Beyond a Budget Increase

medla nodes upl zmodel newz log servic uple imag

Beyond a Budget Increase

By Sheila Corriveau on May 7th, 2009

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Tired of reading the same headlines about the tough economy? Beyond exhaustion, I am saddened that so many talented communicators have recently lost their jobs due to our economic downturn. No question, corporations and organizations are under tremendous pressure to cut costs and people – and not in that particular order.

The PR industry has taken a hit like many other service industry providers. Client-agency relationships are being carefully scrutinized and the pressure to deliver the same or better ROI with fewer resources and smaller budgets can lead to major heartburn.

Tough times call for creative measures. A study developed by The Creative Group in January 2009, asked 250 marketing executives if their campaigns became more or less creative when budgets were leaner?: 40% said either much more creative or somewhat more creative while 26% saw no change regardless of the budget size. Their research also suggested that tight deadlines are a leading cause to hinder creativity.

If you manage a team or agency and cannot provide salary increases or a jump in budget, you can still inspire creativity and retain your top PR stars:
- Develop reasonable deadlines to ensure the job is done right rather than simply just done.
- Be accessible for timely input, encouragement and approval.
- Adjust your expectations of outcomes that are tied to reduced budgets. Agencies will be supportive partners but cannot work for free.
- Engage your agency and/or team early in the process. Agencies and colleagues should also agree to the strategy early to ensure that money is not wasted if the concept misses the mark.
- Take the time to celebrate internal teamwork and business partnership success. Say thank you in an email, hand written note, company newsletter, a phone call or better yet with a handshake in person. Recognition costs nothing but can make a big difference.

Employees and consultants understand the financial pressures corporate marketers are under and many are co-operating with their employers and clients. This support ranges from four-day work weeks to reduce payroll and therefore layoffs, to forgoing pricey celebrations or cutting back on expense accounts.

AgencyLink conducted a client quality survey in February 2009 with more than 600 global marketing agency leaders, including 106 agencies from Canada. Almost 85% of Canadian agency leaders believe that their clients offer fair compensation. I don’t believe that Canadian agencies feel over-compensated by clients, but the results demonstrate that they are content, especially when compared to the US and Europe.

Agency leaders recognize that they can’t expect some erosion of historic profit margins while their clients are suffering financially. Good on them.

Sheila Corriveau is a Partner in AgencyLink Inc. (www.agencylink.ca). The marketing consultancy conducts agency searches, consults and delivers workshops to improve client-agency relationships and performance. She can be reached at sheila@agencylink.ca.