Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

When consumers first adopted online shopping as a new behavior, the beneficiaries of this new business channel were often well-established vendors such as Amazon. But as technology improved and more consumers made online activity an indispensable part of their daily lives, local vendors have begun advertising online. And according to a new BIA/Kelsey’s User View Wave VII study, more consumers are finding their vendors in the digital universe.

The findings of a new e-mail marketing survey released by industry operator Implix point the way to an enhanced user experience. It’s all about video. According to Implix, more marketers will be sending out e-mails that contain video clips of everything ranging from enthusiastic customer recommendations to demos of various product features.

Last month I blogged about the intricate steps pharmaceutical firms are taking to follow the law when using social media tactics. In particular, most pharma companies disable the comments section on the social media sites to ensure that consumer privacy laws, especially important in this industry, are not breached. But these steps have not been sufficient to quiet the critics.

If consumers are spending more time online and the bottom line of small businesses keeps getting squeezed, many owners are drawing the same conclusion: Marketing via social media makes sense. The findings of the Small Business Success Index™ (SBSI), jointly carried out by Network Solutions® and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business indicate that the rate of social media use in the small business arena doubled between 2008 and 2009.

Even as consumers complain of being overwhelmed by unwanted e-mails, marketers plan to continue using this form of promotion. According to Experian Marketing Services, e-mail marketing will still play an important role in most marketers’ media mix. But shoppers are becoming more savvy about which e-mails they will open, so marketers are trying new methods to induce potential customers to take that all-important first step in a making a purchase.

To understand the full extent of the recession in the U.S. consider the 2% drop in e-commerce spending in 2009. Total spending for the year leveled out at $209.6 billion and was broadly divided between travel e-commerce spending at $79.8 billion and retail e-commerce spending at $129.8 billion according to comScore.