Why Companies Must Do Internet Advertising In A Recession

I mentioned before that companies that continued to advertise during the last recession were in a better position than their competitors after it ended. Plus, companies don't need a physical product to do Internet advertising. For example, a DUI Lawyer could offer his/her services locally too.

The Internet factor

Unlike the last recession, the Internet is an advertising tool available to all companies big or small. This is a major factor since e-commerce is done 24/7. Even if it's 2am where a company is located, it's 2pm elsewhere in the world.  If companies don't advertise on the Internet, their competitor will, locally or not. Plus, television is being replaced more and more by the Internet meaning more potential clients.

Some numbers

Depending on your country/region, companies don't invest much in Internet advertising. Below, you will see the % of the total advertising budget that is spent on the Internet.

Quebec(Canada): 3%
Canada: 10%
USA: 12-13%
Europe: 20-25%

I knew that Quebec was far behind but I did not know by how much. This also show good opportunities for companies. Since the Internet has less competition, the cost of advertising will be lower.

Of course, geo targeted ads for Quebec would need to be in the French language. This would also open the field to French companies that are exporting to the Quebec market.  The same could be said for European companies for the English Canadian and American markets. Remember, it's 24/7.

Geo targeting

Adwords is one of the method most companies will look at first. A company can geo target an ad so that they don't show it to those outside of a specific area. Here are 3 examples:

Best DUI Lawyer In Chicago
Let us defend you
Installment plan available

Best DUI Lawyer In Detroit
Let us defend you
Installment plan available

Best DUI Lawyer In the Country
Let us defend you
Offices in every major city

The first 2 are geo targeted to cities(Chicago, Detroit) while the last one is for the whole country(USA). The same third ad could be use for Canada too. They might have offices in Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal.

Depending on the city, the DUI lawyer might have to pay more while paying less for smaller cities.

Note: Having a good pay per click course will help companies or they will loose their shirts. They could also find a company to do it for them.

Branding

For many, they have a tendency to look at the Click-through rate(CTR). Depending on the goal of your ad, you should also look at the branding benefit.  When you read a newspaper, you don't call every ads in it.

To brand itself more, a DUI Lawyer could buy banners on popular local blogs that gives news about the city, do restaurant/bar reviews, law related blogs....  The cost might be even less than doing PPC but the blogger could have readers outside of the city too thus not geo targeted. The ad might not have much clicks but it will offer branding power.

However, a company must select wisely the sites. Having a DUI Lawyer ad on a tech blog is not a good idea.

Conclusion

Most companies will make the mistake to cut their advertising budget. But by adding Internet advertising, it will help companies to survive through this recession by getting new untapped clients.

If employees can't have a raise or new equipment this year, the company must make them understand that offline/Internet advertising is what bring the money and paying their salary. Most employees should understand that because of the current recession.