Online advertising expenditures to surplus print for the first time

Online advertising and marketing spending will be first time ever be higher than print this year, according to a report published by British research company Outsell.

The report, which is based on a survey of more than 1,000 US advertisers, indicates that marketing managers will spend $119.6 billion in 2010 on online and digital marketing compared to spending $111.5 billion on print.

Companies are expected to allocate money to strategies ranging from search engine keywords to webinars. Overall, US spending on advertising and marketing will increase by a modest 1.2% to $368 billion this year.

“Advertisers are directing dollars toward the channels which generate the most qualified leads and most effective branding. As they emerge from the recession, they need more accountability, and they’re spreading their spending over a widening set of options,” said Chuck Richard, Vice President and Lead Analyst, Outsell.

The authors note that advertisers see their own websites as the generating the highest B2B return on investment. This is followed by conferences, exhibitions and trade shows; direct mail; search engine keywords; and e-marketing and newsletters.

51% of B2B marketers rate Facebook as extremely or somewhat effective, followed by LinkedIn (45%), Twitter (35%) and MySpace (25%).

87% of Israeli advertisers plan to invest in social media marketing in 2010

Israeli marketing specialists intend to increase their spending on social media marketing (SMM) in 2010, according to a survey conducted by the Israeli Marketing Association and Financial Daily TheMarker.

According to the survey, 87 percent of Israeli advertisers plan to launch social media marketing initiatives in 2010, by acting on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, and approaching bloggers.

The survey was carried out by research firm Meida Shivuki, which is owned by Meirav Shapira and Noam Raz.

The number represents an increase in comparison to 2009, in which some 83% said they invested in social media. It is interesting to note that more than 70% of those, who were not active in social marketing, last year, said they plan to do so this year.

The report said that many advertisers include social media initiatives in their overall public relations activities. This is in line with the fact that 16% of those surveyed said they intend to increase public relationships (PR) expenditures and only 2% said they intend to spend less.

The survey included some 70 CEO's and senior VP Marketing from 166 Israeli companies that are members of the Israeli Marketing Association. The report shows that 2010 will be the fifth consecutive year in which advertisers will increase Internet advertising as some 47% said they intend to increase their online advertising budgets.