At last, some good(ish) news on the economy! The CBI, which represents the bulk of the UK’s employers – so they ought to know about this stuff – says that the UK economy is NOT going onto another recession.

Despite the Eurozone debt crisis, UK gross domestic product is expected to rise slightly by about 1 per cent over the next few months and by over 2 per cent next year.

Although growth will remain subdued and conditions tough, the CBI thinks the UK will avoid an official recession – two quarters of declines in a row – as it bounces back from its 0.2% fall in the final quarter of 2011 with growth of 0.2% in the first three months of this year.

Okay, so we’re still a long way from breaking out the champagne and dancing in the streets, and it’s possible (likely, even) that conditions elsewhere in the world will adversely affect the UK economy, but even small growth is better than no growth at all.

The CBI’s figures reflect the mood among the businesses I come across - all kinds of businesses from multinationals to backstreet metal-bashers. I’ve been helping organisations grow and prosper through the use of marketing,  sales campaigns and publicity, promotion and PR for over 20 years and for some time now, they’ve been telling me the same thing: To hell with the recession! If we believe everything we read and hear in the media, then we’re all doomed! The only way to make things better is we grow ourselves out of recession.

So marketing plans, PR campaigns, product launches and customer contact initiatives that were put on hold when the economic downturn first hit are being dusted off and enacted.

Activities such as marketing are usually the first to be dumped when money’s tight but should be the first thing to be revived as soon as there’s a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. On the principle that: if we don’t get our marketing and sales drive up and running now, our competitors will beat us to whatever business is out there.

So my question is: What’s YOUR take on current conditions? Is it: Keep your head down, draw in your horns and hope for things to improve? Or: Sleeves up, head down and “if it is to be it is up to me”?

PS. Come to the Beat the recession roadshow on March 23.