SMART Advertising in the Great Recession

Posted onMarch 5th, 2009 byadministrator

In the course normal of my business day, as a consultant for one of the most successful Adwords “Authorized” Companies in Los Angeles, CA., I find myself speaking with upwards of 30-50 advertisers, many of which report the unfortunate encumbrances they have been entertaining over the past few months. They tell me how they are not quite seeing the returns they’re accustomed to through Google advertising and how investing in their campaigns’ effectiveness could not imaginably make them more effective or improve their sales numbers. It’s my job to get in their face and tell them that they can and that we are everyday.

In these interesting times, we find ourselves in a time that is often compared to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Every day, we see the news channels shoving images of a broken economy down our throats. The stock market crash, the real estate market plunge, the auto industry bailouts, and the federal deficit increasing to unfathomable numbers are all indicators that we are approaching difficult times. Online consumer and business research and spending seems to be an area of great concern for internet advertisers as many of us look toward this type of budgeting to sustain cash-flows and profitability in our companies..

Although many businesses are being sent packing, it is time to actually get some conscious insight to some of these conditions so that we can take advantage of the internet advertising opportunity before us. That’s right! I said “OPPORTUNITY.”

I was reading an article today entitled Are We Sure About Pending Collapse of Ad-Supported Internet? by Svetlana Gladkova. Several interesting points are mentioned that might help shape the way you think about your Google Advertising. One of the first things mentioned is how people perceive the market to be. Businesses are affected by consumers and other businesses looking to cut back on any unnecessary expenses (coincidently advertising as the first of many.) And this preselected concept forces advertisers to jump to the sure conclusion that EVERYONE will stop spending ALL their money in EVERY industry. Gladkova decided to do some research to look into the actual status of our present condition and was surprised at what she found. She realized that the condition was really not that bad at all. It was actually better off than it was before.

Below is some opportunistic advice to consider when allocating for an online marketing management budget.

First, people are shying from expenses on many luxury items offered today. Understandably, they feel compelled to buy things that are more essential and have more present worth. Gladkovas hits us with reality that this doesn’t mean people are to stop buying all together. Manufactures are still going to produce goods and they are going to help advertise them through more often traditional print-type advertising and television media. All this really means is that we have to be careful about how we market our luxury product items. Make sure each dollar going toward of this advertising is maximized. This should be of the highest priority.

Secondly, whatever it is that you sell or provide as a service, consumers are going to be looking for deals and incentives. Your ads are the best way to pierce through the competition and to make a statement of value to your buyers.

In the Great Depression, even the huge firms like Proctor and Gamble, Camel Cigarettes, Chevrolet, and Sears which had already claimed bankruptcy at the time were forced to advertise more. Not only did they have to uphold the integrity of the brand, but they had made a decision to feel nothing was wrong. That was the driver that kept those boats afloat in those critical times. Last night, I read a book called Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson. The premise is that we are all looking for cheese. And when our cheese gets moved somewhere, we have a choice; either wait around for cheese to reappear (we know that’s not happening) or adjust. Exercising the full potential of your Adwords campaign is more like targeting more on new cheese and not waiting for it to reappear.

Next, when your ads show less and less, it tells the public something about your company’s financial condition. If your ads aren’t showing as much, your competitors’ ads will be showing more. And if your competitors have decided to show their ads less, then it costs you less to compete. Now that’s a strong opportunity if I have ever heard one. My advice here is to be the rock. Show your competitors and your clients that you aren’t going anywhere and you will see a stronger trend toward direct sales and customer loyalty.

Here are some recent spending stats (in comparison to the same time in 2007) provided by Google in the weekly reports they send out to us management firms:

2008 Black Friday Weekend Online Sales- Up 19%
Cyber Monday Online Spend- Up 15%
Weekend before Christmas Online Spend- Up 98%
Heaviest Online Spend Day was Tuesday, December 9th with $877 Million in Sales.
Total Online Spend this 2008 Holiday Season- $25.5 Billion

As times seem to be more difficult for advertisers, we need ask ourselves, is it really that bad or do we need to work a little harder to find our cheese? Are advertisers not really spending or are we not offering the right value? Do we need to decrease our Google Adwords spend or do we need to spend smarter?

Historically, the forward-thinking companies have not faltered with their advertising efforts. They were rocks. With CPC adverting and CPA advertising at our fingertips, we should be more than joyous that we have tools to strategize the most targeted and highest ROI campaigns ever. Companies in the Great Depression didn’t have the luxury of internet marketing and search engines. They just rolled out a bunch of ads and hoped for the best. Now we have the ability to track conversions and control ads up to the minute.

We have an OPPORTUNITY to really shine here if we play these cards right. Please consider Keyword Search Pros to maximize your online ROI and reduce your online advertising costs. (888) 816-0726.