Online Promotional Expenditure Still Rising Despite Adverse Economic Conditions

The biannual survey of advertising spending produced by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Internet Advertising Bureau indicates that the spending on online publicity continues to grow, with an increase of 4.2 percent in 2009 over 2008. This confirms the continuing trend to move use of the publicity budget from conventional publicity to online. This is inevitably encouraged by the rising domestic use of broadband and online services, broadening the potential client base.

It is no surprise that publicity spending is increasing in some areas and falling in others that have been more affected by the financial downturn such as automotive and housing. The largest increase in the use of on online publicity has been consumer goods brands and traditional High Street organizations
that have come to realise that the online trade is becoming increasingly important.

For any organisation considering how to make the most of its online marketing budget, it still comes down to which process to use: paid search, banner advertising, or applying search engine optimisation to elevate the organic search engine positioning.

The report shows that spending on display and banner adverts is falling considerably. This is offset by a change in the sort of display advert being used, with greater numbers of video adverts being used. To some clients, these are as much of an irritation as pop-ups have been, caused by the advert’s urge to expand across the screen if the user’s cursor accidentally rolls across the advert. For smaller organisations, these types of video advert have to be an expensive idea beyond their reach.

More organisations are spending on paid search, with actual spending on this type of promotion reported to be up by over 9 percent. It can be argued that it is easier to measure the results when using facilities 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 organisation incurs a payment for each display of the advert instead of the received click. However, there is always the possibility of being dragged into a bidding war with a rival to promote popular keywords at busy times.

applying search engine optimisation to elevate 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 business’s website, be it from a search engine results page or a returning client. The impact of search optimization is aimed at a potential client who is actively looking for the products and services that your organisation will supply, rather than just being aware of your organisation just because he happened to notice an advert.

It should be remembered that many intending clients look on bought advertising of any sort as a necessary inconvenience but still something to be ignored. He will prefer to rely on the organic search engine positioning, and applying search optimization methods can only elevate the chances of your business’s website gaining an improved listing.

The trend is still for spending on online publicity to continue to increase. 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 proposition.