Comscore reports the drop of consumer spending across all income segments. This has to be troubling to online businesses as more research, consideration and comparison will occur in consumer purchases.

Search engine marketing is still critical, though, so businesses can at least be in front of the people who are specifically looking for the products and services they offer. In a market this tough, local online advertising is a requirement for survival, and will separate the businesses that thrive and grow through this downturn, and the ones who fade away. Focus on the opportunities!

Data from Borrell and the newspaper industry’s efforts in local digital advertising are the focus of an article on WSJ.com yesterday.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121746776033899393.html?apl=y&r=26882

We have been partnering with the industry for several years and probably serve as the biggest promoter of newspapers’ opportunity to leverage their local brands and relationships into the digital world.  The article does a good job of identifying the issues – training, compensation and broader sales focus.

To succeed in this new environment, educating the local market, reinvesting in the local community that has been the newspaper’s foundation for decades, adopting a more proactive sales approach to a broader local audience, and developing local multi-channel marketing consultants are the new imperatives.  Our most successful partners are marketing themselves and becoming a more active part of their local business community, explaining that the online world is a complex environment, and offering an array of online advertising solutions that fit businesses of all sizes (search, display, directory listings, video ads). 

Online advertising at this stage is a longer sales cycle as the article quotes Mary Lou Fulton in Bakersfield.  This is best explained this way – 90% of what’s known about a newspaper ad is shared between buyer and seller, so it’s simply a price negotiation on the other 10%.  In online, only 10% of what the Internet is or can be is shared, so 90% of the discussion is explaining options and determining the best solution for the buyer by the seller.  This is a lengthy, complex process, and requires education, patience and explanation.  To those willing to make the changes in their sales organizations and approaches will go the spoils.

We’re doing everything we can do to help – training, encouragement, marketing, education, solutions.  I look forward to sharing some big success stories in the coming months as I see the energy building.  There is no denying that online isn’t just the future.  It’s here now.

Comments from Greg Sterling on the article:
http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/wsj-on-borrell-report-newspapers-losing/

I attended and participated in a panel at Search Engines Strategies’ inaugural Local conference last week in Denver.  The conference had every making of success, as Chris Sherman told me it sold out, and there was clearly a buzz about how much attention local is getting these days.  The many leaders of the online marketing world were there, discussing the latest strategies, technologies and sites for marrying consumers and local merchants – facilitating community, commerce and advertising opportunities.

I found that the majority of the participants and discussions were focused around technology and tactics, versus truly discussing what issues face local merchants.  During my panel, very little attention was paid to how local merchants view the Internet, and what they are willing to do (or not do) to make the Internet help their businesses.  While we are innovating and finding the new platforms and media outlets, most local merchants are left with their small, traditional businesses and basic problems.  While we see slow adoption of online advertising and technology by small businesses, we spend less time learning from small merchants and educating them, than we do talking about keyword auto-generators, meta tags, click-through rates, and XML data feeds.

Consumers have moved to the web in a massive way, and they’re asking for their merchants to be there.  Most merchants have not made that leap in their mind, and it’s our job (and opportunity) to educate them.

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