All indications are that there is light at the end of the tunnel and it ISN’T the proverbial oncoming train. But that doesn’t mean that we should return to our free-spending ways. It simply means that perhaps the economy is saved from utter ruin, that we are all still in business and that there are enough customers out there spending money - in fact, those same existing and returning customers have been frequenting our businesses all the long (maybe spending less, but still spending).

As we emerge from the darkness of the last several months, we must continue to drive the market ourselves, yet be fiscally responsible. For us, this has meant examining each advertising expenditure. (Yes, even PR firms advertise.) We always felt we were pretty lean in terms of where we advertised and why - so we continued our presence in PR Week, and in O’Dwyer’s and maintained our presence in the local paper.

We kept our membership up in most chambers that we belong to but decided not to renew with some others - for now. We have committed to a renovation/updating of our website. And we continue to promote ourselves via our own public relations program and have created a presence for ourselves on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

The latter marketing - aka social media marketing - remains a pretty cost-effective manner of communication and we would urge those of you yet to take the social media plunge to re-examine your ad spending and maybe swap over some funds to SMM. Already, my propensity (and love) of Twitter and Facebook has paid off for clients. How?

In one case I was able to mend a situation that I read about on Facebook as per someone’s bad experience with a business that resulted in a “save” and a repair. Another time, by letting those folks who follow me on Twitter know what I was up to, I ended up sitting next to someone who saw my “tweet” about a restaurant and went to that very restaurant later that evening! (That was pretty cool, I have to say.)

We realize that you can’t know or do everything - nor do you have the expertise. That’s why so many businesses have come to us for marketing counseling (besides PR) and why so many are now on social media sites. In the coming months, we will offer seminars to the public at large on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and more. If you’re an existing client, you may already be availing yourself of our expertise. If you are still on the fence, it might be time to jump in!

What about you: Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel? Have you seen any positive traction yet from having a presence on any social media site? Are you considering adding it to your marketing mix? I’d love to hear your comments.

For the last several months we’ve all witnessed – if not personally experienced – upheaval and change. We have downsized, made painful cuts, seen our savings account dwindle and made personal and professional sacrifices that we wouldn’t have imagined making a year or two ago. The actions we took were necessary for the survival and strength of our businesses. But now what to do? Do we simply hold on, try to ride out the storm, a storm that has no foreseeable abatement?

Perhaps.

But we cannot afford to congratulate ourselves, stand idle or even exhale. Because we have one other problem/situation (whatever you want to call it): the ever-changing forces of THE MARKET. Through this economic malaise, know this: the market changes ever day. The market – the all-encompassing word I’m using to describe your customers, trends, consumer patterns – is a pulsating organism that never dies, that lives and breathes, that makes decisions that affect us. It’s up to us to adapt – or die. Whenever there’s a push, there’s a pull; a cause, an effect. These market changes are rapidly taking place in the world of media.

Because The Media is Dying

In fact, it’s been dying. There are at least three market forces contributing to this funeral march:

1) The rapid advances in technology that has your customers tethered to laptops, iPhones and Blackberries. They no longer wait to get the morning paper, they log on. They no longer send letters, they email. They Google for information instead of using encyclopedias, and they use OpenTable to make restaurant reservations. They trust Zagat or TripAdvisor (both feature user generated content – NOT editorial) more than they trust Food + Wine or Conde Nast Traveler. They bookmark certain blogs. They want instant answers; they want convenience.

2) The tsunami called social media (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Twitter). These online communities are just that – communities. And they are now sources where people get their information; it’s where they are influenced, where messages are sent and received – in many cases, marketing messages.

3) An imploding economy that has paralyzed print advertising spending, let alone newspaper and magazine sales, let alone increasing the costs of printing. Paper costs money. Printing a paper does too. Having desks and offices for editorial staff costs money as rents rise.

So how bad is it? Is the media really dying? On Long Island, Distinction Magazine, Long Island Weddings and Parents & Children have ceased publishing. Ditto Builder/Architect. Nationally Domino, Lipstick and dozens of smaller magazines have folded. The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, New York Observer, Denver Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Newark Star Ledger have all cut staff and eliminated sections – so have scores of others.

It is the smart business owner – you who have already survived – that needs to now completely rethink your marketing approach. Is your ad buy really effective? How about your entire marketing program? The media may not be dead, but it sure as hell is changing. You, like them, must adapt – or die.

Have you adapted? Are you willing to adapt? Have you seen changes in yourself as per how you get your news or information? Does your company have a social media marketing plan yet?

Tell me what you think. Your comments are not only welcome, but necessary for this conversation.

A business associate from England sent me this YouTube video on the speed of the technological revolution. In it is stated that if MySpace.com (over 200 million registered users) was a country, it’d be the fifth largest country in the world, somewhere between Brazil and Indonesia . . . that 31 billion searches are made on google every MONTH  . . . and that it took Facebook only two years to reach a market audience of 50 million!

There is no line between traditional and social media these days. Witness CNN asking their viewers to contact them via MySpace/CNN or Facebook/CNN. In other words, they know their viewers are members of social networking sites.