On February 8^th, comScore released “The 2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review,” which provides an in depth view of the U.S. Digital Media landscape and uses their findings to provide insight into how effective marketers can succeed in 2011.

With the innovation and uplifting results of 2010, comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni expects good things to come in 2011, but cautions “marketers must have a sound understanding of the digital media landscape and how it is changing if they hope to capitalize on key trends that can drive their business into the future.”

ComScore’s report lists out the forecast for each media individually, but I couldn’t help noticing how many digital aspects are influenced by each other or other marketing channels:

• Local-group buying sites such as Groupon.com and Livingsocial.com drove offline purchases.
• Social was host to 1/3^rd of all display advertising in 2010 and will continue to grow given it’s ability to reach millions cost effectively.
• Social search terms dominated search queries  in 2010, reinforcing the importance of being visible on social networks.
• Mobile, with its convenient real time pricing ability, could help drive consumer’s buying activity online.

The examples above reiterate the importance of tailoring marketing campaigns to fit your business, with as much or as little integration as necessary. ComScore says effective marketers “must realize that it is not wise to chase every shiny object emerging on the digital landscape, as not every innovation is the right fit for a given company or brand.” While seemingly obvious advice, you’d be surprised how many one size fits all options there are out there. Understanding your business and industry is key to developing the ideal media mix.