Small businesses ´should embrace local search marketing´

More and more small business owners are waking up to the fact that online advertising can help them compete with larger competitors.

Linus Gregoriadis, head of research at E-consultancy, said that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have realised that local search marketing is a very useful tool for generating business.

"The percentage of SMEs marketing themselves over the internet has been growing steadily because business owners have increasingly recognised the potential to win business this way as a result of their own use of the internet as consumers," he explained.

"This growth will accelerate sharply as a result of local search which is likely to become a much more significant area. Google is taking local search very seriously and websites such as Yell.com give companies an excellent opportunity to market themselves over the internet."

Mr Gregoriadis said that any small business was "missing a trick" if they failed to embrace online marketing.

"The main thing is to ensure that there is an integrated approach to different types of marketing," he concluded.

Recently, the Kelsey Group reported that it expects local search advertising and search engines to become increasingly popular in the coming years.