CorpComms Magazine

The main issue corporate communicators will face this year is the simple and fundamental one of proving our value. It will require significant psychological re-adjustment. We have all grown used to growing budgets, growing headcounts and growing respect, that the mere threat of retrenchment seems shocking. But we cannot insulate ourselves from what is happening in the economy generally, and the silver lining -if we can see it- is that it provides us with the opportunity to prove actually what it is we add.

The danger that faces agency communicators is that we become so intimidated in the face of aggressive procurement departments that we race to the bottom, accepting fees that simply do not reflect the valuable, professional service we provide. Doing so can be tempting, but it not only makes agencies ultimately unsustainable, it also sets us all back in our on-going battle to be accorded the professional respect we deserve. Equally, the danger for  the in-house communicators is that once an agency has been driven down to providing high quality, high volume PR services at absurdly low prices, the next obvious target for savings is the suddenly relatively more expensive in-house team.

The answer? To develop proper metrics to prove the value of what we do (and the PRCA will be leading with an announcement in this area early this year), and to start being more self-confident about what we do. Now is no time for shrinking violets. If we hide away, we're all likely to get squashed.  

share me: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Tweet