It seems appropriate to catch up on the year end, and future anticipations, this week in preparation for getting back to reality. In that context, a report written by Kate Maddox for B2B is a good place to start in looking forward. Access the full report, as well as charts and data, at the conclusion of this Brief excerpting many of her findings.
Maddox introduces her report by noting that users (of the Internet) are just as interested in creating content as they are in watching it, and suggests that marketers must truly understand their target audience's behavior and interests to cut through the clutter. She reports her top 10 marketing trends for 2007, based on interviews with marketers, ad agencies, media companies, analysts and industry experts:
1. CMO Influence As marketing becomes a much more critical function in organizations, chief marketing officers are gaining more influence at the executive table. This trend is certain to continue next year, and the industry may see more CMOs ascending to the CEO spot.
2. Web 2.0 Marketers will embrace Web 2.0 applications in their quest to connect with customers and build loyal communities of users. This is a technology in which users create online identities and interact with each other, including user-generated videos, blogs, wikis and social networking.
3. Global Expansion Many b-to-b marketers are entering new markets and expanding campaigns globally. IBM Corp. Chairman-CEO Sam Palmisano called this "an extraordinary time in international business." He called China and India the "epicenter of a massive economic and demographic shift."
4. Online Video Advertising Maddox quotes an eMarketer report that finds that "Online video advertising will really take off next year, with spending on online video ads increasing by 89% over this year to $775 million… (and) by 2010, spending on online video ads will reach $2.9 billion."
5. Engaging the Customer As marketers use new interactive technologies to "engage" the user, such as online video and social networking, they will need more sophisticated ways to measure user engagement with the experience. Agencies are also developing new metrics for their clients to use in evaluating user engagement on Web sites, including metrics for online video ads such as length of time spent watching; number of stops, pauses and restarts; and interactively by entering information into a request field.
6. Sophisticated Search Search continued to lead growth in online ad spending this year, accounting for 40% of total online advertising revenue in the first half, according to the "Internet Advertising Revenue Report" from IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers. EMarketer said search will continue to account for more than 40% of online ad spending through 2010. Eric Eller, senior director of product marketing for Advertising.com, said concludes that localization and socialization of search are trends to watch in 2007.
7. Sales Leads According to BtoB's "2007 Marketing Priorities and Plans" survey, acquiring new customers is the No. 1 marketing goal for 2007, cited by 62.3% of respondents. And, a study by MarketingSherpa found that free trials, webinars, white papers, blogs and podcasts topped the list of the most effective lead generation tools used by business technology marketers, continued Maddox.
8. Behavioral Targeting Marketers will be able to deliver even more targeted and relevant messages to online users through a variety of online tools. One senior VP reported that "clients are using behavioral targeting to deliver a more personalized message to their customers and improve conversion rates."
9. Trade Shows Trade shows have bounced back, says Maddox. The irony, she continues, is that as the Web continues to penetrate business markets, there is an increasing demand among business executives for the sort of face-to-face dialogue that trade shows can provide.
10. E-mail e-mail will continue to shine for the foreseeable future. For one thing, it delivers, says the report. A recent DMA study that found e-mail had the second-highest response rate for lead generation (2.45%), and E-mail beat direct mail, which garnered a 1.27% response rate in the study.
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