Web Marketing During A Recession

Posted by Norm on February 23, 2009

For many small businesses, having a web site is merely a way to keep up with the competiton.  Everyone has one, don’t they?  For the most part, many small business web sites are simple “online brochures”.  They are designed to provide some info on your service or products and to provide a way to contact you.

When times are tough, marketing and advertising costs are often the first place that a small business will cut-back.  It’s an expense that may be difficult to swallow when revenues are down, like during the current recession. But savvy companies will tell you that the best way to bring in new business is to market harder and more effectively than your competition.

So how do you market your small busines today?  A lot of companies still pay for big Yellow Pages ads, even though most potential clients rarely use the big yellow monster any longer.  Some spend a great deal on local newspaper ads every week.  And some pay for ads in local coupon pamphlets.  But most will not try to improve their online presence… their web site.

A web site provides the ultimate in client targeting.  Unlike a newspaper ad that is distributed to every subscriber, potential clients come looking for information about your service or products on your web site.

When was the last time you needed a service performed and you said, “Let me check the ads in the newspaper”?  An ad in the newspaper or magazine may help with your business’ name recognition, but it’s not going to provide a place where a potential customer is going to look for information.

I have a client that places their entertainment schedule on their web site and also places ads in a local newspaper.  The band schedule web page gets an average 1500 visitors a week.  Most of those visitors are from a 60 mile radius and came to the web site specifically to see who’s playing.  The newspaper gets distributed once a week to 12,000 residents in an area about 10 miles in radius.  Both bring in customers, but the effectiveness of the web site is over overwhelmingly more positive than the newspaper ad.

An ad in a local newspaper can cost $100 to $600 per week, depending on the ad size and where it is placed in the publication.  At the lower end, $100 per week comes out to $5,200 per year.  At the high end, $600 per week equals $31,000 per year.

Your initial cost for a new web site could be any where from $750 up to $2500, or even more depending on your requirements. The annual costs for web hosting and domain name registration will usually fall between $90 and $180.    It’s pretty clear that web marketing is much more cost effective.

The point is “do not underestimate the marketing effectiveness of a web site”.  People go to the web daily searching for information.  They are a targeted market because they are looking for something specific.  If you provide the service or product  they are looking for,  you may just gain a new customer.

The cost of marketing your business on a web site is a lot less expensive than all the other alternatives.  That does not mean you give up on all of your other advertising.  It does mean that your web site should be an integral part of your marketing strategy and maybe some of the other advertising avenues can be reconsidered.