Press
Next Digital - Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Digital Media Spend to Increase by 40 Percent
Digital Media Spend to Increase by 40 Percent
The number of organisations spending between 25 and 50 percent of their marketing budget on digital media will increase by more than 40 percent over the next five years, latest industry survey results have revealed.
While just 10 percent of organisations currently allocate comparable funds to digital marketing, the figure will rise to 51 percent in 2013.
The survey also found the percentage of organisations that will spend more than 50 percent of their marketing budget on digital media rising from 4 percent in 2007, to 19 percent in 2013, a substantial increase says Dr Michael Valos, chair of the Monash University Marketing Alumni Association.
The 2008 Australian Digital Marketing Trends Survey, commissioned by Next Digital, in conjunction with Dr Valos, is thought to be the first of its kind undertaken in Australia, and confirmed the trends currently felt by industry players.
“The survey shows that digital media is seen as a significant opportunity for marketing strategists,” says Dr Valos.
“While some are already experimenting with it, I think we will see over time that organisations will start to replace traditional media for digital alternatives.”
The survey also found that social marketing and networking opportunities, such as Facebook, were vastly under-utilised.
“There really needs to be a widespread shift of marketing understanding as we enter the digital media age,” says Arthur Spanos, Next Digital Managing Director.
“In many circumstances, it’s a case of organisations not understanding digital media applications and how they can benefit their brand and engage their consumers.
“Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing are other areas where organisations could significantly improve reach and exposure to their target audiences and drive substantially more traffic to their website,” says Mr Spanos.
The survey showed that while the majority of respondents utilising SEO and SEM found it to be very or extremely effective, over 20 percent of respondents did not use it at all.
“There’s no doubt that digital media is a growing market,” says Dr Valos.
“However right now the riskiest approach for organisations would be to ignore it.”
Over 200 senior marketers from a diverse range of industries responded to the Australian Digital Marketing Trends Survey since it was launched online in May 2008.
There was a large Government representation with the majority of respondents coming from Government or Government Agency environments. A total of 50 percent of companies had between 100-499 employees, with significant annual turnovers recorded in 2007.
Next Digital is Australia’s largest full service digital marketing company, with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Shanghai and Bangkok. The company intends to host the survey on an annual basis.
To request a copy of the report, please email education@nextdigital.com
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