Have you been stuck in a company that is not really paying too much respect to its pay per click unit? Maybe your top management folks say the right things and do the right things, but if pay per click is not really a big part of your company’s strategy, it’s going to show sooner than later. I had a similar situation when I worked as a marketing expert at a company that was making money from PPC but was not paying too much attention to SEO. We did everything we could to help the company generate lead for free through Google, Yahoo!, and MSN, but when the recession hit, our budget was cut and the project was finally discontinued. The same thing has happened to a lot of pay per click professionals.

The latest U.S recession has been tough on many small and big businesses. A lot of companies have laid people off and many others have decreased their advertising budgets to stay afloat. But recession is not the time to cut your advertising budget. Think about it. If you own a product or promoting affiliate offers, if you cut your advertising budget, you are going to get less leads and make less money in the process. A lot of affiliate marketers have the option to focus on the social media or search engine optimization tactics to offset the effects of reducing their PPC budget, but a lot of companies don’t have the option. If you are a small business, you are going to need a certain level of business to break even. It may be difficult to generate enough business without proper spending in advertising.

The recession has been a big eye opener as far as big companies are concerned. When a company decides that the first unit to get laid off is its online marketing unit, you know where its priorities lie. If you have been spending time at a company, hoping to take their PPC to the next level, you probably wouldn’t expect the company to pull the rug from under you. In reality, a company that is not willing to spend money advertising online during recession is either dying a slow death or is not dedicated enough to its pay per click marketing and SEM channel. A lot of people may be upset about losing their marketing jobs, but if your company is not smart enough to keep its advertising going during these tough times, it’s probably a waste of time working for it anyway.

Pay per click marketing is not the only way to generate business online, but it’s probably the fastest way and gives you a lot of control as far as your message, keywords and landing pages are concerned. The times may be tough but if your business is not dying and has cash in hand, wouldn’t it be smart to spend it on generating new business? PPC may not be right for your company but it shouldn’t take a recession (or depression) to figure that out!