You don’t have to go too far to read about the impact of the economy on the ad market.  If you take a look at the article by Peter Kafka in today’s Silicon Alley Insider, you’ll see a chart that probably won’t make you jump for joy. (Watch the video below it. That’ll help.)

So when we all know that marketing and advertising dollars are not going to grow in 2009 and may even go down, what does that mean?  It means that companies are actually going to take the time to figure out how and where they’re getting the most for their dollars.  For those of us that are entrepreneurs, we’re already making sure we know how to best spend our money.  We don’t have a choice.  Every dollar counts. However, for large corporations, the Marketing team is going to have to buckle down and really analyze how they’re spending their budgets and the value they’re receiving for those investments.  The days of, “Hey, we spent our marketing budget and this year’s revenue also happens to have increased so it must be because of us.” are gone. 

For those companies providing internet advertising space, the news isn’t as bleak.  Most companies are seeing increased value every year by advertising online and that trend is not going to change.  The key is to make sure that your site is of value to your customers first, and your advertiser second.  If you’re in the newspaper or magazine industry, the trend is pretty much the opposite.  Also, many companies, especially us small businesses, are asking, “Do we really need a PR company?” For the most part with today’s technology and the many zero-barrier ways to communicate with the world, the answer is no.

Over the next year or so, quality of marketing spend and quality of the service or product being sold are going to take top priority for those companies that want to succeed.  The number of conversions will take precedent over the number of hits on metric charts.  Some big brands will need to actually improve the quality of their products that have made it so far due to the brand name or marketing dollars if they want to keep their customers.  Because, whether you take your clients to a game or not, they HAVE to buy the best and most efficiently priced product to succeed.  Recommendations and peer reviews are going to mean more in the commercial world now more then ever.  This is a great opportunity for businesses with quality solutions to step in and show prospective customers what they can offer because many companies out there can’t afford not to listen. You just need to know where the best places are to speak and be heard.

Tags: advertising, Marketing, recommendations

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 4:50 pm and is filed under General Info, Solution Providers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.