Digital marketing budgets continue to rise in tough times while a lack of in-house expertise leaves business relying on agency insights, according to the results of a new UK survey looking at the search marketing industry.
The report, from Netbooster and Econsultancy, also indicated that UK marketers were yet to get to grips with Google+ as a marketing tool, with businesses typically doing little to exploit opportunities for increased visibility.
The sixth annual UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report, provides the latest stats and trends in search engine optimisation (SEO), paid search and social media marketing.
Based on the responses of over 500 advertisers and agencies collected during February and March 2012, the report takes a granular look at how and where digital marketing budgets are being invested and which services are set to perform best.
The report offers the most comprehensive analysis of the UK SEM market, including headline findings such as:
• Digital marketing budgets rise in tough economic climate – 62% of companies plan to increase social media spending in the next 12 months, 57% will increase SEO spending and 49% will boost investment in paid search, with 11% spending more that £1m on paid search
• Search and social media investment remains strong – 9% of the respondents planning to change their budgets this year plan to more than double their spend.
• More training required for in-house staff – while the percentage of companies performing their search and social marketing in-house has grown steadily in the last five years, the numbers of companies reporting a lack of know-how as a key barrier to effective SEO has almost doubled from 16% to 29% in just one year
• Limited integration of search and display campaigns – the number of brands and agencies which are integrating their search and display campaigns still remains low with only 19% of companies use the same agency for PPC and display.
Martin Dinham, Sales Director, NetBooster, said: “Our annual report with Econsultancy once again finds its finger firmly of the pulse of the UK SEM sector, providing vital intelligence on the spends and trends making essential reading for anyone in control of a digital marketing budget.”
“However, with only 19% of clients using the same agency for PPC and display campaigns, it appears that the majority of clients still aren’t benefiting from the enhanced targeting which is made available when these key digital services are integrated.”
Linus Gregoriadis, Research Director, Econsultancy, added: “This is a landmark piece of research because it comes five years after the first UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report published in 2007. Over that time period, despite difficult economic circumstances, the sector has continued to grow quickly, with in-company marketers and agencies growing their expertise – and budgets – year-on-year.
“SEO, paid search and social media marketing have all grown hugely in importance, with more companies taking a joined-up approach to these different marketing disciplines. The big story in the last year is the emergence of Google+ which is the most tangible example yet of how search and social are coming together.”
Google+ still a ‘mystery’
Google+ is an unknown quantity for many marketers, with businesses typically doing little to exploit opportunities for increased visibility.
Despite its success as a search engine, Google has yet to make equally impressive inroads into thesocial space. Google+ is the fulcrum of its effort to change this situation, and there has been much discussion about what implications Google+ will have for search and social marketing, especially as Google continues to promote its social network.
The impact of Google+ is still largely unknown for both companies and agencies, with 68% of in-house respondents and 45% of agencies stating they “don’t know” what the impact of Google+ has been on their search campaigns.
This is despite guidance from Google on how Google+ can help companies with their search and social marketing efforts.
Likewise, the majority of companies (56%) and a significant proportion of agencies (39%) state that they (or their clients) have done nothing to adapt their search campaigns since the launch of Google+.
However, 44% of companies and 38% of agencies are planning to use Google+ at some stage in the future.
This suggests that the long term impact of Google+ is currently unknown. With Google continuing to innovate and place emphasis on its social network, companies are likely in due course to improve their understanding of how Google+ affects search and social marketing.
The report is available to purchase for £250 from here .