mobileStorm was among the first to proclaim that Google, the startup-turned-worldchanger whose motto is “Do No Evil,” was headed for a fall. (If you don’t remember, check out  this episode of Outside The Inbox, part of a series of humorous  videos about news and issues regarding digital communications.)

Word on the street–or rather, in the Valley–is that the search king isn’t living up to its motto. Google  has been laying off staff and will possibly shed 10,000 jobs in all. Since most of these are contract employees rather than full-timers, the company hasn’t had to comply with federal law and report the firings publicly. These contract workers benefit Google in another way, by allowing the company to report lower employee numbers to the SEC, making it look good to investors by making it seem as if productivity per employee is more than it actually is.

What does this have to do with digital marketing? Well, Google’s woes are that of the whole online ad industry. Lower online ad sales means, to marketers,  that your competitors are less likely to be using them–so why should you?

Meanwhile other digital message platforms, such as SMS and email, are growing in popularity among both marketers and consumers. Particularly when these kinds of messages offer coupons or other vouchers that encourage recipients to spend.