Online marketing in the recession

Good to see there is some robust independent research going on into the impact of the economic downturn on sales and marketing through the internet.
A comprehensive survey of business leaders in the south west should help to reveal some interesting findings about how much store they put on having a strong online presence.
The research is important given that in the last recession access to internet resources was still some way off for most organisations trying to build a public profile.
Back then, ad budgets didn’t consider search optimisation, offline and online synergies or reaching the influencers in social networks. Now, there are lots of ways that online brand building and advertising can generate sales, but will the recession reduce or increase spending on this given ever tightening budgets overall? Just how cost effective do decision makers see online as opposed to offline?
The survey is being conducted by Southampton-based web design, hosting and consultancy company Belmont Internet Marketing and will cover a range of sectors including financial services, utilities, publishing, leisure and transport. Results should be available early in 2009. It’s worth reading the blog of the company’s Murray Cowell on search, conversion rates and other internet marketing issues.