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Online Marketing Trends for 2010

Marketing TrendsWe’re often asked where we see trends emerging and especially at this time of year, with a virtual clean slate ahead of us. 2009 was certainly a revealing year and if nothing else, helped to show us how Internet marketing is here to stay, as the industry in general trended upward during the brutal recession. While many organizations may have reduced their total marketing spend, the ratio of funding allocated to online initiatives markedly increased.

While economists and other soothsayers predict that the business world will aim for solidity and cautious growth during 2010, it is worth keeping an eye on the emergence of certain trends to help you plan your online and Internet marketing endeavors through the months ahead.

Video is a very strong online medium and should be incorporated in your plans as soon as possible. While a picture tells 1000 words, a video can be even more powerful and if you portray the right message to the right people, you can end up with a significantly enhanced return on your video marketing investment. Don’t just create videos outlining what you do or why, but show real-world examples of how you can benefit the potential client and make sure that your creations are adequately marketed. It’s no good just showing these videos on your website home page, you should create a YouTube channel or go for more detailed video marketing, using one of the many great services available to you online.

Mobile marketing is certain to take significant steps forward in 2010. We have seen recent moves by Google to incorporate mobile advertising platforms and to help them increase their long reach into our smartphone fueled worlds. While it’s not necessarily time for you to run out and purchase your “dot mobi” domain name and associated web presence, keep an eye how your clients and potential customers interact with their mobile devices. This is without a doubt going to be a very dynamic environment this year.

Social media will continue to carve its own important niche in the marketing world and by the end of the year will have gained even more relevance. We hope that it will not be called “new media” by that time and that each of you will have a concerted, interactive presence and be clear about your objectives.

In the world of search engine optimization, micro-targeting is the next big thing. Search engine algorithms are becoming so smart, so dedicated to providing webmasters with workable results, that it will pay you well to ensure that your site, blogs and all online properties are highly optimized from a content perspective. More than ever, fresh content will be required and it must be good content, too.

While talking about trends, look at Google Trends frequently. At the time of writing, two of the top three hot trends are internet – related: the new Google Nexus One phone and the rumors swirling around the Apple iSlate tablets.

Matthew Toren

Matthew Toren
 

Matthew Toren is a serial entrepreneur, mentor, investor and co-founder of YoungEntrepreneur.com. He is co-author, with his brother Adam, of Kidpreneurs.org, BizWarriors.com and Small Business, BIG Vision: Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right (Wiley).

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