Newsletter # 130 Online Marketing in a Recession - 7 Tips

Created on Feb 25 2009 12:00AM

Throughout the world most countries are in recession which means that the business climate is probably a lot tougher for you than it was a year ago.

As we have noted in previous articles, online marketing has surged over the past few years as companies realize that marketing on the Internet is very cost-effective compared to traditional media. So you know that the Internet is great value, but how to you realize this value in these troubled times?

1. For many sites more than half the traffic can come from Google and others, so surely it makes sense to put some effort into this area? Many businesses refocus when times get tough so make sure that your Website search engine optimising reflects your business now, not how it was five years ago.
   
   
2. Google AdWords appear at the right and sometimes at the top of Google searches. They can work brilliantly if there is little competition in your industry, your products or services are easily described, you run special offers or promotions or the worth of customers are undervalued by your competition. See this article.
   
   
3. There will be fewer potential customers so treat enquiries and people opting-in like gold! Many companies are far too casual in the way they treat these contacts - make sure every contact goes into a targeted mailing list so these contacts can be emailed, direct mailed or telephoned. You may also wish to automate your responses to online contacts by setting up an autoresponder program that sends out pre-designed email messages at certain intervals.
   
   
4. Many of your competitors will reduce their marketing budgets; so even though there are fewer customers there will be less competition for them. So don’t reduce yours; optimise it. Use your Web analytics software to gain an insight into what your customers are actually doing online. If they are leaving your site or specific pages too often, try to work out why. If you can’t see yourself, recruit some real (independent) users and see what they do - test and optimise.
   
   
5. Part of this optimisation process should be looking at your Website presence with the “Big 3” Questions as suggested by FutureNow (www.futurenowinc.com):
   
   1. Who are we trying to persuade?
   2. What action(s) do we want them to take?
   3. What do they need to see and find to be confident to take that action?
   
   
6. When customers make decisions in a downturn they’re more likely to go with a trusted source, so ensure you are solving their problems effectively and they will continue to deal with you. Beef your online support systems so clients don’t have to go elsewhere to find the answers - think knowledge bases, wizards, chat support and video. Remember that selling more to your existing customers is far cheaper than acquiring new ones.
   
   
7. Market more intensively to your existing customers and ask them directly what they want. Email marketing is very effective here and can be segmented cost-effectively to provide customised solutions for specific customer groups.
   

Even in the Great Depression new businesses were started and fortunes made. Often tough times can be beneficial to smart businesses that hunker down and sort out what is important. Then when the good times come around again they are often stronger and with fewer competitors.

Because online marketing is measurable and very cost-effective, it should be a key plank in your marketing efforts when the going gets tough.

Hot Tips

Newbies

Everybody is doing the social networking thing and you're interested but have no idea how to start? Check out Fast Company's Social Network Guide For Newbies.

Power Users

If you want to know more about social networking why not read what an expert has to say? An interview with danah boyd (yes lowercase) here or see her paper: Social Network Sites: Public, Private or What?

Interesting Sites

Venturehacks is a site that offers advice for entrepreneurs but is full of great information for anyone interested in business. Some great case studies. For example the latest post is about Lean Startups (probably essential today) and how startup companies have to be able to learn. http://venturehacks.com/

InsiteFul Quotes

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." Issac Asimov

You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page of www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

Archives

To access previous newsletters visit our newsletter archive.

To unsubscribe please click here.

If you want to subscribe to this newsletter just visit www.netinsites.com and use the box at the top right.

Best wishes

Alex Garden

Internet Strategy | Website Design | Website Promotion | Web Text Messaging | Email Newsletters | Online Sports Games | Content Management