Very small businesses (VSBs) compete on digital channels because they take advantage of the large amount of free digital advertising and marketing available. In our Local Commerce Monitor™ (LCM) survey of small businesses, VSBs are defined as small businesses with one employee and most make less than $100,000 annually in revenue. 61.8 percent of these cost conscious VSBs say they use targeted advertising “occasionally” and “frequently”. Not only do they use targeted digital ads, 13 percent of their annual ad budget goes to targeted advertising*, more than any other paid channels. While VSBs spend the bulk of their ad budget on visibility (website, mobile/social pages), offering targeted* ads is a way to increase spend and help them compete with larger SMBs in their markets.
*Social ads, promoted tweets, online/mobile display and search
BIA/Kelsey’s LCM, Wave 19 reports, including the VSB report can be purchased a la carte in the new BIA/Kelsey eStore. Our LCM reports look at where particular SMBs (broken out by size, vertical, etc.) spend the most, as well as the top channels for marketing and promotion.
