As marketers ring in the New Year, talk naturally turns to what the year ahead holds. What will be the hot trends in marketing? While we don’t have a crystal ball, we at MediaBrains live and breathe online marketing every day, so we have our fingers on the pulse of what’s happening in the industry. And we see no slow-down in sight for new innovations in online marketing. Investments in all-that-is-interactive marketing will rise in 2009. According to Forrester Research, interactive marketing spending (also known as online marketing) will more than triple over the next five years, reaching $61 billion by 2012. To put this into context, interactive marketing, which currently accounts for just 8 percent of all ad spending, will increase to 18 percent of marketers’ total advertising budgets within five years.

Of course, no discussion of online marketing’s future would be complete without mentioning Web 2.0, an all-encompassing term used to describe the various “next generation” online tools marketers have begun to use. The ever-evolving technology that is Web 2.0 will continue to shape marketing for years to come. Already, more and more marketers have been experimenting with Web 2.0 applications including micro-blogs, mobile marketing, social networks and even virtual worlds. We predict more will take the plunge next year as companies begin to fully integrate these technologies into their marketing programs.

Here are the top Web 2.0 marketing trends we predict will grow in 2009:

1. Video
One aspect of the 2.0 trend that will really take hold this year is video. Of more than 5,300 business and IT professionals globally, 63% of respondents accessed online videos at least once a week, according to Forrester Research. Marketers have realized that video has the same impact as television – a capacity for drawing in viewers and capturing their attention in ways print can’t match. Product information and research is more compelling and valuable when viewed, rather than read from the printed page or computer screen.

2. Social networking
BtoB marketers who haven’t looked into social networking may be missing opportunities to reach their audience. In social networks, marketers find communities of like-minded individuals who want to engage with others and share ideas and opinions. This holds true in the business realm as well. A MediaBrains customer poll found that 58% of business users are on Facebook, and 53% report using Linked-In. We predict this will be the year that BtoB marketers attempt to harness the power of social media with the purpose of meeting business objectives.

3. Reputation management
Along with social media comes a whole new crop of challenges for BtoB marketers. One of the biggest: Reputation management. Building a business’ online reputation has been a challenge for marketers for years. But with the onslaught of social media venues to monitor and participate in, that job has become a whole lot harder – and more important than ever in 2009. The challenge: manage your online reputation as the number of business-related social media sites continues to grow exponentially.

4. Blogs
According to research by Universal McCann, 73% of users read blogs and 36% think more positively about brands that have them. Business blogs, by their very nature, are biased; however, they add a level of credibility, personal interaction, timeliness and informality that is often unobtainable from a standard corporate website. But for a blog to be successful, it has to be meaningful. So make sure the information you offer is relevant and valuable to your audience.

5. Micro-blogs
Out of society’s thirst for “sound-bites” and summaries, versus long dialogue, has risen the micro-blog. The most popular example of micro-blogging: Twitter. (Twitter defines itself as “a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time.”) The appeal of micro-blogging is both its immediacy and portability. Posts are brief (typically under 200 characters) and can be written or received with a variety of devices, including cell phones. Even traditional media organizations, like The New York Times and BBC have begun to send headlines and links in micro-blog posts. BtoB marketers’ challenge: Finding creative and effective ways to harness the power of micro-blogging.

6. Mobile Marketing
Technology advances and improvements to handhelds allow marketing content and messages to now be delivered in a meaningful way to mobile devices. As iPhone and similar devices become increasingly “dummy-proof,” more consumers and business users are adopting and using mobile devices for a wide range of communication needs. Two-way messaging and mobile coupons are a few ways BtoB marketers use mobile marketing. This may be the year that mobile marketing deserves a closer look.

7. SMS
Within mobile marketing, Short Message Service, known as SMS, has become the most popular branch. Why? To put it simply: People are obsessed with text. Technology has again played a big role here. Cell phones with full keyboards (versus the numerical 0-through-9 keypad) have become top sellers for business users and consumers. Turns out SMS text messaging is the most widely used data application on the planet with 2.4 billion active users, or 74% of all mobile phone subscribers sending and receiving text messages (according to Wikipedia). As a result, SMS has become a legitimate advertising channel.

8. Sales 2.0
This onslaught of Web 2.0 next-generation technology has mandated a transition to Sales 2.0, which is quickly becoming the new mantra for BtoB selling. In Sales 2.0, 80% of customers find you before you find them, according to Intrepid Learning Solutions. Sales now must operate in an “on-demand world” – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What exactly is Sales 2.0? The essential difference is that Sales 2.0 is focused on customer engagement – using Web 2.0 technologies to engage and sell, foster brand loyalty and cue sales reps in real-time to pivotal buying signals and drivers. Sales 2.0 is about authenticity, interactivity and creating a more collaborative environment. Customers are able to get only the essential information they need, while salespeople must stay focused on customer needs rather than on a pre-determined agenda. And with the near-immediate feedback inherent in Sales 2.0, marketers can refine messages and techniques more quickly than in the past.

9. ROI 2.0
Return on investment has always been top-of-mind for marketers. However, with the web came the ability to track and measure ROI in ways that were never possible in the offline world. The problem was: even 8 or so years into the Internet adoption curve, marketers still hadn’t quite figured out how to effectively measure the ROI of their online campaigns. They lacked clarity on what measurements were most meaningful. And at the end of the day, what did all those stats and numbers really mean to their bottom line? Today, marketers have begun to understand and leverage online ROI. There are more tools than ever to help marketers better understand and measure whatever it is that is most important to them: be it clicks, leads, newsletter sign-ups, and so on.

One last thing that is sure to impact marketers in 2009: the economy. Revenues in every sector will be impacted. At the end of the day, even with all the new web 2.0 techniques at marketers’ disposal, what will matter most, and help companies weather the storm, are tried and true attributes: a commitment to customer service and quality products.

What do you think will be the hottest trend in 2009?

Tags: blog, Marketing Trends, Micro-Blogs, Reputation Management, social networking
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