Have you read the news today? If you have, you couldn’t ignore the many stories related to the current economic conditions and questions about what it means for business.

According to a recent story by Kevin Ryan at Search Engine Watch, everyone wants to know what the economic meltdown means for advertising and marketing dollars, and how organizations will shift spending and strategies to put the right amount of focus on the programs that promise to yield the most in terms of revenue or brand recognition.

Just this week we released the results of a survey that highlights some of the top technology tools marketers at more than 300 retail organizations are using to help them drive business and compete for consumer dollars. The survey shows that close to all of the people we polled (90%) rank site search, search engine optimization (SEO) and email marketing as the most important e-commerce technologies helping to promote their online businesses.

Interestingly, we asked these same retailers what programs they would consider omitting from their marketing plans if faced with tightening budgets, and found that those who are minimizing spend due to current economic constraints are not inclined to diminish their core marketing programs – site search, SEO and email marketing – but would rather decrease spending on activities that are less results-driven such as podcasts, static display ads and online video.

It seems only natural that companies competing for shrinking consumer dollars would look to tools they can rely on to help them better appeal to consumers and keep those consumers coming back. We’re happy to report that site search and SEO are two best practices retailers are using to continue promoting sales and customer loyalty today, and in the future.

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