SMB Marketing in 2018 – Time to Ask For Help?

Updated January 10, 2023

Size Does Matter

Small and Medium-sized businesses are under many pressures but the biggest are typically time and resources. There are only so many hours in the day, and unlike bigger companies, you have to be very careful about hiring too many members of staff. Much content written online about marketing is focused on companies with the time to spend a day creating social media posts, or a member of staff dedicated to creating content. But for a lot of SMBs, this simply isn’t realistic. So we’ve taken a look at the state of SMB marketing in 2018.

Working With An Agency

One statistic mentioned in the report was that only 3% of SMBs outsource their marketing to an agency. Obviously, as an agency that focuses on helping SMBs, we found this particularly interesting. The majority of SMBs (64%) have one person (typically the company owner) who is focused on all the company’s marketing efforts. Is this an effective way to manage company marketing? Well, our opinion is obviously biased, but running a business as well as marketing it sounds like a lot of work to us.

So in 2018, your typical SMB owner has to focus their energy. They can’t be testing new marketing channels all the time, or even becoming an expert on one. Being a jack of all trades and doing just enough will have to do. But how long can it paper over the cracks?

Picking a Channel

The most popular channels are typically: Website, Facebook, and Email. Having a functional website, an active Facebook page and some form of email marketing is the bare minimum of marketing allowed in 2018. If you have less than that you’re in danger of not looking like a serious business (as well as potentially missing out on lots of customers).

However, digging a little deeper into the research and some facts are worrying. As much as 36% of SMB owners don’t know if their website is mobile responsive. With a further 60% not being sure who owns their Google My Business page. Now, these are small things, but they indicate a greater lack of knowledge that could potentially damage their business.

Being the Boss

If you started a business 30 years ago the basic quality you would probably look for in an owner would be “are they good with numbers?”. Then after that, you would see if they know about the product they want to sell. Then, can they sell it? And so on. But now as well as all of these “business skills” we need to add in: Basic SEO knowledge, website design and maintenance skills, Social Media capabilities and regular creative writing chops. It’s simply too much for one person to be on top of.

SMB Marketing in 2018 Killing the One Man Band?

How will SMBs solve this marketing crisis? Is it even a crisis? Do we expect less from SMBs when we’re online, so are we willing to cut them more slack when it comes to website design or online purchasing? We’d love to hear your thoughts on SMB Marketing in 2018.