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    Online Marketing and Smaller Businesses

    DECEMBER 20, 2005

    About two-thirds of small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) use online marketing or plan to start in the next six months, according to a new report.

    Frank N. Magid Associates surveyed a national sample of 1,060 for-profit small- and medium-sized businesses between September 12th and October 11th, 2005. A little over one-half of these respondents were from a registered users list of AllBusiness.com, an online resource for businesses that sponsored the study.

    The data implies that only 22% of SMBs use the Internet for marketing. Of these, just over 60% employ e-mail marketing, while 56% use search engine optimization, 36% have banner ads, and 25% use pay-per-click advertising. Most of these organizations — 74% — are planning to increase their online marketing spending, although 43% of SMBs who are not using online marketing say they are planning to in the next 6 months.

    However, a study by Interland indicates that SMBs rate other, non-Web related factors as more important, or just as important, when it comes to business success. For example, 55% of US SMBs surveyed said that community relations were critical, compared to 47% who cited a Web site. Public relations, direct mail and yellow pages were all deemed more important marketing tools than e-mail marketing. While converts to online marketing seem enthusiastic about it, it is clear that SMBs as a whole have not yet jumped wholeheartedly into the online realm when it comes to promoting their products.

    Outside the realm of marketing, Magid found that over four-fifths of SMBs credit the Internet with improving communications in their company, while about three-fifths said that the Internet opened new markets for them, increased competition and lowered their costs. Interestingly, less than one-third said that the Internet improved employee performance, perhaps reflecting concern over employees being distracted from work by surfing the Web.

    http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1003731

    ©2005 eMarketer Inc. All rights reserved

    • 20 December 2005
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  • Jenni Hilton's Space

    Jenni is a B2B marketer and writes about marketing, PR and social media. She is a wife and mom of two sweet girls and two crazy dogs. Jenni loves pop culture, especially the 1980s. She is an Auburn University alum and loves football season. She cannot go far without her iPad, iPhone and MacBook Pro. She loves the internet and has been a digital citizen ever since she discovered she could shop online. She can be found on Twitter and LinkedIn.

  • About Jenni Hilton

    Jenni is a B2B marketer and writes about marketing, PR and social media. She is a wife and mom of two sweet girls and two crazy dogs. Jenni loves pop culture, especially the 1980s. She is an Auburn University alum and loves football season. She cannot go far without her iPad, iPhone and MacBook Pro. She loves the internet and has been a digital citizen ever since she discovered she could shop online. She can be found on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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