It may be years away or much closer, but one thing is certain: sooner or later, the economy will cycle downward. That means two things for you now. First, there’s a tendency to give marketing less attention when things are booming and business is good. But that’s when you need to market robustly, to take advantage of that momentum and build the strongest possible customer base to carry you through any slowdown that occurs. Second, because marketing is the first thing to get cut when times are tight, you should try to set aside funds now in a “rainy day account” that will let you continue to market even if things slip.