This Is Not the Time to Delay PR and Marketing Programs

By Jon Greer
October 13th, 2008 @ 4:15 am

With all the financial and political news dominating the headlines, there’s a school of thought that marketers should consider delaying announcements until a better time.

My verdict: there will be no better time.

Not because I think the current crisis will not end, but because you can’t stop doing your job and keeping your business moving forward. As far as I can tell, only a small slice of the economy is directly affected by the Wall Street crisis — financial services companies and people who need ready access to credit — and so far, most businesses are not suffering or being adversely affected directly by the crisis.

So why wait? Yes, one can generalize that many people are distracted by the election and the meltdown, but it’s not like they can’t focus on anything else, especially if it’s something germane to their business or career.

Furthermore, and this may be the most important point: if things do get worse before they get better, you’re going to wish that you had kicked off that campaign or launched that new initiative now, before things got really bad. So get busy!