The economy sucks. Unemployment’s up. Income’s down. Everyone’s scared.

So what should you do?

Believe it or not, now’s the best time to advertise and market your product or service. Why? Because, according to an article in today’s SF Chronicle AllBusiness.com section, “when the economy is faltering, advertising is often the first thing in the marketing budget that gets cut.”

So whether you have a multimillion dollar annual budget or a few thousand, here are some tips to guide your advertising plan:

1) Aggressively reach out to your target market. Be specific in your ads, emails, snail mail letters, newsletters and calls. Target who you’re talking to and what you want them to do.

2) Push your unique selling proposition. Everyone has a competitive advantage. Don’t let creativity mask your best offering. If you don’t know what it is, hire an expert like me to help you define it, refine it and market it.

3) Boldly build your brand. Hire a great designer to create a specialized logo that represents you, your personality and what you stand for. You have to be different to rise above the others and leave your competition in the dust, especially if they’re cutting back on their advertising budgets.

4) Call the media and don’t be afraid to bargain. If times are tough, the newspapers, radio and TV stations are feeling the crunch, too. So don’t be bashful. Ask them to discount the space and time you buy. If you don’t feel comfortable with that, hire a freelance media person who can do your bargaining for you for an hourly fee or a percentage of what you’re spending. It will be well worth it for some real discounts.

5) Set a budget and stick to it. Don’t blow your whole budget in one month, even if November and December are your biggest months. Figure out what you need to spend and do it month after month.

If you want to read more, visit AllBusiness.com for the October 15, 2008 article.