The reality is striking off Marketing budgets in a bad economy is the last thing you should do. Rather than focusing less on marketing, what you should do is the opposite. We're lucky and you must know this, that marketing today is available to you can be cheap, easy and fast to execute.

Yes believe it, some forms of marketing don’t cost you anything. Social Media is a great way to create online buzz about your product and services. There are many ways if you're not already familiar, use social platforms like FB and LinkedIn , there's online forums, message boards, blogs and video blogs. The key though is to be genuine, use it and encourage communication about your business, product or services.

Many small Businesses shrug at the idea of joint ventures. Splitting revenues aren't accepted because businesses selling their own products usually keep 100 percent of the revenues. But during hard times this kind of thinking may lead to destroyed businesses. Something you should look at because well-executed partner ups it doesn’t subtract from the business - it adds to the business. So best to start looking to pair up resources and skills.

If you haven't looked at multi-channel marketing as a strategy, you possibly could do. Because during Tough Times you would need to emphasise customer relationship-building opportunities. YOU could get involve with telemarketing which allows you to provide information and answer customer questions. And Direct mail and email will allow you to stay in front of your customers when you let them learn about your product on their own schedule.

Carefully assess your current advertising campaigns by analyzing how many ads you run and where they are placed. Do not give into the temptation to cut all advertising. There is an opportunity for success in advertising in a down economy. In down times, fewer businesses will advertise, thinking it is an easy place to save money. This trend creates less competition for existing ad space. More available ad space can provide better negotiation opportunities for the media buyer. Most importantly, though, more ad space decreases advertising clutter, making your ads more visible. Work with the media outlet to strategically place your ads in more visible positions and be sure to include a ‘call to action’ so that you can trace any direct business.

Build and sustain meaningful relationships at all times. Ultimately, when all other factors are similar, people buy products and services from people they like and trust. Maintain relationships and develop new points of contact through sustained networking. Staying top of mind to a potential customer is the key to positive word of mouth.

SEO is essential if people are going to find your organization’s website. Research shows that over 80% of customers surfing the web for information on services and products begin at a search engine like Google. SEO helps people find you through the keywords used in search engines. With a small investment in keyword research, you can identify the keywords searchers are using to locate the services you offer. Once you know the words to use, optimize your site with those same terms in your content. Considering the expense of mailing and other paper-related marketing activities, SEO is less expensive and can be more easily tracked for success rates. Spending money on creating a website but not following through with a solid SEO program is the equivalent of buying a car, but not putting any gas in it. Make the most of your website by fueling it to work the way it is intended.

If you have a website, you need to track its utility so that you know how to best use it to your advantage. Include a web analytics system, such as Google Analytics, to measure how well your website is working. Web analytics are easy to use and customize and are a cost effective way to understand the success of your site. These reports uncover where website traffic comes from, how long they stay on your site, which areas they spend the most time in and where they exit the site. By studying trends on your website traffic, you will be able to customize the information on your site to attract the most desirable visitors.

Workload doesn’t necessarily diminish in a difficult economy. Internal resources may be scarce, particularly if your organization has downsized its workforce. An alternative to hiring full-time marketing staff is to hire experienced professionals on a contract basis to complete projects as they appear. Activities that are easily outsourced include writing and copy editing, website strategy, research, media planning, graphic design and other resource-intense activities. By contracting with professionals, you can limit your spending and take advantage of the experience and efficiency of someone who focuses on these types of initiatives. When the project is completed, you no longer carry the burden of their overhead and salary.

What do you think? What strategies are you using to keep your business relevant during 'down time'?