The PR Job This Year:Hunkering Down

This year, we in the PR Agency  business really have to hunker down, and work like we never did before.  Just a few weeks ago, I thought I had it all figured out--use the old formulas that worked before, and hope for the best. But...how can we resist facts? 

Hardly a  day has passed since the beginning of the year without  one or more companies announcing layoffs, losses, lower profits or reduction of work shifts. That  old reliable of the Philippine economy, the remittances of our OFWs, is said to be bound to be lower in coming years. People have begun to lose jobs. When Intel announced in January  it was closing up its plant in Cavite,  after several other big firms had laid off  employees or declared redundancies, I said, we really must brace up. Who's going to be next?

I would say let us hold hands, and look deep into ourselves, into how we do things, and see how we can keep improving our work. In the PR Agency business, we are what we deliver,  and the value that we add to Clients' business.  Clients will try to stay with us, as long as they themselves are viable and need us. The critical point is proving that not only are our counsel and services needed, but that they are indispensable. 

Keep strengthening the hopes of our personnel, especially the young ones. Let us hold on to them, even if ourselves, the owners and managers, have to give up some of what we have. 

Jack and Suzy Welch wrote in October last year something about connecting with our people. "We're not talking about walking the hallways saying 'hi.' We are talking about building visceral relationships by hanging out where the work gets done, talking and listening, eye-to-eye."

Let us show our people  how to expand on some of what we learned through our early struggles---that Clients are kept and sustained by the strength, relevance and value of the programs and initiatives that we present them. Clients need timely ideas that work and help them realize value, enhance their reputation, and  win in the marketplace. 

And to deliver these, we need  to keep people,  who will help us  think with quality and work with commitment and idealism.