Social Media and Mobile Marketing: How to Prepare and Succeed for 2011

This is sound advice and if you are looking at online marketing, it should help you evaluate what your priorities should be in comparison to other businesses.

Amplify’d from www.wpromote.com

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Reflecting on The Past, and Preparing for a Successful 2011

As 2010 comes to a close, there is no better time than now to plan for the future ahead. The best way to ensure profitable marketing in 2011, is to reflect on the successes and failures of the past. To begin, take a look at the Marketing strategies you have implemented over the past year, and make note of what has worked for you and what hasn’t. For your successful initiatives consider increasing their budgets or testing new opportunities within their realm. For your not so successful strategies, consider ways of optimizing their performance or shifting those budgets elsewhere.

Next, be sure to take a look at what your competitors are doing and if there are areas in which you need to expand your marketing to stay competitive. This past month, SEMPO released its annual State of Search Engine Marketing Report which documents projected search marketing trends. While some of the facts are not surprising, others might give you some insight of what your competitors may be doing and if you are late in the game to join these tactics.

One not so surprising statistic was the projected growth of the search engine marketing industry in North America, from $14.6 billion in 2009 to an estimated $16.6 billion in 2010. The growth of this industry is astounding, and if you are not already involved in one or several search engine marketing campaigns, it is a must for your 2011 marketing plan.

xpenses, which typically means tightening marketing budgets, you might be wondering where is this expansion money is coming from? SEMPO reported that 49% of companies are reallocating traditional print advertising budgets to search engine marketing, 36% are moving budgets from direct mail, and 24% are shifting budgets from conferences and exhibitions. Doing a simple review and analysis of your past years marketing performance should give you clear insight on where you can draw new search marketing budgets from.

Where exactly are these expanded budgets being allocated within search marketing; i.e. what are your competitors marketing plans? Well, 43% expected to spend more on SEO, and 37% expected to spend more on paid search. Social media has been all the hype this year and SEMPO’s numbers also align with this. 59% of companies said they would increase social media budgets this year, with almost three quarters of companies reporting they are using Facebook and Twitter to promote their company.

Finally, look to expand your marketing by testing out new initiatives. Don’t be afraid to test the waters with new advertising outlets as the ever-changing search marketing industry continues to evolve. Discovering uncovered advertising avenues might give you the leg up you need to stay ahead of your competition.

SEMPO also reported that on average companies expected to spend 43% more on SEO and 37% more on paid search in 2010 than they did in 2009. In a time where most companies have been cutting back their e