The marketing software experts Unica recently surveyed 155 marketers about their online marketing technology usage and plans. The data has revealed some key online marketing trends:

Marketing Budgets and Focus Continue to Swing Online

Marketing budgets are increasingly shifting online - with online channels offering lower costs and more measurable returns than traditional media.

Websites are becoming increasingly personalised

An increasing majority of marketers are already using targeting and personalisation on their websites. Personalisation will grow more sophisticated, with targeting of "anonymous" visitors based on referring URL, search terms, geo-location and other insights. Marketers will also extend email segments, offers and messages to websites, to better match customers with marketing messages. Landing pages and website optimization will also complement site personalisation.

Proliferation and Adoption of Other Online Channels Persist

Marketers are faced with many new channels - mobile (messaging, websites, apps), rich media (video, podcasting, gaming), social media and more. The challenges to achieve success here are great - yet so are the rewards. Most (84%) respondents plan to use emerging marketing channels in 2010, and 47% of marketers already use social media. Social network sites like Facebook and blogs are already mainstays, together with microblogging sites like Twitter.

Web Analytics Unifies Online Data across Channels

Most marketers already use web analytics, and its penetration and ubiquity makes it the logical point to integrate customers' profiles across multiple online channels.

IT Bottlenecks Drive Adoption of On Demand Marketing Solutions

A majority (67%) of marketers identified a lack of IT support for marketing's technology needs as their main problem. Therefore, in order to deliver on the promise of new channels and integrated marketing analytics and execution, marketing solutions will be adopted on demand. These ‘Software as a Service (SaaS)' solutions help marketers personalise campaigns without overly relying on IT or other factors.

Online Marketing Suites Bridge the Gap between Analysis and Action

The multitude of online channels is leaving marketers adrift in data. Despite web analytics tools, 94% of marketers said turning data into action is a key problem, ranking this issue higher than others. To close the gap between analysis and action, online marketing suites are helping to enable marketers to respond quickly to customers' interests and needs with personalized web content and email - reflecting knowledge captured through web analytics. The result will be more compelling marketing campaigns - and far more success