| I am getting hammered by everyone (employees, | | | | advertising dollar pool may soften a bit, but online has |
| clients, investors, mom) on what I believe the impact | | | | such a small portion of it that we can only expect to |
| our current recession (including peoples’ | | | | see more money. I don’t think the question is |
| paychecks and efforts for raises) will have on our | | | | whether or not online continues to grow (again phone |
| market. I get asked not only for the effects in | | | | internet sharers, this is beyond your reach) as much |
| general or in internet marketing, but an overall effect | | | | as it is at what rate it is growing. Furthermore, the |
| on the online economy. It is hard enough to have to | | | | recession may actually accelerate the industry’s |
| admit to the recession, let alone get bombarded by | | | | overall share of marketing dollars. |
| people about it. | | | | But Ay, there’s the rub; one area that the |
| *Disclaimer: I am known to be a fatalistic optimist, so | | | | internet could see problems, is with investment dollars |
| please take my words how you wish. | | | | being thrown at us (we aren’t strippers here). |
| In the long run, the recession should have an overall | | | | Aside from Google and a couple of other real |
| positive impact for many, because more people will | | | | successes, the internet has not exactly been the |
| be throwing more dollars online. Of the yearly $240 | | | | safest play for investors. Sure, there have been |
| billion currently being spent on advertising, only 7% is | | | | some huge IPO’s for investors in the past, but |
| online. In contrast to this, people spend 17% of their | | | | most of those companies that paid huge dollars to |
| advertising consumption online. The most important | | | | investors were very artificial (and most have closed |
| advantage of marketing online versus offline is the | | | | their doors). If you are one of those companies that |
| ability to enter into short term relationships and see | | | | relies on investment to sustain growth, you had |
| enough data to move and adjust a campaign, | | | | better have one hell of a plan B, as the private |
| without having to pay for lunch (and you can skip the | | | | equity market is inevitably going to dry up. |
| dinner invite) . To market offline, you typically have | | | | You all asked for it, and I believe that the internet will |
| to plan months in advance and commit to a campaign | | | | have a similar effect for online commerce as it does |
| (TV/PRINT/RADIO) for multi-month or even year | | | | offline. I am partners in many online commerce stores |
| terms. Your data will come in every couple of | | | | and we can already see a bit of a negative effect in |
| months, and other than seeing spikes in sales, it is | | | | higher-end “luxury” items. Commerce will |
| hard measure what is and is not working. This | | | | soften in general and will certainly appear online. We |
| doesn’t seem to fly in the technologically | | | | could get a nice new breed of people looking for |
| advanced world we live in now. And if you are still | | | | better deals, and everyone knows (now) that the |
| sharing your internet connection with your phone line- | | | | internet is by far the most efficient place to do that. |
| why are you reading this? When you spend your | | | | Those are my thoughts…buckle down, save |
| money online, you can see exactly what each dollar is | | | | money, and most importantly, make a very strict |
| doing and if you see problems in your campaign, you | | | | plan to be able to turn your company profitable by |
| can change and adjust it whenever you want. You | | | | the end of the year. |
| can also enter into short term contracts (sometimes | | | | For more resources about Internet Marketing |
| as little as a month at a time) to experiment. | | | | Consultant or about Internet Marketing Consultant |
| Because of the obvious efficiencies in online | | | | San Diego or even about Internet Marketing |
| advertising as compared to offline, I believe more of | | | | Consultant Southern California please review these |
| the dollars being spent will move online. The overall | | | | web pages. |