Paid search advertising is set to become an even bigger asset in B2B online marketing, with new reports suggesting spend could exceed $21.5 billion in the near future.

Last year, American companies spent upward of $12 billion on paid search advertising, establishing it as the No .1 online marketing channel. By 2015, budgets allocated to the channel are expected to nearly double, with eMarketer expecting spend to reach $21.53 billion.

Search will still be the top internet advertising platform, though other marketing tools are expected to experience similar growth. Banner advertisements will continue to grow, exceeding the $11 billion mark over the next four years. Meanwhile, video advertising spend is set to be the fastest growing channel, jumping from $1.42 billion in 2010 to $7.11 billion in 2015.

With more companies spending big money on online advertising, eMarketer suggests business owners diversify their campaigns.

"Many marketers can often cost-effectively use a blend of ad networks and direct ad buys from smaller sites to improve their campaign's reach," eMarketer analyst David Hallerman advises.

For example, many businesses target Google for search campaigns, but Yahoo and Bing go untouched. The latter two platforms, however, still reach roughly one-third of the the active search market, according to comScore data. The key is leveraging a variety of channels.

Bookmark and Share