eMarketer reports that digital marketing survived the downturn, and marketers worldwide are now bullish about the prospects for growth in 2010, according to the latest market study by the Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA).
Their report found that 81 percent of the marketing executives surveyed expected an increase in digital projects in 2010, and one-half will be moving funds from traditional to digital budgets.
More than three-quarters also think the current economy will push more allocations to digital marketing projects. Senior marketers reported that social networks and applications were their biggest priority for 2010, followed closely by digital infrastructure.
While social media marketing looks set to stay top-of-mind, a majority of respondents considered a wide range of digital activities to be important, with only games failing to inspire widespread interest.
As paid traditional media investments stagnated or decreased, paid digital spending has held steady or gone up, usually by less than 30 percent. But unpaid media spending has seen the sharpest rise, with nearly one-fifth of respondents reporting increases of more than 30 percent.
Climbing unpaid-media spending is likely an effect of the increased emphasis on social networks, where the most effective efforts are earned, not bought. Marketers are looking closely at measures of engagement. Respondents considered time spent on a site to be the most important performance metric, followed by unique page views.
Despite a bright outlook for digital, the SoDA report warned marketers that they must keep pushing for advances in the channel.
"Digital agencies must avoid complacency at all costs and continue to focus on driving innovation as well as engaging consumers with relevant dialog in uncharted and fast-moving channels," said Steve Wages, interim executive director of SoDA, in a statement.