But here is one prediction I will stand over. More and more companies will start to realise the importance of getting their digital marketing right. From optimising their search, to using social media channels well, to investing in display advertising. 

Business to business and business to consumer digitalmarketing is becoming more focused on understanding how people buy. Research using the web, in the office, at home and on the move is now the norm. Barcodes are scanned in stores to compare prices before buying. As a result John Lewis put bar codes in their shop windows to allow customers to engage before even going in to the store, and buy if they wanted!

Twitter is used as a customer relationship tool as well as for engagment. There are billions of searchs every day on Twitter. Go and search Northern Ireland and you will get a flavour of what is going on out there.  

Brands are realising that if they want to benefit from the millions on Facebook they have to give them something in return: rewards, engaging content, competitions, sharable apps. It is not enough (and never has been) to post sales and product messages. Facebook needs some creative thinking if it is going to be of use. 

Linkedin is becoming a source for business research, customer identification, marketing and conversation. There are over 100 million people on Linkedin, which makes it more successful than Facebook, as the target audience is much narrower. 

Targeting that tightened marketing spend at people who are likely to purchase makes search and PPC more important than ever. If you aren't on the shelf, no one will buy you. The challenge being that your sales messages need to be designed to compete with all the other brands that sit along side you.

In 2012 more and more companies will start to get it. To realise that they cannot stay out of the market if they want to succeed.  To invest in their digital marketing becuase if they don't they will get left behind. 

It's a prediction, but one that is not difficult to make.