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Marketing to SMBs in 2010
How do your peers who market to small and medium businesses (SMBs) plan to meet their 2010 revenue goals? To find out, we recently conducted a brief survey. The 37 responses – including AT&T, American Express OPEN, Bank of the West, CareerBuilder, Chase, Cisco, Citrix, Comcast, Constant Contact, Dell, Deluxe, HP, Huntington Bank, IBM, Intel, Intuit, M&I Bank, Qwest, Sony, Union Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo – may help you benchmark your own plans.
- There is an overall bias toward acquisition. Most respondents are either focused on a balance of acquisition and retention (39%) or acquisition (36%). Only 19% are primarily focused on retention.
- Marketers will slightly increase their spending on offline media versus last year. On a scale of 1 (significantly decrease) to 5 (significantly increase), PR and telemarketing are set to increase the most (both at 3.4); direct mail, events and broadcast will essentially be flat (all at 3.1); and print (2.9) will decrease slightly.
- Marketers will increase their online spending more strongly. Spending on every tactic will increase, from blogs and social networks (both at 3.8) to podcasts (3.2).
- Research budgets are set to increase slightly. Marketers will place more emphasis on segmentation and new product exploration, although competitive analysis, customer satisfaction, media / messaging and SMB economic outlook will all receive more focus than they did in 2009. Marketers will use all research formats more than they did in 2009 except ethnographic research, which will be flat.
- Sales support programs will be more focused in 2010, especially on specific market segments (3.8) and offerings (3.6). Marketers will also focus more on specific geographies and increasing lead gen programs (both at 3.5).
- While responses varied on how SMB marketing strategies will differ versus 2009, many respondents mentioned a shift to online, and increased targeting and personalization. "Budgets" and "breaking through the clutter" were the most common challenges cited in marketing to SMBs this year.
- The business and the economic outlook is moderately improved versus last year. On a scale of 1 (significantly worse) to 5 (significantly better), respondents rate their outlook for both their business and the U.S. economy at 3.7.
To learn more about the approaches your peers will use this year, and the media and messaging that will resonate with SMBs, register today for our April 27 webcast (there's no charge). You'll receive the full results of this survey as well as our complementary survey of 300 SMBs, and learn what works in marketing to SMBs in 2010.
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>> Intuit, Microsoft Target SMBs
Intuit and Microsoft are helping software developers deliver and market Web applications to small businesses through the Intuit App Center. The companies also expect to integrate their cloud services platforms, the Intuit Partner Platform and Windows® Azure platform™. In a separate initiative, Intuit and Kiva are partnering to raise money for small businesses. Intuit will make a donation to Kiva based on the number of people who join the Kiva/Intuit Lending Team.
>> Staples Unveils IT Outsourcing Service
Staples launched Staples Technology Solutions, which enables businesses to outsource any – or all – of their IT operations. The solution offers technology experts, managed services, printing solutions and an array of vendor partners such as HP, IBM and Oracle.
>> AT&T Expands App Portfolio
AT&T released four mobile applications for SMBs through the AT&T SMART tool. The four new apps are AIRTIME Manager from AT&T (track billable time), Associate from AT&T (portable mobile dictation), Nice Office from AT&T (CRM solution) and ProntoForms from AT&T (mobile forms and reports).
>> Acxiom Debuts Sales Lead Tool
Acxiom launched MySalesHero to help SMBs obtain sales leads more easily. The service offers simple, flat-fee based access to targetable and compliant lead lists.
>> Google Introduces Apps Marketplace
Google unveiled the Google Apps Marketplace, which allows Google Apps customers to find, deploy and manage cloud applications that integrate with Google Apps. More than 50 companies offer small business-relevant solutions via the marketplace, including Intuit Online Payroll, SurveyMonkey, BatchBook Social CRM and Zoho Business Apps.
>> Office Depot Kicks Off Green Makeover
Office Depot and the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce announced the Green Office Makeover Contest to find South Florida's greenest business. Open to Chamber members, the winner will receive environmentally preferable furniture, technology and office supplies worth $4,000.
Send us your news.
>> Network Solutions: Small business adoption of social media has doubled, to 24%, in the past 12 months.
>> CIT: As a result of the downturn, 81% of small businesses feel smarter about operating their businesses.
>> Brother: Half of small businesses are saving cash to survive the recession; the same percentage feel highly stressed.
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