Digital advertising overtaking television

Television advertising has reached a three-year low in investment and the gap between traditional marketing and digital techniques is growing increasingly narrow, according to a survey from STRATA, a media buying and selling software provider. This is an indication it is more important than ever for small businesses to take advantage of Internet marketing benefits.

Investments in digital advertising is increasing, which means companies that have not adopted these strategies could place themselves at a competitive disadvantage. In fact, more than one-quarter of respondents said they planned to spend more on digital advertising than traditional media in the next one to three years.

Why small businesses should adopt digital marketing

Many local companies have avoided online advertising for years because they didn’t think it was relevant to their businesses, Fourth Source said. There are many misconceptions regarding Internet marketing methods that could be holding companies back.

Some small businesses think contacting leads on the Internet is too cumbersome and technical, but it allows companies to better communicate with their customers. For example, if consumers were having difficulty with a product, business owners may not have known about it for months in the past. Now, social media and company websites allow local companies to communicate with their clients more quickly.

Some business owners are afraid of digital marketing or consider it a separate aspect from the rest of their advertising strategies. While online marketing was not always accessible to small businesses, the variety of options have made it more cost-effective and it doesn’t require advanced technical knowledge. Website analytics tools also give business owners the capability to measure the effectiveness of the campaign. When using traditional media such as local newspapers, it was more difficult for small companies to determine the return on investment from ads.