Internet Marketing – The Right Solution For Today’s Economy

Internet marketing is effective and, more importantly, it is affordable. The latter consideration is especially relevant, given the current economic malaise.

The temptation to cut marketing budgets during a recession can be overwhelming, but it would be the wrong move. In fact, past experience shows us that companies that continue spending on marketing during bad economic times realize important gains in the marketplace when the economy recovers.

Consider the recession of the early 1980s. A study of 600 companies showed that businesses that maintained their marketing spend had higher rates of sales growth during the recession and in the three years that followed it. In fact, in 1985, those companies saw sales growth of 256% compared to companies that had cut back on marketing and advertising.

The same trend holds true for the 2001 recession. Companies that kept marketing through the tough times saw their market share increase by 2 ½ times the average when the recession ended.

Your company may realize the importance of marketing during a recession, but may still need to cut costs. That is what makes Internet marketing so essential.

Internet marketing is multifaceted and versatile. Yes, you can spend a bundle on pay per click (PPC) advertising, but you don’t have to. You can just as easily take advantage of newer (and more affordable) trends in Internet marketing. Or, you can choose a combination of pay per click and traditional SEO, which tends to cost little or nothing to implement.

Here are just some of the many tools that an Internet marketing firm can offer you:

o Keyword research – Decide whether to aim for a local market, like Toronto, or whether to take a more regional focus, like GTA or Ontario.

o Link building – Generate valuable incoming links to your site and see your Google ranking improve.

o Pay per click – Ad writing, keyword research, and management of the entire PPC campaign.

o Social media marketing – Learn how to use social networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – to build your brand.

o Copywriting – Get great search-engine-optimized content for your site.

o Articles and blogs – Use blogs to talk to your customers, and write search-engine-optimized articles to create links to your site.

o Optimize your site – Make sure it appeals to customers, is easy to use and helps you close the sale.

With Internet marketing, you are not limited to any one of these tools, nor are you required to use them all. This versatility is one of the main benefits of Internet marketing – you can customize a marketing plan to your needs and tailor it to your budget.

We are in the midst of a serious economic downturn, but that does not mean that your business can just disappear and expect to bounce back when the economy does. You need to maintain your presence in the marketplace – in good times and bad – and Internet marketing is the most affordable way to do it.