According to Nielsen, 4.1 million adults in the Boston area have access to the internet. Eighty-three percent of these consumers conduct online research before making a retail purchase, says a report from GE Capital Bank. 

To reach Boston area adults in the market to buy their goods and services, businesses spent $2.9 billion in 2021 on digital adverting, according to projections based on the 2021 IAB Internal Advertising Report.  This is 35% more than was spent during the prior year.

This mammoth pool of online advertising dollars targeted at Boston consumers is being spent on a variety of digital resources including search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), display ads, video ads, audio ads, email, and social media. Each of these tools can precisely target consumers who are currently in the market to buy whatever it is a business is selling.

Most forms of online advertising are designed to compel Boston consumers to click on a digital ad that will transport them to the website of a company that sells whatever it is consumers are in the market to buy.  Is investing only in digital advertising enough to drive sales for a local business? 

Many marketing experts believe that online advertising needs to be part of a broader marketing strategy to be successful.

Last year, $2.9 billion in marketing was spent online to reach Boston area consumers, according to projections based on the 2021 IAB Internal Advertising Report.  This is 35% more than was spent during the prior year.

There is a correlation between the massive amount of money being spent to reach Boston consumers online and the extraordinary amount of time that these consumers are connecting to the internet via websites and apps.

According to Nielsen, 55.1% of Boston adults are spending 10-plus hours during an average week online. Furthermore, The Pew Research Center, a public opinion research company, reports that one-in-three consumers say they are online constantly. A 50% increase from 2015.  In all, 85% of consumers say they connect at least once daily.

To successfully market and advertise a Boston business on the internet requires a full-scale understanding of precisely what online marketing is.  Spoiler alert, having a website or having a social media site is not enough.

According to Nielsen research, 3.3 million people in the Boston area will likely participate in the upcoming election on November 8th. To sway these voters, candidates and political action committees are expected to spend a record amount on advertising.

AdImpact, a company that measures advertising expenditures by political campaigns, says more than $3.6 billion have been spent to reach voters so far in 2022. This puts spending on a course to obliterate the record level of campaign dollars set during the 2020 presidential elections.

Despite crumbling ratings, through August 1st, 58% of all political spending has been dished out to local TV stations, according to AdImpact.

Nielsen reports that since 2017, the reach of broadcast TV stations like WCVB, WHDH, WBZ, WCVB, WGBH, and WFXT has decayed by 10%.

Despite an abundance of media options, Boston radio reaches the most consumers every week. 

According to Nielsen, every week 3.4 million adults tune in to their favorite Boston stations. This is more than watch local TV stations, cable, or streaming video. It is more than browse social media. It is more than listen to streaming audio services or podcasts. It is more than read local newspapers.

Not all listening to Boston radio happens on car radios, table-top radios, or boom boxes. Instead, local consumers also use their smartphones, computers, and tablets as a way to connect to their favorite local stations.

Neilsen finds that 32% of all consumers who listen to a Boston radio station over the air will, at some point during the month, also connect to a local station via the internet. As a matter of fact, during a typical hour, Nielsen data suggests that 10.5% of a station's total audience is listening on a device other than a traditional receiver.

If you're anything like the 1.3 million Boston consumers who, according to Nielsen, listen to or download a podcast every month, you probably already see the value in podcasting as a relatively new audio medium that entertains, enlightens, motivates, or informs listeners.

But if you're part of the 67% of local adults who are not regular podcast listeners, you're probably wondering why on earth would anyone want to listen to a podcast, let alone create one for their Boston business.

Launching a podcast might seem like a daunting test for small business owners without much technical background or an understanding of how to structure a compelling conversation that will engage prospective customers.

In reality, local small business owners can easily reach new customers with podcasts and complement their traditional advertising in Boston with a longer-form, conversational medium that showcases the company's knowledge in an authoritative manner.

Right now, at least one of the 212,351 businesses located in the Boston area is thinking about using the phrase 'March Madness' as part of upcoming advertising and marketing plans. Why not? It's a great use of alliteration. It's a familiar term. And, it's that time of year.

A furniture store in Framingham might think it would be clever to use 'March Madness' in its commercials on Boston radio to promote a big spring sale. A non-profit in Dedham feels it would be a good way to describe its charity fun run on social media and online advertising. A sports bar in Saugus believes it would be a no-brainer to use the term in streaming video and audio ads to bring in scores of basketball fans.

It is, indeed,  tempting for a Boston small business owner to use this term for advertising or marketing purposes. But,  to avoid a costly legal battle, the use of this trademarked phrase should be a non-starter. Here's why.

Boston area business owners are expected to spend $2.3 billion advertising online in 2022. This, according to Borrell Associates, a company that tracks advertising expenditures across the country.

Borrell's forecast indicates that almost 50% of Boston's online expenditures will be in the form of paid search. The most recognizable type of this advertising is the paid ads that appear adjacent to the results of almost every search query on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Borrell's forecast also indicates that approximately 27% of online expenditures will be in the form of display advertising. This consists of traditional banner ads that appear across millions of websites and apps, including social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. According to SmallBizGenius.net, the average Boston area consumer is served more than 1700 of these ads per month.

Video advertising in Boston is forecast to account for 22% of all online ad dollars in 2022. Like search and display, millions of websites can support this type of advertising. This includes sites, apps, and platforms like YouTube, Roku Channel, Hulu, Paramount+, and most social media sites.

The remainder of online advertising dollars is expected to be spent on audio advertising, including streaming sites like Pandora and Spotify; or email marketing campaigns.

It used to be so simple. When a small business owner wanted to advertise on Boston television, there were only a few options including, WCVB, WHDH, WBZ, WGBH, and WFXT. But slowly, the number of options expanded to include cable channels provided by Xfinity, DISH, DirecTV, and RCN.

Heading in 2022, local advertisers have even more options as internet-connected devices deliver hundreds of more programming choices to New England consumers. Collectively, this type of content is called OTT (Over-The-Top-Television) or CTV (Connected-Television). For the purpose of this discussion, OTT & CTV will be referred to singularly as streaming video.

Streaming video can be viewed on any device that can connect to the internet. This includes computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Programing can also be accessed using a smart-TV, Roku Stick, Amazon Fire Stick, or a game console. In all, according to Nielsen, 95.6% of Boston households own a device capable of receiving streaming video.

In all, says Nielsen, 2.8 million consumers watch streaming video content every week. Combined, these internet channels now reach more adults every week than local newspapers, podcasts, and digital audio services like Pandora, Spotify, Sirius/XM. Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio.

Surprisingly, streaming video now reaches almost as many adults as local TV and local cable.

Based on projections from the National Retail Federation (NRF), Boston consumers are on track to spend $72-billion with retailers by the end of this year. This would be 13.5% higher than was spent in 2020.

To earn a significant share of these retail dollars, Boston area business owners are expected to spend $3.2 billion to advertise by year's end, according to Borrell Associates. This company tracks advertising expenditures in local markets across the U.S.

To ensure they are spending their advertising and marketing dollars wisely, many Boston business owners research how to best target prospective customers by using local media. An exceptional resource for local business owners to investigate the media habits of localconsumers is on the advice section of AdvertiseInBoston.com.  

Here are the top five most-read articles on the site in 2021:

According to Nielsen, 1,323,799 Boston consumers listened to or downloaded a podcast during the past 30 days. This is 32.9% of the adult population.

A podcast is a downloadable digital audio file available to listeners on an internet-connected device like a smartphone, tablet, or computer. These files are typically part of series focusing on a particular theme such as true crime, professional football, politics, or pop culture.

Boston consumers can listen to their favorite podcasts whenever they choose using apps like Spotify, Pandora, Google, and Stitcher. The most used podcasting app, though, is Apple Podcasts.

Research from PodcastHosing.org indicates that Boston consumers can access more than 2,000,000 podcast series comprising over 48,000,000 unique episodes. According to data compiled by Edison research, the top 10 podcasts during the second quarter of 2021 were: