Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) Digital Marketing

The definition of SMBs would vary based on the region and typical revenue figures in comparison to large companies. According to Gartner, companies which have either fewer than 100 employees or revenues less than $50 Mn are considered SMBs in the US, while Wikipedia gives the European definition of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as those which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding €50 million.

In India, according to the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (as shared in a Zinnov Research and Consulting Report), an SMB typically would have employee strength up to 1000 with revenues in the range of $ 0.2 to 1.5 Mn. Such is the increased adoption and importance of this segment for digital marketing that, Google India had set up a target to enable around 5 lakh SMBs in India, which earlier had been 3 lakh, to have an online presence by 2014. According to Google, digital advertising accounts for only 7 per cent of the total ad spend of Indian enterprises as compared to 30 per cent in the US, thus offering tremendous potential for them in the Indian market.

BrightLocal a firm which covers key SMB digital marketing trends, in its ‘SMB Internet Marketing Survey 2014’, showcased the following top six statistics for SMB firms:

• 37 per cent SMBs planned to spend more on internet marketing in 2015
• 32 per cent said internet marketing is ‘very effective’ at attracting customers
• 50 per cent SMBs spend less than $ 300/month on internet marketing
• 31 per cent phone calls are the most valued success metric
• 64 per cent of the SMBs surveyed handle their internet marketing in-house
• 35 per cent of SMBs are contacted every day by SEO agencies

Key digital marketing predictions for SMBs in2015 (Source: ReachLocal Blog) included:

1. SMBs are incorporating technology and data in a broader manner with added advantages of cloud-based analytics tools which help them in executing digital marketing in a lean fashion to gather most accurate customer intelligence.
2. Software with service elements help SMBs tide over traditional SaaS technology solutions. The do-it-yourself (DIY) model is failing organizations which actually require state-of-the art technology along with expert service.
3. Mobile is becoming even more crucial to respond to changing consumer behavior patterns. The convenience of online ordering and in-app payments is going to differentiate SMBs who look to service their local clients most profitably.
4. SMBs need to move to paid social model as they are seeing less impact of organic social efforts. Redirecting consumers to their owned media platform like website, blog, and e-mail newsletter would be crucial along with social media analytics.
5. SMBs need to use multi-channel marketing and gain access to the multiple platforms having unified messaging. They would need to combine this effort with impactful content in a story-telling format for its highest effectiveness.