Online Marketing in a Recession
In the middle of this economic crisis, when work and profit are dwindling, it has never been more important to invest in the future of your business. During the last decade we have seen the internet grow into a medium that did not exist the last time the country was in recession. Online, business is being conducted at an astonishing rate. The internet’s growth rate is matched only by the rate of contraction of traditional enterprises.
The world wide web is known by the vast majority as the place to go to find an immediate answer to their question, the solution to problems, or best value item. It’s ideal for window shopping since you can compare several shops in a few short clicks. Although this has been beneficial for many, it has worked against some businesses who do not sell on price.
One thing is certain though, the internet has traffic, and that traffic is a measurable commodity. We know where surfers go, what they are looking for, and from that data we can position websites in their path in order to meet the surfers needs. This has become a very efficient way of buying customers which is in essence what any business does when it advertises. If you look at the acquisition cost of customers online it is much more cost effective than equivalent high street advertising.
The businesses that put themselves in the way of this traffic now by investing in online marketing and promotion are the businesses that will make it through the recession. The economy is predicted to contract by 3.5% during this year, it is then predicted (rather optimistically) to return to growth in 2010. The purpose of this article is not to discuss whether that will happen or not, but if we do see economic growth in 2010, that will make this the least damaging, shortest economy slump on record. After all, having 7% of the population unemployed, still leaves 93% working and spending money.
Intelligent business owners in the country will be investing in market share during the slump during which time their competitors will be struggling to survive. Some companies are still growing in spite of the downturn, in order to be one of them, it’s as simple as moving with the times and taking advantage of the online oppertunities that are available.
It is said that during a boom for every 10 of advertising spend you will receive 19 in return, but in a recession, for every 10 spend you will receive 51 return. This is because there are less companies advertising, so your attract more customers with each advert.
The are different options available to increase the amount of traffic to your website. “Search engine optimisation” is one of them. This is essentially the process of getting your website to climb up the results rankings of search engines, the main focus being on “Google” as they have over 80% of the internet’s total search traffic. Pay-Per-Click is another way of increasing your website’s exposure. This involves putting your website near or at the top of Google’s paid listings. Although this is a much faster method than search engine optimisation, it will be more expensive in the over time as you have to pay a pre-set amount every time your ad is clicked on.
Put both of these mehtods into practice, along with an email newsletter in order to update your clients about what you’re up to, combine with article submission and a blog, and you can end up with a huge online presence, ensuring your company’s survival and growth during the recession.