CityLife Magazine Second Quarter 2020

CityLife BUSINESS
THE POWER
OF PR
PIVOT AND PROSPER
DANAE JONES
Danae Jones is Managing Director
of PR & Marketing firm Danae Jones
Consulting Pty Ltd
: danae@danaejones.com.au
: www.danaejones.com.au
Overnight like it or not we have all had
to embrace a new world, a virtual world.
Video conferencing and excessive
online data use have become the new
norm. Digital marketing has been
anointed the ‘chosen one’ without even
trying and the echoes of experts urging
businesses across the world to embrace
the digital age for the past decade have
become very loud voices in the distance
for many business owners who failed to
act sooner.
Meeting the challenge head-on is what
the smart businesses have done. They
have acted quickly and decisively. I
remember frantically calling all of my
clients many weeks before lockdown
and isolation became a thing back in
February and forewarning them of
what lay ahead. For someone who
has worked in media and marketing
almost my entire life, I was acutely
aware of what businesses needed to
do to survive in these changing times.
They needed to boost their digital
presence with a massive shot of steroids
and FAST. They needed to reallocate
resources and products to meet market
demands that would dramatically
shift as every new announcement was
made and response scaled up. As the
announcements became more frequent
and more intense, the anxiety out in
the business community was palpable.
Living from press conference to press
conference had an entire country
on high alert 24/7. The mental toll
this entire predicament has and will
continue to have on our nation is a
whole other topic for a different day, but
there is no denying we will have some
major ongoing social problems to deal
with in the aftermath.
By March my calls to my clients became
daily and sometimes multiple times
a day as we navigated the unfolding
new economy together. I made it my
business to read the fine print of every
Government announcement and
subsidy/grant/loan available to them.
Why? Because I cared. I cared enough
to make sure they had the easiest to
digest information at a moments notice
to be able to make the best decisions
to pivot in time and ultimately survive.
Many of my clients started to pivot
on a grand scale back in
February. The team at
Danae Jones Consulting
worked around the clock
to rebuild online brand
assets, enhance social media
and digital and broadcast
media messages. What this
enabled these businesses to
do, was respond quickly and
ensure their core marketing
messages were on time, on point
and ready to roll at a moments notice.
Needless to say their existing and very
well thought out marketing and public
relations plans were thrown out the
window and in many cases we were
forced to start from scratch.
I am very proud to say that every single
one of my clients listened, trusted my
instincts and worked with me and are
still living to fight another day. In fact
some of my clients sales have climbed
substantially during this COVID-19
time which is very rewarding to see.
You’re probably wondering why I’m
sharing all of this with you? … because
knowledge is power, and sharing what
we are doing for businesses that still
have solid cashflow through this crisis
is information that needs to be shared
as you too can pivot and prosper just
like these businesses have. The pivoting
is not over by any stretch, we continue
to monitor sales weekly for them and
they and their accountants continue to
monitor cashflow and we alter methods
to suit wherever needed.
It’s all about acting fast, getting the
right advice, trusting the people you
are working with to give you the right
advice and surrounding yourself with
a team of people that have your best
interests at heart, and not just their
own. The trusted people I’m referring
to are your marketing, public relations
and government relations people, your
accountant, your business adviser, your
lawyer and your HR specialist. It is
important to be able to have those open
and honest conversations to truly deliver
results in your business.
We have some extraordinary business
professionals in this region that are
doing some great work out there, it’s
just a matter of finding the best people
to fit your needs and sticking with them
like you would family – in good times
and in bad.
For those of you in business reading this
thinking you’ve left your run too late
to step up to the challenge, I can hand
on heart tell you that you have not. My
new catch cry in the COVID-19 era
is PIVOT and PROSPER. It’s time
to look at your business, what it is you
sell and see how best you can position
yourself to meet the market conditions
at a time like this. Now that takes a
certain level of thinking outside the
box and the need to step back from the
overwhelm and stress of the situation
and ask yourself honestly what will and
will not work over the coming 6 months
in this current climate.
Even if restrictions start lifting, it will
not go back to business as usual this side
CityLife 42
Magazine