By Rob Bedell

Is the current tough market the right time to be slashing your advertising budget? Not if you want your business to survive the economic downturn and lay the groundwork to thrive when the economy improves! Tough times may actually provide us our best opportunity to reach out to our customers with little or no competition because so many of our competitors are doing just the opposite of that in an attempt to save money.

During good times everyone has the money (and bravery) to seek out clients, creating an atmosphere of extreme competition where reaching the consumer with your message proves to be exceedingly difficult. NOW is the time to have faith in your product or service, to reach out to your customers and to secure your success now and into the future. And there are easy and cost effective ways of doing so.

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NEW YORK – Inside a midtown hotel, Larry Fischer is on his cell phone with a financial backer as his partner Ari Goldberger does quick research on a laptop computer.

They are bidding furiously at this auction of Internet domain names, with hopes of snagging megayachts.com. The duo won’t be deterred. They want this name.

”$110,000 (€79,693), yes or no? Quick,” Fischer barks at Eli, the investor at the end of the phone.

Someone else makes a bid for $120,000 (€86,938). Fischer and Goldberger up the ante, and then again.

Going once, going twice … sold to Fischer and Goldberger for $150,000 (€108,672).

”You got it,” a smiling Fischer tells Eli.

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