Marketing Budgets in 2015

At the beginning of any new year, many businesses are looking at their budgets, especially the marketing department, in order to achieve success and prosperity in the many months that lie ahead. When in comes to marketing on the world wide web, the majority of marketers, over 40%, believe that the top three forms of online advertising are:

1. The use of social media
2. Online searches and SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
3. Display and banner advertising

Further statistics reveal that a mere 8% of online users account for the vast majority (85%) of all clicks on internet display ads. In our digitally drenched online environment, while some are still debating the death of print media, perhaps the discussion should be more focused on whether or not display advertisements are suffocating online.

Considering there are over sixty trillion web pages and growing constantly, our online marketing budgets need to reflect the mobile movement and popularity of social media. It is no longer a question of the affordability of reaching mobile users on their handheld devices and connecting with today’s audience on board social platforms, it needs to be considered more of a necessity rather than a luxury.

Blending SEO and Social

Today’s online marketers are embracing the fact that blending SEO and social is the pathway to future success on the internet. Quality social content that is both engaging and entertaining will create the necessary “share factor” needed to fuel marketers’ search optimization efforts. In the past, many saw SEO and social as two separate entities, today and in the future, these two strategies will be integrated in order to achieve the best results online.

A Common Mobile Myth

It almost goes without saying how important the aspect of mobility is when it comes to our marketing budgets and many are referring to this as a “mobile first mentality.” A popular myth circulating around the mobile marketing scene is that those using search results will only visit ecommerce sites and not traditional brick-and-mortar storefronts. According to Google, three out of four people performing local searches online are more likely to visit a storefront.

Those web surfers are checking more than store hours and locations, they are checking on in-store availability and pricing. When this information is unavailable to them online, they are more likely to avoid the store altogether.

Content Clutter Online

To cut through the enormous amount of content available on the internet nowadays, many of today’s marketers are looking at creating “mini-libraries” or personalized newsrooms on websites. Not a traditional news outlet that may come to mind, but rather a platform for showcasing timely content such as branded social media posts, consumer reviews and experiences regarding products and services. This type of “web personalization” will become more commonplace as customers are expecting this type of individualized approach.

Statistics, like those mentioned above, will continue to show the growth of the mobile movement and connecting with the social scene online, expanding and increasing. Budgeting in 2015 and in the future will need to be mobilely and socially inclusive in order for our businesses to remain successful and continue to thrive in the uber competitive online environment.

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Nick Rojas is a business consultant and writer who lives in Los Angeles and Chicago. He has consulted small and medium-sized enterprises for over twenty years. He has contributed articles to Visual.ly, Entrepreneur, and TechCrunch. You can follow him on Twitter @NickARojas, or you can reach him at [email protected].