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When I talk to my PR industry colleagues, there’s a fair bit of trepidation about all the economic woes.

We’ve been here before. We’ve seen the bloodletting. We’ve seen corporations slash marketing budgets at the exact moment when they should be pushing more of their chips into outbound efforts.
In fact, the Harvard Business Review noted earlier this year:

“It is well documented that brands that increase (marketing) during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.”

Still, sure, we all worry about the headlines. Even the marketers who know better can’t seem to resist cutting their budgets (as seen in the graphic above). No one will be immune from a truly vicious economic hit.

Smart agencies took a hint from the last downturn. For our part, having been founded in the fiery ashes of the Dot-Com Debacle, much of our own strategic planning has gone into hardening ourselves for the next recession. And meanwhile, I can’t help but wonder: Perhaps Social Media will provide some additional protection for forward-looking PR agencies?

A recent CMO Study by Epsilon (covered in MarketingVox) provided some insights that support this hypothesis. While 2/3rds of the CMOs acknowledged that the recession will ding their budgets, “digital marketing” was a bright spot:

Social computing (including word of mouth, social networking sites, viral advertising, etc.) was the most popular emerging channel with 42% of marketing executives expressing interest in adding it to their marketing mix.

When the going gets tough, the tough start talking. Despite the recessionary climate, most of the marketers surveyed viewed Social Media as a worthwhile addition to the mix. They know that now is the time to rally and reassure customers and prospects.

That’s the critical factor to remember about Social Media: it is not only helping brands spread the word; it also helps the brand to shore up support among its current customers.

The agencies that survive the coming crapfest will be actively helping their own clients realize the benefits of socializing through the recession.

How about you? How are YOU feeling about the economic news? Do you expect it to affect you and/or your agency?

[From Will Social Media Help PR Weather the Storm?]

Are bloggers members of the “media?” That’s a tough question.

The blogging trend is still fairly new (in the grand scheme), and bloggers are as often considered “snarks in bunnyslippers” as they are legitimate information sources. In a recent tweet, Paul Gillin (who has the credentials to know) made a compelling distinction: “Most bloggers know more about a topic than reporters, who switch beats all the time. Reporters are resourceful; bloggers are knowledgeable.”

Geoff Livingston agreed: “Bloggers are not media, and should be treated differently. Different goals, readership, rules.”

In other words: the question of whether bloggers are media is moot.

Bloggers are DIFFERENT from the mainstream media. They are smart, expert, passionate, independent, talented, and cantankerous. They have their own agenda, whereas journalists (while they share many of the traits listed above) are beholden to a publisher’s agenda.

More to the point: whatever else ya call them, bloggers are influential.

We’ve evolved (quickly!) from a situation in which the mainstream media complained about having their content “scavenged” by bloggers, to an era in which reporters look to the blogosphere to vet the facts, themes & memes of their own prospective stories.

A so-called “hit” in a blog is often as valuable as a “hit” in a mainstream publication. (In fact, we recently placed a client story in a national morning show AND in the Perez Hilton blog, and consumer response to the latter outstripped traffic gains from the “big” hit in the mainstream outlet!)

So – no, most bloggers are not media. (I would argue, however, that blogs like TechCrunch, Huffington Post, etc. do meet that gold standard.) But, they are just as important as media. From PR pros, bloggers deserve and require different approaches that are more creative and respectful than anything that’s gone before.
The most common area where this “bloggers as media” question comes up is at trade shows. Do you give ‘em a press badge?

Yea, you set some minimum requirements for longevity and authority, but you do give them a press badge. They have knowledge, enthusiasm, a publication (of sorts) and readers. Those characteristics alone may not make them “press” in the traditional sense, but these are untraditional times: rather than penalize someone for not fitting established norms, why not encourage their passion and creativity, which only help promote the industry and the event?

Are bloggers media? Maybe not. Maybe they’re better. [From Are Bloggers "Media?"]

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