There's a funding crisis in the eurozone, inflation in China and anaemic growth in the US.

That's a pretty lethal combination when it comes to investors' appetite for risk.

European governments hoped that their unambiguous signal on Sunday night of their intention to provide around £75bn of rescue loans to Ireland would calm investors - and stop the fall in the price of debt of the more financially challenged eurozone states.

It hasn't happened.

Is your business at a crossroads? Don’t know which direction to take?

Any Briton tempted to gloat over the woes of Ireland should probably think again, in that Ireland's financial crisis could easily have been the UK's.

The point is that Ireland's flaws are an extreme version of what happened here:

There will be formal confirmation this evening from the Irish government that it is applying for rescue loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Since the request won't be refused, this can be seen as a "high-level" announcement that the rescue is happening, according to officials.

This morning's interview with the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Patrick Honohan, is a gem and Mr Honohan has instantly become a hero of mine.

 

We have often talked about the need to promote your business in a recession to survive and thrive. There has never been a better time to build a 12 point plan of promotional activity.

The key action all businesses should take now is to have a 12 point promotion plan. That is a different promotion activity for each of the next 12 months. Be radical and try new things, not just advertising and networking.

Ever thought about developing an online communication tool to help bring customers to your website or your offices? 

Correctly using Social Media might be exactly what you need. Think about the possibilities of driving customers to you through the power of what you do and say! A virtual trade show played out over the web. 

All businesses should be looking at the developments here - whey not contact us to get a free review of the opportunities for Social Media marketing.

The explosion of Social Media has made the task of marketing your products and service really interesting of late.

With social media networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and others there has never been a better time to get involved and tell the world about your business.

But doing this well is not just a simple case of letting your employees sit on face book all day. In fact a business needs to have a professional presence on each of these Social Media sites and to be disconnected from the personal chit-chat. Getting this right is critical in-order to market your presence.

We often see that in a recession the first thing that gets cut after spend on Training and Recruitment is the marketing budget. Whilst this is totally understandable, it is also extremely dangerous. 

Countless examples exist to show and prove that businesses that continue to market themselves during times of hardship emerge triumphant with a renewed sense of purpose and energy.