In the dynamic field of online marketing, the identification and implementation of the newest trends could be the difference between succeeding and failing of a business. As we approach the final month of the year, it’s a good time to take a brief look at the current trends and evaluate whether your marketing initiatives are capitalizing on them. Here are the top 4 online marketing trends observed over the 1st half of 2011.

Internet marketing budgets get bigger

With more folks depending online to collect information and make purchase calls, the importance of online marketing is rapidly increasing rapidly. Even local marketing consultants are bolstering their online marketing budgets, as their target buyers are giving up yellow pages and newspapers in favor of the Net.

Aside from the accelerating reach of the internet, online marketing has lots of other advantages. It permits marketing pros to reach tightly targeted audience at a low cost and offers thru the sales funnel and quantifiable results. All of these factors are contributing to the fall of traditional media and increase in online marketing expenditure.

Mobile online marketing takes off

The incredible acclaim of smartphones, especially Apple’s iPhone and devices running Google’s Android OS, has generated a lot of interest in mobile online marketing. Marketing pros are looking beyond mobile messaging and promoting their services and products thru light mobile websites, mobile friendly emails and a number of mobile applications. Faster networks and scientifically advanced devices have made the ultimate environment for the growth of mobile marketing. Some of the main mobile marketing trends observed this year include an inflating use of mobile programmes, location based services, and event-based mobile marketing.

Social media marketing comes of age

In contrast to the previous few years, when marketeers were seen experimenting and carefully dipping their toes in social media waters, this year, a clear change is detectable in social media marketing. With experience, the use of social media for online marketing purposes is getting more and more complex. The sector can be seen maturing as marketing experts successfully integrate social methods in their broad marketing techniques. Also, the utilisation of social media is not restricted to marketing. It is being utilized for other business function like customer service also. Social media advertising is also predicted to come into maturity by the end of the year.

SEO gets more complicated

Search engine optimisation is one of the most popular systems of pushing visitors to a website, but with increase in the number of search sites, and different platforms like social and mobile, things are getting complex. Improving for just Google might not be enough anymore. Bing is developing as a robust player in the US market. Based on your business, local players like Yandex in Russia and Baidu in China can also be critical.

The employment of social sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for conducting searches have further difficult things. In addition, marketing consultants also have to consider factors like location based search and mobile search. With so many factors having an impact on the search rank of a website, marketers will need to be pay a large amount of attention to their SEO efforts to ensure that their brands appear in all the right places.

If you need to stay ahead of the competition in 2012 then check out ways to improve the sales funnel in your business. Your online marketing, mobile marketing, and social media is all about to change in 2012.