In a time of economic hardship, many companies decide to decrease or even eliminate their advertising budget. It’s often the first thing to go, but is it the right choice?

Studies performed by companies such as McGraw-Hill Research and Meldrum & Fewsmith have shown that businesses which continue or increase their advertising efforts during a recession not only increase sales and profits during the recession period, but for years after as well. Those are the companies that come out on top, and it’s all about staying in the mind of your consumer.

Here’s a magazine ad featuring a photo of a serene-looking woman relaxing on a massage table, eyes closed, a terrycloth turban on her head and a few small, flat stones along her back. The setting is Zen-like, with a potted orchid plant on a minimalist table in the background. The ad is obviously for a luxury spa, or for a luxury resort’s luxury spa. Which one? Almost all of them, considering that this imagery is common throughout this industry’s advertising. Only the name of the spa changes.

Here is a reader’s response to a review of Google’s new Android mobile phone operating system, as posted today on BusinessWeek’s Web site:

mike Sep 23, 2008 3:22 PM GMT gotta love google for what they do best. what they don't do best is anything experience-related. a bunch of propeller head can't top apple -- ever. it's about emotion, gang, not bits and bytes.

Mike – I don’t know who you are, but you’re my hero of the week – possibly even the month (I’m counting October, too). I assume your comment’s lack of uppercase letters and the singular/plural issue are the result of composing your spot-on statement under less-than-ideal conditions.

Creating a fundraising event isn’t easy. From developing the event itself to signing sponsors, then generating that all-important buzz, the job involves a tremendous amount of strategy, cooperation and coordinated efforts. But when the organization is as worthy as the Central Florida Council Boy Scouts of America, everyone is inspired to do their best. Here’s how we launched Orlando’s Corporate Dodgeball Tournament, which benefits Central Florida Council youth programs, by using the Four “A” Metrics: Awareness, Affinity, Action and Analytics.

Good design adds value to consumer products as well as to the Web sites that sell them. How? By positioning the brand to have a higher perceived value among consumers, which increases demand while building a community of brand enthusiasts. In the case of e-commerce Web sites, good design is also essential in creating an easy, stress-free shopping or banking experience that consumers will want to repeat.

Here is a very astute observation, courtesy of  writer, speaker and entrepreneur Bill Taylor, from his book, Mavericks at Work:

“As a company, you have to be the most of something—the most exclusive, the most affordable, the most responsive, the most friendly. Companies used to want to be in the middle of the road — that’s where all the customers were. But now, in an age of hyper-competition and non-stop innovation, the middle of the road is the road to ruin. What do they say in Texas? ‘The only thing in the middle of the road are yellow lines and dead armadillos.’”

The housing market is in turmoil, retail and restaurant chains are filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy and gas prices are at an all-time high. In this same environment, however, the launch of Apple’s iPhone 3G had people camping in front of Apple and AT&T Mobility stores days before just for the privilege of buying one.

Do you think of direct mail as a postcard that’s flung into mailboxes with only a hope that the recipients will bother to read it before feeding it into the shredder? If so, it’s time for an introduction to variable data direct mail.

What makes a brand strong? Staying focused on your mission and core competency are essential, as well as keeping your customers happy. If this seems insultingly simple, just look to the once-mighty Starbucks as evidence of what happens when such basics are ignored.