My staff and I have seen tectonic changes that will only accelerate - On the other hand, we've witnessed many "next big things" fizzle and die, never to be heard from again.

The 12 trends below represent what I think you need to keep an eye on in the foreseeable future. Enjoy.

1. Mobile eCommerce Picks Up Speed

There are currently over 240 million cellular phone users in the US. Nielsen reported that 58 million people viewed an ad on their mobile phones in February 2008. Mobile couponing is one tangible way to execute this new channel of commerce.

2. Web Serves as Test Bed for TV

The Web is a real-time marketplace giving gigabytes of feedback every second. It's much cheaper to test a programming concept online, or to have the online marketplace identify one on its own, than to see what works and fails using TV pilots.

3. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Video Ads

This is already starting to happen. Sometimes, when one does a search on Yahoo or Google for a laptop or "Smartphone," you get search results with a sponsored or partner link to a video that showcases the product.

4. Transparency Marketing

This term has a double meaning with implications for both marketer and consumer alike.

A. The Consumer: It's privacy versus convenience. Some online consumers are more comfortable sharing information than others. I've seen stats saying younger folks are more comfortable generally than older people with sharing information online. I think this is true.

If there is a gross breach of security which compromises a great many people, the attitude towards sharing information may get more conservative. Or people may become inured to such news and take their chances.

B. The Advertiser: The average consumer nowadays is way too sophisticated to put up with old-time hot-air advertising. Smarter brand advertisers are talking in a more real tone and even (heaven forbid) interacting or supporting a forum for interaction between people in a created affinity group.

5. Universal or Blended Search Results = Game Changer

Universal or blended search results blend videos, audio files, news, pictures, blogs and more into the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). This has profound implications for all sites and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practitioners. Some implications are predictable, and many are not.

6. Social Networking Goes Mobile

Research firm Gartner expects sales of interactive video games to rise to $9.6 billion by the end of 2011. Some share of that revenue will be in the mobile interactive gaming arena.

7. Voice and Large Print Interface

The easiest interface is voice, because we all know how to talk. :) But it is far from easy to make machines understand what we're saying. There have been many endeavours in this arena.

8. Video Phone Calls Over the Internet

The 1964 New York World's Fair featured a video phone in the AT&T pavilion. It was a very large elliptical-shaped box and a very small black and white picture. Since then, many have tried to make video telephony a mass-merchandised product. I think its time is just around the corner.

9. Internet Media Pricing Affects Offline Media Pricing

The most obvious example of this is Craig Newmark's Craigslist.com, which has wiped out untold millions from print newspapers. Classified ads are the bread and butter of many newspapers. Craigslist only charges for job listings in 11 cities and apartment listings in New York City.

10. Offline Media Usage Shrinks

Many organizations show research that suggests TV viewing is not shrinking. Let's review:

CTAM (Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing) says broadband video currently makes up less than 3% of total video watching per week. I'm thinking that 3% figure is more likely to go up and not down.

The average respondent in a CTAM survey watched 31.4 hours of TV per week, and 0.9 hours of Web video. My bet is this .9 number will increase dramatically.

Broadband video users do watch slightly less total TV (8% less than the total population).

11. Sponsored Software

Look for the buzzword "cloud computing" to be used a lot in the near future. What is it? Briefly, the software applications and most or all of your documents are stored not on your local computer but rather on a remote server somewhere out there on the Internet. Within the realm of cloud computing is an emerging business model that allows you to create spreadsheets, presentations, text documents, etc. without paying a subscription fee for the software.

12. The Content Marketing Age

In an age where the customer rules, the advertiser must come bearing gifts. Since the advertiser is employing information channels to reach the user, that gift is most likely going to take the form of information.

There are two different types of information:

Commercial Content
Editorial Content
Commercial content might be coupons, catalogs, or anything that moves closer to a sale.

New Rules for 21st Century Marketers

Web 2.0 is a participatory experience for the user. In the last century, marketers expected users to sit there passively and consume their marketing messages. If you do that today, you'll not only look very dated, but your campaign results are apt to disappoint.

21st century marketers must engage the audience.

To read in more detail the top 12 tips please go to: www.wdfm.com    

About Larry Chase www.wdfm.com/contactlarry.php  . 
 
Larry Chase came to Internet Marketing in 1993, "Before there was a a there, there," as he says. This makes him one of the original Internet Marketing pioneers. He came to the Net from Madison Avenue where he was a copywriter on blue chip clients such as IBM, ATT, Chivas Regal, VW, and Xerox. In 1995 he started his Web Digest For Marketers email newsletter. It was the first email newsletter on Internet Marketing.
 
Mr.. Chase says "the newsletter was originally conceived as a way to get more consulting business. But now, it's the main event." Web Digest has over 47,000 subscribers and is supported by advertising, so it is free to subscribers. Each week it focuses on a single aspect of Internet Marketing, such as PPC, Universal SEO, Advanced Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, or Google Tools and Tips for Internet Marketers.
 
Mr.. Chase also speaks and still keeps his hand in consulting when time allows

Many thanks to Research Director Gayle Kerley for her exhaustive efforts in bringing many of the facts and numbers in this document together.