The economic downturn is forcing many marketers to tighten their belts and rethink their marketing mix.

A big upside, however, is the opportunity for companies to really hunker down and focus on bringing out the core value of their product offerings, raising their service levels and improving the way in which they communicate with their customers to build preference and grow loyalty when consumer sentiment is down.

The evolution of communication
In January 2008, the Asia Pacific region had more than 300 million internet users at least 15 years of age accessing the internet from work and home computers. This represents an increase of 14 percent versus a year ago and makes Asia Pacific the largest of the five worldwide regions, according to

The internet has dramatically changed the way in which people communicate and leveled the playing field in which marketers operate today. Not only is it significantly easier for people to consume, create and share content in real time with other like-minded individuals, it is also easier for brand owners to track these conversations, reach out to influencers and measure the effectiveness of their efforts.

This is the groundswell that Forrester Analyst, Charlene Li, talks about in her

If consumers are not actively generating content, the majority are at the very least searching for the experiences and opinions of others who share the same interests on a regular basis and are being influenced well beyond the marketing messages that are put out on corporate websites.

It is therefore imperative that brand owners have their ear to the ground across all channels where this communication is taking place.

2008 was also a year in which we increasingly saw the intersection of traditional and new media in public relations, where more journalists were regularly looking at blogs and forums for story ideas and commentaries.

As even more people turn to the internet as a credible source of information in 2009 and beyond, the brands that will emerge stronger are those that effectively blend solid PR basics with more direct and open communication across all platforms -- a concept the 360-degee digital influence team at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide in Singapore have dubbed "The Open Room".

How "Open Room" communication works
As its name suggests, "Open Room" communication goes beyond the traditional press conference or media interview to create opportunities for closer face-to-face interaction and conversation between brands and a wider sphere of influential advocates.

This is achieved via a phased program that begins with the setting up of active online listening posts to discover and map relevant conversations about a brand or product and come up with key insights.

We then identify influential voices within those conversations before creating strategic opportunities focused around compelling experiences and participation to engage directly with those people to help tell the story.

The most successful brands will be those that engage openly in the dialog and invite deeper participation. Communication, after all, is a two-way conversation that is most lively when both sides are actively contributing.
 
Here are three simple ways to kick-start "Open Room-style" communication in the new year:

Listen more, listen everywhere
Here is a common client scenario: Your media monitoring systems are all in place and you track press coverage like a bloodhound. But do you know what is being said about your company, its people and products in thousands of casual conversations that are taking place in the wider online sphere?

If you have never searched for your own brand in Google, Twitter or Facebook, you should. Then do the same for a competitor and compare the results. Chances are you will find out something that you never knew -- both good and bad. It takes less than a minute to set up a free daily Google Alert on your own, and it pays dividends in providing useful insights.

One of our clients, Dell, does a great job of listening via its

Start the year by setting up an online listening post as mentioned above. It is an excellent way of discovering what people are really saying about you and identifying individuals or groups who are fans or detractors. It helps to keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

Refresh your newsroom
Static, one-way newsrooms deserve a makeover in 2009, so look beyond text-only documents and paper press kits.

Creating and embedding short video snippets of your spokesperson(s) into your announcement, along with links to images hosted online are simple embellishments that serve to make your news more compelling for journalists and ripe for sharing on the web.

Get a social life
The digital groundswell is a natural result of the evolution of technology. Social media is not a magic bullet in a lackluster communications plan but rather one of the many new communication channels that must be considered when listening and speaking to your target audience.

The myriad digital media platforms and tools can no doubt be overwhelming but rather than fear these new technologies, we should resolve to familiarize ourselves with what"s out there in order to better understand how it all works. Remember, we regard email as nothing scarier than a handwritten letter or fax message was 10 years ago.

One essential to-do item for 2009 is to get your team started with a Digital 101 workshop to introduce some of the more popular online technologies beyond email and instant messaging.

You might be surprised at how simple practices such as reading social media thought leadership blogs, learning to use an RSS reader, understanding how Google search works and collaborating on wikis can help make your team work much smarter and faster?and even spawn fresh ideas about other "Open Room" ways to communicate.