Recently I caught up with an old aquaintance who had some information relevant to SME's and their marketing. It is interesting how these ideas can also be applied to larger organisations Here is a summary... The talk of the economy and its impact on SME’s surrounds us daily. The media reinforces the tough times that consumers are currently experiencing and the business world watches on as the ASX continues to fluctuate. This is weakening both consumer confidence and the consumer spending that has been buoying our economy for the last 12 years or more. Obviously this downturn in spending and confidence sees many companies ‘retreat’ (cut their marketing budgets) in order to weather the financial storm. This strategy of course is an easy one to justify (especially by those responsible for finances) and has the added advantage of seemingly bolstering (some would say, camouflaging) earnings by simply cutting marketing costs as an expense to the company.