Small businesses continue to gravitate to digital/online media, particularly to self-serve advertising and promotional tools, including video, social media and search engine marketing (SEM), according to the latest wave of Local Commerce Monitor, BIA/Kelsey's 15-year tracking study of SMB advertising spending, media usage, Web presence and sales channels. SMBs surveyed in LCM Wave 15 reported they plan to allocate 26 percent of their budgets to digital/online media over the next 12 months.

"SMBs continue to get more focused and precise about how they use and analyze their advertising and marketing budgets," said Steve Marshall, director of research, BIA/Kelsey. "We continue to see a powerful pattern in usage of digital/online media according to the age of the business. Younger businesses spend much more of their ad budgets on digital/online media than their older counterparts that spend more on traditional media."

According to LCM Wave 15, nearly half of respondents (49 percent) reported they purchase online advertising (including SEM products) themselves, directly from a website, either with or without live operator assistance. More than half (52 percent) of LCM respondents reported they use social media to promote their businesses, and 22 percent said they plan to have a video on YouTube in the next 12 months.

"The LCM data show SMBs love the easy-to-use tools, like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and self-serve advertising," said Matt Booth, senior vice president and program director, Interactive Local Media, BIA/Kelsey. "Our analysis is that we are on the verge of a real revolution in marketing platforms that serve SMBs, in particular around digital presence."

BIA/Kelsey analysts will pull back the covers on the LCM data during Interactive Local Media East (ILM East), March 26-28, inBoston. Among the sessions at ILM East that align with the trends revealed in LCM Wave 15 are:

• "Local Business Success: Picking Winners," in which a panel of experts will offer their thoughts on the local business solutions that will make a difference in 2012
• "The Boom in Local Social Media," which will cover the direct connection between social platforms and customer engagement and sales
• "VidLoMo: Integrating Video Into Local Marketing," which will discuss how video remains the under-leveraged element in the local digital equation
• "The ROI With Facebook, Social Media and Local," in which MIT Professor Catherine Tucker, an international authority on using data to guide marketing and advertising decisions, will offer expert insight into what is relevant in social media for local marketers

"Proprietary research like LCM and our local media forecasts provide the distinctive context that attracts a global audience of executive-level decision makers from across the local media landscape to ILM East," said Tom Buono, CEO, BIA/Kelsey. "The data and analysis we'll be presenting, combined with the insights of the knowledgeable speakers on the agenda, will generate some tremendous takeaways for attendees."