The IAB’s Internet Advertising Revenue Report for 2014 was published yesterday, and if you don’t plan to read the whole thing (really, we don’t expect you to) we’ve wrapped up a few of the key highlights that should mean something to your business:

Digital video remains the fastest growing format of non-mobile display-related marketing, climbing 17% over 2013.

What this means for you: The amount of growth you see in one form of advertising is a reflection on the return that that type of advertising is seeing. If consumers are reacting positively overall to that form of media, and therefore it is driving more business, companies are more likely to commit larger portions of their advertising spend in that arena. More and more people are consuming video via online streaming services, such as Hulu or YouTube, making those venues prime outlets for digital video advertising.

Search engine marketing represents 38% of the total digital ad revenue.

What this means for you: If your business is not running a Google AdWords campaign, you’re losing out on a significant amount of website traffic (and therefore potential sales) to your competitors who ARE running campaigns. Search engine marketing aims to utilize the search terms input into Google search by a consumer to connect that consumer to businesses that offer a product or service that they might be interested in. By setting up a Google AdWord campaign, you are letting Google know what types of search terms might reflect a consumer instructed in YOUR business. By not participating in this advertising arena, Google won’t know who to connect you with.

Social media ended 2014 with a 57% growth increase over 2013.

What this means for you: Social media is still a growing industry, and therefore, so are the opportunities for advertising. Facebook, for example, offers a range of tools to help drive your advertising towards your specific demographics. For example, if you sell jewelry, you may be interested in showing a wedding band related ad only to people who have recently set their relationship status to “engaged”. This type of targeted advertising means that you’re putting your ads directly in front of pre-qualified potential customers, instead of relaying on the “spray and pray” approach.

Interactive advertising (meaning digital ads, videos, social media, etc) continues to outperform the total media marketing (including print and radio).

What this means for you: It should be no surprise that interactive advertising is playing a much larger role in our day to day lives than it ever has before, surpassing traditional media such as print and radio. This type of information can, and should, play a large role in helping to determine your business’s annual marketing budget.

As a final thought, I’ve included a chart below that was provided by the IAB, entitled “Eight Category Avg. CPM Trend”. This chart shows the average cost (per industry) to display a digital advertisement to 1,000 potential customers. The costs are incredibly attractive when compared to efforts such as a direct mail campaign or radio advertisement.

If you’d like more help with your annual marketing budget, media strategy, or the design or implementation of your digital marketing campaign, get in touch!