What was the main factor in the growth or downfall of companies during the depression?

The media says that the economy is in a recession. Ok. So now what?



Someone told me the other day that Jewish people have a concept of “backing into the future.” No one can fully predict what will happen next, but we can look at history to learn what might happen. If we are in a recession, then wouldn’t it make sense to look at how companies survived and grew during the Great Depression?



I found someone who asked a similar question. Check out this quote from Google Answers:

Both anecdotal and empirical evidence support the case that advertising was the main factor in the growth or downfall of companies during [the Great Depression]. To put it bluntly, the companies which demonstrated the most growth and which rang up the most sales were those which advertised heavily.

The article goes on to talk about the growth in two new forms of advertising during the Great Depression: radio and direct mail.  So what are you doing to take advantage of said recession?  Whatever you do, cutting marketing is not the answer.