Digital Marketing Growth Will Be Fueled By Social, Mobile, E-mail: Study

The boom areas for marketing should come as no surprise: Mobil, e-mail and search engine marketing growth will spur a 17% increase in digital marketing spending, according to a study from e-mail and marketing firm ExactTarget.

Overall, 66% of companies surveyed will be increasing their online marketing spend, while a further 30% will maintain the same level of expenditure in this area.

On average, digital marketing currently accounts for 24% of overall marketing spend.

But the e-marketing consultancy’s study found the landscape for offline efforts troublesome. According to its research, 28% of marketers will shift their budgets toward digital efforts in 2010.

"Interestingly, brand reputation is becoming a more significant driver of the migration to digital marketing, particularly when it comes to social media," Peter McCormick, the general manager and co-founder of ExactTarget said in a statement.

The survey also found 70% of in-house marketers plan to increase their budgets for off-site social media marketing efforts, using agencies to engage with audiences on Facebook, Twitter and other networking sites.

But agency respondents the biggest impediment to digital marketing investment is a general lack of understanding of digital marketing channels. Just under half (48%) of agency respondents cited this as the key reason preventing their clients from investing more money in this area.