ANTenna Blog -- Business & E-Business

According to an ongiong study by the Kelsey Group, online media penetration has finally surpassed traditional media usage among small businesses.

The research house says that this is the first time that a higher percentage of SMBs reported using online media than used traditional for advertising and promotion. Penetration of online media buys went from 73% to 77%from August 2008 to August 2009, while traditional media participatin fell from 74% to 69% over the same period.

In not-unrelated findings, the study also revealed that SMBs cut their overall advertising and promotion spending by 23.5%, even as spending on Web sites and profile pages jumped 26.8% in the same period.

But while more SMBs are buying online media, the total spend on traditional media remains much higher. The study said the percentage of total advertising spent on digital/online media increased from 22% to 36.8% over the past year.

Nevertheless, as Steve Marshall, director of research for The Kelsey Group said in a statement: "The milestone of digital/online surpassing traditional media among SMBs is an indicator of the broad shift to online platforms."

That shift is likely to continue, no matter what the economy does. I predict it won't be long before SMBs spend more on online media than they do on tradtional media, even if it takes more conservative enterprises years to catch up.

As often happens, leading the way into online media offers yet another opportunity for smaller companies to leverage innovation and flexibility into competitive advantage.

For example, in addition to saving money with online media, SMBs are also getting more information on how their campaigns are doing. The study also showed growth in the proportion of SMBs using the Internet to measure their sources of new business. Of businesses that track lead sources, the percentage that tracks clicks or e-mailsdoes using the Internet has grown from 22% 2008 to 30% in 2009.

Cheaper and more measurable. No wonder online marketing is taking over.

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