In a financial climate where every penny of marketing spend counts, I am always surprised at how many small businesses fail to utilise one of their cheapest forms of advertising – editorial coverage or PR, especially in local media.

Now I am not a PR expert and have always deferred to specialist PR agencies and consultants when working on national brands and large businesses. They have the contacts and knowledge about what is newsworthy and what the editors are looking for.

But getting your business in your local paper, local business pages, e-publication or trade magazine is something that is worth spending some time and effort on and doesn’t necessarily need PR specialists. And, if done correctly, this is effort that can pay off exponentially as you build relationships with editors, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Let's start at the beginning and debunk a few myths ...

Recession, credit crunch, economic downturn - call it what you will there are few small businesses that have not been affected in some way or another.

In tight times the need to cut costs can often result in reduced marketing spend, especially in light of cash flow concerns but when times are tough it is even more important to keep promoting your business.

Now you may be thinking ‘well of course she would say that, marketing is what she sells’ but if you consider what is actually happening in a recession, you see why it is so important to keep up the momentum of your promotions.

1. 1)  Your customers (people or businesses) have less money to spend
2. 2)  They are looking to make more careful purchasing decisions
3. 3)  You will need to demonstrate how your product or service provides real value and is a better choice than your competitors.
4. 4)  You need to stay ‘front of mind’ so that when customers are looking to purchase, they come to your business.

Sounds like a job for marketing.

So if we accept that marketing is something all businesses need to do to survive, then what can be done when cash is in short supply?

I came across a great phrase which I am going to share - ‘pimping your content’. This is a phrase coined by John Watson, CMO of ShipServ and 2010 B2B Marketer of the Year. He talks about the intelligent re-using of content.

Create some content that supports your proposition. That demonstrates and substantiates what you want to be known for, what you are experts in and what the benefits your clients are left with. Once created, make sure this is intelligently recycled across all media and contact points of your campaigns.

So if you have written a blog or white paper, make sure you post it on social media sites. Email it to your client and prospect base. Add onto your website. You may even be able to get media coverage.

Most businesses do a number of things – multiple products, services and markets. So you want to make sure you are talking about as much of this as possible in your marketing communications so as many people as possible know as much about you as possible ... right?

Well there is a problem with this. In terms of advertising we are taught to have a ‘single minded proposition’ to be specific about what the campaign should achieve and the specific message it is communicating.

This ‘clash’ of principles is one of the most common I come across, especially for SME businesses. They want their marketing budget to stretch as far as possible so they try and make every activity have as broad appeal as possible. The result, all too often is bland, confusion and lacking impact.

Blog is word we have all heard but many people don’t really know what it actually involves. When creating a website for a client I will often recommend a blog but are often faced with either a blank or disdainful face. Often I will be asked ‘What actually is a blog’ and it is then that you realise that this word BLOG can actually be quite alien and off putting even though the concept has been around for many years.

But if we forgot the word blog and used a different more comfortable word such as ‘opinion’ or ‘diary’ maybe a blog wouldn’t seem so scary. Anyway if you still need convincing here are some thoughts on why your business should be blogging –

Most businesses, whatever their size are realising just how important a company blog is. It provides a hub for your other social media activity, allows you to establish yourself as an expert and provide some added value resources to your customers and prospects.

Yet a common complaint I get is that it isn’t suitable for them. We’re too small. We’re only a small business. We’re too specialist. People think they have nothing to write about or that no one will be interested in what they have to say. Some of this is good old British modesty. But if we were honest with ourselves, we shouldn’t be in business if we don’t have some insights, opinions or knowledge about the sector or industry we work in.

So to give everyone who finds themselves with one of the above excuses tripping off their lips, here are 10 ideas to get you started ... no more excuses.

How Vodafone's social media campaign turned into a media disaster.

The big brands have long recognised social media as a fantastic way of building quick and personal relationships with their customers. Relationships that traditional media just cannot make.

For Vodafone this Christmas, one such PR stunt went horribly wrong!

In a clever pre-Christmas social media campaign to make Vodafone seem like a fun, generous and warm company – it was giving away free handsets to lucky Twitter users who used the hash tag #mademesmile to tell the company what things gave them a warm, fuzzy feeling . Launched on 11^th December the company invited people to “use Twitter to share something that made you smile today”.

Sounds great. What could possibly go wrong?

I know we haven’t had Christmas yet, but as I was thinking about what New Year Marketing Resolutions I can think of and my first one, “Start Planning Early” prompted me to not wait until January to send this out but strike whilst the iron is hot!

Resolution #1 – Start Planning Early

It is a fact of life (and marketing) that things always take longer than you think. Yes, in this world of email, digital print and social media it is possible to turn some marketing communications very quickly, but there are still things that deserve, and need, to be taken a bit more time over.

There can be no doubt that the recent and sudden freeze has caused massive disruption to the lives and work of people across the UK, and especially in Scotland, the North and East of England. I am reminded of my ill fated comment of a couple of weeks ago that ‘we don’t get snow on the coast in Lincolnshire, last year was just a fluke’ when the next day about 15 inches fell and we have been snowed in for about a week!

So what about the impact on businesses, more specifically on marketing your business?

No this is not a reflection of my new meat cravings since I have fallen of the vegetarian wagon, but an acknowledgement of what I think is one of the most dramatic and successful design rebrands in recent times.

Love or hate McDonalds, I can honestly say that if you had asked me if I thought they could reinvent themselves away from the garish red and yellow plastic, hoody-hell that is my experience of McD’s, I would have said ‘no way’.

In fact, having worked with some big brands in my time I know how entrenched branding that has survived since it was created in the 1970’s can be and how big a mountain changing one of the core colours (red) and replacing with a dark green would be to overcome. But (in Europe at least), this is what has happened.

How sensibilities have changed in advertising.

A lesson in how important it is to understand consumer attitudes, values and peer environment.

Like everything, advertising has its fashions and some examples of old ads from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s I came across this week got me thinking about just how much has changed in terms of not only design trends but more importantly the attitudes of customers.

However fondly we remember the 50’s. 60’s or 70’s there is no denying that things we find unacceptable today such as racism, sexism and homophobia were endemic and was reflected and magnified by the advertising of the day.

When you start up a business what are your priorities?

Premises. Staff. Stock. Suppliers.

Where does you business identity come in this ever expanding list? For many start ups, in my experience, pretty far down the list would be the honest answer.

The catalyst usually comes when there is a need for business cards, stationery, advertisement or signage. “ Can you send us your logo?” is a phrase that sets you panicking. “I haven’t got one” you reply sheepishly only to be assured that it isn’t a problem and that free design is all part of the cost.

Now at this stage you may well breathe a sigh of relief, but this may not be the answer you were looking for.

You’ve got yourself a website. You’ve had a dabble on Facebook and an ex colleagues keeps asking you to join their LinkedIn network and every celebrity seems obsessed with tweeting. As a business owner social media, as it is collectively known, may be on your radar but for many what to do with it is still a mystery.

On the positive side it is cheap. Compared to traditional media such as press, radio, and direct mail it is as cheap as chips. In fact it’s free so that should bring it to the top of the marketing agenda. But on the other hand, it seems to be full of people with too much spare time on their hands and not enough going on in their lives. Does the world really need to know that it is ‘three more sleeps till the weekend’ or that they are just about to eat a bacon sarnie?

The problem with Social Media is that it has grown exceptionally fast, yet unlike traditional media which had a clear purpose – to promote brands or get a response and sell stuff, the role of social media is fuzzy and mixed in with non commercial uses. In fact its very label, social media, seems to devalue it for businesses.

Working with small and medium sized business who are facing challenging times and increased competition I often hear the view that they need to be price competitive. This usually means price cutting, discounting and squeezing margins. As one of the cornerstone’s of marketing, pricing can be one of your most powerful marketing tools and it is possible to appear both competitive and still protect your margin.