Local advertisements are no longer bound to buses and billboards. Today marketers are targeting people in their comfort zones, their top visited websites.

By 2015, eMarketer estimates about 80% of the US population will be online and more than half will have mobile web access, providing local marketers with unmatched opportunity to influence potential customers before they even reach their storefronts.

Local marketers are taking advantage of these statistics. According to Bia/Kelsey, US local online ad spending will comprise 16.2% of all local ad spending this year- a number expected to jump to 24% of all local ad spending by 2015.

At present, local marketers are more commonly turning to more tenured ad channels like search engine marketing, according to eMarketer. They are relying on enhanced geo-targeting through location-based services provided by Google Places and Yahoo Local, according to eMarketer. But throughout time, this focus is going to change.

According to Borrell Associates, by 2015 two-thirds of online marketing will come from mobile ads on tablets, smartphones and GPS-enabled laptops. Mike Steib, director of emerging platforms at Google, finds that click-to-call mobile ads have a high success rate.

“We’re seeing lots and lots of search activity on smartphones,” Steib said in an article on Mashable.

The click through rates for Google’s click-to-call mobile ads do 6-8% better than search ads without a number or URL associated with it, according to Mashable.

Through click-to-call ads advertisers are able to track how many calls they are getting per keyword, ad group or campaign.

“The biggest differentiator between desktop and mobile ads is location targeting,” according to Mashable. “If users search for something on a mobile app, they are astronomically more likely to click on the ad presented to them if it is for a nearby business.”

To learn more about how your company can amplify its brand by appealing to potential clients through online and mobile advertising, visit Pennsylvania and Miami-based marketing experts The JLS Agency.

Source: Bia/Kelsey, “BIA/Kelsey’s U.S. Local Media Forecast (2010-2015),” March 21, 2011. www.emarketer.com