Posted by: Megan Amick, Marketing Coordinator

As 2009 gets going, it’s certain marketers will have several challenges ahead, but on a more upbeat note, it’s a great time to look toward the future of interactive marketing. There are many predictions about whether the online advertising industry will see the growth it has in years past. It seems most projections point toward increased spending but at much lower growth rates than before.

So, what can we expect from the industry that doesn’t quit?

• More keyword inflation: As traditional advertising budgets shift to digital, competition will increase and advertisers will have to be sure their paid search (or pay-per-click advertising) campaigns are strategic and focused.
• Tracking conversions: To keep cost per acquisition (CPA) at a minimum, it’s time to focus on optimizing conversion rates for the highest possible ROI.
• Data privacy and security: The question of how to regulate privacy and keep online users protected will be further explored.
• Qualitative analytics: Knowing not only what your consumers did on your website but why they did it will give greater insight to user activity and increase your ROI.
• Mobile advertising: With the release of several mobile hardware devices from Apple, Google and Blackberry to name a few, more users will have online capabilities at their fingertips.
• Local search: 2009 will be significant for this targeted tactic, as the open source Google Gears project is being released. Let’s see how it makes geo-location searching more relevant than it already is.
• RSS newsfeeds: Really Simple Syndication (RSS) might finally be mainstream.
• User behavior metrics & Google: Google’s search algorithm will leverage user behavior to attempt to deliver its most relevant search results yet.
• Social media: It’s only expected to grow. Have you joined in?

What online trends do you see booming in the coming year? Which will bust?