Will search become more popular during the recession?
The views of some leading UK based marketers about the role of search during a recession … comments by Andrew Connery
Quote 1: “ Search marketing has been growing at a rapid rate, with brands increasingly looking to feature high up in search engine results …
Mark Rabe, Yahoo! UK vice president and managing director
AC: Natural or Organic Search is a necessary component of any integrated search based campaign and the judicious use of well targeted directories will optimise results
Quote 2: “Search will buck the overall marketing spend trend as it provides excellent return on investment and visibility of results for marketers …
Chris Ward, commercial director Microsoft Advertising
AC: Advertisers will also look for improved media value to help compensate for reduced promotional spends and increasingly price conscious customers
Quote 3: “In the modern internet-led age, paid search is the most trackable and accountable of all media …
Jonathan Beeston, Efficient Frontier
AC: Primary research confirms over three times as many searchers click on natural/organic listings as opposed to sponsored listings such as AdWords
Quote 4: “In a recession, control and targeting are vital for organisations to remain competitive …
Jonathan Beeston, Efficient Frontier
AC: The removal or reduction of wastage by better customer profiling and/or geographic targeting is a compelling advantage the local web space possesses
An observation about the marketing industry in general
“… the key thing to ask yourself is whether you’ll just focus on survival, or if you’ll be among a small number of businesses that see pain as a catalyst for transformation …
James Murdoch, chairman and CEO News Corp Europe and Asia
AC: When the going gets tough … the tough get going! Say no more.
The above quotes are extracted from a Marketing Week Supplement
’09 The Year Ahead’ published by Centaur Media plc London UK Jan ’09
Andrew Connery is Managing Director of Your Online Community Pty Limited : publishers of SMARTPAGES online business directories