If you're in the business of reaching customers, a possible recession could mean it's time to invest more into your marketing. This may sound counterintuitive, but a recent study at the Penn State Smeal College of Business makes a strong case for it.

Jake Swearingan brings us the researchers' perspective: “If you think about a distance runner — if the distance runner is really strong, when the runner hits a hill, the runner is gonna speed up. What happens? The runner has the capacity, but he also has the strategy and the nerve to do it.”

The study notes for this strategy to be most successful, you need to have a few things already on hand.

• A strong emphasis in marketing in your overall company strategy
• A staff that is comfortable taking risks and thinking creatively
• Adequate capital to undertake something big

Rich Tehrani notes that "even in a slow down, the companies who remain consistent in their messaging do better than others who wait for phones to ring by themselves."