BANGALORE, INDIA: The global economic slowdown has resulted in business environment becoming even more challenging today. Business are looking at reaching out to customers in a bigger way than ever before. In this scenario, online technologies have emerged as a favorite tool to showcase due to the low cost and the flexibility they provide.

In an interview with Sharath Kumar of CIOL, Pawan Agarwal, Head -India operations, Lime Spot Technology India Pvt. Ltd, shared some of the latest trends in the advertising space, advantages of adopting online presence and benifits emerging enterprises can expect out of adopting the latest technologies.

CIOL: With the change in the economic climate, do you expect any major shift in advertising trends, specially among emerging enterprises ?

Pawan Agarwal: World over the most critical question which a small and medium business (SMB) faces today is : Which model to use for online advertisement - "DIFM" (do it for me) or "DIY" (do it yourself). Figures say "DIFM is more powerful at present but we also think that larger number of SMBs will do some form of self-service as those tools and entry points become more pervasive and simpler to use.

In India, SMBs have started opening up to the formal way of communications and there are some front runners who are adopting the latest technology like SEO and SEM, Google adword, Video advertisement in addition to online (banner) and mainline advertisement to optimize
the return on every rupee invested.

At present , there is higher awareness among some verticals only on the importance of online presence. In India, some SMB verticals are on par with if not better than their peers and competitors in Europe and US. But in some verticals, advertisement is still at a very nascent stage.

CIOL: Are SMBs maintaining their ad spending levels in a challenging time like this?

PA: According to the latest wave of the  Local Commerce Monitor from The Kelsey Group and ConStat - via Marketing Charts, a majority of US SMBs say they will maintain or increase their ad spending in next the 12 months.

The SMBs are expected to maintain 47 percent of their spending on ads in next the 12 months, and 34 percent expect to increase it. Only 9 percent plan a decrease. Those figures are similar to last year's
results and indicate that the economic downturn is not negatively affecting ad spending for SMBs in US.

In India, however, a significant growth opportunity exists within SMBs since only around 25 percent of them currently possess an Internet connection. Indian SMBs have not been too far behind in following this global trend.

Web 2.0 technologies - like social networking, blogs, ad links, Google Adword, etc - are gradually being adopted by India SMBs for information dissemination, marketing and communication modes, etc. The importance of online advertising also displays an upward trend within SMB media-related activities.

CIOL: How is Lime Exchange planning to serve the needs of local advertisers?

PA: Nowadays, local SMBs and advertisers are heavily relying on online marketing and advertising strategies for increasing sales, customer acquisition and promotions. Adopting latest trends like SEM,community marketing, e-mail marketing and SEO are increasingly used alternatives to traditional marketing and with an increase in Internet penetration are reaping rich dividends. These strategies rely heavily on creativity and messaging.

Lime Spot Technology's LimeExchange.com, the online services marketplace provides SMBs with a rich global talent pool available on demand to help them with their online marketing strategies and implementing them quickly. Local SMBs and advertisers can outsource their creative requirements (Banners, Gif's, Flash messages, Messaging content etc) and get experts from around the globe with niche skills to work for them as cost efficient options.

CIOL: How do you plan to rope-in small-businesses ?

PA: LimeExchange utilizes most of the marketing strategy like traditional marketing and online marketing (SEO, SEM and online alliances) and even community marketing (contests, user forums) and has been able to reach-out to users from over 166 countries. The practical solution LimeExchange provides for outsourcing as an option to SMBs, entrepreneurs and freelancers keeps them automatically engaged.

LimeExchange on one side provides SMBs an efficient channel to outsource, where they can conduct vendor evaluation online, by getting a sample of work done and by receiving quotes from a global talent pool to gauge cost vs quality and decide the same based on their business needs. LimeExchange provides a completely financially safeguarded option by simulating a contract workflow online (Terms of Engagement), where parties agree on a payment schedule and frequency for the scope of work and by providing an Escrow service as a guarantee against issues in services delivered.

For vendors, LimeExchange has the potential of becoming a continuous revenue earning channel and a cost effective sales channel, where the more business they conduct the more business opportunities they will have. Features like TOE (Milestone based payments), helps ensure that a payment frequency and schedule can be mutually defined to mitigate financial burden and risks. Apart from the above, LimeExchange also has many other features like "QnA", "Affiliation Program" which provide more mediums for all users to spread their word and chance for bettering their earning opportunities.

CIOL: Any plans to leverage local online video ?

PA: A picture speaks a thousand words and LimeExchange currently provides to all its users to utilize the benefit on online videos to showcase their message or spread their word around about them.

However, LimeExchange does contemplate utilizing online video channels in future to be able to better reach out to its user base and also provide the benefits of this to increase communication and collaboration between its users and with its users.