The 5HITS

So where is the spend going? Interestingly enough, into search. Per eMarketer, search is predicted to grow by 15% in 2009 and 30% by 2010. This is against display ads 18% , Classifieds -6%, Sponsorships -8%, Email marketing 8.5% and video 113% all by 2010. In this data, Search makes up 45% of online spend in 2008 and will move to 48% in 2009 and 48,7% by 2010.

This can only be good news to Google and those providing paid search and search engine optimisation (SEO)services. Video ad spending while good news, comes in varying forms and channels, from Youtube through to display video. From the data this breakdown was not available but no doubt there would be some overlap.

While this data is based on the United States and is based on various assumptions, we believe Australia will follow a similar trend. In fact the update and increase in growth in search may even be more dramatic, given the speed on adoption and innovation rates with Australian online marketers. Within the last 18 months it is clear that corporate Australia recognizes the opportunity from search and is prepared to invest accordingly.

Social media as a channel to market is still clearly emerging in Australia. Most corporates know they need to be involved and many are finding the best way to execute challenging. Search is also clearly integrated into social strategies.

So what does this mean? Some core considerations for 2009 are:

• If you don’t have a SEO (search engine optimisation) strategy, now is probably a good time to consider one, and integrate this with all your online intentions
• If you are not conducting paid search, now is probably a good time to at least conduct a business case, if not set up some campaigns
• Starting to integrate social mediainto organisational processes, including customer service, brand management and public relations will be key. Understand your value proposition to the community and be consistent in your application.
• Incorporate online communications into your risk management processes, from blogs to Meta tags, to micro-blogging to Facebook. Those responsible for protecting the corporation need to understand all of this, as well as the requirement for speed and flexibility. This will be a significant challenge for many Australian corporates. 
• Consolidate your measuresto get a simple picture of traffic cost and value to the organisation through standard and consistent KPIs (Key performance indicators)

Happy New Year.

Business online, Internet, Paid Search, Search Marketing Adspend