After a quick Google search this morning looking for writings related to "marketing in bad times," the topic went on for pages with dozens if not hundreds of recent articles.

I skimmed a few and the same themes came up.

• Get to know your customers and take care of them.

• Target your best customers and best prospects.

• Now is the time get into online marketing in a big way.

• Eliminate your weak programs and expand the successful ones.

• Work on breaking down the silos for more seamless communications and offerings to your customers.

• Work on better tracking systems to identify your winning and losing marketing efforts.

Cannibalization of marketing budgetsThe lists go on endlessly. 

But here is the most striking thing about almost all of them. The title for almost all of these articles could easily switch to "What to do in a great economy."

I've always wondered why effective and appropriate marketing practices in good times should change when times are down? 

In other words, target marketing, offer testing, database segmentation, multichannel marketing and the budgets assigned to them because they were profitable in good times does that necessarily make them unprofitable in bad times. So I would continue to do what I know works while keeping a close eye, as always, on the effectiveness of all efforts.

In bad times, my circulation may decrease because what was marginally profitable in good times becomes unprofitable in bad times. But the core strategies and close analysis remain constant in bad as well as good times.

In my opinion, most companies overreact and cannibalize their best marketing efforts out of fear rather than rational thought.

Your thoughts?