In his foreword to the organisation's recently published 2009/10 accounts, COI chief executive Mark Lund said: "Digital media offers the exciting potential of greater engagement with citizens at a lower cost."

His comments come in light of the immediate freeze on government advertising and marketing spend, imposed following the General Election in May, the effects of which are already being felt at the COI.

While the government will continue to commission "essential" campaigns in the current year, the COI has acknowledged that the new austerity drive will "severely reduce [its] income" and, accordingly, it has launched a structural review that is likely to lead to a reduction in its current 800-plus staff.

In addition to upping its use of digital marketing, which amounted to just £44.1m of the £532m total expenditure at the COI in 2009/10, the public sector body has said it will increasingly look to "owned" and "earned" media channels, rather than the traditional "paid-for media".

Owned channels would include the department's website, mobile site, blogs and Twitter account, while paid-for would largely be traditional above- and below-the-line advertising.

The much harder to access "earned" media is when customers become the channel, i.e. when favourable publicity is spread through word of mouth.