The Marketing Sherpa just released a report that highlights an issue that I have been focused on since the launch of Brand Digital almost 4 years ago (wow!). Small Businesses are getting squeezed out of the internet as a communication vehicle due to the fact that things are getting more complex not easier. The report is titled Special Report: State of the Search Marketing Agency Industry 2006 and focuses on search which is the primary driver for small business marketing dollars online. SEM agencies are requiring minimum monthly spend of $3,000 or more (in service fees) and of the 62 agencies interviewed - only 1 actually goes after the economy-value part of the market (small businesses). The focus is on mid-sized and larger firms that can support larger service fees.

I see this in all aspect of Internet Marketing (not just search). I recently launched a pay per call program for a local client through SuperPages and it was a major pain in the keister. Between the negotiation for placement, figuring out how to pay for it, how to integrate it into their current account and setting up the tracking phone line on the client end, relatively complex. Web Analytics is another example - the more useful tools are getting more expensive (other than Google Analytics which is GREAT for small businesses) and the ability to get powerful insights and positive change direction is getting more difficult as there is more data available which leads to confusion.

Brand Digital will continue to focus on ways to help small business effectively use the internet. Via seminars, newsletters, projects and on-going engagements - small business is very important to us.