Many companies have forecasted that online marketing will continue to grow to the detriment of traditional marketing outlets, but a new study from Forrester Research shows just how drastic the shift will become.

Forrester expects the total online marketing spend to increase from $23 billion last year to almost $55 billion by 2014 – with search marketing making up the bulk of that rise.

However, the increased spending in online marketing has to come from somewhere, and in most cases it means a reduction in the spending for traditional outlets like print.

The Forrester research finds that 60 percent of companies say they will find their online marketing increases by "shifting money away from traditional marketing." Only 14 percent of companies said they would increase spending for both online and traditional forms of marketing.

Of the traditional marketing tools getting slashed, direct mail is expected to take the biggest hit with 40 percent of companies say they will decrease funding to shift online. The print media is also expected to feel the effects with 35 percent saying they will reduce spending in newspapers and another 28 percent saying they will drop funding for magazine ads.

A report last month from the Society of Digital Agencies found that more than 87 percent of traditional ad agencies and 73 percent of digital marketers said they plan to shift budgets from traditional to online marketing.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.