Although many companies have been slow to embrace Internet marketing, the economic crisis has failed to suppress demand for Web advertising expertise, an Ann Arbor marketing executive said.

Catherine Juon, co-founder of Ann Arbor-based marketing firm Pure Visibility, said the thirst for progressive Web marketing strategies remains strong despite the economic crisis.

“Especially right now in a down economy, people are thinking harder about, 'What do I need to do with new business development to make sure I have a strong year next year?'” Juon said. “Most of our customers are coming to us with a need to improve their sales for new business development.”

Demand for Internet marketing knowledge is creating teaching opportunities for Pure Visibility, which plans to launch a regular workshop called “Grow It, Girlfriend!” on Nov. 19 to teach women executives about Web marketing tools. The lunch workshop series, which costs $100 per session, will focus on search engine marketing, social media strategies and other Web tools.

Pure Visibility, led by Juon and fellow co-founder Linda Girard, is adding two employees to its staff of 12. Juon said her company has not witnessed a noticeable slowdown in demand, even though Web marketing has much room to grow.

Internet marketing spending is projected to rise 63.4 percent from $25.7 billion in 2009 to $42 billion in 2013, according to eMarketer.com. Print newspaper advertising, by contrast, sunk 17.7 percent from $42.2 billion in 2007 to $34.7 billion in 2008, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

Juon said business executives are only now starting to understand that they need to
fundamentally alter their marketing strategies based on the influence of the Internet.

“There’s still a lot of catch-up to do,” she said. “Purchasing habits have changed entirely. Marketing used to have a very special playbook where you buy the ads, you go to the trade shows, you do the direct mail, you buy the radio spots, all those traditional media planning activities.

“Now there’s this whole new area of media planning that needs to happen that there’s not a lot of general understanding about.”

Juon said search engine marketing can drive sales, but social media offer the chance to shape a brand’s image. She said companies have to make basic decisions about what message they want to send before launching a Web marketing campaign.

“Who is the person you ultimately want to attract? How can we use the Internet to support those goals?” she said. “The Internet does force you to think about what makes you distinctive. You’ve got to nail what makes you distinctive. That gets lost when you get into the tools too quickly.”

Contact AnnArbor.com’s Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.