Reading the online financial news over the course of the last year elicits the same feeling an executioner must receive reading out the crimes and the sentence of the condemned inmate, in this case, the slowly crawling American economy-record inflation, record foreclosures, increasing unemployment, high fuel prices. In a nation whose core labor force consists of a conglomerate of small businesses from sea to shining sea, each industry will be affected in different ways, but the more focused effort to maintain cash-conscious customers resonates evenly. This is normal when the market slows. A lot of business owners have tendency to accept a sluggish economy as a sign that they must work with it rather than against it, but this does not have to be the case.
In fact, putting up a fight against a slow economy may be your best strategy. As acclaimed real estate investor and author, Robert Kiyosaki professes: the opportunity to make money is very high when the economy is slow. As a small business owner, if you see the slow market as an opportunity to gain new customers or explore previously untapped market segments, not only will you ease the sluggish ripples coming from Wall Street, but you'll also position yourself to receive huge return on investment when the market sparks back into life.
Needless to say, there's no point throwing valuable advertising money into media outlets that will not provide a reasonable amount of new customers, particularly those outlets that rely on subscription-based consumers, namely newspapers and magazines. Print advertising revenue fell by 9.4% in 2007 according to the Newspaper Association of America. The cost of advertising on TV and radio takes the amateur fisherman approach to marketing: throw the message out a lot of times and pray. The best way to market your business when the economy is slow is through the medium that people use for free; one whose influence on America's daily routine is rapidly displacing other media outlets: the Internet.
Advertising on the Internet, specifically search engines, is not only the wave of the future, but also a smart way to obtain quality leads for your business. Search engine consumers are on a mission to locate something they want-a new dress, a nearby dentist, a video production service. By targeting your own handpicked keywords, you don't have to worry about ever wasting money because people clicking your ad are potential customers and not random newspaper readers or television watchers. According to a 2007 Nielsen/NetRatings survey in association with WebVisible, Inc., an Irvine, CA based search-marketing firm, 73% of search engine users would prefer to find products and services using search engines than have an advertisement sent to them. Direct mail, flyers and the heavy commercialization of many small business media outlets is a huge nuisance for consumers (hence the term junk mail) and just end up in the trash anyway. In terms of cost and viewer interest, the present status of search engine marketing cannot be beaten when the economy is slow.
The future of search marketing is brighter, though. According to the same Nielsen/NetRatings survey, 86% of those surveyed have used search engines to find local businesses from which to shop. 86% of Americans probably don't read the same newspaper or the same magazines, but they use Google and Yahoo universally. Local search is a quickly growing area for reliable sales leads so tapping into it as a useful resource for growing your business can offer revenue increases and limited advertising expenditures. In times of economic lethargy, the success of your business can benefit from the relatively small investment of starting a search engine marketing campaign.
Additionally, while most consider the Internet as a place for young people, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a significant 32% of Americans 65 and older are using the Internet. So, while the Internet was, in the past, a kingdom of youth, its ease of use and accessibility have transformed it into a resource that transcends demographics. In doing so, it is safe to say everyone and their grandfather is on the Internet. Those who search are potential customers for your small business and avoiding a technological advance that allows you to reach a virtually infinite audience at an inexpensive price could have drastic effects down the road when every established competitor and upstart uses search marketing effectively and you do not.
Undoubtedly, as a business owner, certain shifts or sacrifices in spending need to occur when revenues dip due to economic fluctuations. Those cuts should not come from the marketing budget, where instead, you can use the slowly crawling economy as an opportunity to find new customers and accelerate when others are matching the pace of the macro economy. Search marketing is not just the wave of the future, but the most cost-effective way to spread the message about your product or service, so when you read the articles and watch the news about how the greenback is losing its might, you can rest assured knowing that your dollars are working for you.
Brought to you by Chamber Clicks: Chamber Clicks, a provider of Chamber-supported Internet advertising solutions. Chamber Clicks was launched in Irvine, California, in partnership with the Irvine Chamber of Commerce and parent company WebVisible, Inc., to address the need for an effective, predictable and guaranteed local search advertising solution. By providing access to local audience on Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, AOL and a network of more than 25 search engines, Chamber Clicks gives a local advertiser the broadest reach and opportunity to drive guaranteed new leads to her website, for an affordable, fixed monthly budget. Erik can be reached at erosenow@webvisible.com
