Last week, I talked about continuing to tighten the purse strings in this sluggish economy. Some more ideas to get a bigger bang for your buck:

. Newsletters-- Newsletters are a nice way to stay in touch with customers, prospects, employees and others. Newsletters with graphics are easily produced in Microsoft Word. They can be e-mailed, posted on the company intranet, or printed out and delivered in hard copy. A professional looking, external newsletter can be produced in-house and converted into an Adobe PDF document. This enables the company to e-mail the newsletter in its original format. The newsletter can also be posted on the company website, or printed out on high gloss paper for those customers without e-mail.

. Seminars-- Seminars do not have to be a big ticket activity. If a nice space is available in-house, hold your seminar there. A daytime seminar will enable you to get by with soft drinks and a few nice snacks, rather than expensive liquor and catered hors d’oeuvres. Send out invitations via e-mail, and eliminate the printing and mailing costs associated with a brochure. You might also book speakers at seminars sponsored by other companies, or offer speakers for in-house seminars. Then you are no longer responsible for the expenses typically associated with promoting and staging a seminar.

. Direct mail-- You don’t need to hire an advertising firm to create a direct mail campaign. Color printers and copiers allow brochures, flyers and postcards to be produced in-house. Some can also be converted to an Adobe PDF format and e-mailed, saving on mailing costs.

All of these tactics assume that a competent and creative public relations person is available in-house to perform the tasks outlined above. However, many of these activities are time-consuming. It may be necessary to balance prioritized activities against available human resources.

When an in-house public relations professional is pressed for time, consider hiring a public relations consultant or designer to complete more time-intensive tasks.