"Google is not a search engine. Google is a reputation-management system. And that's one of the most powerful reasons so many CEOs have become more transparent: Online, your rep is quantifiable, findable, and totally unavoidable. In other words, radical transparency is a double-edged sword, but once you know the new rules, you can use it to control your image in ways you never could before.

Think about how Google works. When you type in a term, the search engine puts the site with the most links pointing toward it at the top of the list (simplistically speaking). That means bloggers and discussion boards are extremely powerful in influencing Google's search results, because bloggers and discussion-board posters are promiscuous linkers, constantly pointing to things they love or hate. Google hoovers up those links and makes recommendations based on them."

That was an excerpt from an exceptional article by Clive Thompson called "The See-Through CEO." It was published in Wired Magazine over a year and a half ago, and what he writes rings true everyday.

Online is where reputations are made now, and image is everything. You can't beat 'em so you might as well join 'em.

Penelope Trunk, a career expert, says, "Spend money on image when money is tight. Time magazine reports that Playboy—the grand arbiter of all image consulting—found that in a bear market, centerfolds of meatier women sold better. This makes sense: In a down market you naturally want to be around people who don't seem to be suffering from the financial hardship."

Expectations help to drive economic growth. How your publics believe your business will weather this economic storm has a tremendous impact on the reality of its performance. Positive publicity drives momentum and shapes perception. If you want to belong on a certain level you have to look like you know what you're doing.

Today's downward economy is not the time to cut marketing budgets because it is the best time to rise above your weaker competitors. When business is good, a strong message can be lost in the noise of all the other companies vying for consumers' attention. Today is the time to rev up your marketing budget to steal market share and see actual results.

Rallying the marketing troops can be done without breaking the bank. Volunteering your time offline (schools, government agencies, non-profits) should be streamlined with press releases, link requests, and SEO efforts. Getting creative with blogs and link bait can do wonders for promoting products and services. These efforts can be inexpensive but still bring real measurable ROI and value to the table.