Starting a business isn’t easy, especially in today’s competitive market. To help small business owners across Australia, Reckon surveyed 296 small business owners across 20 industries to find out how they approach marketing their business and what’s most effective.
Do small businesses actually need to invest in marketing?
YES! – One in four business owners feel they achieve excellent results relative to their investment in marketing activities – so it’s probably worth investing some resources into marketing and advertising activities.However, marketing is generally a low priority for small business owners, with two in five small business owners only dedicating one hour a week to marketing activities and just over a quarter of participants said they spend no time on marketing.
Is having an active business page on social media enough?
It definitely depends on your business, the target audience and where you’re audience is looking, but usually being active on socials isn’t quite enough.
In fact, over a quarter of small business owners said they don’t use any social media to advertise, and over a third of small business owners claim that no social media platform has been effective for their business. This proportion is higher than the group of owners who don’t use any social media at all, suggesting that some business owners try various platforms but find that none deliver the desired results. Australian small businesses Remmie By Riley and FAYT are perfect examples of how social media can be utilised effectively. These brands both target their audience by staying on top of social media trends and have created a sense of community for their customers.
What are the most effective marketing strategies?
Over seven in ten small business owners say that ‘word of mouth’ and ‘referrals’ are still the most effective marketing approach, so getting the word out about your business is vital. Despite many business owners not finding social media marketing effective, social media is still the second most common strategy as it is easy to implement and doesn’t necessarily take up too much time.
About one in five small businesses utilise email marketing (20.9%), direct marketing (20.6%), and content marketing (20.3%) as part of their strategy as well. These strategies are great for customer retention and remaining top-of-mind. Applying the most trending marketing methods is what small business owners are moving towards. Some marketing methods are appealing, but are perceived as too challenging to learn or implement such as content marketing, search engine optimisation and search engine advertising. The least popular methods for SME’s are outdoor ads (7.8%), display ads on third-party websites (6.4%), event marketing (3.7%), radio advertising (2.7%), and TV advertising (2.4%). This is due to the higher costs associated with each of these strategies which exceeds small business budgets.
Do small businesses need to hire a marketing expert?
Not necessarily, less than a third of small businesses hire a marketing employee, agency or freelancer. In fact, over half of small business owners do the marketing themselves. Despite this, only a third of business owners said they have previous marketing experience. Hiring a marketing professional will certainly help a small business thrive and reach the target audience, bringing in more revenue in the long-term. However, this isn’t always possible and over 50% of small business owners who do the marketing themselves feel their business is “somewhat or very successful” given the resources.
You can view the full research here: https://www.reckon.com/au/small-business-resources/small-business-advertising/
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