Winterberry Group, a New York based strategic consulting business offering market intelligence and corporate strategy, released their annual marketing outlook study on January 13th entitled: Marketing Outlook 2011: What to Expect in Direct & Digital Marketing.
This years report revealed some key metrics for the coming year including the growth of direct mail spending by 5.8% over 2010 with financial, retail and auto industries leading the pack. Digital spending is forecasted with a 14% growth.
According to eMarketer 30-35% of media consumed is via digital channels with standardization of digital metrics fueling broader adoption. Channel integration and optimization are a major marketer priority for digital. Within digital spending, over 50% of dollars are spent on search marketing with a shift from brand paid search terms to the use of organic search.
Email spending will go up by 18% and remains the most cost effective medium. Email continues to be integrated with offline channels such as direct mail and events and there is an increasing integration with online channels such as social media and mobile.
Not surprisingly, social media has seen explosive growth and will continue to be a focus for companies in 2011. According to Company Web Sites, Altimeter Group’s “Career Path of the Social Media Strategist” (November 2010), 79% of corporations have undertaken social media efforts in an effort to interact with consumers online. There are 600 million Facebook users, 175 million twitter users sending 95 million tweets a day and 85 million LinkedIn users. Lastly, consumer adoption of social media slows while B2B adoption accelerates; with marketers turning to platforms as sources of data and feedback.
Spending on mobile based marketing will grow to 30% in 2011 and breach the $1 billion investment mark. With mobile coupons, apps and the use of QR Codes being key mobile drivers.
For a copy of the report go to www.winterberrygroup.com and click on the insights header and scroll down to conference presentations.
