A new Local Commerce Monitor™ (LCM) UK Spotlight report examines UK SMBs that self-identify as newspaper advertisers in the UK reveals a huge opportunity for growth and adoption of digital and non-traditional media channels. UK newspaper SMBs are adopting newer media types at a slower rate compared to their non-newspaper counterparts.

The new Spotlight report uses data from the recently completed LCM UK Wave 2013. The report is the latest in an ongoing series that drills down into the LCM data to examine how SMB advertisers acquire and retain customers.

LCM U.K. is BIA/Kelsey’s on-running study of how U.K. SMB advertisers are evolving their use of media to acquire and retain customers.

The LCM UK Wave 2013 data shows that SMBs that participate in newspaper advertising differ from those that do not use newspaper advertising in several important ways:

* Over the past 12 months, SMBs that use newspaper advertising on average spent 26% of their budget for digital and online. By contrast, non-newspaper advertisers spend 36% of their budget on digital advertising.

* Newspaper SMBs are more likely to offer a paper-based loyalty program than their non-newspaper counterparts’ 70% vs. 63%, and are 6% percent less likely to run a digitally-based program than the same group.

* Newspaper SMBs plan to increase their digital budgets by a higher amount than their non-newspaper counterparts. Digital already accounts for 25% of newspaper SMBs’ overall advertising budget.

* Newspaper and other traditional media types are not growing nearly as fast as digital and mobile channels. Seven out of the top eight future marketing priorities are non-traditional and digital media types, including social media advertising, advanced analytics and performance monitoring, SEO and mobile advertising.

Interested in learning more about LCM UK Wave 2013 or getting a custom cut for your business? Check out BIA/Kelsey’s LCM UK page.

We’ll be covering this and other themes in great depth at our upcoming Leading in Local conference, December 10-12 in San Francisco. Be there and join the conversation!

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We asked SMBs questions about their advertising spend and plans over the next 12 months. 52% of SMBs plan on maintaining their advertising spend, while 30% plan to increase. SMBs devoted more than 31% of their budget to digital media in the past 12 months, which they plan to increase to 33% over the next 12 months.

In 2013, 59% of respondents reporting have a website, which is down from 68% in 2011. Those who report having a Facebook page jumped from 27% in 2011 to 42% this year. In Wave 2, we asked SMBs about Twitter and LinkedIn. Nearly 31% report having a Twitter account and 25% report having a LinkedIn page.

Mobile showed significant growth in digital presence among UK SMBs. Only 8% of UK SMBs reported having a mobile ready website in 2011. In 2013, that figure jumped to 17%, with an additional 23% saying that they plan to add a mobile website within the next 12 months.

Eight different mobile related media categories were included in this year’s survey. While no single mobile ad format had usage exceeding 6% in 2013, several mobile formats did show meaningful growth between Wave 1 and Wave 2.

Besides mobile, survey respondents report using the following media to advertise or promote their business:

• Facebook: 41%
• Newspapers: 31%
• Email Marketing: 31%

Interested in learning more about LCM U.K. or getting a custom cut for your business? Check out BIA/Kelsey’s LCM UK page.

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