Slow Sales? Don’t Kill Your Marketing.

It’s hard to turn the TV on now-a-days and not find someone covering, screaming about or running scared from the current state of the US economy. The same goes for the online space - blogs, portals, news sites, press sites are all covering the current economic climate, and there is not much positivity in any of that coverage. But, what a lot of it comes down to the fact that lots of people have lost lots of ground - financially, personally and emotionally.

Online merchants are feeling the squeeze too, its nothing isolated to one industry or vertical  - everyone from financial institutions to colleges to major retails are feeling the pinch and feeling it hard. Now, what I just said is nothing new nor is it earth-changing.  But, amidst this, there is one thing I’m seeing a lot of that really bugs me as a marketer.

I drive down the highway, I see less bill boards, I listen to the radio (the little I do), I hear less commercials and more promos for the station itself. I visit a site and see more content network / text ads than banner ads. The most noteable in my world though is the Paid Search space. I straight up see less ads on core keywords. Now, what does this mean? It means the competition is lessening - which is an advantage, to you! Yes, YOU!

When less people are in a market that means prices go down - its the same for stocks, CPM media buying and Paid Search. If your competition is dropping off than that is the opportunity of a lifetime!

So I ask you, if your competition is pulling back and ad costs are decreasing then why are you pulling back? This is the perfect time to dig down, re-tool strategy and take advantage of lower costs.

Marketers of the world, rise up! Grab and convert that traffic!