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.