Digital marketing spend to outstrip print in US

15:00 10th March 2010

The amount of money spent on digital marketing in the US is set to be more than the outlay on print advertising for the first time, it has been revealed.

Publishing research specialist Outsell carried out a survey of more than 1,000 US marketing professionals and found that $119.6 billion is to be spent on digital marketing, with $111.5 billion spent on tactics such as advertisements in newspapers and magazines.

This shows that marketing professionals increasingly believe that strategies such as search engine optimisation, pay-per-click advertisements and using social media are becoming more and more important for their businesses.

Chuck Richard, vice-president and lead analyst at Outsell, said that as companies come out of the recession, they are looking for more "accountability" and are trying out digital marketing strategies in an attempt to give themselves more options.

"Advertisers are directing dollars towards the channels which generate the most qualified leads and most effective branding," he commented.

The report by Outsell shows that businesses are looking at digital marketing strategies such as search engine optimisation as a cost-effective way to bring new audiences to their companies.

This comes after Kevin Dendy, commercial director at the Direct Marketing Association, speaking at Technology For Marketing & Advertising 2010, said that digital marketing is a "must" to help firms come out of the recession.

"Nowadays, if you don't have technology you're not going to move with the times," he commented.