Posted by pennysaverwired in Uncategorized.
Tags: 2008, 2009, america, economy, forecast, invest, optimistic, profitable, small businesses, SMBs
Copyright – Business Wire 2009 – Morningstar
This is a great article on why local print publications will benefit from the slow economy when targeting small and medium businesses (SMBs). These are our customers.
Network Solutions® (www.networksolutions.com) and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business (www.rhsmith.umd.edu) announced today the launch of the Small Business Success Index©, an ongoing measurement of the overall health of U.S. small businesses based on a telephone survey of 1,000 small business owners. The benchmark survey, which gathered data used to create the Small Business Success Index, was conducted in December 2008 and January 2009 and found that 69% of small businesses were profitable in 2008. The Small Business Success Index also revealed the majority (69%) of those who showed a profit in 2008 said their success was equal to or better than the previous year and 70% of small businesses expect their firms to still be operating in five years as opposed to being closed, sold or transferred. Regardless of the current economic downturn, nearly half of small businesses surveyed believe the economy will improve or at least remain unchanged in 2009. In fact, small businesses are still investing in their companies with 67% planning to spend the same or increase overall business spending, according to survey results. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 27 million small businesses in the United States, employing more than 40 million people1. “American small businesses are the bedrock of the U.S. economy, generating more new jobs than big corporations, but they find themselves without assistance from the government during these unsettling times,” said Roy Dunbar, CEO of Network Solutions. “Network Solutions believes it is especially important now to establish a way to monitor the health of this vital segment of our economy, so that all who serve this constituency will be able to better address their needs and help them succeed.”
Small businesses included in the study were privately owned (not publicly traded), for-profit, had fewer than 100 employees and had a payroll and/or contributed to at least 50% of the owner’s household income. The resulting Small Business Success Index identifies and measures the factors that lead to success. A small business can compare its company to its peers by taking the survey and receiving a quantitative analysis in return at www.growsmartbusiness.com.
“Small business owners’ optimism during the current economic downturn has a correlation to how competitive they are in being customer oriented,” said P.K. Kannan, director of the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “Those that are more engaged in understanding their customer needs, creating relationships with customers and increasing the value of their customer base through marketing activities and innovations are also those that are the most optimistic.”
Key Findings from the Small Business Success Index:
- Small businesses are succeeding despite the economic downturn.
- 69% of small businesses made a profit in 2008
- 7% of small businesses report that they broke even
- The majority (69%) of those who showed a profit in 2008 indicated it was equal to or better than 2007
- 70% of small businesses expect their firms to still be operating in 5 years as opposed to being closed, sold or transferred, and of these, 66% expect to be bigger in size
- Small businesses are optimistic, regardless of the current gloomy economic situation.
- 23% of small businesses believe the economy will improve in 2009
- 26% of small businesses believe it will remain unchanged in 2009
- 48% of small businesses expect a decline in 2009
- Small businesses are still investing in their companies, in spite of the 48% of small business owners expecting the economy to be in decline in 2009.
- 25% plan to increase their overall business spending
- 42% plan to spend the same
- 31% plan to decrease their spend
- 23% plan to increase spending on professional development of employees
- 26% plan to increase their internet marketing budgets, including online advertising and website development
For more information about the Small Business Success Index, please visit www.growsmartbusiness.com.
About Network Solutions, LLC
As the leading provider of Web solutions for small business, Network Solutions offers a full range of services that include easy to build websites, hosting, web design, e-commerce software, search engine marketing, SSL certificates, e-mail services, and domain name registration. Network Solutions draws on 30 years of experience to make it simple and affordable for customers to build and manage an online presence through a one-stop Web solutions provider. www.about.networksolutions.com
About the Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 13 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations on three continents — North America, Europe and Asia. www.rhsmith.umd.edu/about/
About Rockbridge Associates Inc.:Rockbridge Associates Inc. is a leading market research firm based in Great Falls, Va. Clients includes Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and associations. Rockbridge conducts primary research and consulting to help with product design, positioning, pricing, and customer satisfaction. www.rockresearch.com
1 U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy
Maloney & Fox for Network Solutions
Lydia Voles, 646-356-8305
lvoles@maloneyfox.com
Copyright – Business Wire 2009 – Morningstar
Posted by pennysaverwired in Uncategorized.
Tags: ad spend, borrell associates, internet, marketing, online, small businesses
c 2009 BORRELL ASSOCIATES INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
4
MAIN STREET GOES INTERACTIVE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As larger businesses appear tapped out, headed for bankruptcy, or just extremely reluctant to
continue longstanding advertising practices, local media companies are scrambling to find new
customers along Main Street. These small- and medium-sized businesses, or SMBs, in aggregate
may seem like a bonanza: There are more than 14.6 million SMBs, and they tend to overspend on
advertising relative to their size. In reality, however, the SMBs in any market are less like a two-ton gorilla and more like a thousand four-pound monkeys – difficult to chase down, and almost impossible to corral
The smallest U.S. businesses have average annual sales of $212,000 and spend just $5,671 per year on advertising– typically in the yellow pages or on direct mail ads or on coupons. But all that’s changing
with the rise of the Internet – where they are now investing 11 percent of their advertising, up
from less than 4 percent three years ago. These SMBs are blurring the lines between what’s advertising and what’s not. They consider whatever they spend on their own Web sites to be “advertising,” though in actuality that spending is a technology, design and telecommunications expense. When marketing professionals were asked in which media they intended to spend more money this year, two thirds of them said ….“my own Web site.”
As their Web sites look increasingly like storefronts with shopping carts and checkout counters,
SMBs are being deluged with offers to drive traffic to them by placing listings in online directories,
bidding for keywords on search engines, running e-mail marketing campaigns, and buying display
ads on media Web sites. The SMBs are listening, but not quite cooperating. They are less receptive to buying banner ads (now accounting for 54 percent of their online spending, but declining) in favor of search-engine advertising, online directory listings, and streaming video. And they are diverting money toward something that feels to them like advertising, but in reality is technology-supported marketing: Website design, search engine optimization and customer databases.
Their current rate of interactive advertising spending is no drop in the bucket. The nation’s 14.6 million
SMBs were responsible for more than $6.7 billion in locally generated, locally targeted interactive
advertising in 2008 – more than half of the U.S. total. And while the smaller merchants spent less than $300 each on Web site support last year, we are forecasting that SMBs will triple this “non-advertising” marketing expenditure over the next few years. SMBs are collectively poised to plow billions of dollars into their own Web sites.
The owners of small businesses would be well advised to understand these trends as they look to the
Internet to help stimulate sales from both inside and outside their market. Many Internet marketing
products are oversold and under perform. Some work well. And a few work phenomenally well.
Understanding the nuances of online marketing is even more important for local media companies
trying to serve this smaller, lower-ticket advertising segment. This report helps identify SMBs and
dissects this mass migration toward interactive media.
For the full report, go to www.borrellassociates.com
1 Source: B@B magazine, 2009 Marketing Priorities and Plans Survey, November, 2008
c 2009 BORRELL ASSOCIATES INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
