You've heard the news and know the drill: in lean times, marketers must jettison any extra ballast that adds weight to the balloon. What this means depends on what your marketing mix is, what your competitors are doing, and the degree to which you can get more done for less. But there are certain principles that apply to any kind of business doing online marketing: here they are.

The last eight weeks have been volatile, to say the least. As I've talked to advertisers about campaign performance, outlooks for 2009, and their overall business, attitudes varied, ranging from concerned, to fearful, to uncertain, to cautiously optimistic -- the later attitude seeming to wax and wane with each passing news cycle. Though advertiser attitudes are varied, their reactions to the current consumer environment are generally consistent. Four key theses are emerging....

'Tis the season -- so I thought I'd take a stab at 10 things search marketers should be thankful for.

The most valuable benefit of marketing videos on YouTube may not be the views but what you learn about the viewers. Last week, we talked about YouTube's Sponsored Video ad platform and how it's a complement to, but not replacement for, traditional search engine marketing. If you do find value in driving video views, you'll be even more excited about what YouTube tells you about those viewers. We'll review some examples of what Insights tells you and how you can use it.

I'm one of those odd people who doesn't drive to work but takes the train each morning. Lately I've been having a lot of spontaneous conversations with people about how glum they're feeling, how badly their savings have taken a hit, and whether they'll ever be able to afford to retire, or just drop dead at their jobs the way people did 100 years ago. As the holidays approach, the glumness grows, and as the misery spreads, it's really hard to focus on stuff that we in the interactive ad business took so seriously a mere eight months ago.

I have to confess an addiction to the presidential campaign. I followed it obsessively, every twist, every turn, every gaffe, every SNL skit. I was in awe of the sums of money being raised and spent. But, despite all the campaign spin and rhetoric, we all know that the true balance of power lies elsewhere: in the halls of little company based out of Mountain View, Calif.<

Last week, I talked about what brand can't do on the search results page. Today, I'd like to talk about one of the many things that brand can do on search. If brands can't build an emotional appeal on the results page, they can certainly reinforce their presence at just the right time. Remember, we use search when our intent is squarely aligned with researching a purchase. We're actively looking for information. And the appearance of brands can be a powerful influencer in these types of searches. Here are some of the surprising and not so surprising things we've found …

Here are thoughts on three topics this week (that are coincidentally all from Google). The first: Google gives natural search optimization its blessing with the SEO Starter Guide.

Let's agree right away that YouTube's Sponsored Video isn't the next Google Killer. It's not even the next Yahoo killer, even though comScore recently reported that YouTube is now the second largest search engine.Fittingly, around the time that the comScore news broke, Google publicly launched search-triggered Sponsored Video ads on YouTube. Does this mean marketers need to consider YouTube over Yahoo and Microsoft?

Forecasts for the health of the online ad industry for the next year or so continue to range all over the map, from modest growth to an "off the cliff" decline. Assuming the worst -- that the same wave of retrenchments, layoffs, and failures we're already seeing elsewhere in the economy continue for some time -- let me present a few survival strategies for those who see their positions in jeopardy. I learned these the hard way the last time we had a collapse, back in 2000-02.