Survive the recession with Online Advertising

Jan 1, 2009 by Paul White

Right now we are in a recession, and depending on Obama's economic plans, stabalization of the marketplace could be right around the corner or a few months coming  During these economic times people and businesses tend to be more carefull with their choices concerning money.  If we all buy into this thinking it has a double negative effect.  Consumers because of the uncertain future, are more conservative with spending.  This has in turn caused reduced demand for products and services.  Companies then lay off workers.  More workers have an uncertain future, and the cycle repeats itself.

As consumers have slowed spending, businesses also are tempted to slow.  They know that to increase sales will require targeted marketing and advertising that generates a return on investment as well as selling goods and services sometimes at lower margins. This year's super bowl was a great example of how company's are reluctant to spend money.  This was probably the worst year of advertisements ever for the super bowl. 

What is one of the solutions to compliment Radio and Television they are left with?  Online Advertising.  They can advertise on Google and its publishers starting at 5 cents / click.  They could spend $5 / month in advertising if they really wanted to. How can Google offer advertising so cheap?  Because the entire process is automated, taking any labor costs out of the equation.  Complimenting your broadcast schedules with a search campaign could be as easy as starting your own local Google adwords type system.

Build your own ad server, and have it feed advertisements into your station's websites.  Create an interface for advertisers to sign up, and prepay for advertising slots. Let them upload their own ad, or purchase ad design services.  Then let them pick their run dates and times.  Let them log in and see live stats on how their ad is performing.  If their account balance is running low, the server could send them an automated email reminding them to come back and refill their account. 

Advertisers are looking for low cost ways to reach consumers that add exposures and in turn lead to purchases.  Providing an automated option like this can help your station reduce man hours while maintaining your advertising base with a low cost supplement to on-air advertising.
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