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Gain the edge in a slowed economy by increasing your online spend

Written by: Rob Lawson

Article Overview: In the midst of an economic downturn, online media are defying the dismal trends of all other elements of the marketing mix, so increasing your online presence has never been more valuable or more important. This article examines how businesses can develop their online presence to gain an edge in a slowed economy. It looks at some case studies of what techniques some market leaders are employing to gain a competitive advantage online.

Gain the edge in a slowed economy by increasing your online spend

In the midst of an economic crisis, the importance of marketing strategy that increases your online presence becomes even more pronounced. The decisions you make now are what will steer you through the fog, and so it’s more than prudent to take the time to look at what strategies are surviving and thriving in the current economic climate, and use that intelligence to see what strategic adjustments you can make to your marketing spend.

You might have guessed it already, but we’re here and happy to tell you that online media are defying the dismal trends of all other elements of the marketing mix, so increasing your online presence has never been more valuable or more important.

One indication that increasing your online presence is a prudent move in the current economic climate is to look at the recent performance of online advertising. Online advertising has continued to grow while traditional media has dropped off. Online advertising grew 24 per cent in the final quarter of 2008 compared with 2007 and up 27 per cent from 2007.

In addition, online media companies are posting strong financial results despite the slowing economy. Google, for instance, recently announced record 4th quarter results. Revenues were up 42% compared with the same period of 2007 and an increase of 7% from the fourth quarter of 2007.

But the reasons to develop your online presence through a strong online marketing strategy are not only tied to the demonstrated (cost-effective) strength of online media in times of crisis, but also because online media is fast becoming the best means with which to talk to your customers.

A recent University of Massachusetts study found that in 2008 “familiarity with and use of blogs, podcasting, wikis, online video and social networking skyrocketed in 2008 to nearly double what it was in 2007. 77% of respondents reported at least some use of a social media tool in their business.” These figures scream reasons to firm-up your online presence.

Are you part of the 77% of people using social media to increase their online presence? Are your competitors? One thing is for sure, the market-leaders in your industry are taking full advantage of cost-effective social media marketing to broaden and deepen their customer relationships. Here are a few of the many examples:

• Blendtec is famous for its bevy of inexpensive “Will It Blend” videos posted on YouTube and shared by millions.
• Adobe maintains a list of interesting company related websites and conversations on the social bookmarking site Delicious.
• Best Western sponsors a blog,“On the Go with Amy,” where the author travels the country writing about her experiences.
• Dell leverages a variety of social media platforms for customer engagement, including an island in the virtual world of Second Life.
• Ford publishes news releases with lots of multimedia content and employs a social media news release format to display them in their newsroom.
• H&R Block created a Facebook fan site to aggregate its social media activities, engage customers and offer tax advice/resources.
• HP used Twitter to power a scavenger hunt at a recent conference.
• Jeep connects with customers via a community page with links to photos on Flickr, the company’s MySpace and Facebook pages and a list enthusiast groups.
• Starbucks started MyStarbucksIdea so that customers can submit ideas for the company which are then voted on by other users, the best of which will be implemented by the company.

These are good, simple ideas that you can easily implement to increase your online presence. After all, building relationships is the essence of marketing and business, and by utilizing tools specifically designed to connect people you can go a long way to not only saving money in a time of belt-tightening, but also build your online presence which leads to better long-term relationships with your customers that will bear fruit long after the downturn points its nose skyward.

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Article Tags: 4th quarter, dismal trends, economic climate, economic crisis, elements of the marketing mix, familiarity, fog, fourth quarter, google, importance of marketing, media tool, midst, online marketing strategy, podcasting, presence, prudent move, quarter results, respondents, social networking, university of massachusetts



Related Forum Posts
Re: Is YouTube Going Commercial? - Wow Josip, I just checked out that link and I do find the lengths that people are willing to go for sales are increasing significantly. Trillions of dollars are spent on advertisements annually and I think it's only going to increase, considering the economy right now. This is a great thread to get people's attention, because some people just don't know what's going on because their too busy.
Re: Facebook Advertising? - Ya facebook really works in increasing the traffic. This technique comes under the SMO.I ll suggest you to go for stumble upon and digg also it will also help you in increasing the trafiic.
Re: Service Or Product? - Service company always thrive in down economy. Let look at the advertising industies in any economy, you need to advertise your products or services even if you cannot afford any other things
Re: Did you buy into the iPhone 3G craze? - Well for one the MAC is way faster... even after having it for the last 6 months it hasn't slowed down. especially during startup. My PC started slowing down it's startup within 3 months. you'll find there are not a lot of programs out there for the MAC but I'm increasingly finding that most of the programs I use for business are available as online versions of the product and are typically platform independent - so no worries there. I like the feel of the MAC and the way the fonts and graphics look on it. OH, the battery life is amazing even after 6 months I'll typically get a consistent 4 hours from it.
Re: Improving Cash Flow - Hi Robert, My advice is to cut unnecessary expenses and save as much as possible. Examine your costs on a month-to-month basis and figure out ways you can save, whether it's buying less at the grocery store, using less electricity, etc. Any little bit will help. The money saved over time will amount to quite a bit. Regarding increasing cash flow through online marketing, this is possible and something I'm working on. At this time last year, I was bringing in only around $50 per month. Forward to today, and I'm bringing in anywhere from $400 to $700 per month. A lot of time and effort has been spent getting to that point and increasing my income over time, but the result is more than worth it. I try to constantly improve what I'm doing and branch out into new avenues to create even more income streams. It is possible to do, but it will take time and work on your part before you start to see the kind of extra cash that you want.


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