— By Katie — You don’t seem to be able to skim through too many news websites or papers these days without stumbling across a story that talks about the doom and gloom within the business environment. There’s no denying it’s been tough in the big wide world, and unfortunately some organisations haven’t proven as robust as others.
But you can’t help but wonder…if we read some more positive, even advice-led media coverage, would there generally be a greater feeling of optimism amongst businessmen and women in varied industries?
We recently read an article which relayed results from a survey of PR agencies throughout the country. Many troubling statistics were highlighted – one in three respondents feel less optimistic for their consultancy’s future and 35% have seen a significant drop in client budgets in the last quarter for example.
But although the article led with these worrying facts, the further into the paragraphs we read, the more we found glimmers of positivity. Strong new business activity has been reported, the retainer/project balance is starting to settle and agencies appear to be getting busier. The piece concluded with some short advice that urged companies to remain committed to ongoing staff development and recruitment in order to get ahead of the game. It just seems a little disappointing that the optimism was left hiding under murky reports of fears and gloom.
When you actually talk to people, it seems there are some real sparks of excitement associated with the year ahead. One of our clients is about to launch an innovative new product, another is in the advanced stages of a new business acquisition, elsewhere one is set to take on 140 new staff, a fourth client is predicting that turnover will double over the next 12 months, and one of our longest-standing clients is in the running for three prestigious awards in the Spring.
We cannot pretend that the economic climate hasn’t had some devastating effects, and now is certainly not the time to become complacent. But having recently heard the phrase ‘cautious confidence’, we feel a little more of this might just do us all some good.
