smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

UK companies still view using the internet to advertise their wares with suspicion and on average are allocating just one per cent of their advertising budget to on-line campaigns.

Fifty advertisers, with advertising budgets ranging from under Ł2m to over Ł21m and from a range of sectors, were surveyed by media consultant Media Audits in its Advertiser Survey 2001. The companies had a combined ad spend of Ł700m; but just Ł7m of this was destined for advertising on the internet.

Just over half agreed that the online advertising rates "are softening more than other media." Media Audits points out this could be for complicated reasons. Almost two thirds of those surveyed said that there is "too little transparency or accountability in the online medium". So rates may be dropping in order to inspire confidence and attract advertisers.

Media Audits' managing director, Martin Sambrook, said this lack of accountability is a "widespread sentiment" with nearly three-quarters of respondents feeling this deters them from investing in internet advertising. Sambrook accepted that the internet "hasn't created this new business paradigm," explaining that it was just another means of doing business.

He urged companies to pick carefully which mediums to use for advertising and to integrate it into an overall marketing strategy for their business. "It's not a 'silver bullet approach’" said Sambrook. He also said that improved auditing of web usage statistics might help matters.

The industry-owned Audit Bureau of Circulation's ABC ELECTRONIC has launched a set of agreed auditing standards to clear up just such "audience figures" confusion, and encourages website owners to get their visitor traffic audited. Log onto www.abce.org.uk or contact the organisation by e-mail at: info@abce.org.uk for more details.

With thanks to Lloyds TSB Success4Business. For more news and information visit www.success4business.com .

(28/9/01)

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