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Guest post by: Thomas J. Madden Become an Author

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How tweet it is. While the economy looks like it's going to perk up, only to stumble again and again, the PR business keeps right on rumbling along, especially bi-lingual firms that have embraced social media.

"PR firms tend to do be recession proof as they typically get a bigger slice of the marketing pie when ad budgets are slashed during economic downturns," said Adrienne Mazzone, vice president of Madzone Marketing, a South Florida firm that combines the double punch of marketing and PR.

Lately Madzone has arranged for clients' products to appear on Ellen DeGeneres, The Today Show and Regis and Kelly, along with articles in LA Times, Fitness and Allure magazines, plus exposure in scores of high-ranked blogs and radio interviews, all delivering an impressive ROI for a relatively modest retainer fee.

Today the blogosphere has spun off thousands of new media outlets hitting hard to reach niche areas, motivating consumers and special interest groups. Many PR firms are routinely adding Facebook pages and Twitter to their publicity arsenals, tweeting away their clients' success stories, along with geo-targeted email campaigns.

Ad agencies that own PR firms or a have strong PR division are better off during a downturn because when the ad side reduces, the PR side gains, keeping the firm healthy, fit and balanced as it sails through a slowdown profitably, she said. Mazzone cited her firm's recent upsurge in business as proof that companies are turning more to PR while sales revenues dip, credit is tight and fear levels rise. Many firms also are reporting an influx of new clients who've ordered a variety of ambitious "publicity stimulus packages" of their own designed to boost sales that have been too long flat in a dull economy.

Another South Florida-based firm, TransMedia Group, recently signed as clients Florida's largest home builder, GL Homes, the state's largest property manager, The Continental Group, and the country's leading flood remediation expert, Stanley Steemer, the company's first venture into PR. And right away the PR firm arranged for GL Homes to make the national media rounds with an upbeat story of how it sold 900 homes in nine months, which TransMedia calls a harbinger of a turnaround in a key sector of Florida's economy.

Another successful Florida-based client, the calorie-burning beverage Celsius is expanding distribution dramatically across the country as its stock price rose from three cents to over five dollars, due mostly to a productive nationwide publicity campaign mixed with clever advertising.

"When businesses start to aggressively market again, and have an upbeat story to tell, you know they're seeing encouraging signs and want to start taking advantage of them. Publicity is perhaps the best barometer of a substantive change in commercial conditions and outlook," said TransMedia's president Glen Calder

Many PR firms also are being retained by foreign governments eager to help their most successful businesses expand into the U.S. market. One of Florida's multi-lingual PR firms was retained by the Government of Brazil to promote an expansion of Brazilian franchise companies into the U.S. The same firm sent a platoon of publicists out to Los Angeles to do publicity for America's Premier Rhythmic Gymnastics Event, LA Lights Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament of Champions, featuring Olympians from the 2004 Olympic Games and competitors from 14 countries. This lead to the firm securing Olympic Gold Medalist Dara Torres who talks on national TV about how Fitness Nutrition's Gold Medal Aminos have helped her recover from surgery enough to compete at age 45 as a swimmer in the 2012 Olympics.

It's helps to be multi-lingual and global in perspective," said Calder. "When the economy slacks off, you also want to be sure you're diversified as much as possible and that you can offer a broad range of services. When the dot.com bubble burst some years ago, those firms that had mostly high-tech clients crashed right along with their computer and Internet clients, he said.

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