U.S. businesses are high on online advertising — 66% invest in it, according to a study by the Manifest. But their spending is spread over several channels.

Social media is used by 86%, display by 80%, and paid search by 66%. Retargeting is used by only 43%.

Email does not appear in this lineup, although an earlier report by the Manifest showed that 69% of all businesses invest in the channel, indicating that email beats online advertising.  

Their main goals for online advertising are to increase sales and revenue (24%), improve brand recognition (18%), drive website traffic (16%), acquire new leads (13%) and convert customers 

“It’s crazy to me that number isn’t higher,” states Flynn Zaiger, CEO of Online Optimism, a New Orleans-based digital marketing agency. “Knowing that only two-thirds of businesses are doing online advertising means that just starting with an online marketing tactic can put you ahead of one-third of the competition.”

House Heroes, a Florida real estate developer, prefers online advertising to traditional forms of marketing and advertising such as direct mail, flyers, and billboards. 

“Online advertising connects you with prospective customers who are already interested in your service,” states House Heroes co-founder Earl White. “With mail pieces, billboards, or commercials, you are broadcasting across an audience who may have little need or interest in your service.”

Meanwhile, Korean food retailer KPOP Foods uses social media, display, and paid search.

“Social media advertising has worked well for us because we have a sound social media strategy that revolves around publishing organic and paid content,” states Mike Kim, KPOP Foods co-founder and chief operating officer.

In its earlier report on email, the Manifest found that large firms send more frequent emails than smaller firms — 52% of those with 500 employees or more send daily, compared with 21% of smaller firms.

The company reported it had a sample of 501 marketers for study, indicating that both sets of questions were asked at the same time.