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According to an annual TMP Directional Marketing (TMPDM) local search study announced earlier this month, there were 21.9 billion searches across all media platforms in June 2009, up 31% from a year earlier. Among other things, the study commissioned by comScore, measured the primary sources of local business information.

The data from 4,000 respondents showed that 31% of those surveyed rely on search engines as their primary source of local search information, with search engine share flat year over year. Print Yellow and White Page Directories were the second most common primary source of local business information for 28% of those surveyed, down from 30% a year earlier. So no, contrary to popular belief in certain circles, print is not dead. Coincidentally, the Internet Yellow Pages share of 21% grew share by 2% up from 19% last year, the same as the loss of share by print. Local search sites were primary source for 12% of respondents, up 1% from 11% in 2008.

Search by Mobile Internet users grew to 22 million in June 2009. This was up 127% over June 2008, a much steeper growth rate than search overall at 31% , In perspective, mobile search still a small percentage at .1% of overall search share. This will change as more and more users become equipped with smartphones (can you say iPhone) and wireless broadband data becomes ubiquitous. Imagine the location based advertising opportunities, where Starbucks ads can be sent to GPS-enabled mobile users within eyeshot of a Starbucks. As a consumer, this means the option of receiving coupons while in line waiting to get a coffee you were going to buy anyway.

According to the study, of the 22 million mobile searches, 32% were for local business information. The most sought after local content for mobile users included online directories (42%), followed by maps (41%), restaurant information (37%) and movies (30%). Mobile search will continue to grow and can present some interest local advertising opportunities for local entertainment.

What makes the Internet advertising an attractive vehicle relative to other mediums? Is it because it’s “cool” and “everybody’s doing it” or is it viewed as a necessary evil with little expectations of results? Internet advertising and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) in particular, has continued to get a larger share of advertising funding even while the overall advertising industry has contracted. This is continued growth is enabled by the measurement and ROI (Return on Investment) accountability of Internet advertising necessary to justify continued advertising during a recessionary economy.

How does Internet Advertising provide accountability? The Internet provides accountability through measurement and analysis which enables marketers to confidentially estimate Internet advertising ROI. With the proliferation of many traffic measurement and analysis low or no cost software and services, it is very easy for Internet advertisers to establish key performance metrics, capture those metrics by inserting some simple html/JavaScript into the web pages to be tracked, and within 24 hours or less, you are able to measure things like visits, unique visitors, origination, key word use if through a search engine, bounce rates and more. It is also easy to measure and monitor conversion rates of visitors per sale or lead captured.

Once we have begun capturing the key Internet advertising performance metrics, we can analyze to establish metric baselines to test one or more Internet advertising strategies with high ROI such as SEM. SEM includes techniques such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), PPC (Pay Per Click). By measuring, monitoring and analyzing traffic relative to SEM initiatives, we can begin to correlate marketing initiatives results. This correlation to results can be used to estimate Internet advertising ROI relative to individual marketing initiatives, providing creditable accountability for those individual investments. For SEO initiatives, the correlation is more difficult as these initiatives provide residual impact but tend to have impacts that lag.

A wise businessman told me early in my career that to be successful, that I would have to fail often and early. This principle is one that is grasped best through years of application. The beauty of Internet advertising, SEM and paid placement in particular, is that with measurement and analytic capabilities today, Internet Marketers can have strong indications if their online campaigns will succeed or fail within 24 hours. This knowledge, obtained through measurement and analysis, enables Internet advertisers to adjust campaigns early and test suggested campaign improvements often, reducing negative impacts of poor performing campaigns, while providing actionable data to tune campaigns and their results sooner.

As Internet advertising performance measurement and analysis tools become more mature and shift from a paradigm of providing raw data with summaries to automated analysis and recommendation solutions, the ability to test and tune Internet advertising campaigns will become even more widespread. This unique, near-real time accountability through measurably will continue to accelerate the growth of Internet advertising at the expense of traditional offline media.