Trends in Small Business Internet Marketing for 2010

A study published by Ad-ology Research shows the continuing evolution of small business marketing making use of the internet and its various channels for reaching customers.

How Small Businesses Use The Internet For Marketing

Almost half of the small businesses surveyed said they did not have a company website.  But overall, the small businesses surveyed indicated that they plan to spend the same or more on the following internet marketing activities:

• 57% on email campaigns to existing customers
• 57% on developing or improving their website
• 55% on email campaigns to prospective customers
• 50% on SEO, Search Engine Optimization
• 41% on Search Engine Marketing (Google Ads)
• 31% on blogging
• 28% on online video, such as YouTube
• 21% on mobile advertising
• 21% on podcasting

While these are interesting numbers and have some value for your own planning, bear in mind a couple things:

• Many of these people may be acting with very little expert advice or insight
• These various types of activities have very different levels of effectiveness depending on your type of business, existing position in the market, existing marketing assets, etc

How Small Businesses Use Social Media

Another part of the survey examined the use and effectiveness of social media.  Nearly 60% of the small businesses believed that social media is good for increasing business and for knowing what people are saying about your business.  Nearly half of the businesses wished they knew more about social media.  You may wonder whether the other half already knows it well, or are just not curious.  Over a quarter of respondents believed that social media is used only by young people – apparently not aware that the 55 and older crowd is the fastest growing segment on Facebook.

For those respondents who said they believed that social media is effective for business, the following numbers show which social media platforms were ranked as the most effective:

• 33% said Facebook was the most effective
• 21% LinkedIn
• 19% Twitter
• 17% MySpace
• 15% YouTube

Again, I want to caution you against using this information to form your own strategy.  The social media platform that is most effective for your business depends on a number of factors.

As for the benefits received from social media by the respondents who actually used it, the benefits were as follows:

• 50% said generating leads was the most significant benefit
• 45% keeping up with the industry
• 44% monitoring what is said about your business
• 43% competitive intelligence
• 41% improving customer experience
• 38% finding partners
• 33% resolving problems
• 27% recruiting new employees
• 27% background checks of employees and suppliers

What were cited as obstacles to using social media?  31% said their customers do not use it and 29% said they do not have time for it.

How You Can Use this Information

These numbers should give you a general sense of what is becoming standard business practice in marketing and customer service.  The report also showed that overall usage of internet marketing and communication increased from the previous year.  These numbers should also show you clearly that many people are in fact benefitting from using these technologies.

You should not so much use this information to establish a specific strategy for your own business, but rather to at least gauge if you  are keeping pace with how business is evolving.