Riding the Storm Out
By Tom Dellner

On December 1, 2008, a group called the National Bureau of Economic Research took the art of stating the obvious to new heights, announcing that the U.S. economy was officially in recession. To be fair, they–in effect–back-dated their revelation by declaring that the current recession officially began in December 2007.

Up for a little recession trivia to lighten the mood? The current recession is the 11th since World War II and, having recently reached a full year in length, it’s now the third-longest downturn, trailing only those of 1973-75 and 1981-82.

Recessions are surprisingly short-lived; they average just 10 months in length, with the longest being 16 months and the shortest being six. (It looks like we could have a record-setter on our hands.) The start dates of the four recessions of the last 30 years? March 2001, July 1990, July 1981 and January 1980.

If there is a silver lining in the current downturn for those of use in the online marketing world, it’s that most experts predict that online ad spend will continue to grow. Most likely funded in part by cuts in traditional media spending, the continued growth is no doubt attributable to digital marketing’s measurability and accountability.

Another recession-time growth area? Tips and expert advice on how marketers can weather the economic storm. Although much of this guidance is self-serving or apocryphal, some of it is extremely insightful. Take, for example, Mark Simon’s column “Digital Marketing for Hard Times” which appears on page 36. In it, Mark does a superb job of helping marketers assess their resources and channel allocation to steer their way through this tight economy and be ready to quickly scale up when we come through on the other side.

Another extremely thoughtful analysis came from another trusted source: eMarketer’s founder and CEO Geoff Ramsey. During a recent webinar titled “Digital 2009: Marketing Predictions for the New Year,” Geoff outlined seven strategies for surviving the recession. I’ll paraphrase them here.

INSIST ON MEDIA SPEND ACCOUNTABILITY.
Keep doing search. There’s a reason Google’s revenues continue to grow. Paid search is the most cost-effective channel and offers the best potential for positive ROI.

But don’t ignore branding. Paid search will get you in the results listings, but brand awareness will get you the click. PPC and branding are intrinsically linked.

Connect with your customer. Utilize e-mail and social media to maintain your relationship with existing customers. Ramsey’s theory? Every customer you lose now will be more difficult to win back once the economy turns around.

Engender trust. Focus on product quality and customer service. Find out where your customers congregate online and listen to them, responding genuinely (no marketing speak) to complaints and concerns. Let your customers rate and review your products, remembering that allowing some negative reviews will improve conversion.

CREATE CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT WITH ONLINE VIDEO.
Test. Don’t shy away from new or different marketing platforms that might perform for you. Just make sure to test them and pull the plug on channels that don’t perform.