The Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) has issued its fourth annual outlook on digital marketing. The report compiles the thoughts of 651 marketers, agencies, technologists and digital industry insiders. According to the report, the findings "provide evidence on the conservative yet steady growth of digital marketing spend, including social media activities and explosive growth of inbound marketing – suggesting ongoing agency relationship changes and increased demand for digital talent".
Judging by some of the graphs within the report, much of the increase in demand will be in the field of mobile. On page 79, a chart compiles responses to the question: "Of the technology trends that are currently or soon to be available, which are you most excited about for your marketing efforts?" The top two slots are taken up by mobile applications; 58 and 52 per cent of respondents, respectively, said they were 'excited' about phone and tablet apps; adding those merely 'intrigued' by the technology boosted both figures to 85 per cent. HTML5 – increasingly an option for app development (mobile or otherwise) – was a close third.
Suitably, when it comes to the digital marketing skills sets marketers regarded important to their organisation, mobile app and site development had strong showings, with 57 and 50 per cent of respondents, respectively, considering them an increased priority for 2012. However, the most-wanted digital talent for 2012 was "Blog writing, editing, copywriting", suggesting that although technology remains important in digital marketing, it's the generation of a constant flow of quality material to engage consumers that's most essential.
