Small Businesses Plan to Allocate One-Quarter (26%) of Ad Budgets
to Digital Media Over Next 12 Months, According to BIA/Kelsey
Research indicates SMBs are gravitating to video, social media and
self-serve advertising; findings and implications will be presented
at ILM East, March 26-28, Boston
CHANTILLY, Va.. (Feb. 28, 2012) – Small businesses continue
to gravitate to digital/online media, particularly
to self-serve advertising and promotional tools,
including video, social media and search engine
marketing (SEM), according to the latest wave of Local Commerce Monitor, BIA/Kelsey's
15-year tracking study of SMB advertising spending,
media usage, Web presence and sales channels. SMBs surveyed in LCM
Wave 15 reported they plan to allocate 26 percent of their budgets
to digital/online media over the next 12 months.
“SMBs continue to get more focused and precise about how they
use and analyze their advertising and marketing budgets,” said
Steve Marshall, director of research, BIA/Kelsey. “We continue
to see a powerful pattern in usage of digital/online media according
to the age of the business. Younger businesses spend much more of their
ad budgets on digital/online media than their older counterparts that
spend more on traditional media.”
According to LCM Wave 15, nearly half of respondents (49 percent)
reported they purchase online advertising (including SEM products)
themselves, directly from a website, either with or without live operator
assistance. More than half (52 percent) of LCM respondents reported
they use social media to promote their businesses, and 22 percent said
they plan to have a video on YouTube in the next 12 months.
“The LCM data show SMBs love the easy-to-use tools, like YouTube,
Facebook, Twitter and self-serve advertising,” said Matt Booth,
senior vice president and program director, Interactive Local Media,
BIA/Kelsey. “Our analysis is that we are on the verge of a real
revolution in marketing platforms that serve SMBs, in particular around
digital presence.”
BIA/Kelsey analysts will pull back the covers on the LCM data during Interactive
Local Media East (ILM East), March 26-28, in Boston. Among the sessions at
ILM East that align with the trends revealed in LCM Wave 15 are:
“Local Business Success: Picking Winners,” in which a
panel of experts will offer their thoughts on the local business solutions
that will make a difference in 2012
“The Boom in Local Social
Media,” which
will cover the direct connection between social platforms and customer engagement
and sales
“VidLoMo: Integrating Video Into Local Marketing,” which
will discuss how video remains the under-leveraged element in the local digital
equation
“The ROI With Facebook, Social Media and Local,” in
which MIT Professor Catherine Tucker, an international authority on using
data to guide marketing and advertising decisions, will offer expert insight
into what is relevant in social media for local marketers
“Proprietary research like LCM and our local media forecasts provide
the distinctive context that attracts a global audience of executive-level
decision makers from across the local media landscape to ILM East,” said
Tom Buono, CEO, BIA/Kelsey. “The data and analysis we’ll be presenting,
combined with the insights of the knowledgeable speakers on the agenda, will
generate some tremendous takeaways for attendees.”
BIA/Kelsey will preview the research and trends to be presented at ILM East
during a free webinar on Thursday, March 1, at 2 p.m. ET. More information
and webinar registration is available at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/964353880.
About ILM East
Featured speakers include Ted Leonsis, CEO, Monumental Sports and Entertainment;
Leslie Berland, vice president, social media strategy, American Express; Jay
Herratti, CEO, CityGrid Media; Christine Merritt, head of business development,
channel sales North America, Google; Michael Silberman, general manager, digital
media, New York Media; and Michael Zimbalist, vice president, research and
development operations, The New York Times Co.
ILM East sponsors include Acxiom,
Agendize, Apptus, Axiom, goMobi, Infycosm, Localeze, Microsoft Advertising,
Mongoose Metrics, Reply.com, TrafficMedia, vSplash and Where Ads. Conference
association partners include the Local Search Association (LSA) and Web Marketing
Association (WMA). Media partners include GigaOM, Search Marketing Standard
Magazine, Topseos, The Next Web (TNW) and Visibility Magazine. For more information
about ILM East, including the complete agenda, list of speakers and companies
attending, visit http://www.biakelsey.com/ILMEast2012.
About Local Commerce Monitor
Local Commerce Monitor (LCM) is BIA/Kelsey’s ongoing tracking survey
of small and medium-sized businesses conducted online with research partner
ConStat since 1999. The survey measures where SMBs are spending their advertising
and promotional budgets and how their media usage and spending habits are evolving.
LCM draws its sample of business respondents from a mix of nationally scoped
MSAs, which include first- and second-tier markets. LCM Wave 15 was conducted
in November 2011 via an online survey of 300 SMBs.
About BIA/Kelsey
BIA/Kelsey advises companies in the local media space through consulting
and valuation services, research, Continuous Advisory Services and
conferences. Since 1983 BIA/Kelsey has been a resource to the media,
mobile advertising, telecommunications, Yellow Pages and electronic
directory markets, as well as to government agencies, law firms and
investment companies looking to understand trends and revenue drivers.
BIA/Kelsey’s annual conferences draw executives from across industries
seeking expert guidance on how companies are finding innovative ways
to grow. Additional information is available at http://www.biakelsey.com,
on the company’s Local
Media Watch blog, Twitter (http://twitter.com/BIAKelsey)
and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/biakelsey).
For more information contact: Eileen Pacheco
For BIA/Kelsey
(508) 888-7478 eileen@tango-group.com
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