A Publication of

The 2015

SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING SURVEY

How much is your competition spending?

What should your priorities be?

What’s your marketing ROI?

CONTENTS

2. 2015 Small Business Marketing Survey Overview

4. BenefitsofContentCreation,SocialMedia

5. MarketingROI,CustomerValuein2015

6. EmailMarketingRemainsaPriority

7. ConclusionandAnalysis

BusinessOwnersFocus OnBig-PictureGoalsIn2015At the end of 2014, Forward Push Media surveyed 100 American business owners (50 employees or less) on various aspects of their 2015 marketing plans. Survey questions covered topics ranging from budget, metrics, priorities, and more, and Forward Push grouped the final tallies and analysis into the following four summaries. The results show a decided focus on big-picture goals such as brand awareness and building relationships. Considering the way that marketing has shifted in the digital age towards engagement rather than transactions, these numbers properly represent the way the marketing industry is trending.

2015 Small Business Marketing PrioritiesBusiness owners were asked to examine their overall marketing priorities for the upcoming calendar year. A second question focused on their marketing budget for the year. By a significant margin, business owners selected brand awareness as their top priority

2015 SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING SURVEY OVERVIEW

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for 2015. Many different avenues are available for creating brand awareness, but they come together towards a greater goal of having a clearly defined identity and message. This opens the door for marketing beyond the point of purchase, all in an effort to create a sustainable business and greater returns on investment.

The secondary emphasis in the survey focused on direct engagement: acquiring subscribers, boosting conversion, and testing new digital marketing channels. This indicated a clear understanding that modern business needs dictate a larger perspective, one that focuses more on relationships than standalone transactions. As this type of strategy involves multiple avenues — from content to social media and beyond — it’s not surprising that nearly every business owner elected to either keep or grow marketing budgets compared to 2014.

2015 SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING SURVEY OVERVIEW

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IncreasedSpendingin2015Business owners were asked to consider and prioritize a variety of marketing avenues based on their 2015 budget. The top two came at a virtual tie between content creation and social media marketing. Both of these areas can be key drivers in customer engagement.

In content creation, the focus is on deliverables consumed by a reader — articles, blog posts, infographics, etc. In social media, the focus is on the distribution method. Either way, one supports the other, and the survey results demonstrate the importance of consistent and effective engagement.

The rest of the results offer a range of answers, though the lowest priorities are online tools used to make marketing life easier. These tools include analytics, automation, and pay-per- click advertising. While some hesitation in adopting new tools is understandable — particularly from overworked business owners — ignoring the benefits of this technology can lead to a slow drag that eventually puts business owners behind the proverbial eight-ball. When it comes to marketing, technology should be embraced rather than feared.

BENEFITSOFCONTENTCREATION,SOCIALMEDIA

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Business Owners Key In On MarketingROI,CustomerValueBusiness owners were asked to weigh various marketing metrics and note the ones that they prioritized. The top two results (marketing return-on-investment and lifetime customer value) wound up with close final tallies, demonstrating the nearly equal importance for both.

These two items represent two sides of the same coin; on one hand, an emphasis on marketing ROI shows the need for smart investing and that means getting results beyond an immediate standalone purchase. On the other hand, lifetime customer value ideally creates brand awareness and loyalty, and by doing so, maximizes ROI. In short, business owners understand that the big picture is worth far more than immediate gratification.

Other results showed that metrics such as audience list size and social media activity were ranked far lower. Why is this? Ultimately, these numbers provide snapshots of capacity and potential but in a narrow scope. For example, an email list size may grow thanks to a spike in exposure from a PR event or trade show, but will those subscribers become long-term customers or merely names on a list? Without a definitive way of knowing that answer, these metrics

only dance around the real issue, which is creating a sustainable and repeatable business model.

MARKETINGROI,CUSTOMERVALUEIN2015

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BestWaytoReachCustomersBusiness owners were asked about their plans for using email as a marketing tool in 2015. A slight majority responded with a clear “yes” answer (54% to 46%), and when further polled about how often email blasts would be distributed, the top answer was monthly. These results indicate that while email should be a significant part of an online marketing plan, it remains underutilized by 46% of business owners and perhaps overshadowed by social media platforms that generate buzz.

Though email does not receive the same attention as the latest social media trends, it continues to be an important platform for marketing — in many ways, it is far more important than social media platforms that rise and fall with trends. Email continues to be the foundation for most people’s online identity and is always required for signing up for new accounts. In some areas — B2B in particular — email provides direct access in ways that social media cannot. With such an effective distribution model, the challenge behind email marketing comes down to content creation: finding a message and format that works with audiences and offering incentives for them to open the email, read the entire message, and click through to a website.

EMAIL MARKETING REMAINS A PRIORITY

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SmallBusinessMustBuild Long-TermRelationshipswithTheirCustomersWhen put together, the survey results all point to a broad emphasis on big-picture goals stemming from customer engagement and long-term customer relationships. Different business owners emphasized different aspects of this; for example, some wanted their budget spent on quality content creation while others considered investing in expanding digital channels. However, the key takeaway from the final results show that most business owners understand the difference between building long-term customer relationships and generating standalone transactions/purchases.

Thanks to the Internet age, this is more important than ever before. With anywhere/anytime access, potential customers have information feeding their decisions through review sites, online searches, infographics, videos, and more. Word of mouth has gone digital, and good or bad word-of-mouth can become a social media trend within hours. All of these factors heighten the importance of building relationships and creating a strong brand; together, a solid foundation can withstand the ebbs and flows of business in the modern world.

For any business owner, this leads to one simple question: most of your competitors are investing in their brand strategy to create long-term results...are you? And if not, how much business will you lose both immediately and down the road by not keeping up with the competition?

CONCLUSIONANDANALYSIS

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MAKE 2015 YOUR BEST YEAR EVER

NextSteps

Forward Push is an integrated marketing agency with

end-to-end services for small businesses, including:

• Brand development and strategy

• Content creation and website development

• Search engine and pay-per-click marketing

• Social media and email marketing

THIS GUIDE WOULDN’T BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT

SurvataWe used Survata to survey 100 business owners about their marketing needs for 2015.

The BeanCastWe heard about Survata on the best marketing podcast anywhere, The BeanCast with Bob Knorpp.

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