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PLEASE BE AWARE: This is an old article, and while we think there are still nuggets of good advice included here, it may be out of date. Things move very quickly in the world of Digital Marketing, Lead Generation and Conversion Rate Optimisation - so please see our latest news for the most recent advice on how to get more out of your website and online marketing.
Xposure recently worked alongside E-consultancy and Experian by taking part in their annual survey to judge the developments in marketing, specifically current spending and budgets. The survey interviewed over 500 businesses and clients to discover the latest statistics and figures, and to produce the report which will set back those not involved by £250! We’ve used the information we found in the report to discover the four key marketing trends for 2012 and now we’re sharing them with you, for free!
Trend Number 1
Digital marketing!
The 2011 report showed an increased focus on digital marketing, and 2012 is no different. 68% of those within the survey reported that they intended to increase their digital budgets over the next 12 months.
In contrast to this, under half of companies who took part in the survey intended to increase overall marketing budgets and only 16% said they were increasing offline budgets (e.g. newspaper, TV and radio).
What does this mean to me?
No one can deny that digital marketing is becoming increasingly prevalent as people are spending more and more time on the internet. With this in mind, it might be best to think about the methods that you already have in place. Are you on a long-running contract with a magazine, advertising your wares in the same way each month? Consider how much of your audience actually does their research online, can you capture them there without the expensive print prices?
Trend Number 2
Mobile devices for browsing
The survey goes into detail about the increased penetration of mobile devices into everyday life and people’s spending habits. According to the report, people in general are spending 7% of their time using mobile devices, but businesses are only investing 0.5% of their budget for mobile devices, leading to a substantial gap in the market that is waiting to be filled. Cyber Monday 2011 in America saw a massive increase in their e-commerce sites being visited from mobiles, rising from 3.9% to 10.8%.
What does this mean to me?
There is a massive gap in the market, as brands are not meeting the audience where they are spending their time. You could be one of the first to make your site mobile friendly (currently 70% businesses do not have mobile friendly websites), advertise in mobile arenas and address the big market that’s waiting for you! For example, you could make QR codes that drive customers directly to your site and increase your sales.
Trend Number 3
The growing social media market
Brands are generally coming around to the idea that social media has great potential for marketing purposes, and there’s a huge increase in spending. The report states two thirds of companies surveyed expect to increase their budgets for off-site (69%) and on-site (66%) social media in 2012. Brands embracing the social media revolution, are increasingly claiming the difficulty in measuring the ROI. According to the report 22% struggled with find out their return from on-site investments and 20% could not see the investments from off-site social media.
What does this mean to me?
It can be difficult to know how effective your social media outlets are, but there are ways that you can combat this. Each social network that your business uses contains a page of analytics, these statistics show you who is looking at your site, when they do it and what content they like. This can help you to address what your audience wants, to ensure your site is more effective in meeting their needs.
The overall report from E-consultancy, goes into a lot of detail about the ways in which businesses are spending their marketing budgets, and these are the most important trends. It’s essential that you keep up-to-date on marketing trends to ensure that you’re ahead of the game.
