There is no doubt that the events industry has taken a hit this season and there's no end in sight. Will your business survive this economic downturn?

Clients are looking to cut costs and budgets are shrinking to record lows. Of course, the option of offering clients discounts is always available. That's easy and anyone can do that.

The problem with offering discounts is that while it may be viewed as a short term solution in creating the possibility of getting the business, this strategy can debilitate and/or devalue a company's most precious asset: the Brand.

I think that this time presents a great opportunity that prompts an urgency to offer clients more value for their investment. Instead of thinking "discount", think of ways to present event proposals that would maximize a client's ROI (Return On Investment).

One of the ways that a company can do this is by creating not-the-usual strategic partnerships, or more importantly: strengthening the ones that are already in place.

In this slow business downturn, there is a natural tendency to hunker down and wait for the storm to pass. The worst case scenario is for a company (or individual) to stay creatively complacent or stagnant.

A company may be in the mindset that they were doing very well before the economic downturn; and think that things will return to the way they were before. The problem is that this kind of shakeup in the marketplace creates an atmosphere of uncertainty in the minds of clients. Thus, clients lose focus on their regular partners in search of products/services that offer new creative value options.

The key effect that happens from creating strategic partnerships is that it allows for a company to re-invent itself, and this is critical in this business climate. As a result, a company's Brand maintains/grows its position in the marketplace by staying visible, fresh and viable to their respective clients.

This is a critical time when companies should be thinking of ways to re-invent themselves and focusing all their energies on innovation. The result of not taking creative steps to re-invent their products/services will undoubtedly allow the possibility for a competitor to get closer and in some cases, overtake a companyís position in the marketplace.

There are two ways that a company can innovate. One is to create a product/service that is totally original and unique to the events industry. And the second way is to take two existing products/services and merge them together, thereby creating one unique product/service. The second option can be harvested through strategic partnerships.

Companies can help each other through this economic downturn and achieve success by using this time wisely to work closer together to not only create more opportunities; but, also help ensure that their Brands remain strong now and in the future.

It is clear what's happening now. It is also clear that there are better days ahead. What is not clear is how each company will come out on the other side of this economic downturn. An important point to keep in mind is that while things will most definitely get better, the marketplace will be different. Will your company come out looking the same, stronger or weaker?