And they are not panicking about the possibility that they're favorite sitcom may be canceled; they are perspiring more profusely than a fugitive on a run because they are afraid to go broke.

So, what do most businesses do? They begin to cut things out of their budget and one of those things is their marketing & advertising. Big mistake!

What they fail to understand is this: marketing and advertising, when done right, is the only expenditure that directly yields a profit.

And I would imagine that people open businesses so that they can make money, right? So, why pray-tell would they want to do anything that would stand in the way of that?

The problem is that most business owners are looking through a one dimensional lens that points them to the activity of what all the other businesses are doing.

They erroneously believe that if everyone around them is doing something then it must be correct. This reminds me of an incident that occurred when I was a little girl.

I grew up in a home where my mother opened her heart and, um, the door to nearly any and every distant relative or friend of a friend of a friend passing through town.

They either didn't have the money to pay for a hotel room, got kicked out of the house by angry wives, or needed to live with us temporarily in order to save money to pay for their grandma's gangrene leg operation.

Bless, mother. And her sometimes gullible ways.

Well, one day, a pack of loud-mouth women were living with us for the summer. And there was a sale at the 99 cents store. Yea, yea. border-line poverty sucked. We shopped there. "3 jars of hair grease for 99 cents"! , read the big neon sign.

Honey, let me tell you...it was like a herd of buffaloes charging when the word got out in the neighborhood about the sale.

Women came out of the woodworks to stock up on their supplies of hair-grease, including my mother and the herd of women living with us at the time.

Oh, boy. It was like Christmas in July upon their return from the 99 cents store with jars upon jars of this product as all the women in the neighborhood held it close to their bosoms.

One by one my mother and her house guests parted their afros and greased their scalps with delicate precision. Their joyous chatter grew louder and louder.

They were so happy to have found such a great deal. And since everyone was rushing to get it, it must be a good thing.

Three days later, the women (and, mom!) woke up to bald patches all over their heads.

Lesson:

If everyone in your small business industry and niche are doing the same thing, do the very opposite - if you don't want to be consulting with hair club for men, that is.

To stay afloat and recession-proof your business in a slow turning economy, there is a long list of marketing strategies I could teach you to apply to your business that would make you the least bit of affected by the recession. Let's take a look at a few of them:

-You'll want to create appropriate tweaking to the products and services that you offer. I'm not saying that you should be slashing your prices. But you can provide more flexible payment options so that it will make it easier for your clients to continue buying from you.

-Don't shy away from talking about the recession in your newsletter or email communications with your customers.

On the contrary, take what the news is reporting on the current state of affairs in the economy and stack it up in your favor by reminding your customers of the incredible benefits they are getting from buying your products/services.

Keep it in their mind the incredible savings and fairness in price you are offering compared to the value they receive.

-How about creating a much wider price range of goods and services? This will give your customers even more choices to make payments to you and even more reasons to stay loyal to your business because I can almost bet you that your competitors will not be doing any of these things.

They're in chronic panic mode, remember? And like Buffy the vampire, too busy slaying the marketing and advertising dragon.