Clicksharp Marketing

Every so often, a small seedling of wisdom comes along which serves as a wake-up call.

Research firm Yankee Group recently estimated that, while the Internet owns a 20% share of total media consumption, only 7.5% of ad spending is directed at this medium.

Let’s state the obvious: in relative terms, advertisers using other media are throwing more dollars at less eyeballs.

Due to the cash flow realities of running an enterprise, small businesses are often characterized by small marketing budgets. There is simply less margin for error. So what are the benefits to small business owners, using online advertising compared to traditional alternatives?

• Measurability. Tracing a click pattern from an sponsored link advertisement to the shopping cart on your website is hardly rocket science. On TV, radio, or in print…where can we get such accurate metrics from first approach all the way through to the sale?
• Scalability. Have you noticed the huge volume discounts you get when you take an ad out in the paper? That’s the hallmark of a dying medium doing everything it can to lock you in. Digital media tend to offer easier access to the on/off switch…and far greater control over budgeting.
• Momentum. We know that younger generations, well-adapted to the Internet, will of course own an increasing share of consumer dollars. It’s often overlooked, however, that baby boomers are adapting to digital media pretty smoothly (and they’ve got money to spend). Investing in these assets now will lessen the growing pains when it all becomes inevitable.
• Competitive Insight. It’s never been easier to identify all your competitors and take stock of their digital media investments. Of course, the same holds true for competitors on the outside looking in, but most businesses still fail to pay proper attention to the well-researched keyword niches where they belong–and therein lies your opportunity.

These four points begin to explain how a small business can leverage its risk for marketing success, even with a much smaller margin of error than its larger competition.

Why are people sticking to the old media? Because the steps needed to add value to an online advertising campaign–such as keyword research, website analytics, and organic search placement–don’t directly add value to traditional media campaigns. But with the study estimating a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 23% for online advertising (that’s THIRTEEN times faster than the U.S. economy), these supporting functions will take on more importance every day. {1}

No, you probably don’t want shift your whole budget into digital tomorrow. But part of succeeding in a competitive environment is knowing how to read the signs. This is one you’ll be hearing about more and more–but the window won’t always be so wide open!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 @ 6:35 am on the category Pay-per-click advertising, SEM, Small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.


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