Advertise Smartly: Surviving a Recession 101

Submitted By: Katherine Maurus, Co-Owner, Blu Echo Design

In an unstable economy advertising often gets cut as a compensatory mechanism. The problem with traditional advertising is that ROI is difficult to quantify and therefore its impact on your bottom line is illusory. These conditions make reduction in advertising spending intuitive during the economic strain. The solution, however, isn’t to stop advertising but to implement advertising strategies with tangible yields.

The Internet allows companies of all sizes to compete in a controlled environment. If you don’t have a website — get one. If you do have a website and are not generating profit-refine it. Now is the time to invest in a quality website, as it will become your most cost efficient means for growth.

Google analytics, a free online tool, tracks the flow of traffic to your site at a very granular level including: where your clients are from, how they found you, time-spent per page and specific conversion goals. Use this data to modify your website for higher conversions. Even little modifications to the copy, design or layout could mean larger profits.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is another advertising technique that can be enumerated for capital gain. SEO utilizes industry related keywords to make your website appear higher for those terms in search engines. This investment can earn you free advertising revenue in the form of search engine queries and carries one of the highest ROIs of any marketing endeavor.

Another formidable tool is Google AdWords. Pay-per-click advertising means you only pay for an ad when someone clicks on it to go to your website. Every element of the campaign is under your control including testing new ad copy and landing pages for continued research and refinement.

Advertising during an economic slump actually creates the opportunity to maximize brand recognition, increase market share and enhance client loyalty, tactics that can increase company earnings. The key is not to just advertise but to advertise smartly.

Blu Echo Design – Katherine Maurus, Lisa Martinicchio
215-300-0376, info@bluechodesign.com, www.bluechodesign.com