BY Kathy Crosett
The SMB Media Labs group at Intuit is out with its latest small business advertising trends report. There’s good news for media sellers in this report, especially with respect to guidance on the best local advertising for small businesses. When you include this information, along with data points from quality research, you can help your accounts reach their goals this year.
SMB Ad Spending Outlook
Around half, 51%, of the 1,000 SMBs in this survey plan to increase their ad spending this year. Another 41% will maintain their spending levels from last year. Keep in mind that businesses in this survey have around 100 employees. They are likely to have an advertising budget of $78,000 for the year.
Why SMBs Increase Their Ad Budgets
When preparing your strategy, learn whether your account is more focused on growth or stability. Why? The growth-focused businesses “typically have the largest advertising budgets.” And the accounts that spend on advertising reap the benefits on their investment. This is especially true if they invest in the best local advertising for small businesses.
You can dig deeper into this topic when you talk with your accounts. Here’s why SMBs will spend more on advertising this year:
- Connect with their target audience 65%
- Improve their audience targeting 52%
- Increase ROI 45%
- Compete with larger firms 33%
Ask your accounts what will make them increase their ad spending. With a subscription to AdMall and access to AudienceSCAN data, you can help your clients achieve their goals. Here’s how.
Audience Targeting
AudienceSCAN contains data on over 1,400 specific audiences and shows the percentages of U.S. adults who respond to ads on specific media formats such as OTT TV, radio or social media. In addition, you’ll find the kind of content enjoyed by the target audience so you can guide your accounts to buy advertising appropriately.
Improved Competitive Position
Your local accounts know competition is increasing. Depending on their vertical, they are up against larger businesses with big ad budgets and online operators. To make sure your accounts are showing up in the right place with the right messaging, you can run a Digital Audit in AdMall. The data will show where they need to adjust their efforts and guide them on the best local advertising for small business.
Media Mix
Your locals SMBs are careful about how they invest their ad budgets. On average, the following percentages are using these formats:
- Social media 75%
- Product referrals 57%
- Search engine 51%
- Local advertising 43%
- Display advertising 39%
- Video ads 30%
- Paid search 27%
- TV ads 19%
With 75% of SMBs finding social media effective, 48% will ramp up spending on that format this year.
Media Investment
SMB MediaLabs analysts also mentioned a strong correlation between investment in media spending and revenue growth. Here are the percentages of businesses with growing revenue who also buy these forms of advertising:
- Video ads 26%
- Search engine ads 32%
- Social media ads 54%
Advertising and Firmographics
The researchers uncovered a correlation between industry type and the size of the ad budget. Specifically, they reported that businesses in the information, education and finance and insurance verticals are likely to spend more on advertising.
Similarly, they dove into firmographics and noticed that younger and larger SMBs spend more than average on advertising. In addition, these businesses are likely to use a wider variety of media formats.
Conclusion
Part of successfully selling your media format requires getting to the right decision-maker. In 37% of the smaller businesses in the Intuit survey, the owner decides how to advertise. But 40% have an internal team that directs the strategy, so you’ll need to determine who’s on that team. Make contact with the right individuals and be prepared to discuss strategies for the best local advertising for small business.
