A couple of weeks ago I discussed why some small businesses prefer to DIY their digital advertising and why others prefer paid assistance, such as Agencies — based on information from our Local Commerce Monitor™ survey of small businesses (Q3/2016). As you can see in the infographic below, these two diverse groups of small businesses differ in numerous ways.
So it was not surprising to get differing results when we asked the small businesses in our survey about what marketing tools they aren’t currently using, but would like to start using in the next 12 months. The DIYers wanted some assistance in lightening their workloads and expressed interest in marketing tools to replace activities that they were doing in-house, including reputation monitoring, ad ROI analysis, and video production. Service providers looking to sell to small business DIYers should keep in mind that these SMBs typically prefer solutions that allow them to do much of the work themselves, rather than rely on someone else. These SMBs are cost conscious, but want the service to be intuitive and easy to use.
Small businesses that prefer to work with agencies, are looking to add to or enhance current marketing tools. They wanted assistance with lead tracking, their digital presence, and reputation management (as opposed to just monitoring, which the DIYers wanted). Agencies or service providers should look at ways to add additional services or upsell existing services to these SMBs.
For more details on what small businesses buy through agencies or direct, how much they spend and other advertising habits check out our latest Small Business Research Reports in the BIA/Kelsey shop.
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BIA/Kelsey’s LCM, Wave 20 reports can be purchased a la carte in the 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 advertising. Additionally, our reports provide analysis on the best product and service offers for highly coveted groups of SMBs.
