But what happens when your marketing budget gets tight? Mike Watson tackles the big question of what to do when a recession hits: spend less on advertising or keep on spending?

There’s a common temptation to pull right back on advertising spend during financially tough times and focus on other ways to find and keep customers.

While a solid commitment to customer service is essential, advertising experts see plenty of opportunities to maintain – and even grow – your market share.

"One shouldn't assume that a complete withdrawal from above-the-line is a wise thing to do in a recession", said Miles Young, incoming CEO of the ad agency Ogilvy Group, in a November 2008 interview conducted by marketing firm Epsilon International.

"There is an awful lot of historical evidence about this...those companies that maintain or increase their share of voice during a recession will come out of it strengthened in terms of market share".

One such piece of evidence comes from the USA, where there were three recessions between 1973 and 1991.

According to studies compiled by UK magazine Real Business, the companies that increased their marketing budget during those periods were equally as profitable as ones who cut back – in other words, they didn’t hurt their bottom lines by spending up on advertising.

After the recession, companies that increased ad spend enjoyed a 4.3 per cent increase in return on capital employed (ROCE), while those that cut their budgets lost ground, at an average -0.8 per cent ROCE.

While those results are reasonably compelling, the gap increase down the track: two years after recovery the companies that invested in marketing were experiencing ROCE rates on average three times higher than those who didn't.

The lesson here is that recession times present an opportunity to sharpen up your unique selling proposition.

Use the human angle to exploit the sweet spots of your target audience, turn the fear of recession into your magic ingredient and most importantly, make sure everyone in a client or customer-facing role is 'on message'.

Should you seriously increase your ad spend?

US marketing guru Sean McPheat is an enthusiastic advocate of not just maintaining your marketing spend during an economic downturn, but actually increasing it.

"Your competitors will be reducing their marketing activity so you'll be in a prime position to gain some market share" he writes online.

"When you consistently get in front of your prospects and customers with your marketing messages, you'll begin to build up a valuable brand for when the times are good again."

Mr McPheat believes e-businesses in particular will do well to focus on online search campaigns.

"Many of your competitors will get their fingers burned with Google Adwords because they will not know how to do it correctly.

"I see so many companies cut back in this area. I would actually increase your marketing in this area because when you get a visitor from a Google Adword link it means that they are part qualified before you start".

Ogilvy Group CEO Miles Young also sees the unique benefits of the digital medium in an uncertain economic climate.

"There are now a lot of accountable media which allow you to measure very precisely the return on your investment.

"The digitalisation of advertising, for instance, is something that is present now, whereas in previous recessions it wasn't so".