Over half of marketing budgets are now spent online, research by the e-Consultancy has revealed.

The study, which was carried out on behalf of Clash-Media, revealed that 70% of companies now use search engine optimisation, paid search and email marketing to in-house lists.

The use of offline marketing methods has decreased, with only press and television advertising growing over the past year.

It also revealed that 75% of respondents now see online lead generation as a distinct area of online marketing and that 60% feel they are not fully exploiting this as a marketing method.

"The increased use of online marketing methods shows how the market is changing," said Luke Pursey, managing director of Clash-Media. "Organisations have lessened their use of marketing methods such as postal, telephone and radio, in favour of online methods.

"It is interesting to note that the only two offline marketing methods which have increased in use are press and television," he added.

"These are the two offline methods which can be most easily linked to online marketing channels such as search engine optimisation and proactive online lead generation."