There’s a silver lining in everything, even in this economy. You just have to look for it.

Some of the best businesses rise out of the ashes of a fallen market and it’s no coincidence that most success stories view a down economy through similar lenses. Perspective matters when it comes to doing business in this economic climate. Otherwise, there are valuable opportunities to be missed.

Consider some of the following when wading through the muddy waters of this economy:

Less competition in the marketplace: In a down economy, there’s less competition. Period. Take advantage of the fact that there are fewer businesses competing in the same space.

This could be a huge opportunity to leverage your business and capitalize on the scarcity of competition. A proactive business can achieve greater market share and even become the market leader.

Advertising is less expensive: Historically, when markets are down, the first thing to go is advertising budgets. So, media companies often cut deals to boost their revenues and keep their advertisers. They practically give it away.

This is great news for you. Take advantage of low rates and increase your exposure to boost your brand presence.

Relevant messaging in the marketplace: Is your message relevant in today’s marketplace? Not the marketplace six months ago, but the present market with all its faults and inefficiencies.

Successful businesses take the time to evaluate the relevancy of their message in these uncertain times. Does it resonate with your consumer? Are you providing them with a solution that presently works for them? These are important considerations that show your potential customer that you have their best interest in mind and will, ultimately, make your business stand out.

Don’t just survive, thrive!
Surviving a down economy means operating with more fortitude than fear, thinking strategically, maintaining a “glass half-full” mentality and action, lots of it.

No matter what your business, if you take proactive measures to navigate this economy you’ll not only increase your chances of survival, you’ll most likely be one of the businesses still standing tall.

Marketing advertising, digital advertising, down economy, marketplace, Online Marketing, opportunities, Small Business

Ad Age article today states 73% of women said the recession has fundamentally changed the way they think about saving and spending money vs. 57% of men. Could it be because women are the ones shopping for the family, so they feel the effects of rising grocery bills combined with lower incomes? http://adage.com/u/5R3YZb

Marketers, whether packaged goods companies, clothing manufacturers or luxury retailers all need to adjust their efforts. The article goes on to state the they need to market to women’s “rational” side. We’ve been advising some of our clients about this very thing for months.

Position your items as basics, essentials, and smart buys.

Marketing advertising, Marketing, Online Marketing, Recession Marketing

Was just reading a really interesting article in AdAge ( http://adage.com/article?article_id=138673 ), about WPP, the holding company for such advertising behemoths as JWT, Y&R and Ogilvy. It’s probably not a shock to anyone that their profits are down 47% in 2Q 2009, given the economy and marketers need to cut back ad spending (media, production, and creative costs).

What I found really interesting about the article is the shift in where they made their profits. The article states that “More than 61% of the holding company’s revenue came from nontraditional services such as direct, digital, PR and research.” Back when I was a worker bee at JWT, media (as in broadcast and print) was a huge profit center. Considering the huge cross-section of clients they represent, it’s an important shift.

Digital Marketing, Marketing advertising, Online Marketing

There are exceptions to every rule and it is important to analyze each situation on its own merit. But as a general starting point, a good rule of thumb for creating online ads is to remember the following: successful offline advertising gets consumers to buy products or services; successful online advertising drives consumers to a website, which in turn should sell the consumer.

For example, the ultimate goal for a television ad for dishwashing liquid is to convince the viewer that the next time they buy dishwashing liquid, they should buy that particular brand.

An online ad for dishwashing liquid can’t really get enough information across to convince a user to buy that product. The online ad takes the user to a website that extols its benefits. Even if that site is not an ecommerce site and doesn’t sell the product, the purpose of the site to convince the user that the next time they go out to buy dishwashing liquid, they should buy that particular brand of cleaner.

The online ad program should influence the messaging: PPC versus CPM

Ads running on a PPC basis should first create interest and then qualify the user before they click through to the site, since each click will cost the company money. Qualifying the user first stops wasteful click-thrus and increases ROI.

Ads placed on a site with a weekly or monthly CPM should create interest and drive as much traffic to the site as possible. Since ad expenditure is based on the number of people that have the opportunity to see the ad and not how many people click on the ad and go through to the site, the ad doesn’t need to qualify users as much as a PPC advertisement. But that doesn’t mean you should write an ad that sends everyone to the site. It means an ad on a CPM site doesn’t have to qualify the user as much as a PPC ad.

Remember, there are certainly exceptions to this rule and we’re not talking about branding efforts online.

If you take one thing away from this post it’s this: online ads drive traffic to websites, which then sell the users on the product.

Marketing advertising, AdWords, Banner Ads, PPC