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SMEs missing out on internet advertising boom
14th August 2008
On the day that Ofcom reported that online advertising overtook advertising spend on mainstream TV in Britain last year, the UK’s leading online search specialist, Infoserve, has warned that most SMEs still show a shocking lack of understanding of what they can achieve through online marketing.
Ofcom’s Annual Communications Market Report, which was published today, announced that online advertising spend has risen by an average of 70.2% in each of the last five years to reach £2.8bn. For the first time the internet attracted more advertising spend than the combined net advertising revenues of ITV1, Channel 4, S4C and Five (£2.4bn) in 2007.
Yet according to Steve Barnes, Infoserve’s CEO, businesses are not aware of this dramatic growth. His company speaks with over 10,000 SMEs a week, but he believes too many don’t understand the best ways to market themselves online and are missing out on a priceless opportunity.
Steve said, “There is a worrying lack of understanding amongst SMEs about online advertising, not only in terms of its effectiveness but also in terms of its value for money. Yet if we’re talking about return on investment, then online advertising is second to none.
“Hopefully, the Ofcom report will help SMEs realise the potential of internet advertising, which offers more controlled and flexible advertising than ever before.”
Ofcom’s report also shows that paid-for search advertising, which enables SMEs to appear next to results when someone searches for a specific term, still dominates the internet market and is up 39% during 2007 to £1.6 billion.
Infoserve, which is in a unique position to advise SMEs because of its partnership with the world’s two largest search engines, Google and Yahoo!, believes it’s this paid-for search that is the key for SMEs.
Steve said, “Paid for search can produce instant results that can immediately be measured, which SMEs find incredibly useful when they have limited budgets. The benefit of paid-for search advertising is that you can target the very people you are aiming for, at the exact time that they are looking for your service or product.
“No other form of advertising allows you to do this to this extent yet many SMEs across the board are simply not taking advantage of this internet advertising boom.”
SMEs looking for advice about their online marketing strategies can call Infoserve on 0800 089 0869.
For more information on Ofcom's report, The Communications Market 2008 (August), please go to http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/cmr08/
For further information, please contact:
Source Marketing Communications
Peter Downey or Rachel Barson
Tel: 0113 380 1644
