Digital marketers are spending more but keeping tactics the same in the face of exploding public new media usage, according to a recent study from digital marketing agency Razorfish.
Public New Media Usage Grows from ’04
“Razorfish Outlook Report 2010” indicates that US public usage of new media greatly increased between 2004 and 2009, and in some cases popular forms of new media in 2009 did not even exist in 2004. The iPhone, Hulu and YouTube all had large usership statistics in 2009 and did not exist in 2004. Facebook, which was closed to college students only in 2004, had about 112 million US users last year.
Even new media which did have open availability in 2004, such as broadband internet access, grew substantially during the five-year period in question.
Average Digital Marketer Spend Grows 4% in ’09
Razorfish recorded an average 4% media spend increase per client in 2009. This followed an average 13% drop per client in 2008 and roughly 35% average increase per client in 2007. Razorfish predicts continued increases in digital investments, particularly as broadcast budgets shift to digital.
Most Digital Marketers Keep Tactics As Is
In general, Razorfish clients did not change their tactics in 2009. Seventy percent of them kept their mix the same. Interestingly, of those that did shift tactics, 40% moved to a heavier focus in direct response (12% of total clients), while 60% shifted to more brand-focused marketing (18% of total clients). Razorfish expects to see a greater mix of strategies as brands see the value in both branding and doing direct response in digital.
Adjustments Vary
Razorfish asked its clients what kind of adjustments they made to their digital media strategy in 2009, in response to the recession. Following are six leading (and in some cases, contradictory) responses:
Razorfish expects brands to be less focused on promotions as the year progresses, as its clients are anxious to retreat from heavy discounts and promotions as soon as possible.
Digital Media Spend Remains Traditionally Focused
Despite rapid growth in public use of new media, he breakdown of media spend in digital is focused mainly on traditional online media choices, according to other results of the Outlook Report 2010.
Online media outlets that have existed for a long period of time, such as verticals, search, ad networks and portals, received the bulk of digital ad dollars spent in 2009. Verticals and individual sites received the highest share of digital ad spending, slightly more than 30%. These were followed by search sites and directories (25%), ad networks (20%), and portals (about 12%). Meanwhile, no form of “new media” even obtained 5% of digital ad spending in 2009.
