In part two of a two part series, Matt Granfield brings you 20 ways on how best to keep a clean pair of dacks on in this volatile economic environment. Treat this as a cheat sheet for maintaining and creating harmonious business perspectives.

Part One

Part Two

11. Get on LinkedIn and start networking your arse off. Unlike Facebook, which isnt a fantastic tool for marketing your company, LinkedIn is a value-adding business conversation and it will help you meet savvy new people.

12. Learn the basics of SEO (search engine optimisation) and get your website ranking better in Google. It will cost you less than putting an ad in a newspaper and it will put you right in front of people who are actively searching for what you do.

13. Make friends with journalists. Buy them drinks. They like it.

14. You dont need a digital strategy, you need a conversation strategy.

15. Use new technologies, embrace the future, but for goodness sake, stop Twittering when you have more important things to do. You dont have to have MySpace page or a Facebook account for your business. Take advice on whats relevant to you, dont do it just because the Gen Y portion of your office thinks its a good idea. Ask Gen X, they grew up with computers too. In fact, they know everything Gen Y does, but they have more perspective.

16. Stop trying to do things the same way you always did them or youll end up clutching at straws trying to make money. Adapt and survive. Dont blame senior management if they cant see the writing on the wall, its your job to convince them. Get out your marker pens and spell it out for them in bigger letters.

17. If youre worried about impending global financial doom, guess what, so is everyone else. Diversify. Offer cheaper products, out-source appropriately. If people dont have as much money to spend you can sacrifice quality, as long as they understand what theyre getting. You can diversify your brand without causing harm, but you have to make sure your customers know whats going on. (Refer to point 14).

18. You need to save money, so make sure you know your ROI and stop spending cash on marketing strategies that dont work. Dont listen to people who talk about reach, theyre lying.

19. Look at the people around you. Are they amazing? If theyre not amazing, get new people. If you cant afford (or find) amazing people, find a business mentor (a proper one, not someone who couldnt make their own business work so they started a consultancy).

20. Make philanthropy a core part of your business strategy and dont tell anyone about it. If youre shouting about how much good youre doing in the world everyone will know youre doing it as a marketing tactic. If you really are worried about impending global financial doom, do something about it. Give. Care.