• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 18, 2005

Local marketers who advertise on the Internet shouldn't be too quick to abandon newspaper, television, and other forms of traditional media. That is the conclusion of a study released by Dieringer Research Group.

The report, "How Consumers Use Media To Make Local Purchase Decisions," finds that two out of three online shoppers specifically researched local stores and services online in the last quarter of 2004, and that the vast majority -- 77 percent -- of those said they learned about local merchants from television ads. Sixty-seven percent said they get information from newspaper ads, and 44 percent cited radio ads as informative.

Traditional Yellow Pages don't fare nearly as well, with just 25 percent of local online shoppers saying they turned to such ads. Users of print Yellow Pages also skewed "significantly older" than users of other local media, and were 64 percent male.

At the same time, local online ads appeared to persuade shoppers more than ads in other media. Online shoppers reported that the Internet influenced at least seven purchase decisions in the fourth quarter of 2004, while newspapers were an influential factor for just 3.5 purchases and local TV affected only 2 buying decisions.

By the time online local shoppers go online, many have already whittled down their focus. Seventy-two percent say they usually have a product in mind, while 41 percent usually have a brand in mind and 35 percent usually have a store in mind.