How Search Engine Marketing Can Save the Economy
Written on May 30, 2008 – 1:53 pm | by oldschool
I know this sounds like a tall order, but lets look at the facts. According to the recent SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization) survey, people are going to spend more and more on Internet Marketing services. If you are not marketing your business online, that means your competition is edging you out by being where the customers are. (and what in the world are you waiting for, a recession? 
)
On a larger scale, I know of companies that still spend over $100,000 in direct mail campaigns year after year. This is not speculation but based on a conversation with a business owner I met after speaking at the AFSA Marketing Forum this past March. This company paid very little to their online presence, and my bet is that if they invest a fraction of that direct mail money on:
a) Building a user-friendly, search-engine friendly (optimized) website.
b) Perform a simple link building campaign, starting with basic search engine directories and business directories.
c) Allocating a portion of their money for Paid Search which will give them live prospects, which in my opinion is far better than branding via direct mail and praying that someone wants or needs your service.
d) Implementing a solid system for follow up both online using email marketing and off line now that they are warm direct mail prospects, which is a huge difference than buying lists.
How will this save the economy?
Businesses will spend less to attract more targeted customers, which will make them more profitable, assuring that much needed raise – along with keeping the door open. If you work in the direct mail field, you might be saying “he’s trying to ruin our industry”. No, but I am showing you where marketing is headed so you should take this to heart and find a search marketing firm to partner with (shameless plug here) to help your customers maximize their spending. They’ll soon figure this out and you will lose them so you are better off looking like a hero in their eyes by presenting the facts to them.
If it doesn’t save the US economy, I can bet it will change your personal economy.
11 Responses to “How Search Engine Marketing Can Save the Economy”
By Kari - Online Marketer on May 31, 2008 | Reply
Oh, if only it were that easy…
One thing you forgot – find a search marketing firm *in the US* to partner with. Outsourcing to one in another country may be cheaper, but it won’t help the US economy (and may not help your results).
By oldschool on May 31, 2008 | Reply
@ Kari – I hear what you are saying, but for some US companies (not ours) outsourcing is a part of their profit model so there is no guarantee that all of the money would stay in the US. One could argue that by outsourcing, they can remain more profitable and keep more people in the US hired, assuming there higher profit margins allowed them to hire more people than would lose jobs for the outsourced tasks. There is no simple answer. Thanks for dropping by.
By Murty BVNS on Jun 1, 2008 | Reply
I agree with Kary and Old school as we are handling cases at less than 90 percent cost than our US contemporaries for the same work and capable of producing more results. Can you imagine a graduate woman working at home trained for one month works happily for a Internet marketing at 100 dollars a month ( almost 240 hrs a month ) Can anyone compete from US.
By oldschool on Jun 1, 2008 | Reply
@ Murty – I see I’ve opened a can of worms here. I really didn’t intend for the focus to turn to outsourcing challenges. I will try to do some more in-depth research into this side of things and try and see how outsourcing is impacting SEM economy. I am certainly more curious now myself. Thanks for stopping by.
By todd on Jun 2, 2008 | Reply
I agree, Internet Marketing will no doubt make companies that implement it more profitable, but it won’t help the US economy as a whole. you see there is a finite amount of searchers and therefore buyers. This won’t change by any amount of budget shift to IM.
In fact, I’d argue that phasing out an ACTIVE customer acquisition marketing strategy (like direct mail) to something more passive, like search, the economy would suffer as a result. In effect, you’re going after people already looking for services/products as opposed to marketing to people who might need your product but just haven’t actively begun shopping. The latter is more apt to STIMULATE the economy.
By Zoobie Joy on Jun 2, 2008 | Reply
I think so..SEM can help a lot in saving the economy especially now that a lot of people are willing to spend money for their sites..^^
By Miss Monica on Jul 9, 2008 | Reply
Actually, I’m not sure what it means to “save the economy”. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t mean a continual increase in the GDP. In case you haven’t noticed, an increase in GDP doesn’t translate into a higher standard of living for 98.5% of Americans. In order to see where most of the “growth” goes, you have to look up, way, way up. For instance, from 1972 to 2001, the top 10% had an inflation adjusted income gain of less than 1% a year, for a total of 34%. The top 1% had a gain of 87%. The top .01% had a whopping gain of 497% (I kid you not- this was reported in a NY Times article by Krugman). Perhaps economies shouldn’t grow! For all the good it does 99% of Americans, maybe they need to be sustainable, and that’s it! And yes, among other things, I think that does mean less trees (direct mail) coming uselessly to my mailbox, and more relevant information available to me by personal interest and search.
My company manufactures locking security mailboxes. We use the search engine marketing that you recommend and our business is growing, even in this “recession”. Maybe it’s because of the growing divide between the super rich and the super poor, but it seems there are a growing number of people in America who don’t “play by the rules”. There are organized criminals who steal the mail, and networks in place to steal the identities of anyone with good credit or a balance in a checking account. It’s the middle-class everyday American that is paying the price and pardon the expression, but that sucks.
By oldschool on Jul 9, 2008 | Reply
@ Monica – I think you missed my point. I wasn’t arguing economics, I was sharing how companies can effectively use Internet Marketing to grow their business, very similar to how you shared your business is doing. Keep doing what you are doing – provided it is in line with industry best practices.
By Miss Monica on Jul 9, 2008 | Reply
Hi Old School,
I didn’t mean to be confrontational!!!! I realize you weren’t about economics… I guess my “in case you haven’t noticed” sounds that way… oops
I meant to add to what you were saying, because I really enjoyed the article and I agree we need to be doing things differently. Search Engine Marketing gets the direct mail out of my MailBoss and the voice with the many and that works for me. For being Old School, you’re not so old school!
By oldschool on Jul 9, 2008 | Reply
@ Monica – No worries, I don’t take offense to anything or I wouldn’t be a blogger