It’s officially 2015, and while you may still be getting back into the swing of things at the office after the holidays, soon it will be time to put the pedal to the metal and get in gear for the New Year. Get into the right frame of mind for all the exciting things the year has in store: here are 15 business stats for 2015 to help you keep your eye on the ball.
Internet advertising will make up 25% of the entire ad market in 2015. (Social Fresh)
Even with some troubling statistics about the performance of display advertising, 2015 looks to be a strong year for online advertising, so take this into consideration as you plan and adjust your budget. Of course, there are always ways to improve your display ad campaigns as well.
Local mobile searches (85.9 billion in 2013) are projected to exceed desktop searches (84 billion) for the first time in 2015. (eMarketer)
It’s been a beacon in the sky for quite some time the rise of mobile. But this year will be the year that mobile finally becomes (if it’s not already) the piece of your marketing strategy that you can’t ignore. Last year, Google showed that 70% of mobile searchers have clicked the call button in mobile search results, so as you think about mobile this year, remember that a big part of that trend is phone calls.
43% of IT executives expect their budgets to increase in 2015 up from 36% in last year’s study. (ComputerWorld)
This one speaks for itself, especially if you’re in SaaS like we are. Additionally, the top 5 spending priorities for 2015 are:
- Security
- Cloud computing
- Business analytics
- Application development, upgrades or replacements
- Wireless/mobile
Spending on marketing analytics is expected to increase 60% by 2015. (CMO Survey)
Big Data was arguably one of the buzziest buzzwords of 2014, and the importance of data and analytics is expected to extend into this year (and every year) as well. The right data can be leveraged to optimize PPC and increase insight into analytics (among innumerable other things) and marketers are showing that they’re willing to pay for it.
By 2017, online video will make up nearly 70% of consumer Internet traffic. (Cisco)
This stat is looking ahead, and it pays to be prepared. Visual marketing increases in importance year after year, so make 2015 the year that you get serious about incorporating it into your strategy.
Online shoppers in the United States will spend $327 billion by 2016. (InternetRetailer)
E-commerce continues to dominate the attention of businesses everywhere. If you want a piece of that $327 billion pie by 2016, make sure you are doing everything you can this year to ensure your e-commerce strategies are solid.
55% of B2B Marketers plan to increase their content marketing spend in 2015. (Social Media B2B)
Also from Social Media B2B’s 2015 B2B Content Marketing Report, 86% of B2B marketers are using content marketing. Content continues to be on the forefront of marketers’ minds, especially as smart marketers begin to realize their content marketing blind spots.
Social commerce sales are forecasted to represent 5% of all online retail revenue in 2015. (Emarsys)
Social commerce refers to social media-driven purchases. 70% of marketers have successfully gained new customers via social networks, and the numbers show that social commerce is on the rise this year, so keep that in mind as you approach your social media strategy in 2015.
One of the primary initiatives for marketers in 2015 is to start measuring content effectiveness. (MarketingProfs)
One of the statistics above mentioned the continually rising importance of analytics, and content marketing is not exempt from that concern. In 2015 marketers will begin to pay closer attention to shares, likes, phone calls, click-throughs, and more to measure content marketing efforts, so the sooner you start looking into ways to improve your content marketing ROI the better.
Using the word video in email subject lines boosts open rates 19%, click-through rates by 65%, and reduces unsubscribes by 26%. (BrainShark)
This stat certainly speaks for itself. Email marketing is still a critical part of a thorough strategy, so be sure you’re leveraging it in the most effective way possible.
By 2016, 63 million Americans will telecommute. (Global Workplace)
With today’s sophisticated call routing technology, the office is anywhere your employees are. Businesses are realizing that it can be smart and cost-effective to enable some of their workforce to work remotely. As we move into 2015, look around at your workforce with new eyes.
Finding trained content marketing professionals is a growing challenge in 2015. (Content Marketing Institute)
Finding good people is always a challenge, but as it turns out, finding quality content marketing professionals is even more of a challenge. If you’re struggling to find the right person for the job, know you’re not alone. And if you have a good team of content marketers? Hold on to them.
In 2015, paid ads will likely become unavoidable.
Facebook already announced that it will stifle organic promotional posts in the news feed in January 2015, and Twitter and other platforms are sure to follow. Social media is predicted to be an even bigger cash cow than in the past, and soon the cow won’t be free.
Business email will account for over 132 billion emails sent and received per day by the end of 2017. (Radicati)
If you had any doubts about the future of email, this should allay that concern. Email is still on the rise and should not be excluded from your future strategy.
64% of people think that customer experience is more important than price in their choice of a brand. By 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. (Gartner)
This is huge. We’ll just let that sink in.
We hope these stats provided you with some insights into what this year is going to be like for businesses of all kinds. Have you run across any that we missed? Share them in the comments.