Designing a recession-proof future: marketing and branding agency looks to benefit from larger firms' economic woes.(Bella Lane

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THINGS HAVE COME FULL CIRCLE FOR Bella Lane. It was an economic recession during the early 2000s that led the graphic designer to start a business, and it's another recession that's forcing her to switch gears.

Lane, who owns Bella Lane Designs Inc., a Lithonia, Georgia-based marketing and branding company (www.bellalanedesigns.com; 770-656-4007), says business is holding steady despite the current financial crisis. In 2008, the three-employee firm earned nearly $250,000 in revenues and, so far, Bella Lane Designs' strategy of competing with lower rates seems to be paying off. The company is on track to earn $360,000 in 2009. "No matter how uncertain, you've just got to be ready for the opportunities," says Lane, who continues to bank on the recession being a pivotal time to catapult her business.

Opportunity can be found in the direst situations, Lane discovered when she was laid off by an advertising agency months after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. "I had just bought a house, I had just bought a car, I had two babies, and I was getting a divorce," recalls the 39-year-old.

"I couldn't find a job." says Lane, who started freelance design projects to get by. Lane had little money to advertise, so she found her initial clients by offering free and low-cost services. She donated services to a couple of nonprofits to get her name out. She also solicited the customers of local print shops. "I thought, 'These people need what I do, she recalls. "So if I could offer the same service at a more affordable price, they might give me a go."

The move paid off, with downsizing companies outsourcing their marketing needs to Lane rather than hiring a fulltime marketing staff. With work coming in regularly, Lane decided in 2003 to launch and incorporate Bella Lane Designs. The company's success stems from contracts to design Websites, create logos, and construct e-mail marketing campaigns for clients such as Atlanta's Emory University, the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce in Georgia, and Livingston, New Jersey-based medical group Emergency Medical Associates.

But with the current recession, Lane finds herself once again grappling with not only a shaky economy but also a challenging advertising environment. Lane says she is focusing marketing efforts on areas that haven't been hit as hard, such as the medical services industry. She's also in the process of getting 8(a) certification so Bella Lane Designs qualifies for federal projects set aside for minority--and women-owned businesses.

With an eye for opportunity, Lane isn't content to just stay afloat during tough times. She's looking to profit from the recession by targeting companies that also need to salvage their own bottom line. "Larger advertising agencies charge higher rates because of their overhead," she says. "We can provide the same quality of service--same standards, same product--but our overhead is lower." The result: Lane can undercut them. "In a market like this when everyone is trying to cut their budget, we're in an ideal position," she says. Much of the company's contracts fall in the $10,000 to $30,000 range. "We look at the recession as an opportunity to transition from a small agency to more of a mid-sized agency and a way to get more of those national contracts."