I think this recession is getting tedious, very tedious indeed.

We have had two years of battening down the hatches and the “sunlit uplands” should be beckoning us forward.

The news of cuts – the media battle over this issue is a subject “entire of itself” and can be covered later – keeps our breadths held.

So what do you do?

Do you not spend anything other than on the business basics? Do you spend marketing budget and compete for the business that is out there?

I know that some companies are networking and marketing like crazy to get through and indeed prosper, others are withdrawing.

There are undoubtedly businesses that are succeeding. I know an independent traditional printer that is very busy and that is a sector where you might expect a company to fail in pressured times – not a bit of it.

It is succeeding through having a clear, targeted marketing strategy and through offering good service – nothing fancy you might say.

(I am making no value judgement on these that feel economic pain and those that don’t at all).

So back to my question and answer.

I think there is no choice as to whether you do marketing; there is a choice to how you do it.

This is a time for added awareness of your business, services or products, of building reputation. And more so about building trust than ever before – if companies are going to spend precious budgets, they will want to know that it is going to pay off and that means they will want to know you as well as what you offer.

“You would say that anyway” in terms of marketing and PR. Well yes, but if getting new business is as important as those other business essentials it would be hard to disagree.

The sharper amongst you will notice the quotes from Winston Churchill, John Donne and Mandy Rice-Davies (although the oft and misquoted version on this last one).

Matt Hackett, a stalwart at the north’s largest digital, marketing and creative recruitment Orchard gives an insight into the state of the recruitment market.

Is it time to jump back in?

If you want to know, listen to Matt’s view – click here

I will be giving a talk about PR and social media for artists and creatives at Waterside Arts Centre, Sale, Manchester.

The event, on Wednesday, afternoon of May 19th, will focus on how to raise profiles in a highly effective way without needing a big budget.

I will cover how to approach traditional  media (including press releases) as well exploring blogs, Twitter, Facebook and others ways to build awareness.

Fellow speakers will include Lee Taylor editor of Flux Magazine and Chris Fogg of creative agency Fogg Associates.

The cost is a steal at £15 (£12 concessionary).  If you also book for the Planning your Portfolio event before May 14th there is an early bird discount.

Tickets can be booked on 0161 912 5616 or at Waterside box office.

Well, getting a start would be ideal for most graduates or school leavers.

It is not easy to get a career; it is not easy to get a job at the moment, and a sought after career: forget it.

Even in good times things are not easy, so what do you do if you want to get started in marketing or PR in such a discouraging market?

Here are a few tips that I hope helps:

Social media – If you want to get into marketing or PR and you do not know about social media then you are letting yourself down.

You are not taking the opportunity of building relationships with professionals that could help you.  You are not noting opportunities as they come up.  You are not showing that you have the skills and intellectual curiosity to succeed.

Flexibility – It is tempting to wait for the right job.  But the right position rarely comes along.

Make a start, if you get offered an opportunity – a placement or junior role – think seriously about taking it even if it is not perfect, you can still look for your dream job in the meantime.  You might find the role you get offered turned out to be what you wanted or was much better than you imagined.

CV and applications – I have received CVs with grammatical errors!!  Really, do I have to say more?

Cultivate opportunities where none present themselves – I have received speculative CVs and reply and get no word of thanks when I offer advice.  I understand that if you want a job you have no time to dwell and you move on as quickly as you can.

But if only they called me or asked for leads or pointers, I would be happy to reward a little bit of initiative, so would many other people.  Yet my efforts to reply are never rewarded – if I was recruiting I would not employ such individuals although this might be unfair.  This one example where initiating a quick conversation might really help reduce that job hunt’s length.

Networking – following on, look for people that can help you.

Do not be afraid to ask: it is not cheating to ask contacts to get introductions that can lead to work experience or even, dare I say it, work.

Have a real think who might be able to help, ask those who you do not think could help, you might be surprised who they know.

Determination – it is a difficult road for many and one that I do not want to travel again.  But if you really want it, you are most likely going to get you dream job.  So have courage and keep at it even though it is a miserable process.

Today it has been officially announced that we are out of recession!!

Well if you are looking to start a career this news will make scant impression on you.

The 1990 recession ended when you had a “proper” job – I still think many people who graduated in the early 90s are still feeling the affects of their bad timing at being born some 20 years earlier.  Can do better next time if he applies himself.

The 90s recession ended in about 1997 if truth be told for many people.  Bill Clinton, new technology, the Internet easing communication and attracting investment, the start of de-regulation of US banks (which had been put in place by FDR in the 30s that helped create the worst recession since the 30s) all had a role to play.

The fact for many is that careers were missed, and why?, because in the case of the marketing industry there was a reluctance to develop people – give them a chance.  Of course some made it nevertheless, but the industry was unwelcoming and expected 21 years experience and candidates to be 20 years old.

I can only hope that the recovery does not exclude vast swathes of able people, but it will.

It is time for business to recognise that talent does not come from doing a marketing degree or experience only.  There is a lot to be said for determination, personal characteristics such as being sociable, open to learning.

For professionals that have lost their jobs who are on the other side of the age divide, there is no reason why some businesses should discriminate – it is the person, not the age that counts.

What am I saying: the world is unfair?

It is true.

What I am saying is:

Treat people with respect – there will be too many graduates wanting a career where there are too few openings and some HR departments will enjoy thinking they are of a higher power.  It is the personal characteristics that I think make a good marketer, but can you spot these and are they developed when you are a new graduate?

If you want a career in PR or marketing, the chances are you will succeed if you are determined and what might seem a bleak age now will dissolve away in time. Give yourself time and accept support when going through the often bleak process of finding a job.

I think I will tackle how to give yourself a real head start in an entry shortly – keep tuned

How we need another Bill Hicks.  Am I the only person not interested in X Factor, celebrities being humiliated in inhospitable climates or how someone in a soap I have never heard of is doing ballroom dancing?  If you are like me listen to Bill Hicks, it will keep you sane.

And to the main event of the evening:

Now I am in PR so I don’t know if I am the subject of Bill’s fury here.  Sorry to all my marketing  and advertising friends – leave a comment, argue back, give me some content.

You might not agree with Bill, but if you check out his catalogue on YouTube or video you can see a rare intelligence.

And the lesson from all this?

If something really impresses you tell the world.

I am sure I have bleated on about this before.

All the while companies invest in digital, video, marketing strategies and PR, but they miss the basics and suffer for it – and they don’t even know it.  What’s the point of using cutting edge techniques if something as simple as a phone call is not answered?

In the past couple of days I have had experiences where the phone is always engaged (an online retail site), voicemail with no mobile number given (a heritage trust) and simply cannot even get through (professional services).

I have been patient, but most people are not.  Well the professional services company might have lost business.

Possible clients are not patient and will generally not tell you that they have been trying to get through.  If they do thank them for their patience and apologise.

I haven’t got onto first impressions when you do get through yet…

Graham has been the marketing director for Matchbox Toys (which probably influenced my kindergarten career), and managing director of Dunlop Footwear and Remploy Textiles.

Today Graham uses his vast marketing and management experience to stimulate substantial growth in promising enterprises; his knowledge is also utilised to give business owners exit strategies – selling their businesses with good effect financially.

I started off by asking Graham about the building blocks that get you value, which are essential to growing businesses (especially in relation to marketing).

“Strategic marketing is all important.  But it’s not about creating a brochure or marketing material.  That’s tactical and not really where the battle to grow is won or lost.

The key is segmentation and positioning.

Let me talk about segmentation first.  The market is not homogeneous and to ensure resources and competencies are well targeted it needs to be broken down.

This all seems straightforward, but so many businesses just don’t understand buying behaviour or the routes to market.  It takes time, energy, objectiveness, willingness to embrace change and this is often underpinned by market research.

Yet, all too many businesses are too busy fire fighting or working in cruise control to address these issues.  In a recession you are even more likely to get found wanting, let alone not make the most of your product or service.

Positioning follows on: analysing and choosing the segments you can compete on in relation to quality offered, competition and margin.  Still too many businesses try to be everything to all and end up being of little note to anyone.”

And how does PR fit in to segmentation, positioning and the recession?

“PR can be a very targeted tool that can build up the appropriate reputation in the segment you want to be in.  Social media tools are also fine tools to support any PR campaign.  So PR is not an add on or nice to have, but central to engaging a strategic marketing plan.

Moreover PR can enable a smaller business to compete with bigger players or dominate a niche.”

Are there any sectors where PR agencies should target?

“Any industry that offers longer-term employment prospects is worth developing knowledge and contacts.

I think advanced technology and in particular bio-medical, chemical and environmental will be of crucial importance to the economy, especially in the North West.

I would also say hotel, leisure and tourism although that might surprise some in the current climate.”

Graham can be contacted through his website www.exceptionalbusinessresults.com and is also a coach for the North West’s High Growth Programme

The BBC has published an interesting article about a company offering Twitter “followers.”

The “followers” can be bought in batches of 1,000, with 100,000 being the biggest amount available.

All have opted in to be a “follower,” so is it a problem?  All are profiled and those located closest can be prioritised, so it is targeted to some degree.

uSocial, which offers a paid service, estimates that everyone that follows is worth about 10 cents (Australian I believe) a month to a client.

I think even so big companies, indeed anyone that employs such as service, are missing the point of social networking: interaction.

Hard sell or just selling is not social media although there can be a place, from time to time, to sell.

I am sure that if up to 100,000 “followers” can be bought at a reasonably low price then a Twitter campaign could generate good returns on the investment.

E-mail was used in a similar way and I remember a claim in one magazine that as many as 10% of recipients became clients in its early days (mid 90s).  I am not sure I believe that ever really happened unless it was one heck of an offer to a really well researched target group.

Gone are the days when e-mail was ever thought of so highly.  Yet the humble telephone can be highly productive for sales and it is about interaction and conversation.

Yes buying “followers” will work for some, but it is going to become a jaded way to communicate if you only talk and don’t listen.

It doesn’t matter how much you spend on advertising or a PR agency or branding or how many tweets you post, if the reality and expectation doesn’t match up.

Marketing is only really as strong as the product or service in the end.

I wanted to give an example of how two different experiences have reinforced the marketing effort or made it inconsequential.  I suppose I wanted to give credit where it’s due and vent my spleen at the same time to be truthful.

Let’s start with the baddie: (apparently 5 star rated) Qatar Airways, not the world’s favourite airline nor indeed mine (to borrow the world’s cheekiest run airline’s strap line (MD Willie Walsh wants staff to work for nothing for a month)).

Qatar Airways, what can I say?

The flight times are changed three times, I’d better check and confirm with Qatar once I arrive advises my travel agent.

Bags go missing on arrival at Delhi, over 2 hours trying to find out where at three in the morning.

Qatar office asks why they are in Bangkok!  I have to explain?  (Oh I wish I was there now).  Do I get any money for toiletries or for the inconvenience, you bet not.  It arrives – 36 hours late.  I check my latest flight times with staff, a puzzled look, and told that they are of course right.

Going back, arrive at Delhi Airport with 800 Rupees (about £10).  Even though the train was 4 hours late my flight doesn’t leave for several hours.  I can relax and have a coffee.

I decide to check in early: the flight’s gone.  Qatar changed the flight back (without telling me).  Luckily sympathetic airport duty officer gets me back to Manchester with Lufthansa.  I am not the first to have this problem with Qatar he informs me.  If I didn’t have the print out of my flight times then I would have been stuck – my card doesn’t work over here.

I write to Qatar for some satisfaction (it must be two months ago or more): nothing.

I take a swipe at Qatar on Twitter: progress, they follow me.  I decide to take another swipe to see if I can start a dialogue: “sorry” would be a start or why are you not happy with our airline?  Nothing!  What is the point of using Twitter for your marketing if you do not actually act on it?

The AA: this is shorter, so stay with me.

I have been with the AA for I don’t know: years.  I have used them 4 or 5 times in the last couple of years and they have been nothing but polite, friendly, highly skilled and professional.  If I hadn’t broken down I would say it is a real pleasure to deal with them.

What’s the key difference: I will tell anyone who is flying to Dubai or onwards not to use Qatar; I would tell anyone looking for a breakdown service to use The AA.

Clients are your most powerful marketing communications, whether it is good or bad, not your marketing spend.

What does planned communications matter at this point, once you have experienced the service yourself?