Local media focus marketing efforts online

A new report from Borrell Associates indicates that the battle for local advertising dollars is increasingly headed online. According to the report, because more advertisers are turning to the web more local media outlets (television, newspapers, radio stations and businesses) are selling online ads in the hopes of pulling in new local users.

by Kristina Knight

"Newspapers are scrambling to make up losses in classified advertising. TV stations are scrambling to cover declines in automotive and political ads," the report states. "These traditional players are looking to the Web to provide relief from the revenue pressures put on them by. . .the Web."

Of the local outlets that the researchers studied (more than 2,500 in all) roughly 25% were on target to generate $1 million in online advertising. Borrell Associates predicts that the local online ad spend will top $7 billion in 2007, an increase of 31% over the 2006 spend. Much of this revenue will go to the local newspaper (35%) but search giants Google and Yahoo are close behind, expected to pull in 33% of the spend. Television stations (9%) and radio stations (2%) lag at the bottom of the pack.

Marketers can take advantage of this phenomena by researching local media outlets. Even local retail hubs can benefit by finding out which outlets are actively searching for new online clients. Find those outlets that are offering a good deal (a low base price for advertising and proven traffic numbers) and contact them about beginning an online campaign.