The fast-paced and ever-changing tech world offers suppliers a dizzying array of methods to choose from in digital marketing. It seems like every month a new way to market your services is invented, and it can be hard to decide which marketing techniques will work best for you.

With a new year upon us, there are some early trends you’ll want to take a look at as you start or revise your own digital marketing strategies.

An insightful article in the Boston Globe’s Global Business Hub blog, “6 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch in 2012“  says that “King of Search” Google, will be looking for quality, relevance and timeliness in content when deciding how to rank web pages in its important search engine.

“Google’s older algorithm gave less weight to how frequently a company was being discussed on social platforms like Twitter and more to relevance. On the one hand, expect to see more results to be linked to timely and social relevance and less to esoteric tinkering,” explains blog author Devin Cole. “On the other, as its product offering becomes arguably more robust, expect a bit of backlash over Google’s keyword and site promotion offerings (have you noticed how those sponsored sites are slowly taking over the results page?). The burden of authentic, timely and relevant content on the part of companies will become ever more important.”

The writer is predicting a “banner year” for video, which can be more engaging and emotionally compelling than text. “Studies show far higher levels of engagement and customer conversion among brands that use video on their websites,” Cole writes.

A post at IT Business Edge,  “Three SMB Trends in 2012 and How to Stay Ahead of Them“ by Paul Mah, says the use of analytics tools will become more important. Through tools like Google Analytics, you can better track the effectiveness of your efforts, including marketing. That can help you make better decisions or modify ongoing efforts.

“This could entail something as simple as keeping an accurate tab on sales volume at the product level or tracking visitors’ statistics of the company websites. Based on the popularity of certain products and incoming search keywords for example, SMBs could tweak their marketing campaign or tweak their product portfolio to maximize sales volume,” Mah writes.

Finally, while you’re considering these digital updates to your marketing plan, don’t forget the “old-fashioned” email.

A report from a national survey by Strongmail, “Email to Assist Social Media Marketing in 2012“, showed that business leaders will be increasing their email campaign budgets in 2012 (especially to drive customers to social media channels), while decreasing their direct mail budgets. The survey of 929 business leaders showed:

• 92% of respondents plan to increase (51%) or maintain (41%) marketing spend in 2012.
• Email marketing (60%) and social media (55%) are the top areas of investment in 2012,
• More than a third of businesses also plan to increase investment in mobile and search (tied at 37%).
• Only 8% of businesses plan to decrease marketing spending.

So no matter which route you choose, remember that it’s important to focus on your marketing, evaluate it, set yourself apart and reach potential clients where they are.