With a recession in full effect, marketing budgets are steadily receding. Yet one niche of the marketing industry is still posting double-digit growth: search engine marketing (SEM). SEM grew 21.4 percent in 2008 and is expected to grow an additional 14.9 percent in the coming year--not bad in the worst economy since the Great Depression.

Beating the Odds
The recession may just be the catalyst SEM needs to grab advertising market share. Currently, Internet advertising represents only 7.5 percent of marketing expenditure--yet the Internet accounts for about a fifth of media consumption. In other words, search engine marketing represents untapped potential for companies in search of new and affordable strategies for reaching their markets.

SEMs Recession-Era Value
Companies looking to trim fat from their marketing budget are increasingly diverting funds from print campaigns to online marketing. Internet advertising and search engine marketing offer several key advantages for budget-conscious businesses. Online campaigns are:

• Measurable. Online marketing efforts measure success in terms of clicks, site visits, and sales. Search engine marketing is especially accountable, allowing businesses to determine the return on their investment in precise dollar amounts. Such a direct correlation between ad expenditure and sales makes it easy to justify an Internet marketing budget, even in the worst of economic times. Trevor Kaufman, head of interactive marketing agency Schematic, explains that during an economic downturn, clients see Internet ads as being easier to justify to shareholders because they are easier to measure.
• Informative. Search engine marketing enables companies to present prospective customers with a wealth of product information. Website editorial and advertising content qualifies site visitors, bringing them closer to the sale. By contrast, the viewer of a thirty-second television or radio spot has neither the information nor the means to complete a purchase.
• Interactive. The interactive nature of search engine marketing also contributes to the direct, deep engagement necessary to convert a prospect into a sale. At the same time, interactive media fosters brand engagement and loyalty.
• Essential. The Superbowl ad can go, but no company is going to take down the company website during a recession. Gaining visibility for that website through SEM is more likely to figure into the budget as essential overhead rather than discretionary expense.
• Affordable. Last but definitely not least, online marketing is affordable. Returns on investment in search engine marketing are greater than those for print media ads, explains economic consultant Lauren Capp. Equity analysts Piper Jaffray credit the bottom line with keeping online advertising afloat, stating that the high ROI of online advertising makes it resilient even during a recession.

Online marketing is frequently touted as the future of advertising. With the recession well underway, the Internet is emerging as the advertising medium of the present. If ever there were a time to invest in a service capable of achieving measurable results for less money, its now.

Sources
CIOL
The Economist, Not Ye Olde Banners
The Economist, The Advertising Market: Hard Sell
Online Media Daily
Square Oak
WebProNews