Journalists Love a Crash, But There Isn’t One in Online Marketing
Almost everyone on earth has heard about the massive decline in marketing online: profits are down, companies aren’t placing ads, people are understanding how hard it is to advertise online. Just a second: that’s 2001.
The Dot-Com Bust
You probably recall that time as the dot-com bust. It was painful for all of us, everyone who gambled on unsure ventures, but from one vantage point it was necessary. There were simply too many profits being claimed on a whole ton of shifty technology that wasn’t really solid, so a natural correction was inevitable.
But then, once that was finished, people made up their minds that online advertising was over, which meant the bottom fell out of the developing marketplace that was there. This (un)fortunately allowed Google to come in and take over most of the online ad market, becoming the main player in advertising.
How Online Advertising Came Crawling Back
Slowly, the market returned, kept growing, SEO was born again, and a second sort of honeymoon began again with online marketing. People didn’t make all the same mistakes as before, though.
Jump forward to 2008/2009 and the world finance crisis. Ad purchases dropped insanely. Advertising budgets were in tatters. And when a company, trying to keep its head above water, slashes its marketing budget, what disappears first? Traditional print? TV? Probably not. Try SEO and ‘new media advertising’.
Are We Screwed Anew?
To the recent observer (or the writer who doesn’t get the whole story), this looks like a heavy drop in advertising online. But where tons of people heralded, just like before, the second death of an industry, anyone who peered past the surface could see that this simply wasn’t the case.
The point is that online advertising experienced a mini-crash like everything else, but the destination to stay informed remains the internet. Just because advertising sank doesn’t mean people ran away from the internet in huge amounts. The opposite took place.
Every Day More People Get Their Info Online
In truth, as time passes, we’re seeing even bigger falls in print circulation and television ratings. And now books are finally under fire from devices like Amazon’s kindle. Apple might release an entire new genre of touch-screen product made only for browsing and online content. People are clearly using the internet for their content fix.
This means online advertising is clearly going to keep growing as more markets that are actually viable increase. So while there has been a little crash in ads online, and at times it has appeared difficult, there are detailed reasons for it that don’t touch on whether the market for online ads is viable (it is).
Now is the Most Opportune Time Imaginable
Times are tough. Traditionally solid ad buyers have cut down their online ad purchases, costs to advertise are lower than they’ve been in a while, and yet the amount of detail we can get about an ad push, the SEO Agency, giving top SEO—all these things are still on the rise.
Are you going to be a company that stays underwater during a recession, waiting for heavy security before making a move? Or are you constantly looking for advantages, constantly trying to see where the market is going and re-energizing at the most opportune moment, when rates are lower than ever?
Don’t be confused by the seeming appearance of a ‘gigantic drop’ in ads online. Look at the long game, comprehend where it’s going, and get in on the ground floor.
