It’s surprising how many businesses still don’t have a website let alone aren’t taking advantage of many of the other amazing opportunities for digitally marketing their business.

Even better about these new opportunities, many are considerably less expensive than traditional marketing approaches, are more targeted, and are much more easily and effectively trackable.

For those businesses that have made forays into the digital age, there are few who are really doing it well and maximizing their exposure to exactly the people that they would like to attract as customers.

In case there is any doubt about how much consumers rely on digital technology today to get the information they’re looking for, consider the following:

• Nearly all consumers (97%) now use online media when researching products or services in their local area.  Among consumers surveyed, 90 percent use search engines.  Source: BIA/Kelsey’s User View Wave VII, 2010.
• Up to 89% of consumers pre-shop online before making a purchase in the store.” Yahoo! Source: comScore 2007.
• Over 1 billion local business searches are conducted each and every month on Google. Source: Google, 2010.
• YouTube has 2 billion views of online videos per day, nearly double the prime-time audience of all three major U.S. broadcast nextworks combined. Source: Digital Buzz.
• If Facebook was a country, it would be the third largest country in the world next to China and India.  While Facebook is the largest, it is just one of the popular social networking sites.
• In 2010, mobile subscribers surpasses 5 billion.  The world’s population is 6.8 billion. Source: ITU-Feb 2010.
• In the next five years, more people will connect to the internet via a mobile vs a PC. Source: Morgan Stanley.
• The internet now reaches more adults each week than either magazines or newspapers.
• Among 18-24 and 25-34 year-olds, the internet has a higher reach than radio.
• The internet is neck-and-neck with TV for weekly reach among 18-24 year-olds.

As a business owner, it’s critical to realize where your market can be reached.  For virtually all businesses now, your market is online and using digital technology daily.  Isn’t it about time for your business to show up and meet them there?