It’s A Small World, After All (that’s getting bigger every day)

“It’s a small world after all.”
– Walt Disney

Happened across this brief on the state of small public relations firmsearlier today while perusing PRSA’s most excellent “Issues & Trends” daily e-newsletter. First off, we were delighted to see our good friend, colleague and Chair of the Counselor’s Academy of PRSA Ann Subervi and her firm, Utopia Communications, quoted in the story. Ann’s one of the best professionals on the scene today and is a tireless promoter of ethics in public relations practice and business. Way to go, Ann!

Closer to home, though, we’re sad to see that so many firms continue to struggle in this ridiculously tough economy in this ridiculously long recession that just friggin’ refuses to end (no matter what the economists say about the recession “ending” last year …). Too many good people and too many good firms are having to shut the doors on promising practices as clients continue – understandably, mind you – to curtail, postpone and cancel initiatives. The sheer number of inquiries, applications and requests for referrals we receive is a clear indicator that, while our industry is projected to grow in the years ahead, there is still a lot of pain being spread around right now in virtually every corner of the business.

The fact that large firms are cutting rates to compete for the smaller pieces of pie on the table is not surprising (nor will it be surprising when they raise ‘em right back up where they were next year). They have to generate income, as well, to be sure. What is surprising, though, is how and why clients believe they are getting some kind of a bargain in this deal. The days of the mighty mega-firm ruling the sea are drawing to a close as business comes to understand that the agility, flexibility, specialization and personal attention from seasoned consultants in smaller firms will help them fare much better than from the traditional “Welcome to the Big Top!” approach. Innovative thinking and truly personalized client attention are rarely nurtured in the layers upon layers of AEs, SAEs, VPs, SVPs, EVPs and the rest of the alphabet soup that comprises large firms. Open innovation is the watchword of the world today, and as futurist Alvin Toffler recently said, the organizations that serve as connectors will be the ones who succeed in the years ahead.

Further – and this is where it gets interesting for firms like Forge Communications – more and more of the best, brightest and most experienced consultants are finding the world of the smaller firm a very attractive work environment. Rather than just managing account teams and pushing paper (or pixels, as the case may be) up the administrative mountain, they find that working with a small group of senior professionals affords them the opportunity to get back to doing what got them into the business in the first place: working one-on-one with clients to solve real problems. In the last one week alone, we have been approached by no less than three senior vice presidents who want to talk with us about our experienced this past year in transitioning to this business model.

As we approach the firm’s first anniversary, we are thankful for the support we’ve gotten from friends, colleagues, family and, most especially, our clients with whom we wouldn’t be here. We feel blessed to have had a strong first year and are confident that 2011 will be a year of continued growth and success for the Forge team. More to the point, though, it will be a year of dedicated service to our clients because that’s where our business begins and ends.

So let’s here for the entrepreneurs out there for they are the ones who by virtue of their agility and ability to innovate on a dime will help move the profession successfully forward through this seismic wave of change.