As the U.S. moves into a possible economic slowdown, partially caused by the subprime mortgage meltdown, the question is whether the pain will spread to online advertising. Online ads have been booming since the dot-com bust ended around 2003, with 20%+ growth every year. When recession questions arose recently, many analysts believed online advertising would remain “recession-proof” because it’s relatively cheap compared to TV or newspaper ads, and because it’s easier to track. The king of paid-search ads, Google, offered a similar rationale for why it would weather an economic storm, but now comScore found that clicks on Google ads have dropped the past two months. Google’s once high-flying stock has been hammered, from a high last November of $740 to around $470 today. Do you think online advertising and/or Google would get hit by a recession or will it survive a larger economic hit? Do you find yourself clicking on less Google ads and buying less online? Share your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll run the best ones in the next Your Take Roundup.
Are Google and online advertising vulnerable to a recession?
February 27, 2008
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Outsourcing Costa Rica? It may be a wise move during a recession.
In today’s highly competitive outsourcing market, a closer proximity to the United States , Central Time Zone and Spanish language capability as an added value are now considered almost basic requirements when making a decision on what call center to use for your important project. Leaving this to chance is not even an option anymore.
Many of the offshore call center agents are bilingual in their native Middle Eastern or Asian language which is difficult to the North American ear. Whereas Spanish is more useful and practical as a second language for potential untapped markets throughout the North, Central and South American populations as well as those countries where Spanish is either a primary or secondary language. This aspect alone has made Costa Rica a very attractive “near-shore” outsourcing solution. Most importantly, you can take advantage of the international tax laws granted to international companies that invest in Costa Rica and its local economy. The potential savings and benefits will make your outsourcing campaign a very wise business decision.
In addition, unlike other traditional call centers, Costa Rica’s Call Center stays focused on managing no more than a hundred person call center, one outsourced or inbound customer oriented campaign at a time in order to properly control quality, performance and positive employee morale. Once capacity is reached at one of our call centers, another location will be created with the same structure and business plan in order to keep our call center results and expectations consistently higher than that of the competition.
Call center software is as important to an outsourced campaign as telemarketing training. Both areas must be secure, reliable and willing to out perform the same competition that you are currently considering. Costa Rica has a very solid infrastructure ,stable democratic government, very competitive labor costs and a call center job pool that is especially attunded to the North American culture. Call center jobs are some of the top paying career opportunities in Costa Rica. This differs greatly from other countries that consider it as a starting position in a dead end company. Turnover at these other locations are five to ten times more than in Costa Rica. The high demand for call center services has provided our company with an abundance of respectable resumes of qualified telemarketers that want to work with and for you.
We encourage you to visit one of our call centers on your next personal vacation or business trip to Central America’s paradise, Costa Rica. While you are here, we would recommend taking an extra day of your trip to visit breathtaking virgin beaches, play golf next to the ocean, try your luck at deep sea fishing, explore tropical jungles, climb a volcano or just relax in natural hot springs. Come and see for yourself why call center outsourcing in Costa Rica is a perfect solution for your growing company and a powerhouse in the BPO industry.
http://www.costaricascallcenter.com/why_costarica.html