With so much angst looming around a recession and the roller-coaster of a ride in the stock market, what's a small business to do? I've been hearing "invest in yourself."

Six Apart CEO Chris Alden believes in it. "When you don't know where else to invest," he explains, "you invest in yourself." Blog software company Six Apart, as Wired reports, was founded in September 2001, just as the country was reeling from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Lucy Danziger, Self Magazine's Editor-in-Chief says "women are willing to invest in themselves to be of sound mind and strong body through uncertain times." Eli Davidson wrote in detail in the Huffington Post about her career coaching program that made the best investment list for Kiplinger Personal Finance, "Don't send money to a brokerage house. Invest in yourself."

In business, the advice is to do the same. Invest in what feeds the sales pipeline: marketing. BusinessWeek has a community area on their Website that deals with the topic: Recession Marketing. "Doing more for less is key to expanding a marketing plan, and companies must take advantage of free marketing like press releases, blogs, community volunteering, etc." 

Recession time is also a good time to start a business. Method Home and Clif Bar both started when times were tough. Money Magazine reported "challenging economic periods have consistently proved to be good times to launch new businesses. Sixteen of the 30 companies whose stocks make up the Dow started during recessions." Michael and I started planning our design business in the mild recession of 2002. Companies tend to cut back on marketing during recession time. We knew that those who ramped up their communications would succeed. Getting the word out is important, but looking good is a must. Design serves a function to get an audience to act. It's not only what you say, but how you say it that attracts and holds an audience.

So, what then to do in a down economy? Invest in yourself. And reinvest in your business. Take care of your business, and your business will take care of you. As actor Woody Allen said "80 percent of success is showing up." And in a time where companies cut their communication budgets, it's the company that continues to communicate their value that gets the sale. 

Microsoft's Web site in 1994.I remember in 1994 when having a "Web site" was all the rage. It must've been an upwards sign of social status, similarly to when people were buying fake plastic cell phones and pretending to talk on them while driving, when cell phones were outrageously expensive. Some companies had their very first Web site created on a free server (remember Tripod and Geocities?), or had one created in Front Page by their secretary just to "have one," before anyone knew how money was going to be made on the Internet. That was understandable because business was underutilizing the new technology.

Now, most business is conducted on the Web. Unfortunately, some companies still have those outdated Web sites. I've looked at sites that haven't been updated since the late 90's (with GIF animations), still reside in scrollable frames, or have a free semi-Web site that came with their phone book's advertising package. And so what? If it's not broken why fix it? Geesh. Am I just being Web snobby?

I think not. Although a site may not be "broken," it may not be working to its full capacity. A company is represented by its Web site and although they say you can't necessarily judge a book by it's cover. ...people still do. Humans are innately visual. We are attracted to companies, objects and people with our eyes, first. The more professional a company presents itself, the more professional we perceive it to be.

Good looks aside, a Web site has to "feel" good, too. That means it needs to possess a level of comfort that matches its looks. Form should follow function. If a Web site needs to inform an audience in an elegant manner, it should perform that way also. For example, an Italian suit should be made well and feel comfortable. The suit should have a great overall shape that holds well and is beautiful down to it's details: quality and density of the fabric, tightness of the stitching, decor on the buttons, etc. A company site should do the same. It should look and function well overall, as well as in the details. That's the gist of truely effective communication.

The true question is, "why don't companies update or improve their Web sites?" In my experience, it's because business owners and executives already LIKE what they have. They don't understand that it's not about personal taste, but rather what appeals and speaks to the company's audience. There's a target audience out there, and specific visual cues, a tone of language, and way a Web site works that gives their market comfort. Site owners may be uncomfortable with change, but don't realize the opportunities in communication and sales they are missing out.

A Web site is a reflection of a company. It says what a company tells its customers, it looks how a company is seen, it communicates the personality of a company. Hopefully... if it's doing it's job. It's the storefront on the digital highway. Even if the business isn't dependent on people seeing a Web site for sales, it still is a marketing tool. It speaks to the customer, locally and globally. It reinforces the brand. It matters, as it's a company's greatest marketing tool.

(Unboxing the MacBook Air at SlashGear)

When the physical opening of a product stirs up an Internet event called an unboxing, then you can understand how much people love products and their package design. Unboxing is the new geek porn, shown through images or video of the slow unveiling of a product's outer layer of protection. The point of showing an unboxing is to share with others how a product is packaged. Some unboxing images show every little detail of the packaging, others show what is included in the package and where it's placed in the package.

The package design is an integral part of a brand story. It's the prologue to the product experience. When you package beautifully, you show your customers you care for your product.

For the consumer, the initial experience of opening the box adds to the excitement of having the product. The more creative, beautiful, and intricate the packaging is, the more buzz seems to follow (take Apple for example, Google "unboxing" and you'll see over half of the results are Apple products).

I still think the unboxing of Apple products is an uncomparable experience. Each detail of the product is covered and wrapped in delicate and easy-to-remove layers. It's quite exciting.

Here are some of the first Apple iPhone unboxing images.

Apple's iTV unboxing.

The unboxing video of an Apple MacBook Air.

Unboxing images of a Nokia N81 phone.

The unboxing of a Creative Zen Vision W.

Xbox 360 Elite unboxing.

Here is a great Flickr photoset of the unboxing of an Apple IIc.

Our friend, who has been fighting for the clarification and transparency of companies to the individual investor, the printed annual report, is slowly fading away. Once known as a crime-fighter (or vigilante, if you wish) in the eyes of both the shareholder and the corporation, the report once presented the corporate profile, business practices, company strategy and a snapshot of the financial performance of a company for one year. Over the years, a shareholder could study a few consecutive year reports and make a judgement about where their investment value was most effective. Speaking to the shareholder, the annual report was a form that although sometimes made mistakes, still had intentions to communicate to the everyday laymen what was good about the company. The presence of the report was also a reflection on how healthy the economy is. That was the power of the traditional printed annual report.

There are still a few traditional annual reports out there still fighting for shareholder's rights. The trend five years ago has been for U.S. companies to transform the communications tool into a summary annual report, the smaller version. Sid Cato, long-time critic of annual reports says summary annual reports are" a good idea only if you're into shortchanging the stockholder, ripping off the reader. This Pee-wee Herman of annual report presents the potential for massive manipulation of the facts: Companies get to pick and choose what to include, what to leave out."

Even more popular and worse, the 10-K wrap, leaves only four to twelve pages of miniscule real estate for a company to communicate pertinent information, and lets corporations leave out a lot more. Such evil has taken over investor relations departments and IROs have succumbed to the wrath of the wrap, or even more prevalent–the 10-K by itself, without the wrap. Is distributing investor communications like this still providing the same amount of information to the shareholder? James Pethokoukis, in his article in The American says" the wrap is nothing more than an SEC report stuck between a couple of pages of explanatory material and probably a terse, no-nonsense letter to shareholders. Sure, the 10-K supplies plenty of numbers. but numbers without analysis or context may be little help to investors."

The printed annual report, which was once soley a financial document was transformed into a corporate communications tool in the 1960's. Since then, the report has been keeping peace and justice in the realms of the investor community, corporate communications and employee morale. The powers of the annual report have been diminishing in recent years. But is it dying?

Companies are producing more and more Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports. These reports are targeted in their messaging, specifically towards company efforts in environmental, sustainable, and citizenship activities. This trend is slowly becoming popular with the forerunners being the larger U.S. corporations such as Starbucks, Motorola and Campbell's. Worldwide, approximately 3,000 are being produced, so the numbers are still small. And although a company's good practices are being highlighted in CSR reports, potential investors are still missing out on the whole company story with the depleting annual reports.

Companies who in the past had been producing full annual reports are shrinking their formats to either summary reports or 10-K wraps. Many companies who have healthy marketing budgets now don't produce one at all (putting all their resources into the marketing budget), and only distribute a 10-K. Companies are losing out, not only in the chance to communicate the investment value to their shareholders, but also in the opportunity in servicing their audience and providing valuable informational tools to allow the public to make informed investment decisions. Confused and fearful shareholders usually pull out their investment and put it towards something they understand. If companies continue to weaken their annual report, they should be prepared to do the crime-fighing on their own.

Remember when Michael developed a type quiz from movie posters last year? Empire did the same. Take it to test your type IQ.