Online ousts traditional media from marketing budgets

Online is taking a bigger chunk of the average marketing budget at the expense of some traditional media. Such are the findings of new research from lead generation company Clash Media and E-consultancy.

by Helen Leggatt

Over 50% of the average marketing budget is now being directed towards online activity, finds Clash Media’s recent research. Radio, postal and telephone channels have all seen decreases, says the report, with only television and press taking larger chunks of budget.

"These are the two offline methods which can be most easily linked to online marketing channels such as Search Engine Optimization and Proactive Online Lead Generation,” said Luke Pursey, UK Managing Director, Clash-Media in a recent announcement.

Seventy percent of the companies surveyed by Clash Media use SEO, paid search and email marketing and a large number, 90%, see online lead generation as a growth area. Despite this, 60% believe they are still not making the most out of the Internet as for lead generation.

“Companies are increasingly taking an integrated approach to their advertising, which is good because no one marketing tool will ever be 100 per cent efficient,” commented Pursey.