Businesses are continuing to push more of their marketing budgets online.

Not too long ago, PricewaterhouseCoopers reported online advertising spending will grow faster in Canada than anywhere in the world over the next four years. Meanwhile, in the UK last year, Internet expenditures overtook traditional advertising in national newspapers. And in the US, Forrester forecasts companies will spend upwards of $26 billion on Internet marketing per annum by 2010 – approximately eight per cent of all advertising spending.

Webcopyplus conducted a poll to determine what entrepreneurs and small business owners spend to gain presence on the Web. Of the 60 polled, more than 38 per cent of businesses spend between $500 and $6,000 on online marketing annually, only five per cent spend more than $12,000, and the remaining 57 per cent spend less than $500 or less per year.

We were surprised that so many small businesses fell in the $500 or less category given the Internet’s one of the few areas where small businesses can compete with larger, more established companies. In fact, 10 per cent of poll participants indicated they don’t have an online marketing budget of any sort. It’s a case of small business missing big opportunities.

While Canada is expected to maintain the greatest growth in online spending during the next four years, PricewaterhouseCoopers reports countries in Asia and Latin America will fill the gap soon after.

“Latin America is an emerging market due to major middle class growth in Chile and Mexico, with Venezuela and Columbia not too far behind,” explained Rene Quijada, Founder of award-winning Kihada Works Design, a Canada-based design firm with artist and association affiliations throughout Latin America.  

“These countries are working hard to bring their technology and Web accessibility to US and UK standards,” added Quijada. “It’ll allow their businesses to better market themselves locally and to the rest of the world, especially North America.” 

European online marketing budgets will more than double from around €7.5 billion in 2006 to more than €16 billion in 2012, 18 per cent of total media budgets, reports Forrester. 

Businesses will raise their online budgets on everything from email to search engine optimization to display advertising to better reach the growing Internet audience that relies on the Web for a widening range of products and services.

“After five years of dipping their toes into the online marketing waters, firms have come to realize that the Net is a valuable medium for client acquisition, retention, and market expansion,” reported Rebecca Jennings in Forrester’s Business View Trends.

Just over a year ago, I had coffee with a pleasant couple planning the opening of a pastry shop in the Greater Vancouver area. I asked about the basics: 

Branding? A friend helped them design a logo, which was printed at home on perforated business cards. Signage? A small, plastic banner was on order. Online presence? They planned to use a free template and “throw something together.” 

After explaining the need to delegate, build a professional brand and get an informative website up so vendors, such as coffee shop owners, could conveniently peruse their product offerings, they politely nodded. It was obvious they saw such costs to be unnecessary. 

The business was launched, the products were delicious, and business was carried out focusing only on minimizing costs rather than looking at ways to build revenue. 

Things got tighter and tighter, to the point the husband decided to get a job ‘on the side’. That was the beginning of the end. Various parts of the business became neglected, and there was little, if any, chance of growth. 

Sadly, despite a fantastic product, the couple recently announced they are closing their shop. 

It goes to reinforce some basic rules of business. 

1. Delegate or die. Business owners need to focus on their core business and make an effort to hand off everything else.

2. Perception is everything. You can have a great product, but if you don’t back it with proper branding, its image and perceived value will suffer. Moreover, if they were not willing to invest in their business (i.e. professional business cards and a website), why should others?

3. Understand and accept your strengths and limitations. With today’s rapid pace and cut-throat competition, you must choose what activities it makes sense for you to do, and what tasks you should delegate to specialists.