Recently eMarketer published a study that indicated that among small and medium sized business, 36.8% of their advertising budget is allocated to online advertising. Year-over-year that is up from 22% in August 2008.

2009 has been a year of budget cuts for many businesses, so it is important to note that the year-over-year increase is almost certainly accelerated by the fact that traditional media got cut more aggressively than online.

For many marketers, the shift in allocation will be permanent. We are seeing it among our own client base across many different industries. Shrewd online marketing yields results with higher accountability and greater insight that have changed marketing dynamics for good. When the budgets flow back, we fully expect that there will be a demand for more dynamic and measurable integration between offline and online marketing.

Together with our clients, we have learned how a greater allocation to online media and the development of solid online content makes all marketing better. The content can now be leveraged in many ways: offline, in email, from banner ads and even in live presentations. The data gleaned from website analytics, keyword research and click through data gives us improved insights to buyer behavior. The value of these programs is far reaching and it will continue to reshape the way we market our products and services.

Mike Hernalsteen is the Senior Interactive Marketing Specialist at LoSasso Advertising Inc., a Chicago based interactive agency where he develops comprehensive online marketing strategies for leading B2B and consumer brands. (See more posts by Mike)