Entitled 2011: The Year Ahead in Digital Marketing, the document focuses on the legislative change set to strike in March, when the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) plans to expand the Committee of Advertising Practice to cover the digital sector. The precise details of how this will affect online advertisers is yet to emerge, but PPC, display and websites themselves look certain to be affected by the expansion of the regulations.
“There are many challenges facing us in 2011, but few will be as keenly discussed as the ASA’s intention to step up its regulation of the digital marketing industry. Although there has already been some speculation as to what exactly this will mean, as ever the devil will be in the detail, and we’d encourage everyone to closely monitor the developing situation, which could have profound implications for the entire sector,” said Lyndsay Menzies, CEO of bigmouthmedia.
A rash of technical innovations are also likely to impact upon the sector as marketers expand their activities to cope with increased interest in mobile marketing and the introduction of internet TV. Taking into consideration a flourishing apps market and the expected growth in demand for Apple’s iPad and competing tablets, retailers in particular will be focusing far greater effort on exploiting this kind of technology.
The increasing importance of such technology will also herald renewed interest in the technical infrastructure upon which digital campaigns are run. Consumer expectations over speed and ease of use are likely to see more emphasis placed on site usability, with an increased focus on both site architecture and traffic measurement and analysis.
The report also predicts that three separate disciplines will be fighting for control of digital budgets in 2011. While companies continue to ponder whether social media is a function of either digital marketing or PR, CRM departments are also likely to begin making claims on the channel in the year ahead.
Bigmouthmedia’s media innovations director Andrew Girdwood added: “2011 will also be the year that many businesses become publishers, with companies around the world placing increased emphasis on creating original quality content at the core of their marketing strategies. Content is king once more, and we expect to see an explosion of activity as brands put greater focus on creating a compelling user experience.”