Small Business Marketing: Social Surging, Email Still Most Effective
Surveyed small business owners cite the following as the top 5 most effective* digital channels:Published on May 18, 2011 by MarketingProfs [www.marketingprofs.com]
- Email: 91% use email marketing; among them 78% say such efforts are moderately (46%) or very (32%) effective.
- Websites: 95% have websites; among them 75% say their sites are moderately (38%) or very (37%) effective.
- Online advertising: 69% use digital ads; among them 60% say those efforts are moderately (39%) or very (21%) effective.
- Social media: 73% use at least one social channel for business; among them 54% say such efforts are moderately (37%) or very (17%) effective.
- Blogs: 43% have a blog; among them 47% say their efforts are moderately (33%) or very (14%) effective
- Other key findings:
- When connecting one-on-one with prospects, small business owners are most likely to use email (95%), followed by telephone (77%), face-to-face meetings (69%), Facebook (50%), LinkedIn (24%), and Twitter (20%).
- 83% of small business owners check email first when they go online for business, compared with 6% who check news sites and 5% who check Facebook.
- Asked which top 3 areas small businesses need the most help with in 2011, marketing (61%) and sales/new business ranked first (61%), followed by business growth planning (40%), technology (24%), accounting/finance (23%), human resources (11%), and legal (10%).
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