To what extent is the global credit crunch affecting SEM?

In this time of financial instability, is there hope for the future of online marketing? Some say that many SEM companies will fall off the curb over the next few months, but not everyone will suffer. If you play your cards right, SEM will prove to be an indispensible marketing tool to the (sensible) clients who stick with it. Global search trends are already changing towards budgeting and money saving, for example, searches have increased significantly for ‘cheap DVD’ rather than ‘DVDs for sale’, according to the Google Trends results displayed for the last 30 days.

David Naylor discusses some of the advantages to online marketing that traditional marketing doesn’t necessarily offer. These factors reinforce the importance of using the available budget a company may have to constructively ‘invest’ it in SEM, which offers measurable results, unbeatable ROI, and leaves a long term impression in the eyes of its market.

Traditional media, such as print and television, are extremely expensive, even for a 30 second advert or a half-page newspaper/magazine spread, which will more than likely be lining tomorrow’s waste paper bins, or be forgotten by the time the show that was interrupted returns to the screen. In tough financial times, companies can’t really afford to waste money on advertising or marketing that will only make a temporary impression, unless, of course, they have the budget to display these ads on a regular basis. SEM offers consistent coverage, along with the 24/7 principle.

By optimally using search engine marketing, companies have the benefit of making a lasting impression on their market, who can visit their website at any time (if the brand has already been established), or discover them through the SERPs (if the site has been effectively optimised for particular terms used by the target market) and social media sites. Information on the company is therefore constantly available online, and can also have the positive effect of building trust within its market through a tangible presence and not just a fleeting advert.

The smaller funds that are required to run a successful SEM campaign are more likely to guarantee a larger ROI than the huge budgets that are put into traditional media. Naylor nailed the concept with his comment, “£50k spent on newspaper advertising might get you a single full page spread and, at best, a few hundred thousand eyeballs for a couple of seconds. £50k spent on organic search will get you tens of thousands of visitors a day for years to come”. And even better, this can all be tracked through tools such as Google Analytics. How do you effectively track the results of traditional media channels on a particular target market?

Tags: global recession in SEM, Google Trends, impact of credit crunch on SEM, search engine marketing