What do small businesses need? Have you been met with the sound of silence after you ask prospects what their marketing plan is? This is the perfect opportunity for you to sell them advertising and marketing services. Small business owners will be willing to listen after you give them proof: Business owners who spend more time and money on marketing have higher revenue growth. That data comes from Outbound Engine.

What do Small Businesses Need?

Before you pitch your media and services to your prospects, it helps to get into their heads. What do small businesses need? This year, 62% of small to medium-​sized business owners say they are as stressed out about operations as they were last year. Money and time are always in short supply for these business operators. Specifically, nearly six out of 10 small to medium-​sized business owners spend five hours or less every week on marketing. Here is another key detail — over 14% do not know which marketing tactics they should be using to best connect with their target customers.

Small to medium-​sized business owners who participated in the Outbound Engine survey reported having success when they used these marketing efforts:

• Organic social media 39.72%
• Paid social media 17.22%
• Email marketing 9.72%
• Digital advertising 8.06%
• Traditional advertising 11.67%
• Events 13.61%

Success in marketing doesn’t always equate to optimized return on investment. Effective marketing campaigns require significant efforts, especially for people who are not professionals in a specific discipline like social media. For 52% small to medium-​sized business owners, organic social media requires a huge effort. These owners would rather be tending to product development and operational efficiencies where they have expertise. So what do small businesses need? Someone to do the legwork for them on these types of endeavors.

You can sell them more by touting your expertise. Start by running a Digital Audit and then show them how they compare to the competition. The tool is available on AdMall from SalesFuel​.com. Once you have their attention, you can propose a marketing plan that will deliver higher revenue and allow them to focus on the aspects of the business that they most enjoy.