Internet Marketing in Hard Economic Times

As the news of global meltdowns, bankruptcies, foreclosures, layoffs and bailouts continues to mount, it is increasingly clear that we must tweak our promotional strategies to adjust for the harsh realities of the economic times. Whether we are in B-to-B or B-to-C, all of our customers are likely to spend less and our advertising budgets are likely to be trimmed accordingly.

That is why it appears to me that there is no better time to invest more in interactive internet promotional activities. Here is why:

Measurability - Internet advertising is more measurable than other forms of media. Don't believe me? Try to measure conversion rate for a billboard ad on a random street corner.
Scalability - With "guaranteed" banner ads which on only displayed when a relevant user is visiting the sight, the user gets a significantly more targeted form of media. "Guaranteed" banners are more expensive than "non-guaranteed" banners but the absolute cost is cheaper than non-internet forms of display ads.
Audience - The internet audience continues to grow. With over 300 million broadband subscribers globally it is very likely that your target market can be reached via internet marketing. If we compare this with the estimated 1.4 billion televisions on our planet we can get a perspective on the upside potential.

The key is to examine your customers buying cycle and determine where internet advertising can be most effective. If pre-sales and where that opportunity exists than attempt to educate you customer through your advertising to hopefully drive sales.

What an Obama Victory Says about Mobile Marketing

Early this morning, I received the following SMS:

We just made history. All of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion to this campaign. All of this happened because of you. Thanks, Barack

Never before have we seen a presidential campaign that has completely embraced Mobile Marketing as the one for Barack Obama. Whether it made the difference in him winning the Presidency is debatable. However, it is clear that from this moment forward all future presidential campaigns will have to utilize "new media" to reach specific demographic audiences.

The Obama campaign used SMS from the beginning of the campaign. However, there were two activities that were especially successful in engaging individuals to accept the medium from the campaign:

1. During the Super Bowl in February, 2008 the campaign ran and ad that asked its supporters to send "hope" to 62262 or O B A M A to "opt-in" to SMS communications.

2. August, 2008 the announcement of Obama's Vice Presidential running mate was made exclusively via SMS.

The lessons learned here is the power of cross media plays when it comes to Mobile Marketing. SMS marketing, combined with Web or even TV advertising can significantly enhance the effectiveness of the medium.

Now, it will be interesting to see if Obama continues to utilize SMS once he moves into the White House. I will be eager to receive a text message stating:

The financial crisis has been solved! Thanks, Barack