[2009 trends] How the digital landscape will shape marketing

As this consumer shift happens, more businesses will look to retain their previously offline customers and reach this bigger market. Businesses both large and small will turn to search marketing to drive new traffic to their websites, as online advertising becomes the lifeblood of those trying to get ahead in the digital economy.

The reverse is also true: online search drives offline events, in the form of purchasing. Recent research by TNS in SA has shown that 34% of products are researched online but purchased offline. If customers can't find you online to make an evaluation, then you're missing a third of the market straight away. Become findable on the Internet and make online evaluation easy for your customers.

This new level of insight into what the hottest online searches are will empower advertisers to move away from relative guess work and use hard data to inform their advertising decisions.

For example, Google Analytics allows you to track user browsing behaviour on your site (for example, which pages they visit, what point they leave the site, how much time they spend) and Google Website Optimizer can suggest ways to improve the layout and format of your website to make it more user-friendly.

While online video's growth last year was astronomical, 2009 will see not only a continued growth, but an explosion in innovative uses of video within marketing campaigns. Online video testimonials, channel competitions, and online viral videos have arrived, so we're excited to see what additional new uses marketers will develop this year.

SA's mobile penetration massively exceeds the broadband penetration, and even with the expected rise in broadband access in 2009, it isn't going to catch mobile just yet. So, it is important for SA advertisers to think mobile as they head into the new year.

We have already started to see an increase in the number of searches for and about SA from around the globe. The volume of search queries is going to grow exponentially as the world gears up for our sporting spectacle. Millions and millions of international consumers will be searching for information on SA, and local businesses will take advantage of the online opportunities available to market their products and services.

Savvy companies which are already up to speed on the opportunity presented by the World Cup won't be alone for long as more and more companies and industries move in the same direction.

The social media landscape will continue to evolve at a break-neck pace and many companies will launch marketing campaigns within the social media space to take advantage of the massive power of social networks. From the video of an aspiring rock band on YouTube, to on-the-ground footage of the turmoil in Kenya; from one person's political Twitter stream, to a sophisticated multi-party political blog portal, the Internet is providing greater transparency into what is happening in the world, and in the process widening our perspective.

Cloud computing moves all of our computer-based activities - searching, emailing, watching videos, creating documents, and more - to a virtual space referred to as 'the cloud'. By keeping and accessing the information that's important to us online, or in the cloud, we're bringing an unprecedented level of flexibility and accessibility to our lives.

Take email - as Gmail is online, you can access it from wherever you might be, on whatever device you might be using. As long as you are connected to the Internet, you are connected to your email, documents, videos, etc. Cloud computing also means you can collaborate and share information in real-time with others in a way that hasn't been possible with traditional computing.