According to the survey, 51 percent of respondents expect their marketing budgets to increase in 2012, while 8 percent expect them to decrease and 41 percent expect to maintain current spend levels.

When asked to indicate the programs for which they plan to increase spend, 60 percent pointed to email marketing and 55 percent said social media. Search (SEO/PPC) followed with 37 percent, while mobile also had 37 percent of the response and advertising had 28 percent of the response. Direct mail (18 percent), tradeshows and events (18 percent), public relations (16 percent) and “other” (8 percent) rounded out the list.

When asked which email marketing programs would receive increased spend in 2012, 47 percent answered social media channel growth (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), 44 percent answered promotional (batch), 39 percent answered newsletter (batch), 35 percent answered lifecycle programs, 14 percent answered referral programs, 12 percent answered none, 6 percent answered progressive polling profiles and 4 percent answered other.

For lifecycle email marketing programs specifically, 68 percent said they plan on increasing spend on win-back/re-engagement and 59 percent plan on increasing spend on welcoming. For social media marketing program investments, 39 percent of respondents said they plan on increasing spend on Facebook marketing programs, while 25 percent said they would increase spend on social media management technology.

When it came to mobile programs, 29 percent of respondents said they plan on increasing spend on building an application for the Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, etc. Meanwhile, 28 percent of respondents said they plan on decreasing spend on direct mail programs, while 23 percent said they plan on decreasing spend on tradeshows and events.

The biggest email marketing initiative in 2012 is increasing subscriber engagement (48 percent), followed by improving segmentation and targeting (44 percent).

The survey also found that 67 percent of respondents see building customer loyalty and retention as the primary value of email marketing as a marketing channel, followed by 51 percent who said awareness building. Another finding was that 37 percent are employing integrated cross/upsell offers during the 2011 holiday season, followed by 34 percent who are employing promotion of in-store sales events and 31 percent employing post-purchase programs.

Source:

Even with the Olympics and the presidential election the advertising market in general is doing poorly –sub-prime mortgages, credit markets, the price of gold and housing meltdowns are all to blame – but online hasn’t been affected.

Interactive advertising will grow to about $28 billion this year and account for 8.8% of ad spending in the U.S.

eMarketer’s breakdown of U.S. Online and Total Media Advertising Spending
(Billions and % of total media spending):

Online     Total Media     Online % of total media
2006:  $16.9         $281.6                     6%
2007:  $21.1         $283.9                     7.4%
2008:  $25.9         $293.3                    8.8%
2009:  $30            $299                       10%
2010:  $35            $307                       11.4%
2011:  $41            $316                        13%
2012:  $51            $332                       15.4%

“Whatever label you slap on the current economic climate, US ad spending both online and offline will be shaped by overarching business trends,” says David Hallerman, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, US Online Advertising: Resilient in a Rough Economy.

“While Internet ad spending is in no way immune to a recession’s impact, it is more resistant to ad spending cutbacks than are other media.”

“Western companies understand the importance of innovating in emerging markets,” said John Hegel, co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for Edge Innovation. “They should not miss the much larger opportunity for innovation blowback to use emerging markets as seedbeds for innovation that can be used to attack more entrenched positions in more developed countries.”

Meanwhile, the transformation of mobile networks from primarily outdoor to increasingly indoor usage will create new opportunities for network operators, who will need to move rapidly as the process of fixed displacement takes hold. In advertising, the growing online advertising market will contend with increasing consumer antipathy to online ads and concerns about the tracking of online behavior.

Predictions 2008 is a series of three reports examining emerging developments and how they will shape the TMT market. They were written by the Deloitte TMT industry group with input from leading industry analysts and executives. Each report includes recommendations on how to best take advantage of these trends.

Accompanying the Global TMT Predictions this year is a closer look at the U.S. market in a separate report called the Deloitte 2008 Industry Outlook. This report for Technology, Media and Telecommunications looks directly at trends impacting the U.S. market in 2008.
   
Key trends identified in these reports include:

    Technology

      – Innovation Blowback: Technology industries are demonstrating
         Increased interest and investment in developing products to reach
         Large, low-income populations in emerging economies such as India,
         China and Latin America. In a phenomenon called innovation  blowback,
         expect to see at least one of these innovative products, services, or
         management practices be introduced back into Western economies in
         2008 and act as a disruptive force, targeting the entrenched
         positions of incumbents in these more developed economies.

      — Green Technology Issues: LED lights, nanotechnology and water
         conservation technology predictions are all examples of how
         technology will play an important roll in green issues in 2008.
         Additionally, the growing importance of green technology to U.S.
         corporations will lead to the creation of a new certification body
         for energy-conservation claims.

      – Privacy & Protection of Personally Identifiable Information: The
         rising value of digital protection, the flight to privacy and a move
         to online authentication will become increasingly important as
         increasingly sophisticated consumer targeting plans emerge, along
         with continued data security breaches involving personally
         identifiable information security.

    Telecom

      — Getting Mobile Indoors: With an increasing portion of network traffic
         moving indoors, how will mobile operators adapt to this changing
         landscape? Network sharing will be a strategic decision made by many
         operators in 2008.

      – Accessibility as a Business Driver: Demographics are creating new
         market opportunities for communications services and products. Market
         segmentation will play a key role in creating new product target
         markets.

      — From Credit Crunch to Communications Crisis: A vital question for the
         telecommunications sector is the extent to which the current credit
         crunch may provoke a crisis in the telecommunications sector in 2008.

    Media & Entertainment

      – Online Advertising: Despite increased spending on online advertising
         ($10 billion invested in specialist online advertising companies
         alone), there is growing antipathy by consumers to the online
         advertisement and the tracking of online behavior.

      – Long Live Traditional Television, Thanks to Internet Television:
         Internet television will increasingly broaden the user experience of
         traditional ‘TV’ as opposed to providing a viewing experience that
         competes with it.

      – The Living Room Moves Closer to Being Public Enemy Number One: More
         elaborate TV/entertainment set-up in living rooms means higher energy
         consumption nationwide. The media and electronics industries will
         need to consider how the carbon footprint of the living room can be
         reduced without returning to antiquated technology.

Compliments of PR NewsWire

Employees desire a balance between work and life. More flexibility means many business functions take place outside of the office and telecommuting is becoming more of a normative. Hotels are now expected to have portable office spaces that are fully equipped for internet use, conference call needs and the full production of a presentation.

This provides an even bigger market for free WiFi which is common in many public facilities such as libraries and coffee shops; however cities are jumping on the bandwagon, experimenting with city-wide free, ad-supported wireless internet. This could potentially mean great exposure for local business on local search, a yet-to-be fully monetized area of the online advertising and marketing world.
The “extreme commuters” are creating a different set of needs. “Extreme Commuting” means that one travels 90 minutes or more to get to their job each weekday. It is becoming more and more of a trend for professionals to live outside of the urban center and commute in for reasons of affordability and lifestyle. Longer commutes are becoming a larger part of life in the U.S., Europe and Asia according to the report. This new trend is shaping how manufacturers look at cars and how far the reaches of WiFi are being extended. There is a need for this service so many commuters can either check weather reports, emails on public transportation, or check into work before arriving there. This alone also opens up a new niche market for many vertical networks.

This change in the workplace will create a higher need for faster and more efficient internet access, also creating a need for highly targeted, smart ads and networks.