Among the stats presented in their quarterly ad spending forecast, they estimate that digital ad spend will equal around $77.37 billion dollars in 2017 (in comparison to TV ad spend at a ‘measly’ $72.01 billion :), and that Google will remain the King of the Search Ad Market.

Forrester is also on board with this forecast, as they predict digital marketing spend to top $103 billion dollars by the year 2019, mostly made up of paid search advertising and marketing, and social media marketing. And on the social media front, Facebook remains King, as they will have generated close to $10.23 billion in display ad revenue this year alone, and YouTube is close behind, with ad revenues expected to reach $5.18 billion in 2016 — a growth of 21.1% in comparison to last year. And don’t forget about mobile: mobile ad spending in the US alone is predicted to grow a total of 38% this year, equal to $43.60 billion dollars.

These are a lot of huge numbers: but what do they mean for your paid advertising plan in 2017? Here’s a high-level summary:

• Digital is where it’s at. The numbers above can speak to this alone, but also, as this year’s State of Inbound 2016 report revealed, Outbound (printed flyers, outdoor ads, cold calling) is considered the most overrated marketing tactic.
• People want less interruptions. 73% of consumers dislike pop-up and intrusive, in-your-face ads, like those that auto-play when you visit certain websites. If you currently employ these types of ads for your website, you definitely want to re-think your strategy, especially as ad-blocking software installs are on the rise.
• Be mobile-friendly in everything you do. “As consumers continue to increase engagement with mobile devices for daily activities and content consumption, marketers [should] further integrate all marketing activities—including advertising—to the mobile category,” – eMarketer
• Optimize for search marketing. As noted above, Forrester predicts that search marketing is going to lead the billions in digital marketing spend, so optimize your search marketing strategy to prepare for this. It might be time to hire a consultant to look at your current setup, or hire a full-time employee to do the job. SEO and SEM is not a one-time-and-done task, it needs to be continually optimized and improved as new content is added to your website, or new services or products are offered by your company.
• Have an active role on social media. I’ve heard a few predictions that corporate social media involvement is going to be bigger than ever in 2017, as it’s becoming more and more difficult to reach a target market without an active presence on at least one platform or two. And platforms are realizing this, too, and are increasingly adopting a “pay to play” philosophy for brands to further increase their own revenues.
• Add video. Also detailed in the 2016 State of Inbound report, video is “dominating the agenda of C-level business leaders” with 56% of respondees planning to add to YouTube as a content channel in 2017, whereas 46% more plan on Facebook video, and 17% interested in Snap (formerly Snapchat). For many marketers, visual and audio content are channels that are thought to help with the future of technology, as customers become more impatient and are looking for quick and easy ways to consume content and information.

For more information about the state of paid advertising as it stands, and the predictions for the future, read through the stats and charts in this year’s State of Inbound report. It may help you put together a really solid digital marketing and advertising strategy for 2017.