When the economy takes a downturn, and the word “recession” is uttered in executive offices across the country, there is often one standard response: cut the budget. For many companies, the first department on the chopping block is marketing. This is the one area of businesses where results may seem intangible, and executives could assume — at their peril — that slicing away some of the perceived marketing fat will make little difference to the end result. The truth could not be more different.