4 Comments

Does Online Marketing Intimidate Some Small Businesses?

Oct 18, 2007
by

Are small businesses really that poor?

Get this: A new Opus Research survey, “Small Business Attitudes toward Online Marketing and Web 2.0,” found that 59% of small businesses don’t market online and many don’t even view their websites as an aspect of online marketing. ClickZ goes into more detail about this survey conducted in August by Local Mobile Search and AllBusiness.com.

Opus Senior Analyst Greg Sterling told ClickZ that businesses are concerned about the “lack of budget, lack of time, and personnel and confusion, which indicates a need for education and support.”

You always have to start somewhere, so at least the study has some encouraging news in that more than 10% of small business owners have begun to use blogs and social networks to get the word out about their companies. Sterling pointed out that social networks appeal to businesses because social media websites fit well with word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing (58% of respondents attributed at least 50% of sales to WOM marketing).

Can there really be that many small businesses that wouldn’t benefit from some form of online marketing? Even a local hobby shop may benefit from search engine marketing and local search programs.

For all of the reasons that many small businesses fail, it’s disturbing that marketing doesn’t even get specific attention. For example, this U.S. Small Business Administration piece overlooks the issue.

I’m glad small businesses at least have websites. Obviously it helps to leverage them as well.

If marketing online is daunting, they should at least take baby steps on their own or pay someone to give them some sound thinking based on what others are doing well in their space. Ignoring online marketing is just silly.

Filed under: Online Marketing + Search Engine Marketing
  • http://www.CooperativeAffiliates.com Scott Hazard

    I agree. Over the years I have taken B&M businesses online. These clients had varying degrees of interest or motivation to really make it work. Some felt like it was something they had to do even if they didn't want to.

    What really amazes me is setting up a campaign that produces great ROI to hear the client say something like "We can only budget $xxxx per month" when the online channel is 2x more productive than their best existing effort from an ROI standpoint.

    This:
    "59% of small businesses don't market online and many don't even view their websites as an aspect of online marketing"
    tells me that good consultants will have lots of work for years to come :)

  • http://www.tucsonseosolutions.com Boris

    The un-educated are easily intimidated by technology. Small business owners lack the valuable resource required… It's called time.

  • http://www.jimlillig.com Jim Lillig

    I have met many a small business owner who views the web as one other area that they could be doing better on, but in my experience, small business' lack the time, resources and expertise needed to bring home ROI for their online campaigns. What seems a no brainer to most of us familiar with online marketing, can seem like a mountain to a small business. A simple e-mail collect on their brochureware sites is almost too much for them to handle. I agree that consultants will have a lot of ready customers, unfortunately these customers budgets will not support a well integrated and executed plan, which leads them to discount the web's value to growing their business. This ultimately leads them back to square one, which is do nothing and hope something happens.

    The big boys have all attempted to crack this market as well. Yahoo! Small Business is probably the best example of an attempt to harness many the pieces of effective online marketing in a simple low cost solution. Unfortunately it has never taken off as Yahoo! had hoped. Microsoft, also has a Small Business Site but it appears to be a thinly veiled software solutions site. Google also has a Small Business Apps site, but it too is only selling Google's virtual desktop tools suite and offers little in the way of actual advice for small business'.

    The small business online marketing niche will probably always have the curmudgeons that still think the web is a fad, or doesn't apply to their business. For those who embrace it, the rewards will be stealing market share from their competitors who fail to see the value in having a global presence.

  • Maria Cintas

    One doesn't have to look any farther than the real estate industry to see both adopters of online technology and those that fear it. There are consultants who work just with real estate agents to build an online presence that goes beyond a brochure-type site.

    Of course, in that industry, most people start their home search online so successful agents will have to build their online presence to be competitive.