What are the digital marketing trends & predictions for 2011??

Not a long time ago, in 2009, advertisers could buy traffic for their website, customers would transact and all was well in the world. How we long for the good old days. With an ever-increasing number of mobile and social users, now advertisers must deliver content on more platforms, in more formats and account for more contexts.

Advertisers will need to look past the website towards investments in mobile applications, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and even sites like Groupon or Google Places. Look for advertisers to increasingly convert users off site, whether via mobile, local or social apps. As they do, advertising campaigns will become tailored to the requirements of specific platforms, increasing complexity for the marketer without necessarily increasing revenues. As this shift occurs, early adopters will benefit from building a multichannel customer base at a time when acquisition costs are still relatively low.

With ad money continuing to migrate from the offline to the online world, costs per click will continue to rise for years to come. To combat this cost increase, expect tool vendors to respond with increased automation, allowing marketers to succeed with these optimizations at scale. Advertisers will be forced to re-evaluate the right level of automation for their business, and put the necessary controls in place to ensure automation delivers high quality results.