Survey of PR/Marketing Firms: Hanging on, For Now

Joke: An elderly businessman is hit by a car and is being comforted by a paramedic, who asks him if he’s comfortable. “Comfortable?” the businessman shrugs philosophically. “No. But I get by...”

That kind of sums up life in the PR/marketing business as we reach mid-year. One quarter of respondents to my recent survey said “business is rebounding nicely” with only 13 percent saying they’re still in the dumps. But a full 50% responded with “other” responses ranging from “cautiously optimistic” to “still functioning, thankfully” to “very modest” or “small” rebound.

Twice as many (12%) said their clients are more likely to keep PR/marketing writing projects in-house to hold down costs than to outsource such work because their internal staffs are burned out. But the biggest category was, again “other” with respondents saying their clients are still “outsourcing when it makes sense” to “outsourcing to smaller agencies” or “Doubling up on Prozac.” (Hey, I’ll tell the jokes here.)

I also asked readers what they thought about “content marketing” (the use of white papers, case studies and social media to engage and sell to prospects.) A full third agreed it was “an incredibly valuable service I hope to offer my clients. But nearly half (49% asked “What’s content marketing?” One (maybe the one who doubled up on Prozac) said it was “Just like the source of the best milk – content cows” and another admitted it was an “incredibly vague buzzword I bulls**hit about constantly.”

Finally, I asked about the biggest challenges PR and marketing facing. One in four said getting new clients, narrowly outnumbered by those who said “Keeping up with changes in the PR/marketing industry” The biggest category, yet again, was “other.” Two respondents said their biggest challenge is hiring good capable staff (either for now or the next upturn), with others mentioning “managing smaller budgets” or – ouch – “getting paid at all.”

All this tracks pretty well with my own experience, which is that there‘s a big upturn in queries for new projects, but more delay – and price negotiations – before closing deals. I for one am ready, willing and able to work with you and your clients to reach your PR/marketing goals on budget, and to help you build out your content marketing strategy. As always, feel free to call or email to brainstorm.