With the downturn in the economy, many businesses have been looking at ways to reduce costs. Marketing always seems to be one of those areas that gets “cut.” I would like to encourage you to consider some alternatives in how to go about cutting marketing costs.

First, I believe organic SEO is the best answer to the current economic issues. Who likes free traffic? Of course we all do. The only way to get it is through a comprehensive organic seo campaign that factors in onsite as well as offsite optimization needs. There are tried and true methods to rank well, so make sure you get professional keyword research done and execute on a game plan based on this research. Oh, and by the way, if you can’t convert visitors into buyers with your organic SEO, then you will not convert them with PPC either. This is a great way to test without losing your shirt.

Second, instead of reducing your PPC budget outright, look at ways to reduce your click costs. Better landing pages, as well as split-testing ads constantly, are the best way to do this. I’m not going to tell you how to improve your landing pages in this post, but there are many factors (depending on industry) that make a good landing page. If your SEM company doesn’t have access to your website to make changes (or hasn’t asked for it – yikes!!) then you are throwing money away. Get proactive on improving website conversions.

Third, use your videos. Do you have training videos, demo videos, product videos? Get a syndication program in place. Expand HOW your audience finds you.

Fourth, make sure you have an active press release campaign going at all times. This doesn’t involve paying for high-cost press release services. In fact, I use a totally different PR strategy that I know NO ONE is using and it gives me unbelievable results. Make sure your web marketing team has something up their sleeve for PR other than PR Newswire or PRWeb.

In closing, keep in mind that a good marketing plan will carry you through the lean times. If you are going to cut it, make it more efficient at the same time.