Companies globally have been impacted by recent decline in the economic climate.

Dare I suggest it however that some business owners simply use the excuse of the international economic climate as a kneejerk reaction to downgrade their marketing and advertising spend.

Advertising types under the ‘return on investment microscope’ include Radio, TV, Direct Mail, Magazines etc.  

Yes the above provide a return on investment, however many SME’s are unable to sustain regular investments in the above especially in the tougher economic climate. Every business must use its own discretion in allocating its investments that produce the most effective return.

So where should the funds be spent and what are the business trends?

A recent study confirms that search engines are by far, a more common first point of call for consumers over yellow pages and all other mediums when searching for a product or service.

I still hear many business owners validate their decisions through the old saying “when the US sneezes Australia catches the cold.”

Quite the statement but at what stage of the cold are US businesses where Internet Advertising is concerned? Let me challenge many Aussie business owners mindset with the following IAB report published 7^th of October 2007:

“Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) today announced that Internet advertising revenues reached almost $5.9 billion for the third quarter of 2008, representing an 11 percent increase over the same period in 2007.”

I am astounded to learn that many businesses still spend money on White and Yellow Pages. Who has heard or seen the “Green Soft Puppet” lately?

I have an unusual grin when hearing the Telstra Green “Soft Puppet” pump 1234 down my ear and moreover ponder the strong marketing efforts of White Pages.com.au on TV lately in their attempts to convince consumers to use their website to find ‘local businesses’?

Thanks to David Silverman of PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PWC) I can now sleep at night having read the following from the same IAB report:  

“Interactive advertising continues to be the most measurable and cost-effective way to reach consumers, and we see more and more marketers seeking to harness its power.” David Silverman, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP….

Lesson for business owners to consider:

Wise are the companies that invested in ‘search engine optimisation’ (SEO) well over 6 months ago and are now benefiting from 24/7/365 exposure to their clients in the natural search engine rankings of Google and the like.

Fortunately….it is never too late to compete, but regretfully the longer business owners take to act and convert their websites to a sales machine the longer their competitors capture a greater slice of their market share.

Noam Judah

Tweet This Post