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I hate to say that our nation is in a recession when iPhone and
Nintendo Wii boxes don’t have a chance to gather dust on store shelves,
but it’s obvious that we are in a national economic “slow period.” 
When times are lean, businesses need to watch how they spend their
advertising and marketing dollars.  The internet opens up wide
opportunities to do more with less.

Businesses that want to
emerge well on the other side of this slow period need to get as much
value as they can from any ads or marketing they do.  Traditional
advertising is costly and, while it does produce some results, they’re
usually hard to quantify.  I won’t tell any clients to totally pull out
of the yellow pages or newspaper, but I will advise them to consider
all the options available to them and see what methods are the best fit
for their products or services.

Many small business owners were
struck by the immense power social marketing online had in the 2008
Presidential elections.  President-elect Barak Obama masterfully used
the internet to reach far beyond Sen. McCain and cinched the election
with his e-grass roots efforts.

Good marketers are now studying
how the Obama campaign used social sites like Facebook to find out how
to build and expand their own clients’ networks online.  Big names like
Visa and American Express are already embracing the new marketing
methods and have seen amazing results.  Even companies like Pizza Hut
and Whole Foods grocery stores have pages on Facebook that allow “fans”
to interact with other “fans” in new ways.

The biggest thing, in
my opinion, about using social media is the ability for businesses to
be able to connect in a deeper way with their target audience. 
Traditional television and print ads just tell consumers what the
business wants to tell them.  Social marketing allows consumers to tell
businesses what they want and let the business respond accordingly.

Social
media and marketing have changed how businesses will market from now
on.  Using sites like YouTube, Facebook and blogs will soon become
“industry standard” when marketing.  Where will your company be?

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