Online Marketing Recession Updates

October 14, 2008 | By Marc Porcelli | No Comments »

Like all online marketers, I have been keeping close tabs on any signs of slowing ad spend. Working in the direct response world, I really haven’t seen any major signs of turbulence. There are some advertisers that are not expanding on new unproven initiatives, but I expect these are temporary delays (one or two quarters). This of course depends on what happens with the macro-economic environment. Advertisers for the most part are staying the course, after all, their business’ are dependent on their online marketing efforts.

I hate to say it, but there is SO MUCH hot air in the online marketing industry, particularly around BT, emerging technologies and ANYTHING social. If anything, this recession we find our selves in will clear out a lot of this hot air. For organizations that are established and have a proven business model, it is a great opportunity to expand and to take market share. BusinessWeek today ran a great article, “Startups Feel the Squeeze” which outlines some of the pain these start-ups are feeling. The cash that was there has simply dried-up to fund many of these new start-ups.

Again though, there is a plethora of opportunity out there, particularly in the performance marketing space. Advertisers are pulling back left and right offline, not willing to spend on initiatives that are unproven. This posses a tremendous opportunity to the online marketing world, now is the time to push hard to close new opportunities from advertisers that have traditionally shied away from online. The single biggest challenge, the one anyone knows who has been online, is convincing the skeptics who sign the contracts who just don’t get it. Again referring to BusinessWeek, ” The Sucking Sound of Ad Dollars Disappearing” outlines some of the harder hit verticals and where the dollars are truly evaporating.

For online advertisers, this is a buyers market, particularly in the CPM world. Rates are drooping across the board. Sites that would traditionally only offer CPM rates are now offering CPC and CPA, and not just to their top spenders! The real online marketers that haven’t jumped in when rates are high are now going to expand their spends.

Lastly, I found a great post on Fred Wilson’s blog today titled appropriately, “The Ying and Yang of Public and Private Markets.” There is some great perspective on the current markets, particularly the impact of the Ted Spread, this one is a must read.

Keep in mind at the end of the day measurable results are measurable results. What better place than to measure results than instantly doing so online.

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Category: Ad Networks, Behavioral Targeting, Competitive Intelligence, Media Buying, Online Marketing, Recession Marketing

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