Back in December, Datran Media conducted its 4th annual marketing and media survey. On the heels of one of the toughest years ever for the digital industry, we were very interested if marketers would continue to scale back their marketing plans as they had expressed the year before. The findings of the survey revealed that their is a light at the end of the tunnel.

The results of the survey reveal significant optimism towards 2010 marketing and advertising spending, after a decline in 2009. Survey results also show a definitive move toward leveraging online marketing and audience measurement tools, and a focus on emerging digital and social channels for reaching target audiences. Below are a few key findings:

• 73.6 percent of respondents believe that advertising revenues will increase in 2010.
• 93.6 percent of respondents intend to increase budget allocation for digital marketing channels.
• 72.8 percent of respondents use audience measurement and analytics tools to assess the success of their digital campaigns.
• More than 50 percent of respondents have optimized campaigns based on audience measurement analytics, and more than 80 percent plan to do so in 2010 and beyond.

You can review the full results at www.datranmediasurvey2010.com The results of the survey speak to a broad trend in online marketing; namely, that brand marketers and advertising agencies intend to aggressively deploy online measurement tools in order to obtain actionable business intelligence from their marketing campaigns. This trend will accelerate the budget allocation shift into measurable digital channels going forward.

For the majority of marketers surveyed, clicks (72 percent), conversions (59.2 percent) and impressions (58.4 percent) remain the top three metrics that matter. These data points are indicative of a campaign’s overall success, and the survey findings demonstrate that marketers are now fully focused on quantifying their return on investment. 87.2 percent of respondents said that they believed accurate online audience measurement was important for driving increased brand awareness, increased revenue and better campaign performance.

2010 Industry Outlook

The Datran Media survey included an open-ended question regarding predictions of the biggest trends for 2010. Survey respondents had many thoughts on this topic, but most pointed towards innovations in measurement, mobile and social media as the biggest game-changers for the year ahead.

Some of the predictions included an increased focus on behavioral targeting and utilizing data to segment messages to appropriate audiences. Others pointed to social media monetization and measurement as essential pieces of the digital strategy mix. Of all the emerging channels, mobile is top of mind with many survey respondents. Whether it’s mobile or social media, marketers agree that leveraging new and emerging channels to reach customers will require precise audience measurement and insights to guide their campaigns.

Didn’t get a chance to take the survey? Tell us what you think! Email me your thoughts!