Although the total online spend went down (not too surprising with the economy) the percentage of Online advertising spend vs other advertising spending grew. So marketers spent less, but trusted online channels more to get them the return they were looking for.

And as eMarketer predicts, advertisers will continue to push both dollars and trust toward online channels.

They also predict that online advertising spend will grow fairly steadily by 5 to 6% through 2011.  But Obama’s domination of online and social media in 2008 will surely encourage both candidates to bring out a strong online front, that coupled with the Summer Olympics in London, should make a banner year for online advertising in 2012.

EMarketer believes that the US recession is probably over since the third quarter of 2009 showed 3.5% positive GDP growth.  We haven’t had a positive GDP growth since the second quarter of ‘08.  However unemployment hit 10.2% in October ‘09 (a 26 year high) and it stayed above 10% for November ‘09.

As the spending starts to increase again and competition thickens, it might make sense to pickup an in-house resource now.

With unemployment high in-house resources needn’t be expensive, even if they require training.  If you hire and train them now you’ll be expertly positioned with people committed to your success when the 2012 competition/spending bulge hits; you’ll be ready to thrive while other firms throw money at the problem.