When the economy goes down, companies and marketers try to cut down their budget and need to be careful with it.  As advertising and marketing budgets shrink or evaporate due to the economic crisis, many companies are going to be more cautious then ever when it comes to spending money on advertising and marketing.  In a recession, companies are going to be forced to think differently about how to spend advertising dollars. Companies will be less willing to spend their limited marketing dollars on unproved marketing channel and will be more willing to stick to proven methods.

Why do most companies turn to Search Engine Marketing and away from other marketing channels when they slash budgets? It is because Search Engine Marketing is a cost-effective marketing tool, 100% measurable campaign and unbeatable ROI.  A lot of traditional media is hit and hope, with most TV & Print campaigns having no tracking mechanism whatsoever. Direct marketing is a little better in this respect, but nothing compare to the clear metrics you get with search engine marketing. Whether it’s organic search (SEO) , PPC advertising, local search optimization or social media optimization can tell you how your customers are finding you, what they are doing when they have and most importantly, if they are spending their money with you.  In addition, other traditional channels such as print advertising, direct mail, etc nothing deliver Return on Investment like Search Engine Marketing.  For example, $50k spend on newspaper advertising might get you a single full page spread and, at best, a few hundred thousand eyeballs for a couple of seconds. However, $50k spent on Search Engine Optimization will get you tens of thousands of visitors (your potential customers) a day for years to come.

Written by Justin Jung, SEM Expert