In every company come the start of the year, everyone likes to bang on about the coming year and what will be big, fashionable, or trendy. And at this digital marketing agency we’re no different.

So around the coffee machine we’ve looked into the crystal ball, shaken the tealeaves and reminded ourselves when the birds left for winter. And all these portentous signs have given us the confidence to predict every development throughout 2012. Well, not quite, but we can be sure about one thing, digital marketing is going to come to the fore over 2012 and following years.

It’s amazing how many companies, especially SMEs, still don’t get digital marketing and still see it as a mystical subject which is more akin to witchcraft than proper marketing.

The big companies have embraced digital marketing with a fervour, because they understand the huge audiences out there. We’re not necessarily saying they always get it right, many don’t, but they do see and understand the massive potential out there.

And we think more companies are going to be dragged, some screaming, into the arena as the digital marketing discipline comes of age.

Maybe it’s a generation thing – many marketing teams have been brought up using the same tactics and methods that have been around for decades, with lots of brochures, leaflets and display advertising. What they don’t see is that it’s still the same, nothing has really changed apart from the environment: it’s now the internet, not the high street.

It’s a new platform, not really a new way of doing things and the more people that see that, the more will be able to exploit the superb opportunities out there.