Joan Chow: Reflecting tough economic times and recent expansion of social media tools and conversations, people increasingly look to their friends and other trusted resources when making purchasing decisions. PR efforts can help shape product opinions and encourage consideration through credible endorsement messages. For example, PR was a key component of ConAgra's "value" story, highlighting affordable, high-quality products through the use of a credible and trusted spokesperson (Supermarket Guru Phil Lempert). When the recession was at its peak, we generated more than twice as many impressions related to our value story as our closest competitor — and three times more impressions than our original goal.

We also have leveraged the power of social media, engaging influential bloggers as part of our brand marketing efforts to encourage a two-way dialogue with consumers. PR can show the value of these efforts by measuring share of voice, showing changes in product perceptions and attitudes, and plotting correlations to sales or market share.

With many publications reducing their staffs, PR professionals have the opportunity to play a significant role in shaping stories and communicating more marketing success stories. And PR efforts are often cost-effective in reaching multiple key audiences (employees, investors, analysts, consumers, media, customers) through events, press releases, interviews, blogs, etc.

Kathy Cripps: From the perspective of the Council of Public Relations Firms, the question of value is more important to clients than ever. When budgets are trimmed, only those programs and ideas that accomplish priority goals will remain intact. Public relations agency professionals should "put themselves in their clients' shoes" to assess what's important to the client organization. In other words, discussing goals upfront, monitoring progress and tweaking plans as needed to deliver results all help to demonstrate value. Agencies and their clients need to agree on what "success" looks like.

Additionally, clients usually have several areas of responsibility to juggle. As valued partners, agency professionals should discuss priorities with clients and make recommendations from there. Then they should be willing to evaluate the outcomes in an honest and critical manner. The Council recently released a white paper titled "Creating Value: Public Relations and the New Brand Strategy." It's a strong, well-researched paper that helps to address the very question raised here.

Ron Culp: The short answer is cost effectiveness. However, the more nuanced answer is that PR can deliver more meaningful results at a lower cost than other marketing disciplines — particularly in the current downturn. This recession unfolded at the same time that corporations were facing a greater need than ever to engage in dialogue with consumers and other stakeholders. That presents a tremendous opportunity for PR, because dialogue is at the core of what we do. So, to prove our value, we simply have to do what we've always done best, and we have to continuously demonstrate that we can keep up with the rapid pace of social media. We also have to show that the results of what we do can be measured.

Additionally, PR can offer great value in helping clients fill the gaps they might face with tighter budgets. In an environment that has required companies to cut back on everything from advertising to employee events, keeping brands visible and getting messages out to employees is still essential. This is where I think corporate PR, in particular, can be effective. It sounds simple, but when you communicate to the media, you also communicate to employees.

Hannah Grove: If there has been any upside to the recent market turmoil, it is that companies have a much keener appreciation of the value of effective public relations and its impact on shareholder value, brand and reputation. The proof of this can be very effectively illustrated by numerous examples of companies where the lack of a cohesive PR strategy during the downturn was evident and damaging — from insufficient contingency planning around potential scenarios to yawning gaps between corporate developments and public relations teams that rendered the latter unable to effectively mitigate the issues. Conversely, there are equally abundant examples of companies that got it right and where it was evident that plans were well-honed and communications were exactly where they needed to be. The results of these success stories can be defined by share price appreciation, public opinion, client retention and employee engagement — all of which are essential to a company's success.

Denise Kaufmann: Based on my experience working with clients, there is a lot more attention lately on how PR, and communications in general, can support the business. So, to best prove value, there has to be some kind of link back to a company's business goals. In the current environment, employee engagement can be a particularly valuable link. So many companies have had to cut jobs and salaries, and keeping employees motivated is a big deal. Obviously, the way such announcements are handled internally has a real impact on employees, and public relations should advise in this area. Along with that, PR can help motivate employees through storytelling — sharing stories of the positive things a company has done for its employees. Many of our clients at Ketchum have had great success with this and have seen employees really rallying for the company even after job and salary cuts.

On the external side, we've seen clients asking how the reputation management or straight publicity side of PR brings value to the business. The key there is to understand upfront what PR is expected to accomplish; then, we, along with our clients, should set goals that have a measurable impact. That enables our client contacts to go back to their internal stakeholders and show them the value that we provide.

Joachim Klewes: PR practitioners can best prove the value of PR if they stop thinking in PR categories. In other words, "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." We must no longer think in terms of what we have to offer and which tools have been used in the past, but we have to think in "challenges" and "solutions." This approach calls for integrated thinking and planning and for cooperation across and between all communications disciplines — and even going beyond those disciplines.

For instance, in crisis situations it becomes blatant that some problems cannot be fixed simply with communications — e.g., in some cases, organizational solutions are needed or changes in a client's portfolio are necessary. It is our role as consultants to develop profound solutions for cases like these.

Perspectives: How do you expect the perceived value of PR to change as the economy shows signs of recovery?

Behrendt: The crisis will act as a magnifying glass for corporate reputations, as we will very clearly see who consumers will trust the most in its aftermath. Some companies took a severe hit to their reputations, while others survived mostly unscathed. Communication managers will have to ask themselves: Why is that? I think the answer to this question mostly boils down to whether companies did a good job with their public relations or not. Did they, for example, communicate adequate reasons for job reductions or restructurings? Did they get their message, their vision across? This sort of explaining is best done through PR, and some companies have learned this the hard way. I do not think they will make the same mistake twice.

Chow: Research has shown that by engaging in marketing efforts during a downturn, brands and companies are well-positioned when the economy recovers to succeed. Regardless of economic times, PR is a strategic marketing lever for all programming efforts. I expect that by continuing to show the effectiveness, power and impact of PR and social media efforts, these efforts will continue to be a key component of companies' marketing strategies even as the themes and programs evolve.

Cripps: Counsel from trusted advisers will always be in vogue. In fact, if you helped a client thrive and survive during the difficult times, you will likely be given more substantial opportunities as the economic situation improves.

As president of the industry trade association, I frequently have the opportunity to speak with clients and agency executives. We also conduct research and interact with other industry organizations. We often discuss the role and future of public relations. From my vantage point, public relations has become more crucial to all types of organizations in the last five years. Much of this importance and relevance has to do with the expansion of digital and social media and where it intersects with PR's sweet spot: real-time conversation and engagement. In a recent issue of the Council's online newsletter, the Firm Voice, in an article titled "Survey Says: Public Relations on the Right Track," we referenced a study by private equity firm Veronis Shuler Stevenson that further supports the industry's outlook.

Culp: Overall, I would say the tough economic situation has been positive for PR because C-suites have witnessed the cost-effective value of PR. We've seen significantly increased client spending on PR over the past year. Much of that has been because of dramatic increases in the need for expertise in digital and social media, but after digital has made the introduction, many clients have realized that a deeper PR program can have significant and measurable value. Now, they know we can deliver on cost per thousand and most of the other measurements they customarily assess. So, I expect PR to enjoy dramatic growth as the economic environment improves, because we've proven ourselves during the tough times.

Grove: Despite the progress in appreciating PR value that occurred over the last year or so, PR practitioners know more than anyone that memories are short. The focus, therefore, should be to continue to remind business and board stakeholders of the lessons learned and use these conversations to reinforce best practices and to remind them of value irrespective of market conditions. Effective public relations should be viewed as a core strength and competitive differentiator — both of which should be constants in any economic environment.

Kaufmann: It depends on the starting point. For companies that have long placed a high value on PR, the perception won't change. At the same time, I don't think things will return to the state they were in before the downturn. Some companies that had the money to spend before the recession experimented with multiple PR tactics, even when it was very challenging to predict results. As the economy recovers, there will be no more trial balloons. That's in keeping with the trend that companies are focusing only on those PR efforts that support the business. This will also hold true in digital and social media, where companies have recently escalated spending because those channels were more cost-effective than some other efforts. Recently, we've seen companies use social media tools, such as Twitter, to address customer service issues. Because these efforts have been successful, I believe they will continue.

Klewes: The awareness of the true value of an asset is often only recognized after it is lost. As an economic crisis always is a crisis of confidence, the lack of what we call "reputation capital" can become an increasing risk to the economic performance of a company. The crisis has shown that this affects especially those companies that cannot rely on an established recognizable profile.

That's why I expect the value of "reputation capital" to be rediscovered. This will hold true not only for companies that did not have sufficient reserves of trust or experienced the deterioration of it, but it also will show in the way companies with excellent stakeholder relations value thorough reputation management and corporate communications. Companies that experienced a decline in trust will have to quickly re-establish trust to keep up with those that have survived the crisis with bigger reputation reserves. In any case, the demand for active reputation management will dramatically gain in importance in the future.