A RECESSION-busting team hit Basingstoke’s streets and visited more than 60 local businesses with a special Easter message.

Over two days during the lead-up to Easter, staff from My Marketing Manager, based at Bessemer Park, in Cranborne Lane, practised what it preaches by actively encouraging local businesses to keep communicating and marketing to their customers, business partners and employees during the economic downturn.

The business was set up in 2005 by directors Claire Savage and Rebecca Williams, who between them have more than 30 years’ experience of working in marketing for blue chip companies.

Having seen off previous recessions, the pair certainly know how to grab the attention of businesses during difficult times.

Claire, who has worked for the likes of Alstom and ITT, said: “As well as delivering constructive business messages, we were delighted to have brought a smile to many of the businesses that we visited by giving out over 300 Easter eggs, 120 daffodils and gerbera flowers.

“And we’ve pledged that if we are able to establish new business relations with local companies, we’ll make a donation to Marie Curie Cancer Care.”

Claire said the initiative was all part of the company’s ‘stop talking about it and start doing it’ campaign, which she says is committed to bringing value, bespoke and strategically lead marketing, communications and PR to companies who are looking for either project based, on-going support or ad hoc requirements.

Rebecca, who for ten years was a British Airways press officer, said she was delighted with how the two- day campaign went.

She said: “It was a really good team effort. We weren’t sure what the response would be but it was actually very positive.

“People were really quite impressed that a relatively small company had an awful lot of energy to pull together, taking the initiative to go and talk face-to-face with other companies.

“Very often a good old fashioned face-to-face chinwag with your customer may actually be far more valuable than putting tens of thousands of pounds into an advertising campaign.

“In the last recession, the companies that used intelligent communications and marketing rode the recession storm.

“They were able to respond to their customers’ needs and requirements because they had their finger on the communication pulse.”

Rebecca added: “It was great to get out into the business community and understand first hand the issues and challenges that many businesses face.

“We hope that we were able to offer practical options that may help the local business to see an alternative path through the recession chal- lenges that we all face.”

Upbeat about the state of business in Basingstoke, Rebecca said: “I was really impressed to find that there are some really dedicated profes-sional companies out there, which are trying to do their very best to keep their head above water and trying to do the right thing for their business – I think that is a very big tick in the box for Basing- stoke.”