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Advantages of online web advertising in the recession

Soaring food and petrol prices and large-scale job losses mean that South Africans need to make do with far less. Businesses are also learning to cut financial corners so that they can still make a profit at the end of the month. Using websites to advertise business is one clever way that businesses can reduce their advertising budgets but still reap the benefits of effective marketing. All statistics point to web advertising as the way forward in business marketing, especially in times of tightened budgets.

In Europe, which has already been in a recession for over a year, reports have shown that the recession is having little effect on web advertising growth, if anything it is causing the acceleration of this inevitable growth. Forrester Research released an educated prediction for Europe’s online web advertising spend. They predicted that the web will account for 15% of Europe’s advertising budget by 2013 with billions already being invested in the internet advertising industry in the UK and Germany each year. They also predict a stable growth rate in web advertising of 10% per year with multimedia and display advertising growing rapidly in the next three years. Following the west’s example, South Africans are already showing strong tendencies to buy into web advertising in response to the recession.

The advantages of web advertising in the recession:

• All avenues of communication should be explored when the pickings are slim. Advertising on the web opens up channels of communication and allows for the possibility of sourcing business opportunities and joining new business ventures. You can also maintain two-way communication with your clients or customers.
• Internet advertising allows for targeted advertising on directories or websites that relate to the target market’s interests or desires. Online directories, like Assist247, are found by people actively looking for services, and this interest is more likely to convert into sales. When people have significantly less disposable income they are unlikely to be swayed by a sales pitch but instead will look for products and services that they really need.
• Web advertisements can easily capture the attention of the global audience and this advantage applies to everyone, not just large multi-national corporations.
• Web based advertising works in real time. There is no need to wait for a magazine’s publication date for example; you can start reaping the rewards almost instantaneously.

Assist247 ranks well for South African business directories and service providers and is one of the only online directories specifically designed for home and car service providers. In comparison to other web advertising companies, Assist247 is extremely user friendly and the site uses targeted search engine optimisation techniques to increase the traffic to service listings, so that business stays good even during a recession.

Assist247 has formed partnerships with a number of industry leaders to guarantee the best services for our clients. One of Assist’s new partners, Arrive Alive, offers clients the best alternative routes, holiday routes and driving tips. Others include some of the country’s finest service providers: McCarthy, National Auto Glass and Resource Tracking. See our site for more details.