Web Marketing Grows, but How Much?

"More than one-half of the average marketer's budget is now spent online," according to a press release from lead generation company Clash-Media. The firm conducted its "Online Lead Generation (B2C) Report 2008" in May with E-consultancy.

But the press release may be a misreading of the report.

According to respondents, a greater proportion of lead generation budgets is being spent online (on average, 53%) than offline (44%).

The survey's methodology seems to confirm the point.

Of those polled, 73% said their channels to market were "online or multichannel," and 23% said "online only." Only about 4% said they were "offline only."

So respondents were focused largely on online approaches. The rest of the summary issued with the report was more accurate. Among the findings:

• Seven out of 10 responding marketers said their companies used search engine optimization, paid search and e-mail marketing to in-house lists.
• Offline marketing methods largely decreased, with only press and television advertising growing. Over 90% of marketers saw online lead generation as a growth area.
• Print media was still the most commonly used offline method to generate consumer leads (65% of organizations).
• Natural search (79% of respondents), e-mail marketing to in-house lists (75%) and paid search (71%) were the three most commonly used online methods for lead generation.

Without question, online ad spending in the US is rising quickly. eMarketer predicts double-digit growth will continue for the next several years.