Particularly during tough times, one of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is to slow down their marketing activities.  This is business suicide.  What you need to do is to spend smarter on your marketing, not stop.  Don’t forget that marketing needn’t cost an arm and a leg!  Seek out FREE publicity at every opportunity.  Use downturns to your advantage eg.  if your town is full of empty shops, approach an owner and take over an empty shop window to promote your wares.  If the shop’s in a good location, for the cost of some professional window displays, you’ll have a full-on bill-board effect.