The Future of Digital Marketing: 15 Predictions for 2015

A new e-book from automated digital marketing firm Acquisio gathers the thoughts and predictions from 15 digital marketing and PPC experts for what's ahead in the coming year. What follows are brief excerpts of those predictions, which focus mainly on PPC and the changes ahead for digital marketing in general. Click here for a free download of the e-book, "The Future of Digital Marketing: 15 Expert Predictions for 2015."

1. More mobile clicks

David Szetela, Owner and CEO, FMB Media
In 2014, many advertisers saw huge increases in impressions and clicks from smartphones. This trend will continue through 2015. Mobile clicks will often represent the majority of clicks available to advertisers.

2. Mobile PPC goes mainstream

Founder and SEM/PPC Strategy Consultant, Big Click Co.
Mobile PPC will go mainstream in 2015 because advertisers will start to see the upswing in mobile traffic. As well, many companies updating their web design will have the mobile experience and traffic-driving tactics in mind.

3. Make room for voice control, more mobile, and retargeting

John Gagnon, Bing Ads Evangelist
On the consumer side, one of the biggest trends will be taking search to where the searchers are. Search is changing from mostly browser-based and text-based results to other responses and interactions - think Siri, Google Now, and Cortana. Traditional search will remain important, but other ways to interact with search results, including personal assistants and voice, will grow in 2015.

4. Mobile search plateaus and native ads get shown the door

Matt Van Wagner, President, Find Me Faster
Here's a prediction that puts me at odds with every other industry pundit. I believe that mobile device search volume and search advertising opportunities - particularly on smartphones - will flatten out in late 2015.

5. Rise of people-based PPC

Larry Kim, Founder and CTO, WordStream
In 2015, we'll see the rise of Facebook Atlas and other people-based marketing solutions that will dramatically change how we think about PPC marketing.

6. Collapse of the content equilibrium

Andrew Goodman, President, Page Zero Media
In 2015, online ads will drive more revenue than ever. A lot of the content that generates revenue comes from plain old regular people. ... In 2015, marketers need to focus on what's important to make sure the spice they're using isn't bland. Because if you're going to do content, at least be interesting.

7. Death to keywords

Manny Rivas, Online Advertising Director, aimClear
Google is and will quietly and methodically phase out keyword targeting, the traditional targeting mechanism of paid search.

8. RIP keywords and the title PPC strategist

Elizabeth Marsten, Vice President of Search Marketing, Portent Interactive
First and foremost, get more used to being a "digital marketer" and not a "PPC/SEM strategist-analyst-specialist." We're moving into a multi-channel world, while in some cases staying within the same platform, and adding in multiple ways to engage with audiences in ways that require us to drive and work with an overall online (and in some cases offline) marketing effort. We're so much more now.

9. New priority on the marketing message

Brad Geddes, Author, Speaker, and Marketing Consultant
2015 is going to be a return to the marketing message: the ad. ... In 2015, we're going back to the basics of marketing - consider and test the creative.

10. Boost to dynamic ads and e-commerce

Frederick Vallaeys, Founder, CEO, Optmyzr.com; former Google AdWords Evangelist
2015 will be the year ads finally get more dynamic and better reflect what advertisers are trying to sell. ... Going out on a limb, I believe in 2015 Google will start making travel ads better in similar ways as they've done for product ads, using the tremendous amounts of data travel advertisers have to create ads that better help consumers find the right flight, hotel, and rental car, based on their own preferences.

11. Increase of video ads

Bryan Eisenberg, Founder and CMO, IdealSpot
Video advertising and specifically mobile video advertising are going to be the hot plays going into 2015 and beyond.

12. Blend of organic and paid search

Mona Elesseily, Vice President, Online Marketing Strategy, Page Zero Medi
The nature of paid search is changing and I believe it will look different soon. I'll share how I see paid search evolving in the reasonably short term. ... 1. More "organic" results becoming paid ads. ... 2. Paid ads embedded in organic content (or "native advertising").

13. More focus on cross-device and call tracking

Melissa Mackey, Search Supervisor, gyro
I see two trends coming on strong in 2015. The first is call tracking. Call tracking has been around for years via tracking providers, but these solutions are cost-prohibitive for most small businesses. ... The second trend is cross-device tracking. Users in 2015 are connected via multiple devices: desktop computers, smartphones, tablets, and even gaming systems and smart TVs.

14. The year of automation

Aaron Levy, Account Executive, Elite SEM
I predict 2015 will be the year of automation. ... all of us will have to get a lot more comfortable trusting platforms to make educated, data-driven targeting decisions rather than struggling to maintain a stranglehold on aging tactics and tricks.

15. Full automation for SMBs

Marc Poirier, Co-Founder and EVP Business Development, Acquisio
Search is one of the most mature digital media channels. We are at a stage of maturity where complete automation is becoming more and more likely, especially going into 2015. ... We are going to see significant growth in adoption of automated technology and also in the sophistication and the degree at which campaigns are automated, and it's going to be more and more available.

To learn more about Acquisio, visit www.acquisio.com or call 866-493-9070.