According to a report from AMI-Partners, only one in five small businesses use online marketing, despite the fact that the industry as a whole is growing.

But Deepinder Sahni, senior vice president with AMI-Partners, says current economic conditions may be giving small businesses the incentive to try something new.

"[T]he current economic environment is forcing business owners to take a hard look at the effectiveness of their media budgets and seriously consider including more targetable media options," said Sahni.

And while the report finds that 70 percent of companies have their own website, most are not taking advantage of sales through their sites with only one-quarter implementing ecommerce and even less having credit card processing means.

However, the good news for small businesses is that AMI-Partners expects small businesses to increase their revenues through the use of their websites by 10 percent this year.

Small businesses are already increasing the use of social media with a report this week from Discover finding that 38 percent of SMBs are using social networking tools.