What’s Next in Search (Part I)
With search advertising predicted to hit $21 billion by 2012, everyone is jumping at the bit to find out exactly how the industry is going to take form: new products, innovations, strategy, etc.
At "The State of Search" panel here at ad:tech NYC, panelists from Google, Conde Nast Digital, Newsforce, and SEMPO shared their thoughts on SEM.
Highlights!
Sara Holoubek from SEMPO, a nonprofit that serves the SEM industry shot us some stats from their research report.
- Senior marketing executives consider SEM a high business priority – over half of respondents said that they were "very involved" in SEM programs.
- The shift in marketing dollars to SEM is coming from (surprise surprise) print and direct mail.
- Recognizing the integrated nature of search, or intent, 79% of advertisers are coordinating SEM iwth other marketing tactics – only 7% are not doing so at all.
- 3 out of 5 marketers are willing to pay a premium for local targeting.
- Video and mobile are poised to take off, but respondents were split on their real interest in pushing a lot of dollars into these mediums.
Video and mobile were certainly hot topics. Jim Lecinski from Google explained that smartphones are increasing the volume of mobile search queries — up to 50 times more. Holoubek noted that it goes even beyond search, because smartphones are allowing marketers to not just "retrofit ads to fit a mobile screen" and instead use customer data (e.g., location) to offer useful information — partnered, of course, with a brand message.
