I recently stumbled upon a benchmark survey for internet marketing in 2008. Even though this survey was targeted towards the marketing decision makers at hospitality businesses throughout the world, I found a number of the outcomes to be meaningful to the vacation rental and real estate vertical as well. The survey set out to achieve a better understanding of what these marketeers are doing to reach their consumers on the web, along with the anticipated budget trends we may see this year, compared to last year. As Internet Marketeers understand the importance of a comprehensive, long-term strategic approach to grow the online channel, our web marketing services will be here to supply these specific demands. Here are some main findings from the survey:

•  In 2007, a remarkable 68% of hoteliers will be shifting their budgets from off line to online marketing activities, representing a huge shift from traditional methods.

• For the first year ever, the industry reported that online business is coming from their own website more than third parties or corporate brand sites.

• The top three Internet marketing formats hoteliers believe produce the highest ROI's are website optimization,  Organic Search Optimization and website re-design.

•  Interestingly enough, more hoteliers believe new media formats as consumer generated content and blogs will generate better ROI's
  than traditional banner advertising.
• The largest growth in Internet Marketing spending (budgets) was found to be in website re-design, strategic linking/partnerships,
  email marketing & SEO. While PPC saw a 4% decrease in spending.
• Web 2.0 marketing initiatives planned for 2008 worth mentioning:
  • Blogs - 47%
  • Photo Sharing - 41%
  • Survey & Online Comment Card - 59%
  • Creating profiles on social networking and bookmarking website (facebook, digg, youtube, etc,) - 43%

As the Marketeers of the hospitality industry and other industries realize that they are missing a ridiculous amount of opportunities to reach their target audience, the web will continue to prove itself as their most cost-affective revenue generator. While social media and Web 2.0 strategies are becoming a standard buzz throughout the industry; Email Marketing, website re-designs and organic optimization appear to be the largest ROI centric models, and will continue in 2008.

JG