Mobile marketing is central growth area in UK in 2011 

Friday, March 18 2011 by Craig Nicholson

Investment into mobile platform marketing is to increase throughout the year, according to new research released this week.

The study from LinkShare claimed that marketers will increase attention on mobile security in developing more communications and applications as part of website promotion tactics, making it the fastest-growing marketing sector in the UK during 2011.

Following consultation with 100 marketing professionals, it was discovered that 45 per cent were going to increase their marketing spend on mobile platforms and a further third would to invest in affiliate marketing.

Social network investment would also account for the main part of a strategy for 31 per cent of respondents, while online video advertising and search engine optimisation providers would be selected by 30 per cent of experts.

Over a third (35 per cent) of marketers also claimed that they expect the media sector to see its largest growth spurt ever in 2011, and 59 per cent said measurement and return on investment were key to their success.

Managing director of LinkShare UK Liane Dietrich said she saw the research as painting a very positive future for the marketing industry, adding that it was close to entering a whole new phase of growth with mobile marketing and applications alone.

She continued: "It's also encouraging to see that targeting, measurement and ROI [return on investment] continue to be strong themes amongst UK marketers and certainly echoes sentiments from the conversations we are having with our own customers.

Ms Dietrich concluded: "We are also pleased to hear that affiliate marketing is becoming a core part of many digital marketing initiatives and we are now focused on helping to educate our client base on how more advanced affiliate marketing techniques can be used to help boost customer acquisition and improve the bottom line of a business in light of these trends."

eMarketer this week predicted that online shopping dollars will surpass $188 billion (£116.6 billion) by the end of the year, though this did not include travel, digital downloads and event tickets.

Living Streams "Improving clients' profitability through better use of the internet".