SMBs Must Use First-​rate Advertising Tactics

BY Kathy Crosett
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Your clients have faced multiple challenges in the past year. After they managed to stay in business during the COVID-​19 outbreak, they once against struggled with a familiar pre-​pandemic problem – for example finding good employees. And the latest National Federation of Independent Businesses data reveal that small local businesses are ready to grow, but SMBs must use first-​rate advertising tactics to attract enough customers in order to compete with their retail giants.

SMB Pain Points

At least 27% of small business owners hope to increase employment. They’ll be advertising to fill their open positions. Currently, SMB owners report that they employ 5% fewer workers than they did three months ago, likely because they lost key employees. In addition, 57% of these employers report receiving few or no qualified applicants for their job openings. 26% say their single most important problem is finding quality workers. Only 17% said the same last year.

SMBs are making capital investments in their operations. 24% have purchased vehicles in the past 6 months and 44% have purchased equipment. These investments signal an intention to expand operations. Your clients could be expanding in a new line of goods. Or they may be planning to increase the services they offer to customers. As they do so, they’ll be ramping up advertising as well.

SMBs Must Use First-​rate Advertising Tactics

SMBs say cost-​effectively advertising and using social media to promote these businesses pose big challenges. Not surprisingly, small retailers feel this pain more than other types of businesses. Specifically, non-​professional services such as salons, parking services and fitness trainers struggle with the ability to cost-​effectively advertise. In fact, 13% say this is a ‘critical’ problem.

Of the SMBs that participated in Campaign Monitor’s 2021 Small Business Marketing survey, only 56.9% have a dedicated marketing professional on the staff. In 15% of these establishments the owner decides how to market. This setup means plenty of opportunity for media sales reps who can prove their value and a good ROI on what they’re selling.

This year, your SMB clients will spend more on digital advertising (78%), social media (73%) and email marketing (57%). And 46% also plan to increase spending on traditional marketing. Overall, 52.4% of SMBs use direct mail. Far fewer SMBs use Snapchat (27.3%) or Twitter (47%).  The strategy of increasing digital ad spending will work well for businesses that are expanding their operations as the post-​pandemic boom continues.

However, there’s a difference between what SMBs use and what drives the best ROI. These marketers say that email and Facebook advertising deliver great returns, while traditional advertising isn’t far behind. If you haven’t reached out to your SMB clients since the pandemic ended, now is a good time to do a review on their digital advertising efforts. The Digital Audit, from AdMall by SalesFuel, will provide you with solid date for an opening conversation and a new plan to help clients achieve their revenue goals this year.

Photo by Thgusstavo Santana from Pexels


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