so, humor should be used wisely and minimally. Ultimately, during a recession, brands should focus more on solving problems, bringing people together, and helping others out.
There is a time and place for everything. For example, it is probably in bad taste to announce executive promotions to top jobs at a time when many people around the world have lost their jobs. As consumers are aligning with brands that reflect their values, companies should exhibit corporate social responsibility in sustainability, gender equality, and other social issues to attract new traffic to their brands.
Providing help through donating, volunteering, or collaborating with other businesses helps companies increase their community support, goodwill, and brand awareness.
3) Be informative
There has been an abundance of “fake news” and misinformation currently dominating news outlets and social media platforms. Branded PR content needs to be informative, offering both insight and value to a company’s target audience. This approach will help brands to achieve online visibility and establish themselves as thought leaders in their industries.
Rather than taking advantage of a global crisis to get media coverage, you should position yourself as a thought leader on something you are an expert in. If you are just looking for media attention and expert insights to make your brand look good, your audience will see right through this. For this reason, you should go out of your way to find out what your target audience’s pain points are and produce quality content addressing these issues.
In order to be recognized as a thought leader, you need to think about what unique solutions you have for your industry, how you can help ease people’s fears, and help your community.
Anxiety is part of everyone’s lives these days. Many of the brands that have survived the recession so far have succeeded because they have offered a solution to this widespread anxiety. They have adapted their original PR strategy to solve a problem, create valuable content, or both.
4) Be creative
To get noticed and stand out from the competition, you need to develop creative and original content that showcases your key messages and boosts your brand identity. You should leverage both traditional and digital PR strategies to provide informative, creative content to larger audiences.
5) Include a human interest angle
A very high percentage of online consumers trust real people’s opinions more than they trust miscellaneous quotes that have been written on websites and publications for advertising. At a time when buying habits have changed, consumers are looking to individuals they trust to get them through challenging times.
You need to emphasize your product’s relevance and talk about why the brand is still beneficial to your consumer. Additionally, you should create content that emphasizes transparency and promotes human interest stories. Ideally, this content should be relatable and give people an incentive to spend time getting to know the brand better.
6) Optimize SEO
Consumers spend a lot of time online these days, so it’s important for you to maintain an active online presence. By focusing on digital marketing tactics like paid ads, SEO, and email marketing, you can keep your website up-to-date. What’s more, you can establish yourself as a thought leader through blogs, videos, social media, and other digital content.
An SEO strategy is especially useful during a recession. Using the right keywords can help you earn media coverage.
7) Audit the sales funnel
Even before the recession, it was important for any company to analyze and audit the outcomes of their strategies. After all, auditing your efforts helps you to adapt to a continuously changing market. With the recession, the business environment has been evolving even more rapidly than before. As the market changes, you must conduct a competitive analysis to evaluate which strategies are working and which ones aren’t.
What companies and PR pros can learn from the recession
When attempting to develop PR strategies in 2023, it is essential to acknowledge the current state of affairs. Rather than offering people generic information, companies and PR pros should strive to create educational and entertaining content that adds value and enhances their customer experience.
At a time when consumers’ priorities have changed drastically, you need to make sure that your content is not overly promotional. Instead, you should include a human interest angle and ensure that all your communication has a purpose and value. In addition, you can adapt in the following ways:
1) Highlight the value of your press releases and product launches
At a time when consumer needs are changing, you need to think about how you can use new products and services to solve a common problem. Once you have figured this out, it is important to highlight the problem you are solving and the value you are offering consumers in your press releases.
2) Keep the message simple and human-centered
Before the recession, it was already important for brands to keep their messaging simple. This is even more critical during the recession. You should craft your messages in a way that highlights the important information and focuses on how you’re making life easier for your consumers.
People are more likely than ever before to choose brands that share their values and help those in need. If you can communicate consumer-centric messages, then you can generate positive publicity.
3) Take advantage of social media
Social media has provided solace for people trying to occupy their time during the recession. For this reason, the recession has increased the level of engagement between brands and their target audiences. There is no better way to take advantage of social media than to engage directly with consumers.
Conclusion
Companies and PR pros have had to shift into overdrive to create and maintain a positive brand image during the recession. To be effective during a crisis, your PR strategies should provide insight, have a human interest angle, and be creative enough to draw attention.