GM may very well be the prime example of a company who chose all the wrong anti-recession tactics. Instead of adapting to the new times and emphasizing smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles in customized colors — they stubbornly pursued their current course of dishing out truck after truck and SUV after SUV. They believed this was the true American spirit — bigger, more rugged and, undeniably, more expensive. The top executives failed to realize that the money market was tightening up for consumers and that this new environmentalism tidal wave was already moving the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic to the head of the queue. Instead of following the pathway to bankruptcy and bail-outs, here are some smart moves during the recession.

The most important of all anti-recession tactics is to understand the new problems your customers face and offer them innovative solutions. The most successful businesses are ones that can save customers money, make their lives less stressful and offer more value. For instance, one company developed a fast-curing resin to maximize productivity for injection-molding machines; yet, when the recession happened and greater output was no longer needed, the company switched gears and developed a less expensive, slower-curing resin, which was ultimately profitable. “We can’t add meat to a burger anymore,” admits CKE marketing chief Brad Haley, who oversees the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr franchises. When times are tough, executives need to be more creative. He adds, “Carl’s Jr. is promoting a guacamole bacon cheeseburger. Avocados are a less expensive topping.”

Another one of the conventional anti-recession tactics is to reset your priorities and remain flexible. Since the market itself is always changing, you’ll want to be in a position where you can roll with the punches. This is not to say you shouldn’t have market plans at all, but you should certainly have contingency plans and alternate directions to move in, should one of your marketing campaigns or product lines fail. If you’re in a crisis, you may have to cut back on meetings and travel, or you may have to hold off on moving to new markets, hiring more people and growing earnings. The recession requires a different mindset, according to Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey. “We have to be more frugal, to think about every expense, every capital investment — because we won’t be bailed out by growth.”

Anti-recession tactics require you to resist temptation, which could be especially hard if you’re a fast-moving, impulsive, risk-taking sort of person. On a good day, you may have no qualms about acquiring some of your smaller competition that’s up for grabs, especially if the price is right. Yet, a recession may not be the best time to branch out and acquire new money-sucking extensions. Generally, companies are twice as likely to acquire businesses and merge when the economy is doing well, statistics show. However, there are business moguls like Warren Buffet who believe in being greedy when others are fearful. This could be a great time to absorb smaller companies that are full of fresh talent and skills, but be smart about all the calculated moves you make during an economic downturn.

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“Startups are about the future,” writes author and entrepreneur John Nesheim. “They are about the promise of tomorrow. Like children with eager parents, they are excited about what they can become. Meanwhile the struggle of daily life goes on. As you execute your company plan, it will include inventing the future. When you can both do and dream in your startup, you will have made a great contribution to your unfair competitive advantage.” In this recession, a number of smart thinkers have decided to branch out and form their own supporting businesses or consulting firms to provide large companies with the tools they need to succeed. Often times, the right answers are within a company — with its frontline workers — but no one listens and groups consume the organization. By outsourcing crucial tasks, a business can face forward and get a good, honest, third-party opinion.

Today, copywriters are forming their own supporting businesses to offer their services to larger corporations. Finding the right “voice” for the company isn’t always easy. Sure, you could have your secretary write up a newsletter for you, but her degree is in Business Administration, not English, Journalism or Copywriting. These writers can maintain your company blog, bringing timely research and a vivacious tone to your enterprise. They can also publish top news with a press release, promote your article on a third party site with a link back to your homepage, or rewrite some of your site’s stale content. Adding more internal pages with valuable information for visitors is one thing that has been proven to attract web traffic.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is another area where supporting businesses thrive. Every homepage internet design should have searchable keywords, image tags and web copy that attracts visitors to the site. Professional SEO experts use a variety of analytic programs that let them know what industry-related terms people are looking up, what the most competitive search terms are and what words are best incorporated into a business’s homepage. By effectively designing your homepage with these factors in mind, your site will become a magnet for web traffic, thus increasing sales. Of course, some webpages have fundamental problems that send prospective clients fleeing. An SEO expert can let you know how many people are visiting, what pages they’re looking at, how long they’re browsing, which pages are sending clients elsewhere and where these dissatisfied visitors are going next. This research can be invaluable to a business.

Sometimes you may find you need supporting businesses to do your dirty work. The debt collecting business is one that seems recession-proof. Even though you end up paying the firm 10 to 60% of the outstanding debt, it’s better than getting nothing. Before you hire debt settlement or collecting help, be sure to contact the Better Business Bureau or the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators to make sure they’re legitimate. Similarly, banks have been calling in mortgage and foreclosure rescue companies to save nearly 1.7 million homes from foreclosure in 2006-2007. Before hiring a foreclosure assistance company, be sure to check with the Federal Trade Commission to be sure the company isn’t stewing in legal trouble.

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According to Rhonda Abrams at the Hartford Business Journal, there are several tips for growing business during a tight economy. First, keep your marketing campaigns and forget about cutting your advertising budget. While you may move funds around, your focus should be on remaining visible. Second, hire the “best of the best.” With so many employees losing their jobs through no fault of their own, you’ll have the pick of the litter. Third, look for the dissatisfied customers who feel the bigger companies are not meeting their needs.

It was the year 2000. Silicon Valley was launching a new high-tech startup everyday. Business parks sprung up and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that something transformative was taking place. Meanwhile, two buddies — Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan — were making market plans as well… only theirs had investors laughing, rather than shelling out cash. Even though no one was biting on the concept of neatly-packaged, environmentally-conscious soap and hygiene products, they knew they could appeal to a younger, hipper audience with their products and give giants like Proctor and Gamble a run for their money. For Lowry and Ryan, growing business is about doing it yourself to save precious cash (like mixing soaps in bathtubs and bottling it themselves); it’s about continuously selling your concept to your vendors and other venture capitalists; it’s about constantly fundraising. As Ryan says, “The hungriest wolves hunt best.”

Google is the epitome of a company that thinks outside the box. With 19,786 full-time employees working in the “Googleplex” and more than $21 billion in revenue, it’s hard to imagine that this internet startup was growing business during the post-dot-com years — acquiring other small businesses, securing venture capital and working partnerships. Despite the temptation to put up irritating (but money-generating) banner ads on their site, the Google visionaries stuck to their original vision. While other companies were slashing their employee perks, those working in the Googleplex were enjoying limitless snacks, ping pong tournaments, casual dress code, a company recreation area and corporate flex time. By creating innovative marketing campaigns and quickly becoming a respected leader in an under-developed niche, Google became the trusted authority for online searches.

Growing business ventures– during a recession or not — takes innovative thinking and marketing strategy. For the 2009 holiday season, Wal-mart is listing more than 100 toys for $10 or less to appeal to cash-strapped customers. Toys R Us is planning to open up 20 satellite stores in shopping malls during the pre-Christmas months to accommodate shoppers who are looking to make fewer trips and save on gas. Target is promoting “dashing designer deals” developed by fashion designers like Carlos Falchi for $25 or less. K-Mart is promoting its popular “layaway” program again. Stage Stores is launching a “Christmas Cash Club” just “like grandma used to have” — offering $10 cash-back for every $100 in purchases. While this holiday season may still shrink by a projected 1% overall, the market plans that seek new strategies will be the victors.

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There were many useful recession tips given out at this year’s MarketingSherpa B2B Marketing Summit. All good marketing campaigns start with good web design, relevant keywords and continuous content, most successful marketers agreed. Kenric Van Wyc of Acoustics By Design said he tried out a new SEO program that transformed his site into a series of landing pages with carefully researched keywords, which generated an 874% increase in traffic. Two years later, he added a blog, which accounted for 53% of their overall visits. “Each blog entry had relevant content, but also something that would be found by the robots,” Van Wyk explained.

One of the first recession tips you often hear is to switch your offline marketing to online marketing campaigns. “Content marketing is becoming the ONLY marketing,” remarks Julie Wisdom, Executive Creative Director for Babcock & Jenkins. She says that your first step is to order and organize web content — whether it is articles, blogs, press releases, home page content, ad copy or videos. All this content can then be repackaged and recycled. For instance, a white-paper can be translated into a video or ten different mini-articles; blogs can be reworked into a Q&A section or a press release. Look for a wide variety of channels and audiences, she adds.

One of the more unconventional recession tips is to change your company over to a home based business. With a computer, a telephone and a quiet room, many businesses can move to the home. The good news about this bold move is that you’ll cut out on commuting costs and rent — not to mention, you’ll be able to write off a portion of your heating/cooling/electric/mortgage bills on your taxes as an expense. If you can’t run your company alone and rely on many other workers to get the job done, then you may want to consider how they can work from home as well.

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Many individuals hit by the economic downturn are considering starting their own business from home. The first step for starting an internet business should be a thorough soul-searching and investigation into the risks and rewards associated with entrepreneurship. Nearly every community offers marketing training courses at local colleges, as well as marketing symposiums and workshops, and media buying seminars. Of course, there is really no substitute for being hip with today’s news, no matter what industry you’re in. You can also look for ebook downloads, internet design tutorials and read AFP business articles to prepare yourself for the big leap from corporate worker to entrepreneur.

There are many different types of internet business ventures to consider. Some people prefer to go with what they know. Brent Bouchez, David Page and Nancy McNally all worked for top-tier ad agencies before forming their own marketing company targeting consumers 50 and older. Michelle DeAngelis worked at Bank of America for 15 years before branching off to do her own private consulting. By contrast, some internet business entrepreneurs decided to forego their past identities and follow a particular pursuit or passion. Ali Galgano transitioned from a corporate recruiter at Goldman Sachs to a seller of unique costume jewelry. Kelly Elvin went from being a corporate lawyer to a dog trainer. What matters most is that your home based business is something about which you are knowledgeable and passionate.

If you are wondering if you have what it takes to be your own boss and run an internet business from home, then you may be interested in the most recent Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation survey of 549 company owners. Based on the responses, EMKF found that there were some typical traits associated with entrepreneurs. Most come from upper-lower or middle classes, performed well in school and obtained at least a bachelor’s degree (only 5% did not). Just over half the company founders were the first in their families to launch a business. Three-quarters of all respondents said they worked for another company for 6-10 years before branching out on their own. Many of these business owners were the middle child in a three-child household and are currently married with kids. These are people who are, by and large, motivated to build wealth and capitalize on a great idea.

Even if you don’t want to run an internet business, you will need to learn about how IT and business complement each other. To get started, try to come up with a sensible plan that is based on what you already know. If you were a cook or baker, then open your own catering company or bakery. If you worked for a law firm, you can secure your own clients and start your only legal practice or outsource yourself to other law firms. If you worked in retail, start your own clothing design company. If you were an engineer, consider a startup or become a manufacturing consultant. If you love sports, become a personal trainer. If you love animals, start a doggie daycare, a grooming business or pet training service. There are many opportunities for advancement, despite the recession, so check out the Small Business Association resources and learn about how to proceed.

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