San Diego-based Ignite Visibility recently surveyed over 200 marketing professionals to gain insight into how they are adjusting their digital marketing strategies, which networks they are excited to explore more, and where they are planning to spend the bulk of their marketing dollars over the next two years.

Key takeaways from the study include:

• The large majority (90.6%) feel confident in their ability to properly manage the changes occurring in the digital marketing environment.
• Facebook’s position as a major social media platform is as strong as ever. Over half of respondents (65.5%) will be spending the majority of their marketing dollars over the next two years on Facebook Ads.
• YouTube ads are also gaining strong traction. Over half of respondents (57.1%) are planning on making the platform a mainstay in their 2-year plan and 80.8% stating that they plan on investing more on the platform.
• A high majority (83.7%) also stated that they are interested in exploring and testing Google Discover Ads.
• Although its popularity with users grows daily, TikTok is the least trusted platform among the polled marketers.

The study gave valuable insight into what digital marketing professionals are thinking and where the field is headed. It also showed marketers feel confident in their ability to roll with the punches when platforms change the way they operate. Recently Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers announced that they are saying goodbye to tracking cookies, leading some in the industry to assume that this would have a large impact on targeted marketing. The majority of those polled (48.3%) for this study, however, don’t seem to think it will be as catastrophic as originally feared, claiming this change will only have a mild impact on their advertising targeting. Regardless of their confidence that this change will only have a mild effect on their marketing, finding the proper targeting is the biggest pain point when it comes to online advertising. Partnering with a well-rounded agency is the best plan for those in the digital marketing space who want to get the most out of their digital advertising strategy. “Finding an agency that not only knows how to create the content that your audience wants to see but is also well-versed on how to reach that audience is key”, says Ignite Visibility’s CEO, John Lincoln. “To get the highest ROI, find an agency that understands your mission and knows how to target your advertising correctly. Even the most attractive content won’t track if it isn’t positioned in front of the right people.” It’s important, however, to remember that digital marketing is a long game and we don’t always get groundbreaking results with one ad. “One of the most important things to remember is that you’ll need to test a network for a month or so before truly determining its effectiveness. An agency can help you determine which platforms are worth testing first.”, says Lincoln. Advertisers seem to agree. Almost all of them allot at least 10% of their marketing budget to testing a new network and the majority of them give the network at least a month before determining the effectiveness of their new platform. While there are a lot of platforms competing for advertising dollars, it seems that most professional marketers have a strong hold on their online presence.   About the author: John Lincoln (MBA) is CEO of Ignite Visibility (a 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 Inc. 5000 company) a highly sought-after digital marketing strategist, industry speaker and author of two books, \"The Forecaster Method\" and \"Digital Influencer.\" Over the course of his career, Lincoln has worked with over 1,000 online businesses ranging from small startups to amazing clients such as Office Depot, Tony Robbins, Morgan Stanley, Fox, USA Today, COX and The Knot World Wide. John Lincoln is the editor of the Ignite Visibility blog. While he is a contributor, he does not write all of the articles and in many cases he is supported to ensure timely content.