Internet marketing budgets are poised to rise in 2011, and a new report from Forrester reveals that marketers who invest online may be putting marketing initiatives where audiences are most likely to find them. The firm says that, for the first time ever, consumers are spending as much time with online activities as they are watching television.
In a Forrester blog post, the report's author, Jackie Rousseau-Anderson, says that consumers are "splitting the time they spend with offline and online media at least equally." While television time has remained fairly stable since 2005, Americans' online time has increased by 121 percent during this period.
Rousseau-Anderson suggests that consumers' increased online time may stem from decreased time with other forms of media, such as print. For marketers, this may indicate that internet marking budgets are worthy of strong investment.
Moreover, AdWeek reports that Forrester found ecommerce to be one of the leading drivers of online time growth. Online purchasing as an activity rose from 37 percent to 60 percent during the past three years. Thus, marketing initiatives may be likely to convert internet users.
Brands planning their internet marketing strategies for 2011 may want to invest in content marketing next year. As Brafton has reported, 78 percent of marketers believe content is important to the success of their organizations, and clicks may go to the companies that offer the most compelling content.
