One of the easiest ways to reduce overheads is to prune your marketing budget. I believe it is termed as a 'discretionary expenditure' by financial directors. (Even though, as all professional marketers know, when business is tough to get, cutting the marketing effort can simply make it even tougher - as well as potentially opening doors to competitors). Nevertheless, we have to live in the real world and budgets will be cut - so how should marketers respond?

I think the answer lies in what the economist John Maynard Keynes is famously quoted as saying: "In the long-term, we are all dead." (He certainly is). In other words, businesses need to be getting more than their fair share of sales opportunities right NOW; because without short-term income there will be no long-term future.

Marketers therefore need to review their spending and make adjustments. For example, now might not be the time for either lavish corporate entertainment (out of tune with the times) or sponsorship (feels good maybe but probably will have a limited short term return on investment). On the other hand, understanding your customers requirements has probably never been more critical, and indeed, properly conducted market research could reveal some opportunities for your business currently to take advantage of.

If you're not doing it already, now should be the time to look at improving the effectiveness of your online marketing. By doing so, you may even find you can trim costs whilst generating increased interest in your products and services rapidly.

Online marketing takes several forms, each of which has its pros and cons. New techniques are being introduced all the time, but the main online routes to reach people are: online advertising on third party websites, enewsletters, and of course your own website - possibly with an ecommerce function, certainly optimised for the search engines and backed by analytical software to help you track your website interaction with visitors.

Ultimately, your approach to marketing during the recession and beyond will depend on the dynamics of your market and your business, but business is competitive enough already without weakening the effectiveness of your marketing!