Online Promotional Expenditure Still Increasing Despite Adverse Financial Situation
The biannual survey of advertising expenditure produced by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Internet Advertising Bureau shows that the spending on online promotion continues to grow, with a rise of 4.2 percent in 2009 over 2008. This confirms the ongoing tendency to move use of the promotion budget from traditional promotion to online. This is inevitably encouraged by the higher domestic use of broadband and online services, expanding the possible customer base.
It is no surprise that promotion expenditure is increasing in some areas and falling in others that have been more affected by the financial situation such as automotive and housing. The greatest increase in the use of on online promotion has been consumer goods brands and traditional High Street businesses that have begun to realise that the online trade is becoming increasingly important.
For any organization considering how to make the most of its online advertising budget, it still comes down to which process to use: paid search, banner advertising, or applying search engine optimisation to raise the organic search engine positioning.
The report shows that expenditure on display and banner adverts is falling considerably. This is offset by a change in the type of display advert being used, with greater numbers of video adverts being displayed. To some buyers, these are as much of a nuisance as pop-ups have been, caused by the advert’s need to spread across the screen when the user’s cursor accidentally rolls across the advert. For smaller organisations, these types of video advert have to be an expensive proposition beyond their reach.
More organisations are spending on paid search, with actual spending on this type of media reported to be up by over 9 percent. It can be argued that it is simpler to measure the results when using methods such as Google AdWords or pay per click: after all, the cost is directly measured by the number of visits the advert receives or by the number of impressions where your organization incurs a fee for each display of the advert instead of the received click. However, there is always the possibility of being caught up in a bidding war with a competitor to promote popular keywords at busy times.
applying search engine optimisation to raise the organic search engine positioning is still a method to be considered. It can be a slow process but it is still economical and results in long-term benefits. search optimization improves the experience for all visitors to your organization’s domain, be it from a search engine results listing or a returning customer. The effect of search optimization is aimed at a new customer who is actively looking for the products and services that your organization will supply, rather than just being aware of your organization just because he happened to see an advert.
It should be remembered that many new buyers look on bought advertising of any type as a necessary inconvenience but still something to be ignored. He will prefer to depend on the organic search engine positioning, and applying search optimization plans can only raise the chances of your organization’s domain reaching an enhanced placement.
The tendency is still for spending on online promotion to continue to expand. However there is still the need to decide how to make the most of that expenditure. search engine optimisation can still be a cost effective solution.
Tags: marketing, online marketing, search engine optimization, seo, web site marketing