Websites and social media accounts are the most popular content marketing platforms for small businesses, according to a new study by software enterprise Drip, which surveyed more than 1,000 key decision makers in the United States earlier this year.
The 2017 Small Business Conversion Marketing Report, published to coincide with National Small Business Week earlier this month, showed that the vast majority of micro and small enterprises are set to invest in some form of digital marketing during 2017, and the number-one priority for just under a third of those is driving more sales.
Some of the other important objectives for the next seven months include collecting more leads or subscribers (15.5 per cent), building brand awareness (14.4 per cent) and customer retention (10.1 per cent), while one in ten are finally looking to get digital marketing campaign up and running. However, the study noted that small businesses are generally focused on results rather than the tactics and strategies required to achieve these goals.
When it comes to content marketing outlets, websites and social media accounts are the most popular by a significant margin, but only about one in four said that they look to leverage digital ads, offline ads and blogs. This suggests that small businesses are generally slower than their larger counterparts to embrace digital assets that can deliver high-quality traffic consistently.
A knowledge gap is also highlighted by the fact that just 30.4 per cent of small business owners are able to define the term “sales funnel,” and even fewer are well versed with “inbound marketing.” Return on investment (ROI) is also a problem, as 39.3 per cent said that they are not sure about their ROI for marketing endeavours, and just 5.5 per cent said that it is “extremely positive.”
Small businesses still face significant challenges, but the report concluded that proven content marketing tactics are readily available, and a focus on interactive website content, conversion and revenue tracking and intuitive contact management could provide an edge during the second half of the calendar year. Platforms that offer clear results and are easy to manage should also help.
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