Media fragmentation (the use of more and more media/platforms by SMBs) is headed back up, according to BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor™ survey of small and medium businesses. SMBs now use 6.7 different media/platforms for advertising and promotion according to the full sample of 1,010 US SMBs from Local Commerce Monitor, Wave 19 (Q3/2015). This is an increase from 6.2 different media/platforms in Wave 18 (Q3/2014).

Other SMB trends coming out of the survey:

• A steady shift in media spend to digital continues. SMBs spent an average 33.9% of their ad spending on digital media. The biggest gainer of all media categories, in share of spend, was mobile which includes 10 individual media/platforms in the LCM survey.
• Rapidly evolving social media usage;  social media and email are becoming quickly entwined.
• The DIY (Do-it-Yourself) model is preferred for marketing and advertising services by 58.2% of SMBs in the survey, more than any other model.