By Vanessa Horwell

I started writing this article four times, each time determined I would avoid opening with anything negative like "recession" or "downturn." But there, I did just that.

Every time I tried to think beyond the tirade of 24/7 bad news, I was sucked right back into the reality of the here and now. Recession and downturn, ad nauseam.

Despite some recent optimism creeping into the markets and despite the record profits posted by bailed-out banks last quarter -- that's a real surprise, is it not? -- the recession for retailers, marketers and independent businesses persists.

Do you not wish you too could close a one-time asset sale to put your business billions in the black for the quarter? So do not feel too bad for Bank of America or Goldman Sachs right now.

It has been especially grueling for those struggling to redefine themselves and what they mean to their customers. It is a new era.

Consumption has changed, how we feel about money has changed and so have our values (read: a lot less disposable income to spend on things we do not really need). What was important to us in 2008 is no longer.

A lot of corporate soul-searching, and millions of lives shattered and destroyed later and I am experiencing a level of pessimism I have never felt before.

Even in recent weeks, I have noticed a change in some clients' psyche. Sick and tired of everything being so hard and so draining, they are passing that frustration right down the chain and on to us. But that is hardly surprising.

With that long road to recovery looking daunting, no business wants to waste money right now. And so the pressure is on chief marketing officers and retailers to keep slashing budgets or execute extraordinarily effective marketing strategies in a demand-depressed environment. Magic wand anyone?

What is surprising, however, are the number of companies that do not see this period as the time to reinforce their market presence and get in front of their customers -- or even find new ones.

Businesses have reacted as best they know how: by reining in costs and retrenching.

Some have gone into hibernation altogether, chopping up their marketing and, more specifically, public relations budgets into miniscule jigsaw pieces -- hoping that when the good times roll around again, they will be able to piece them back together.

Knee-deep in the discount dustbins is not a strategic position
History has proved time and again that the bold survive. The companies that survive and grow are marketing from a position of strength, not a defensive crouch somewhere down in the dustbins.

A conservative approach, prudent as it may seem after almost a year of negative GDP, is actually counterproductive.

It is shortsighted to view this recession, or any recession, as anything less than an opportunity for future growth. It is impossible to engage with your audience if your brand has gone into hiding, waiting for the markets to rebound.

And it is very hard to make a comeback without being visible or without customers.

As marketers, isn't communicating with and keeping a strong dialogue going with our customers one of the most fundamental basics to the success of our businesses? It absolutely is for mine.

So where does public relations stack up in that evaluation?
At best, public relations is an indispensible aspect of any operating strategy and a key to both revenue development and client retention -- a company's face to the world, reassuring and beckoning at once.

At worst, it is an expendable line item, not taken seriously enough by traditionalists and scrapped when there is trouble. That, too, is counterproductive because the reality is that well-thought out and strategic PR -- and I am not talking about blasting press releases to every corner of the universe -- is vital in our new era of value, truth and transparency.

This recession, once it has run its course, will leave our society a very changed place. As we have seen, it has already brought value to the absolute forefront of the consumer-retailer interaction, where it is likely to remain until we relapse into the next era of faux-plenty.

Today and tomorrow, PR will take on an increasingly important role as both a cost-conserver and as a direct pipeline to customers. PR can reassure markets and shareholders, and can ensure a company's story is being told accurately and authentically. It can be credible, honest and real.

Dollars spent on effective and intelligent PR can increase an organization's value, and can protect and positively enhance reputations. And in these testing times, dollars not spent on PR can also be the difference between success and failure.

Put simply, now is not the time for businesses to be quiet.

Instead, it is time to unleash the inner PR beast
Forward-thinking retailers and marketers have been using this downturn to shake up the status quo, to try new strategies and explore emerging marketing and PR techniques.

These marketers are looking toward digital PR, new media and social networking for cost-effective, high-return brand awareness and retention initiatives that target consumers directly.

They are looking inward, harvesting existing databases and launching loyalty campaigns. They are identifying the unique aspects of their businesses and leveraging these for positive media coverage.

In other words, they have unleashed their inner PR beast.

Top of the heap or bottom of the pile?
What these businesses are doing is not alchemy -- it is not even revolutionary. Companies have been capitalizing on recessions to gain market share on their competitors since the Great Depression.

Today, however, businesses have many more tools at their disposal.

Kellogg could not have run a mobile marketing campaign to overtake Post in the 1930s, and Taco Bell did not have to consider the PR aspects of its social media presence as it captured share from McDonald's in the early 1990s.

So let us take a blast from the past -- the 1991 recession where PR spending actually increased nationwide -- and look at eight reasons why you cannot afford to be quiet and why you should be ramping up your PR and visibility strategy right now:

8. When you duck and cover, customers can't see you. Hello?
The classic kneejerk response to a recession is to reduce expenses any way possible. But taking yourself off your customers' radar by reducing or eliminating PR efforts puts you out of sight -- and the subsequent drop in revenues will put you out of your mind.

Cutting your visibility during a recession -- or anytime for that matter -- stops the conversation with influential media and your customers. It tells people that you are no longer in play and you are putting your business and brand at risk.

This is time when you need to create meaningful stories that change the way people feel about your company. You cannot do that if you are in hiding.

7. The agency effect is a multiplier
A good PR agency, though focused primarily on visibility, can also deliver much more -- hard-hitting copy aimed both internally and externally, business development strategies, a fresh perspective on your products and audiences.

Likewise, a solid PR strategy goes deeper than just getting the word out. It can help define and develop and, in tough times, protect your brand, articulate those values and practices central to your operating strategy and most important to your customers, and position you properly for future success.

Traditionalists, scarred or scared by grandma's press-release-driven PR, will not see the hidden value of a PR partnership, and will pass on this tremendous growth opportunity in favor of trimming a budget line item. Now that is old-school.

6. PR helps you hit the bull's-eye
You will not catch me saying this often, but sometimes stories get out there without the help of a concerted PR effort -- you know when this happens, and it is not usually the story you want The Wall Street Journal to pick up.

But these stories are uncontrolled and can take on a life of their own. PR helps you ensure accuracy and make sure your message hits its intended target.

Targeted messages, as we all know, are consistently the most effective, but they must be crafted and pitched in precise ways. Good PR pros specialize in finding the right avenues, including online and mobile, which offer the best chance for establishing a dialogue with the right audience.

5. Real bang for your buck
PR, though not without expense, is one of the most cost-efficient tools available for creating brand awareness and ultimately increased sales. In the current environment, that is no small consideration.

When PR initiatives incorporate cost-effective methodologies, including new media placements and unconventional tactics, the efficiency is redoubled.

With the media hungry for every new success story -- that does not involve Goldman Sachs -- strong PR can gain an extra dimension of effectiveness.

4. Metrics that matter
Measuring the efficacy of marketing and advertising is ultimately rather simple: did we sell more due to our efforts, or not? PR success is not so easily pigeonholed, but that does not mean it has less value.

Though we recognize that everything is about the bottom line, PR has different aims, and therefore a different set of metrics. But what are they?

Is it how many times the same press release was picked up and redistributed when we Google ourselves? Is it eyeballs, is it reach? Is it more valuable when a blogger writes about our companies, or when we're in the Wall Street Journal or CNN? Or is it how people react and change the way they feel about your product or service?

What counts most in terms of PR efforts are the perceptions and reputations created and built. These, though perhaps not as quantifiable as marginal cost or direct sales, are priceless and immensely powerful.

3. It is not what you know or who you know, it is how well you know who you know. Know what I mean?
The current economic environment has put a high premium on trust and reputation, which for retailers and other businesses translates to strength of brand. This is partly what good PR is all about -- letting customers know you through objective sources.

In contrast to marketing or advertising, which endeavor to push a product or service on an intended audience, PR builds awareness and invites audiences to come to your brand.

While the former might seem more important during a recession -- push that one widget to make one more sale -- the latter is a foundation for future success (create awareness of the widget and the widget makers, and the scores of people who love the widget).

2. The power of position
The real counterpoint and compliment to consumer-based brand awareness and reputation is your company's stature in the business community.

Not to keep trumpeting the boys over at Goldman Sachs, but they did not get to be the darlings of every business section in the nation by quietly shepherding taxpayer money more effectively than everyone else. OK, maybe they did, but not by being quiet about it. Have you ever spoken with a Goldman partner around bonus time?

In a recession, how well you stack up in relation to your competitors reaches your customers' ears and eyes at least as well as more overt marketing messages. PR helps you emphasize or spin your strengths or shortcomings, which is critical in this challenging time.

1. Carpe crisis
To paraphrase the president's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Now is the time, as your competitors are hunkered down, to seize market share and spread your good word.

And do not give up. Over the past 50 years, U.S. recessions lasted an average of 11 months, whereas economic growth endured, on average, six years.

Interrupting your visibility and PR efforts right now is not only a missed opportunity, it is counterproductive, it sends the wrong signal. And it has long-term consequences, such as a drop in income of at least 20 percent to 30 percent.

Consistent messaging and outreach in times like these will win the race. You will lose far more by dropping out while your competitors are gaining ground while you are not around.

Perhaps I am a little biased, but I see PR as having the power to make or break companies, unlike many ad campaigns vying for the same time and space.

Remember United Airlines' broken guitar debacle on YouTube a few weeks ago? Think about your reaction to that, and how many millions of others did just like you. PR can have that effect, for better or for worse if not managed well.

PR, after all, is about shaping and shifting perception. It is about educating audiences and it is about building awareness. It is about creating the right kind of meaningful visibility when and where it counts.

It takes courage and a view of the big picture to continue to spend on PR during tough times. There may be less to go around, but people are still spending.

Opportunity is knocking for those marketers and businesses willing to see these costs as an investment, not an expense, and to invest in themselves and their brand. The odds and statistics are on their side, for a change.

Vanessa Horwell is chief visibility officer of ThinkInk, a marketing communications firm in Miami, FL. Reach her at .