Small and Medium Businesses Increase Penetration of Online Media
By Anna Johnson on August 26th, 2009According to The Kelsey Group the penetration of digital/online media among small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) increased from 73 percent in August 2008 to 77 percent in August 2009. Their penetration of traditional media decreased from 74 percent to 69 percent during the same period.
The Kelsey Group defines penetration as the percentage of SMBs using a given type of media, irrespective of spending level.
“The milestone of digital/online surpassing traditional media among SMBs is an indicator of the broad shift to online platforms,” said Steve Marshall, director of research, The Kelsey Group.
The Kelsy Group also found that SMBs decreased spending on advertising and promotion by 23.5 percent, from an average of $2,734 (reported in August 2008) to $2,092 (reported in August 2009) over the past year.
At the same time they increased the percentage of their marketing budgets devoted to online marketing, which increased from 22 percent to 36.8 percent over the past year. On average, SMBs increased spending on websites and online profile pages by 26.8 percent, from $608 in 2008 to $769 in 2009.
SMBs also increased their use of the Internet to track or measure their sources of new business leads. Of businesses that tracked lead sources, the percentage that did so using the Internet (clicks or emails) rose from 22 percent in 2008 to 30 percent in 2009.
