Micro Persuasion: Five Digital Trends to Watch for 2009

Just read an excellent white paper curated by Steve Rubel about the Five Digital Trends to Watch for 2009. Summary from Steve's blog post:

Satisfaction Guaranteed - Customer care and PR are blending as consumers use social media to demand service

Media Reforestation - The media is in a constant state of reinvention as it transitions from atoms to bits

Less is the New More - Overload takes its toll. Gorging on media is out. Selective ignorance and friends as filters are in

Corporate All-Stars - Workers flock to social media to build their personal brands, yet offer employers an effective and credible way to market in the downturn

The Power of Pull - Where push once ruled, it's now equally important to create digital content that people discover through search

The whole paper is worth reading, but for those with short attention spans, here's what he calls "macro takeaways" at the end:

Publicly engage
Companies that put many voices online stand to gain a competitive advantage as customer service moves into social media and personal brands grow.
 
Create content
As the media landscape shifts and Google rewards content producers, companies have an opportunity to create their own media to reach stakeholders directly.

Be simple and utilitarian
Now is not the time for complexity. Simplicity rules as do online applications that are continually useful and fill a void in people's lives.

The paper starts out with "Although the economy may be slowing, the digital march keeps going," but I might change that "Although" to "Because." Hard times are compelling companies innovate on how to they approach sales, marketing, and PR, and that means going digital and being clever about it. This paper is a great guide.