The traditional marketing techniques like trade shows, seminars, email marketing, cold calling, outsourced telemarketing and advertising are getting less and less effective. People the world over are using more creative ways like caller id, spam filtering, Tivo, Sirius satellite radio, etc. to block them out. They want to isolate themselves from every kind of advertising bombardment so that they can concentrate more on their daily activities.

To get over this, marketers started using search engine marketing and this has in turn produced very significant changes on how we use the web. Marketers realized that the web is not a read-only platform and can be used for a variety of marketing purposes where anybody could publish, share content and communicate with each other.

If you look into consumers and buyers behavioral pattern during the last couple of years, you will notice that they now seek help from the search engines for most of their requirements. You will also notice that targeted search-engine advertising is far more effective than display advertising on large media sites.

These have become the main stream of cost-effective internet marketing over the last couple of years.

The advantages far outweigh the drawbacks during a downturn when viewed from an online marketing perspective. Every dollar spent on marketing whether online or offline gives you much more during a recession if you apply your resources in the right way, like your ability to get the maximum from you publisher with your negotiating skills. If you take it positively, this is a god-sent opportunity for a marketer to get more return on your investment on marketing and advertising of your products. Actually, businesses benefit more during a downturn provided you continue investing in marketing and advertising. This can be confirmed from various studies conducted by highly-acclaimed researchers. If you compare the statistics, you will notice that those businesses that promoted aggressively their products always gained 4% to 5% in market share when compared with their competitors who did not hike their spending on marketing/advertising during a downturn. The key factors that you should take into account when marketing and advertising during a downturn are: Customers: You know very well that in any business, customer is the king. It is highly recommended to provide all benefits to your customers like discounts and gifts and extra facilities like free downloads and free tools to help the customers to get more value from their online experience. This will ensure your customers will come back again and again to your business and thereby generate more sales. Flexibility: For you to be flexible, you should be alert and oriented of your customers search behavior pattern. In other words, monitor your customers for what actually they are searching for, and then change your marketing/advertising strategies accordingly. Any rigid approach on your marketing strategy will backfire on you. Cost-Affective Targeting: Please note that not everybody will succeed in cost-affective targeting. For any business to succeed, you should have certain key elements like well-known brand name, multiple products, targeted advertising, after-sales service, and support. These key elements are vital for any business to succeed. Any missing elements will have an adverse effect on your cost-affective targeting. If you have studied recession or downturn long enough, you will find that this phenomenon does not last longer than 11 months or a year. Take recession positively, study it well, and apply your marketing and advertising strategies accordingly without compromising or downgrading your marketing and advertising costs. The key elements like well-known brand name, multiple products, targeted advertising, after-sales service, and support are to be incorporated into your business if you want to succeed. Prahalad http://www.dhana.biz/articles