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Brent Whyte is a B2B communications specialist who has traded through all of the economic downturns of the last generation and come up smiling. The current economic dislocation is as much a challenge as any before it, he says, but also will not last forever – and will present opportunities for companies prepared to adapt to accelerated change in the emerging post-Covid world.  As a publicist for the last 50 years, I read with a pinch of scepticism the multiple warnings the Australian economy risks “falling off a cliff” much higher than the 1991 recession if State and Federal Governments halt spending on Covid relief packages.  For a start, they  haven’t stopped judicious spending – and won’t. Future tax revenues depend on the investment!. And everyone’s future  The manufacturing, mining, hospitality and other welcome measures announced in both State and Federal budgets demonstrate that the wise counsel from multiple parties across party lines is being heard inside the Federal and State capitals (despite the usual political claptrap in public outside).   The voices are being heard of big business, big unions, medical groups and social groups  and everyone else with a legitimately vested interest in restoring our national economic and social recovery after the huge hit we have  taken.   But it is worth standing back and sorting the likely reality from the strident calls from these legitimately vested interests benefitting from wage supports and other incentives.   Because it is a fact of public life that if you introduce measures that give support to particular sectors, you create an instant pressure group that will howl with discontent when there is a threat of them reducing.  So my point – as a former journalist and political press secretary – is that you have to listen carefully and form your own balanced judgement about what the likely future reality will be.  Ignore the fog of pressure groups.  There is no doubt this Covid situation is serious and will be enduring. It is more serious than the five or six major economic disruptions I have worked through over the last five decades, starting with the oil price shock in 1974. Remember that? By March 1974, the price of oil had risen nearly 300%, from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12 globally.   Those were the days when some of the fossil-fuel dependants in Australia and New Zealand – myself included – could only use their cars on alternate days according to odd and even number plates. NZ suffered losses of 100,000 skilled workers, mostly to Australia, from a labour pool of about a million. I was working with the NZ Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Group at the time (remember Piggy Muldoon?) and putting out messages to interest groups (employers, unions et al) about how the economic pie had shrunk and we would all be getting less.  I moved to Australia (having been convinced by my own messages), to be greeted a decade later by the 1987 stock market crash when the Dow Jones fell overnight by 22.6 per cent (508 points). The Australian share market lost around 25% in one day and 41.8% of its value by the end of October. But both markets came back strongly.   Falls of similar magnitude seem minor when the Dow rides at 34,000 at the time of writing. Falls of several hundred points now (and gains) are now just a bad or good night, not a tectonic shift as it as was headlined then.   That doesn’t mean they won’t happen again, with flow-on effects for business, but history suggests it would recover again even if this did happen (and probably sooner than expected, given that human beings by and large are optimistic creatures, who prefer to build for success than plan for failure).  Move forward another decade to the 1990s with Australia in the “Recession we had to have” (Paul Keating, 1990), then tech stock bubble, then the Global Financial Crisis from 2002. We picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and put in a world-class performance economically.  Then along comes Covid.   What’s different this time is the magnitude of the problem. It is a huge problem. Not size of the Spanish flu of last century, which is estimated from 1918 onwards to have infected 500 million people, or one-third of the world’s population at that time,  and killed 50 million, including about 15,000 Australians .But the 910 Covid deaths in Australia at mid-year  – and the 30,000 infections – are still a cause for urgent action, particularly given how rapidly this virus spreads (and we will have other virus’ in years ahead – history is very definite about that, so best be prepared)   Nevertheless today’s big problem is also engendering a huge response. And one that does engender some optimism among the alarmist gloom of some daily commentators.   Take the comments of independent forecasters (the Lowy Institute, for example), which gave us some perspective when it pointed out that, after infections of more than 30,000 Australians, and the deaths of more than 900, the coronavirus is fading sooner and with less economic damage than expected.   “Though formidable, the fiscal challenge is well within Australia’s means, especially if the Reserve Bank remains willing to acquire and hold Australian Government debt. It may need to anyway to suppress an unwelcome appreciation of the Australian dollar in a world where major central banks are committed to low long-term interest rates,” according to the Institute. It made the optimistic call months before others, adding:  “Australia’s increasing integration into the East Asia economic community offsets the draft from the major advanced economies, but the US- China quarrel and the dislocation of global trading and investment relationships it threatens heightens the tensions between Australia economic and security choices.”  So, not all bad, not all good.   And, as most of us reading this have now survived the initial challenge, it might also be time to look ahead and position ourselves for ongoing change. Because change, along with taxes and death, is one of the few absolute certainties of life.   Amidst change, we can either adapt and plan to succeed, or not adapt and let failure take its course.   It is a clear choice, a strategic vision. Even if the path to success is complicated, businesses have to start with a vison of where they want to be, to see challenges and change as a time of opportunity, of positive thinking.  Because business opportunities haven’t died from the coronavirus. They are still out there.   Some have diminished, some have been put on hold – and huge new sectors are quietly opening up in the background (hydrogen and solar power, for example, as well as communications, sustainable resource development, energy-efficient building, improved logistics to manage and protect supply chains, industry 4.0 automation to respond

Many industrial companies and their suppliers are becoming aware of the power and cost-efficiency of positive editorial publicity generated by PR. But there are traps for new players, reports industry PR authority Brent Whyte, whose company Whyte Public Relations (www.whytepr.com.au) has had material published locally and globally and whose efforts have won industry prizes for technologies and applications. Are you paying for PR yet doing most of the work yourself? In our local and global experience over many years, it is surprising how often this happens. Particularly in technical, industry and business-to-business PR.  Often the cause can be traced back to the selection process, when a PR company that looked really good on paper, and presented brilliantly, just didn’t have the skills required to do the hard yards in the industry involved.  They might have been brilliant at publicising computers, or wonderful at promoting soap and champagne, but good looks and a big name just don’t cut it if you’re talking technical topics to an educated and sceptical audience (typically involving engineers, specifiers, project managers and key production personnel who have little time or tolerance for froth and bubble fact-free dross, often with spelling mistakes.)  Sometimes it takes many months to finally decide you’ve been sold a pup – and by that time you’re often severely out of pocket (the biggest charlatans often charge the most) and understandably disillusioned by having to constantly correct and rewrite material you have paid someone else to do.  Here are some ways to protect yourself: Look for the positives  A good PR company for your type of business should:  Be highly experienced in your particular area of business. It is no use hiring a PR company that is highly specialised in fashion and consumer goods when you want to tell industrial media about your automation and process control technologies, your manufacturing and bulk handling skills, mining and resources and construction andinfrastructure services, oil and gas technology or water, wastewater, safety and environmental treatment process. This first rule sounds obvious, but many PR campaigns fall at this first hurdle because clients are blinded by flashy pitches.  Have the right contacts in the right media, and also have contacts in new areas that you may not have considered yet. You want to be able to reach target audiences as quickly as possible, and then extend your reach into new areas that will generate more business in the longer term. Ask your prospective PR experts who the key influencers are in media. Sometimes also it is a good idea to ring Publishers and Editors in key media who will cut through the dross and tell you which PR companies are worth having. Have a proven record of success with complementary businesses in similar industries. If the PR company claims to be able to get results for you, check to see if they’ve got the results for other clients. Have a look at their media releases, electronic newsletters, direct electronic emailers and social media work. Ring existing clients (whom they should be proud to nominate). Ask them to send you examples of articles they have had success with recently.  Deliver the same experienced team you will be working with – not sell you on the concept, then send in the junior. Some (usually larger and more expensive) PR agencies send in a specialised ‘pitch team’ to sell you their services, but then you find that the team you are working with comprises entirely different people. It’s wonderful to have young and enthusiastic people working on your account, but they need a solid leavening of experienced guidance to ensure they are saving you time, not costing you money and effort while you pay to educate them.  Write the material for you and save your time. You don’t want to be paying a PR consultant and then writing the majority of material yourself. The PR company should work with you to develop ideas and strategic goals, then go away and write material based on these ideas. They are there to save your time. Otherwise it’s a bit like buying a dog and barking yourself.  Deliver what they promise. Sometimes competitive pitches are won by the people who tell the biggest fibs. No company should entice you with unrealistic goals at the start of a campaign and then fail to deliver. All PR companies should give you regular updates on results (such as stories that have appeared in magazines or online sources) and be a constant source of ideas to lift your company’s visibility   Leverage your advertising. The magazines you are investing money in have an interest in wanting you to succeed. They also welcome editorial copy for consideration, provided it is up to scratch technically and in terms of content (including genuine product news, industry authority articles, problem-solver technology articles, customer testimonials, the list goes on). A good PR company and a far-sighted publication will help you to achieve not only a good ad campaign, but also strong, credible editorial copy that can double or treble the return on your advertising investment. It’s an all-round winner.  Have long-lasting relationships with its clients. Hiring a PR firm is an investment that should only improve with time, as they get to know your company better and the PR activities start to build their audience. If the company has good client retention, they are usually doing the right thing. A reputable company would rather make a little less money initially but benefit over the over the longer term, rather than go for the big bang fee then move on to the next victim.  Offer a broad range of services within the field of Public Relations and complementary advertising. A lot of activities fall under the aegis of Public Relations. Make sure your PR company is well versed in the essentials, like press releases and complementary advertising, as well as other essentials such as social media, websites, newsletters and search engine optimisation. Make sure too they have good graphic presentational capabilities, especially where their material is reflecting the corporate style in which local companies and multinationals have invested much money and which they jealously guard. Offer the right services at the right price, and be a good fit for your business. It is amazing how many companies charge double, treble and quadruple for a set of services that a leaner, meaner and smarter operation can deliver more quickly and efficiently to your target market. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that price is always a guide to quality.  Some recent PR success stories:  Below are just a few examples of the sort of coverage and visibility that can be achieved with a good PR campaign. Above, and right: our client Hydraulink sponsored Emirates Team New Zealand at the Americas Cup, and to