Over the last few years, more companies have been shifting their budget towards digital media. This resulted from people’s shopping habits going digital and better targeting options becoming available to marketers according to CEO of 5WPR Ronn Torossian. But the question is how companies are actually spending their money. According to studies, many companies are investing as much as seventy percent into digital marketing. Some small businesses are going as far as putting in ninety percent of their budget into digital.
The real eye opener is how digital media budget is being allocated by companies. According to Gartner.com, are spending 12.5% into general digital marketing, 11.6% into content creation, 10.7% into search marketing, 9.4% on social media, and 7.4% into mobile marketing. The biggest increase in spending that’s clearly visible has gone to content creation and mobile marketing over the last few years due to shifts in the search atmosphere and increased consumer mobile usage.
What this data all reveals is that there isn’t one specific digital marketing medium that’s overwhelmingly dominant. Companies are finding that different marketing strategies are producing results and are also using a combination of mediums to get the most out of their campaigns. It also seems that search is still one of the most preferred methods of driving traffic and sales.
The State of Advertising Now vs. The Recession
Back when the recession hit the U.S., many traditional advertising mediums such as newspapers struggled. Some newspapers that were doing well before the economy had an easier time dealing with the economy while the ones that were just making it inevitably crashed. Companies also cut down on direct marketing because they couldn’t justify the mailing costs when consumer confidence was at an all time low.
Many companies made the shift to digital when the recession hit as well. They realized they needed new revenue streams and started to see a more controlled method to acquire leads and customers. Ultimately, many companies stuck with digital media through the recession and have turned it into a primary revenue source rather than a supplementary one.
Right now, newspapers have stabilized but are still not on solid ground. Direct mail spending has also bounced back but not to the levels it was before the recession. The bottom line is that companies have shifted their advertising budgets towards digital and even companies that rely more on offline media are also integrating their offline campaigns with their digital campaigns.