TMCnet News
Ad-ology Study: 30.5% of Small Business Advertisers Plan to Spend More in 2013 [Health & Beauty Close - Up](Health & Beauty Close - Up Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Small business owners and decision makers are fairly optimistic about revenue projections, with 92.5 percent expecting their revenue to be flat or up in 2013, according to the latest Small Business Marketing Forecast by Ad-ology Research. The annual study, now in its 5th year, also reveals that small business decision makers are investing their revenue back into advertising and marketing. 30.5 percent of SMBs who spend more than $1,000 on advertising plan to spend more in 2013 than they did in 2012. "For the third consecutive year, more than half of all small businesses are confident that their sales will increase," says C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research. "It's also the third year in a row where more than 90 percent of small businesses say their advertising budget will remain flat or increase," Smith adds. According to a release, 20.5 percent of small businesses plan to increase their ad spend on social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Most SMBs, however, have not yet adopted methods like promoted postings, sponsored tweets and social games/ contests. More than half of small business advertisers say they market to their customers on a 1-to-1 basis. It stands to reason then that direct response and email marketing will take the largest share of many small business budgets in 2013. Of the small businesses that use email marketing, many are using it heavily. 19.1 percent sent out email marketing messages 11 times or more in the past 12 months, and 9.1 percent have sent out 26 or more emails over the past year. Constant Contact and MailChimp are currently the most popular email marketing services for small businesses. "Mobile marketing will be increasingly important to small businesses in 2013," Smith says. "30.5 percent of SMBs will use mobile advertising, apps or texting as part of their advertising due in part to its ability to geo-target potential customers." Other forms of digital marketing will continue to grow in popularity among SMBs: -23.4 percent of small businesses plan to increase their budget for website development -Optimizing their sites for search engines is a priority, with 20.5 percent planning for this activity in 2013 -Although most small businesses do not currently take advantage of online/mobile video, 12.2 percent indicate they plan to spend more money and/or time on the medium in 2013 Marketing through daily deals, which as recently as a year ago was thought to be a very effective way for SMBs to advertise, has sharply declined. In fact, just 18 percent of small businesses plan to use firms like Groupon or Living Social as a way to advertise in 2013. That's a drop of 67.7 percent in 12 months. METHODOLOGY: The Ad-ology Research Small Business Marketing Forecast was conducted in October 26 - November 6. The sample size for this survey was 1,439 principal/partial owners, sales managers, and advertising/marketing managers of small and medium businesses across the United States with 100 employees or less. This annual study is independently and solely conducted by Ad- ology Research without funding from any third parties. ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) (c) 2013 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |