Research and Reports

Highlights include:

• Company respondents were asked whether they expect budgets to increase or decrease over the next 12 months across a range of digital marketing channels. Search engine optimisation is the area where companies are most likely to be investing more money, with 55% of respondents expecting an increase in their budget. Just under a third of respondents (31%) say that SEO spending will stay the same and only 6% say there will be decreased investment.
• Paid search budgets are also much more likely to be on the increase, adding further credence to the theory that businesses are turning to online channels where there is measurable return on investment. However, while 45% are increasing their budgets for paid search, 11% of respondents say they are decreasing their spending.
• The picture is least positive for online display advertising, although there are still more organisations (24%) who are increasing budgets than there are companies cutting back (16%).
• According to agency respondents, social media marketing is the channel where clients are most likely to be boosting their investment over the course of the next year.
  

Some of the most important findings are also broken down by sector, enabling useful benchmarking by industry (for financial services, publishing, retail and travel).