Online Marketing Predictions For 2009
As we are about to say good riddance to the (economically tumultuous) year 2008, it is time to harbor thoughts as to what to expect for the coming year. Admittedly, it is hard to be so optimistic with all the business down trends that had rocked the economy of the world. I tend to subscribe to the popular notion that it will be a wild year with lots of opportunity for those who choose to take advantage of and a grim year for those that choose to ignore E-commerce way and how it has fundamentally changed the way we do business.
So here goes my prediction for the online marketing industry this coming 2009:
1. Affiliate Marketing or Performance-based Marketing would achieve great strides as many brick and mortar stores would start to subscribe to this cost-effective means of marketing their products. It is common belief in the industry that Affiliate Marketing is recession proof- at least for this current situation. Due to Internet explosion and the dramatic growth of convenience technology, white labeling campaigns would increase its popularity in the industry to spoon feed the rising number of new affiliates.
2. Search Engine Optimization companies would have significant increase in its client base as more and more merchants would be jumping into the water to increase their presence online. This would also give birth to a new brand of hybrid engines like ZookFind which is capable of simultaneously searching Google, MSN, Yahoo and Ask. Some will be very useful but only a select few people and companies will be able to figure out how to use the data in front of them.
3. Social Networking will continue to get bigger and bolder. The move for single sign in system would be pushed but would not succeed as major players would emphasize on owning the database on the back end. We would also see a record number of niche dedicated networking sites.
4. With potentially millions of people losing their jobs in all sectors, there will be lots of fresh fertile minds who will stop looking for a job and instead create their own opportunities and build new companies online.
5. As an offshoot the increasing rate of business establishing their presence online, the freelance and virtual assistant opportunities would skyrocket. Demand for writers would increase as content-rich Information Architecture would dominate the Internet. There will be a huge demand for quality site design, development and marketing services.
6. As competition increases online, companies will be more aware of the search data in front of them and would rebuild their sites accordingly. On the other hand, companies who ignore this trend would see significant drop in revenue.
7. Online Video Marketing would play an integral part in shaping consumer buying attitude. Product placement and custom in-video advertising will implemented to a new level - blurring the lines between ads and content, without impacting the viewer experience.
8. The highest online sales transaction would be generated by these three sectors: Travel, Clothing and Consumer Electronics. Negative sales growth might be experienced in these categories: Jewelry, Automobile and Home.
To sum up, I think online marketing stands to benefit more for the global economic slow down of 2008 (which is expected to run through 2009 as well). This financial crisis had become a catharsis of sort for most conservative business entities to open their avenues to the Internet explosion. While prognosis for 2009 is not good for the traditional businesses, Internet-based companies would start to reap good ROI on their strategic campaigns.
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