When an advertising executive prescribes public relations as an inoculation against recessionary forces, you know that times are changing. In a recent Business Week article, Steve McKee, a Cleveland advertising agency CEO, recommends PR as a key to retaining and attracting customers! 

When firms are bleeding red ink and coping with declining market share, the gut reaction is to concentrate on managing costs to staunch the flow. The more proactive companies, however, see a recession as a way to improve their business and market share - an opportunity to rethink and reposition their company and marketing messages. 

Instead of going into hibernation, these companies are looking to add new customers, give their existing customers reasons to stick, and to stand out from the crowd. PR is a strategy ideally suited to accomplishing these goals. 

The convergence of entertainment, journalism, and marketing has created a vortex into which key marketing messages can be placed. Telling one's story in the proper way to the right people can take a company's message to more people quicker than ever before. 

The "right people" used to mean journalists and editors. Media relations remain a crucial element of any PR strategy, but the emergence of consumer-generated media brings more opportunities. Bloggers, social networks, Twitter, etc. are all possible outlets for a compelling message. The viral aspect of these media outlets can take a message to millions overnight - at virtually zero cost. 

While these alternatives are viable channels for a marketing message, the old rules of PR still apply: have a real story to tell that the audience would like to hear, tell the story to the people most likely to want to hear and repeat it, and establish relationships with thought leaders in your particular industry. 

The effect of a successful campaign can do more than simply buttress the bottom line - it can provide a needed morale boost to the employees and stakeholders, a ray of hope that pierces the cloudy skies of a recession.