800 entrepreneurs took part in a study that pointed to why small business owners (SBO) are trusting website marketing companies with their brands. Audience Audit prepared the study to examine attitudes, practices, and obstacles of business owners. The study asked the SBOs questions and segmented the SBO in groups who had similar answers. Here 4 stats from the study that raised our eyebrows.
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55% of the businesses owners who were the LEAST enthusiastic about website marketing companies had a website design
Even the SBO who doesn’t believe in online marketing know that having some kind of website is almost as important as having a name. Most SBOs agree that without a website it’s hard to prove a business is legitimate. With the majority of SBO already invested in websites, the SBO who invests in getting the best possible customers to view their sites will always have an edge against competition.
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19% of SBOs with no website at all still used social media for marketing
You just can’t beat free. Since most social media accounts are free to sign up (for now) almost 1 out of 5 SBO’s will at least make a Facebook page to share information with potential customers. Many SBOs will use a social media profile as an alternative until they get a website. But some owners will only use a social media profile as the extent of their online marketing.
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53% of all business owners found it challenging to get everything done for their business
Across industries from big to small, business owners find time constraints to get all their tasks done their biggest challenge. Time constraints presented a HUGE challenge for over one third of study respondents and made the top two ratings in over half of the responses. Not having enough hours in a day ranked over obstacles like: “managing everything myself”, “money to invest in my ideas”, and “money to add employees to my company”.
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43% of all business owners found it most challenging to manage everything themselves
This stat might be ranked second as the most challenging obstacles facing business owners but it shouldn’t be a surprise. 81% of all business owners are doing their marketing by themselves on top of everything else they need to get done. Although most of the business owners enjoyed doing marketing only 1 in 10 business owners figured out how to advertise their products online profitably. Due to rapid changes in online and social media marketing , business owners are finding it difficult to get a return on their self-marketing efforts.
There are a lot of hats that a business owner can wear to make a company more cost-efficient. But the heavy online marketing hat could just be wearing you and your business down. Keeping up with online marketing is a full-time job (trust us, we know!). Let us take some of that work-load and contact us here!
