Marketing Week recently ran the following article confirming the trend we have found with our SME clients that diversifying their marketing mix can pay dividends.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are bucking the austerity trend and investing an increasing amount of cash in a wide range of marketing activity, according to research seen exclusively by Marketing Week.
Many small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are improving their chances of survival in these testing economic times by increasing their overall use of marketing channels, according to research commissioned by SME marketing specialists B2 Group.
The survey, which was carried out by fast.MAP in May 2010, demonstrates a good level of business confidence among SMEs. Many are exploring different marketing methods in a bid to boost business, with 44.2% using web advertising as part of their marketing activity, according to the fourth wave of the monthly tracking study exploring SME attitudes. However, other online and offline channels are also proving popular with outbound email being used by 38.2% of SMEs surveyed.
The businesses are developing sophisticated integrated strategies, says Paul Seabrook director at fast.MAP. “It’s not just about ticking a few boxes – ‘we’ve got a good website, we send out lots of emails every month’. They’re thinking more strategically about where else they need to grow, how to increase their networking and their level of competitor intelligence.”
As a result, the use of conferences and exhibitions as a marketing tool has increased the most when compared to other promotional methods, with 29.7% of respondents saying they use conferences and exhibitions, an increase of 7.4% since the tracking study launched in February. The popularity of PR has also increased by 7.2%, with 16.9% of SMEs using this service. Customer acquisition DM has also increased by 4.9% to 25.7%.
These marketing disciplines have all increased ahead of web advertising, showing that despite the mounting popularity of online channels, traditional platforms remain extremely relevant for this sector.
“It’s about getting competitive advantage,” says Seabrook. “SMEs know that their competitors are likely to have a very good website and run outbound email campaigns, so you’ve got to be looking at what will differentiate you. It’s relatively easy for small businesses to get good presence on the web and on digital channels, so SMEs are probably a bit limited as to how they can grow that.”
Direct mail, for example, now gets very good cut-through, adds Seabrook. “It is more expensive to use than digital channels, but you are likely to achieve greater stand-out than email because fewer people are using DM.”
Although SMEs are keen to take advantage of the communication mix available and understand the benefits of an integrated approach, there are some channels that have decreased in popularity, most notably those related to print media.
The use of directories among the SMEs polled has decreased by 4% since February to 28.5%, for example. “Offline directories are facing a hard time because business people searching for services are generally going to look online. People may be thinking that they can make their budgets work harder in the digital channels,” says Seabrook.
Search was the only non-print media channel to decrease in popularity going from 16.8% in February to 13.3% in May, a decline of 3.5%.
Seabrook notes: “Search has done exceptionally well, so the decrease may be down to SMEs being reluctant to over-rely on search. They may want to make sure that they have other channels supporting search.”
Looking to the future, web advertising is by far the most popular with 40.4% of SMEs surveyed expecting to increase their spend in this channel. Similarly, 25.2% expect to spend more on outbound email in the months ahead, 16.6% on DM, 15.2% on conferences and exhibitions and 13.9% on pay per click.
“The SME community is a very hard working and time-pressured group, but it is still thinking strategically about what’s right for their business,” says Seabrook. “There’s an appetite to learn and SMEs want to make sure they are not missing out on the increase in market demand that should be coming through as we come out of recession.”
Although the economic climate has yet to stabilise, SMEs believe that investing in marketing will secure their future, argues Andrew Colwell, marketing director at B2 Group. “Because a lot of people have been battening down the hatches for such a long time, it’s a very positive statement that SMEs are looking to increase spend on going out and winning new business,” he says.
