Open University - No time for the soft sell

Small and medium-sized businesses have been advised to increase their spend on marketing to help steer themselves through the worst of the economic downturn. Two surveys conducted by the Small Enterprise Research Team at The Open University found that spending more on marketing and seeking professional business advice could help them survive the credit crunch. Colin Gray, chairman of the team, said: "Our surveys reveal that resilient small business owners have adapted to managing the vagaries of business life and that they help carry the whole economy through bad times."