Going small: Rethinking (and affording) your communications goals in the "re-opening"
It’s March 93rd. At least that’s what it feels like, doesn’t it?
As a boutique-sized media and production outlet (read: really small) I have experienced what so many of my larger contemporaries have. It began with an almost crippling wave of cancellations, followed closely by a round of outreach to past and present clients who all have the same response: “The cupboard is bare.” Next came the attempt to become a self-taught expert in Small Business Administration red tape, which is hard to get graded on because no one tells you anything.
Does any of this sound familiar?
So here on whatever day today is, I come forward with more empathy than answers. What I do know, however, is this is a time for businesses looking to get back on their feet, to look to the small, and capitalize on those who have mastered doing more with less.
When it comes to communications, many businesses are currently trying to cram a square peg into a round hole. They are trying to follow their old, familiar roads to success in a time where a giant meteor just blew a massive hole in the road. Repair crew? Nowhere in sight.
So as we stand somewhere between a week and a month (depending on where you are) from the beginnings of re-opening, how do you begin communicating with your customers or clients when the budget is already thin, and the agency or production house you’ve used in the past comes with a bill equal to several people’s paychecks.
Going “on the cheap” is not what I’m championing here. Far from it. What I am suggesting is that in the worlds of production and public relations, there is a ton of great talent and experience working outside of the multi-million dollar agency world. These people can take on smaller projects and execute them just as well. Since these small operators don’t have the overhead of 10,000 square feet of office space and dozens, if not hundreds of employees, they can perform the project more affordably, but without a significant sacrifice in quality.
So what are you giving up? Certainly the large scale players have more resources, more expensive toys, and a broader range of expertise. Those are the advantages of size.
But if you know specifically what you want, you can find the little guy or gal who would be the expert at the big shop in the area where you want to dive in.
For example, if you want a short, well produced social media video that shows you’re open for business, you need someone who can shoot video, write well and edit well. You don’t need to be paying the bill for a top notch graphic designer, a lighting expert, an After Effects pro, and a satellite technician. These are all valuable people for a variety of projects, but have nothing to do with your project. Hiring the big shop means you’re paying for all of them and the building where they work, whether they spend a second on your piece or not.
The same concept applies to a variety of fields. If you need a logo designed why hire some conglomerate that also employs computer animators, messaging experts, and social media gurus when you can probably get a freelance graphic designer who is as good or better than the one working for Brand X AdCorp?
At the end of the day, you still need to communicate. People aren’t going to just start flocking to your door because you happened to unlock it the day your governor, mayor, or county executive said it was okay. You will be re-emerging into a world where money is tighter and competition for those dollars is vicious. Spending on communication may be counterintuitive, but it makes more sense than ever as we try to “turn on” an economy that was so quickly “turned off.”
So don’t be trapped by “how we’ve always done it.” Working with the “little guy” could pay big dividends as we stare into the abyss, and figure out how we’re going to get across.
George Sells is the founder and owner of George Sells Media, an agency rooted in storytelling and working in both the video production and media relations fields. Visit at www.georgesells.net