These days, with all the buzz about devising conversational marketing strategies for social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, you might wonder whether you need to divert online marketing dollars from more traditional programs to concentrate on these new platforms. Can’t decide? Read on …
PROMO magazine recently released results of its 2009 PROMO Interactive Marketing Survey of brands and agencies, and the findings provide some valuable insights if you’re planning your online marketing strategy for the rest of this year or beyond.
Emerging Channels Show Most Growth—Old Faithfuls Dominate
The following chart shows online marketing tactics that US marketers indicated they used in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Results for emerging media channels (e.g., blogs, social networks, mobile/SMS) appear at the top, while results for more traditional online channels (e.g., email programs, display ads) appear toward the bottom.
What isn’t surprising from this data is that the more tried-and-true online tactics—email programs (used by 70%–75% of respondents in 2009), online promotions (47%), display ads (41%) and even SEO (39%)—lead the pack and clearly dominate the online marketing landscape. But what is surprising is that numerous social media tactics—corporate blogs (39%), social network promotions (34%), viral campaigns (28%) and mobile marketing (26%)—are already on track to supplant many of today’s “Old Faithfuls.” The message from the data seems clear: When it comes to online marketing, you can no longer afford to ignore the fast-growing influence of emerging social media channels to be competitive.
What This Means for Your Business
These numbers not only indicate the current state of affairs in online marketing but also hint at what to expect in the not-too-distant future. As your business moves into the next decade, marketing through social media—and other—emerging channels will play a big part in how you connect with your customers to market your products and services.
Now is the time to become aware of what these new online channels have to offer your business and begin to experiment and figure out how you can make them work to your advantage. While you certainly don’t want to eliminate effective staples at the core of your online marketing plan, you need to diversify your programs to include new opportunities that make sense for your audience. After all, the online marketing tactics that seem experimental to you today will quite likely become your Old Faithfuls tomorrow.
PROMO magazine recently released results of its 2009 PROMO Interactive Marketing Survey of brands and agencies, and the findings provide some valuable insights if you’re planning your online marketing strategy for the rest of this year or beyond.
Emerging Channels Show Most Growth—Old Faithfuls Dominate
The following chart shows online marketing tactics that US marketers indicated they used in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Results for emerging media channels (e.g., blogs, social networks, mobile/SMS) appear at the top, while results for more traditional online channels (e.g., email programs, display ads) appear toward the bottom.
What isn’t surprising from this data is that the more tried-and-true online tactics—email programs (used by 70%–75% of respondents in 2009), online promotions (47%), display ads (41%) and even SEO (39%)—lead the pack and clearly dominate the online marketing landscape. But what is surprising is that numerous social media tactics—corporate blogs (39%), social network promotions (34%), viral campaigns (28%) and mobile marketing (26%)—are already on track to supplant many of today’s “Old Faithfuls.” The message from the data seems clear: When it comes to online marketing, you can no longer afford to ignore the fast-growing influence of emerging social media channels to be competitive.
What This Means for Your Business
These numbers not only indicate the current state of affairs in online marketing but also hint at what to expect in the not-too-distant future. As your business moves into the next decade, marketing through social media—and other—emerging channels will play a big part in how you connect with your customers to market your products and services.
Now is the time to become aware of what these new online channels have to offer your business and begin to experiment and figure out how you can make them work to your advantage. While you certainly don’t want to eliminate effective staples at the core of your online marketing plan, you need to diversify your programs to include new opportunities that make sense for your audience. After all, the online marketing tactics that seem experimental to you today will quite likely become your Old Faithfuls tomorrow.
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