According to an infographic created by Bell Pottinger Wired (shown below), online retail sales in the United Kingdom are expected to increase by 10% each year through 2017. This growth isn’t unique to the U.K. Across the globe, online and mobile sales are on the rise, and the digital marketing landscape is changing to match that shift in consumer buying behaviors.
Using the statistics from the infographic, there appear to be five areas that brand marketers are prioritizing in their digital marketing plans in 2014 and beyond:
1. Mobile
We’ve reached the point in history where marketers need to develop “mobile-always” strategies and tactics. Mobile web browsing is on pace to grow by 50% this year, and 87% of connected devices will be smartphones and tablets in 2014.
2. Video
Visual marketing assets are increasing in value exponentially, and 86% of brands will add video to their websites this year. In fact, many brand marketers will prioritize video over social media in 2014. By 2017, the online video audience will reach 1.5 billion people, and approximately, “two-thirds of the world’s data will be video.”
3. Social Media
Brands need to be where their target audiences are, and that place continues to be social networking sites. In 2014, one in two brand marketers plan to increase their social media marketing budgets to reach the growing audience of social network users, which is expected to grow by 26% by 2015.
4. Content
Content is still considered one of the biggest marketing opportunities for brands, and 73% of business-to-business content marketers are increasing their content production and publishing in 2014 according to the data in the infographic. In fact, infographics will continue to grow in popularity in 2014. This year, 51% of B2B marketers will use infographics (up from 38% last year). Bell Pottinger Wired notes that infographics are the largest growing content marketing tactic this year.
5. PPC
Despite concerns related to pay-per-click advertising click fraud, it’s still one of the most popular digital marketing tactics. In fact, nearly three out of four (72%) of digital advertisers plan to increase their PPC spending this year.
Do these digital marketing statistics match with your brand’s digital marketing landscape in 2014? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Image: Wagner Magni
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
