Interactive Marketing Growing in Importance

It has been said that traditional marketing is dead, or nearly so.  Interactive marketing, though, is very much alive and kicking.  A new report by Forrester Research indicates that spending for interactive marketing will increase to US$77 billion by 2016.  This niche has gained legitimacy in the past year, and indeed, it is overtaking traditional marketing as the biggest concern for companies.  Instead of selling to customers, they are navigating in a world where they have to talk to customers.  It is a strange new world.

Among other findings in the Forrester report:

• Smartphone usage will increase 150 percent by 2015.
• 82 million people will own a tablet.
• Search will continue to be the biggest piece of the interactive marketing puzzle, but other strategies, including social media, will gain ground.
• Spending for contextual listings, simple image ads, and rich media ads will hit US$27.6 billion in the next five years.
• Forrester predicts that display categories will account for 36 percent of interactive spending by 2016.
• Spending on social media will increase to US$8.2 billion by 2016.
• Mobile advertising and mobile search will continue to grow as tablets and smartphones are adopted more widely.

Shar VanBoskirk, analyst and report author, says, “We expect this growth to help firms become more adaptive, kill off daily deals, re-emphasize marketing’s 4 ‘p’s’ (product, price, place, and promotion), and turn consumer electronics into audience-targeting tools.”  Recent studies show that consumers are more willing to allow their locations to be used in determining advertising, and companies have to keep up.

But no more daily deals?  This, says VanBoskirk will keep people “intentional” and prevent a “cultural descent into maladroit judgment.”  Good-bye, daily deal.