I recently posted on AllBusiness about how adopting digital tools can help your business thrive. Apparently, more businesses are going beyond the basics when it comes to using digital marketing efforts. The majority of local businesses in a recent survey say they’re investing more in digital marketing, moving more of their marketing efforts online and turning to more sophisticated digital marketing tools.
The 2017 Local Merchant Report surveyed businesses with at least one physical location and fewer than 50 employees. Here’s some of what the study found.
Small business marketing spending is on the rise
Small, local merchants’ marketing budgets run the gamut. About one-third of survey respondents plan to spend less than $1,000 in the coming year for all their marketing efforts, including both digital and traditional media. However, almost 30 percent report they plan to spend $25,000 or more.
No matter what size their marketing budgets are, 57 percent of local businesses surveyed say they plan to increase marketing spending; one-third are increasing it significantly.
Small business are focused on digital marketing
Already, about one-third of local merchants surveyed say they spend at least half their marketing budgets on digital methods and media. Nearly six in 10 (57 percent) say that digital mix is growing.
Where will marketing spending increase the most in the coming year? Local businesses plan to spend more on:
1. Social media marketing – 44 percent
2. Email marketing – 36 percent
3. Local website/listings – 36 percent
4. Digital display advertising – 33 percent
5. Mobile marketing – 33 percent
6. Paid search marketing – 31 percent
Businesses in the survey report that social media and email marketing are their most effective marketing tools, so boosting spending in those areas makes sense. What’s the least effective marketing tactic? Paid search marketing is difficult for most respondents in the survey. Not only do respondents say they struggle with it, they also don’t think it’s very effective (possibly because they aren’t doing a good job with it).
The larger a business’s marketing budget, the more likely it is to plan increased spending on digital marketing and advertising, the study says. The report suggests that more spending leads to better results, encouraging business owners to boost digital marketing spending even further.
Managing and measuring marketing
Local merchants are not only getting more sophisticated in their marketing tactics, they’re also becoming better at measuring their marketing efforts’ effectiveness. A whopping 80 percent use some type of marketing monitoring tactic. Most of them monitor results in a low-tech way: simply asking customers how they learned about the business. However, many also use tools such as website analytics, call tracking and promotional codes.
Managing your marketing is a time-consuming task for a small business. Where do local businesses turn for help with their marketing and advertising efforts? Here’s what they use:
1. Social media management tools – 49 percent
2. Digital dashboard for ROI analysis – 37 percent
3. Local listing management services – 27 percent
4. Marketing automation – 21 percent
5. Third-party site analytics tool – 21 percent
6. Digital consultant or agency – 13 percent
Local businesses that spend more on marketing are more likely to use numbers 3-6 in the list above. But even among smaller spenders, the use of social media tools and digital dashboard tools increased substantially compared to last year’s survey, with use of digital dashboards doubling.
Follow the customer
The final takeaway: There’s still room for improvement when it comes to how local merchants maintain and learn from their customer data. The majority (45 percent) use spreadsheets to do so. Just one-third use customer relationship management (CRM) software and only 18 percent use integrated marketing and point-of-sale systems. With so many CRM and POS systems available that are tailored for small, local businesses, it’s a shame not to take advantage of the options that can make your life easier — and your customers happier.
