At times this year, the Adobe Digital Index team sits back in our chair exclaiming, “Wow, is that really correct?” Via the 20+ reports released, we covered nearly every digital marketing angle from mobile to social and ecommerce to media. With the benefit of this broad, analytical perspective gained by crunching trillions of visits and billions of transaction, we uncovered some big gaps that marketers will need to step into next year. Since we're all taking stock of 2013, this last article of the year issues a challenge to marketers to take hold of at least one of these resolutions and really drive some progress in 2014. Online marketing is our profession too, so whatever progress you make reflects back on us all. Let’s step it up!
Content marketing is proving to be your best friend, but too much of it is still in text-heavy formats. Our video benchmark report points out that videos are still very under-utilized, even though the format is much more engaging. Consumers are turning to online video content in droves — online video consumption up 30% year-over-year — so brands should take advantage of the opportunity by creating online video ads. You can plan to repurpose them in your branded social media channels and Facebook's new video ad format.
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Growth in mobile traffic has been a recurring topic this year. In fact, one out of every 4 dollars spent online this Black Friday came from a mobile device. While much of that traffic comes from tablets, smartphone usage is growing too, reaching 62% penetration in the U.S. as of September 30. Beyond just reformatting for screen size and touch, marketers in travel, retail, and financial services need to consider how mobile devices will interact within their physical location.

Advertising on Facebook and Twitter was the Wild Wild West, but marketers are seeing results — Facebook Ad ROI (defined as revenue/expense) is up 58% year over year. Advertisers who are using technology to optimize display advertising are starting to get great results from social. The costs are still relatively low and the results are getting much better. At a minimum you need to test it out and start learning how to incorporate it into your media mix.
Static weekly and stale dashboards are not going to cut it anymore. Marketers have to deliver results back to their organization nearly real time. With all due respect to your beautiful dashboard, throw them away. Implement anomaly detection and near real-time data visualizations to get a grip on everything. Cyber Monday tracking shows the importance an hour can make — there were $150 million in online sales from 8 to 9 p.m. EST on Cyber Monday.
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2014 is going to be a sporting event bonanza. Between the Super Bowl, Sochi Olympics and the World Cup, marketers will have more chances than ever to spend gobs of money on TV. Mobile viewing goes way up during these large sporting events and local media is on the rise overall. Be smart about your marketing and tackle local and mobile, as opposed to throwing down the big bucks for a pricey TV spot.
Marketers, what are your other new year's resolutions? Tell us in the comments.
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