Something Old and Something New for Digital Marketers

When rich media company PointRoll released its "Top 10 Trends for 2010" last month, interactive planners and buyers found themselves in some familiar territory. Ad relevance, data feeds, publisher integration, and social media, the company said, are all important to campaign success.

Rich media creative developed by PointRoll -- along with competitors like Eyeblaster, EyeWonder, Unicast, and the like -- has indeed reflected these trends as brands vie for consumer eyeballs in a space cluttered with subpar ad offerings. But these strategies aren't the only ones at the digital marketer's disposal.

PointRoll and other players in the rich media space have found some other new ways to stand out -- ways that aren't so new at all. Are they more promising this time around?

Local Advertising: The Brand Next Door

Local media has been the buzz for years, whether taking the form of local paid search advertising or TV stations and newspaper sites. Way back in 2007, eMarketer reported on local online ad spending in the U.S. through the year 2011. According to its data, spending was expected to increase from $2.1 billion in 2006 to $5.6 billion in 2009.

As it turns out, local spending was closer to $14 billion last year, and although market growth is actually slowing, local online ad revenues may still increase by up to 12 percent in 2010. As a result, PointRoll's analysts aren't the only ones predicting that locally targeted ads are an upcoming trend. This isn't just because of the size of what was once a tiny niche market, though.