The Internet Consumer
David Fishman 

Large consumer debt problems, outsourced work forces, and search engine wars are three distinct industry trends we have discussed over the pass few weeks. Lets explore briefly how these trends are connected to each other and to the online advertising community at large. They are all connected through various economic forces. 

The driving force behind any strong economy is the buying power of its public. The consumer’s health and ability to purchase products and goods will build or deteriorate the strength of that economy. If a consumer is deeply in debt they will hopefully become pro active and look for a way to dig themselves out of that debt. An extremely accessible way to research choices and solutions for debt problems is to use the Internet to either search for fast cash or jobs. The Internet has opened up the doors for anyone to find ways to help themselves find solutions to long term or immediate debt problems. The fact that there are millions of people deeply in debt in the United States means the opportunity to advertise jobs and products that appeal to people who do not have a job and or do not have a strong source of income is ripe for internet advertisers. How will we build products and advertising vehicles that will help capture the attention of the consumer? One way to do this is to optimize search engines, as this is the most used tool by a consumer to help them find what they are looking for. As Google and MSN continue to battle over the consumer and find better ways to entice the consumer to use their technology for search it will become increasingly more complicated for the advertiser to capitalize on this technology.  A strong portion of the technology that is being built for the online advertising community whether it is for the search community directly or otherwise is being developed abroad and often supported abroad. There may even be a tie between some of the job loss, and ultimately consumer debt problems, in the United States as a result of the outsourcing of projects.

It will become the burden as well as the challenge for online advertisers to develop products and utilize technology that helps to build commerce in the United States. We must help the consumer find jobs and ways to generate income, so they can turn around and spend that money on products we pitch. The online advertiser sits at the beginning of this cycle and at the end of this cycle. The search engine technology and companies we focus our own optimization on will also affect which companies will have a stronger grasp on the consumer. Which in turn will change where the consumer begins the search for products, jobs, and anything else. Often the most searched for products and best results on a search engine become the products that we directly advertise on our networks, whether that is an email, pop, download, or banner network. The constant development of search tools will need to be tailored to match the most successful search engines, the consumer becomes most comfortable when the advertising used most closely mimics the functionality they are already used to.

 The online advertising community has already begun to capitalize by helping consumers find debt solutions as well as jobs and alternate forms of income. We have seen a few versions of Google and the changes in the MSN search tools which change how we utilize this method of advertising. We have now begun to feel the affect of outsourced projects as these companies begin to outsource there development and support projects abroad which continue to force the online advertiser to adapt. We are often advertising products that were built abroad and are supported by companies abroad. Hopefully as the economy becomes stronger we will continue to help build a strong consumer through methods of advertising that not only capitalize on consumer trends but also work to help keep competition strong inside the search and other advertising methods. In the end we do not want to lose jobs abroad through outsourced programs, but find ways to strengthen the US economy through a global strategy that utilizes the best resources we have available. 

1. http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/02/

2. http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/30/ 

3. http://www.globetechnology.com/