Is now the ideal time to take your digital marketing up a notch? As businesses scramble to play some catch-up, it just may be time to re-examine your overall online presence and to, perhaps, re-think your digital marketing strategy going forward. The marketing research and data analysis firm, The Manifest, has recently released some marketing data that just may have you rethinking your current strategies. The following is take directly from the company’s recent findings:
- The Manifest surveyed 500 small business owners and managers across the U.S. about how their companies used their digital marketing channels in the last 12 months and what they hope to accomplish with digital marketing in 2020.
- Almost all small businesses (88%) invest in social media, which shows the importance of online efforts to reach customers.
- Nearly half of small businesses (54%) use email marketing to facilitate personal connections with their customers.
- Small businesses plan to use more website marketing (56%) to strengthen their content offering.
- In 2020, small businesses use video marketing (32%) to engage and captivate consumers.
- In an effort to cut costs, more than half (63%) of small businesses rely on in-house employees who work on digital marketing along with their additional responsibilities. Only 16% use in-house digital marketers whose sole role is digital marketing.
- About two-thirds of small businesses (63%) still use traditional marketing services such as print marketing, suggesting that these strategies are still an effective use of marketing.
- More than three-quarters of small businesses (76%) believe their digital marketing efforts are effective in achieving their goals.
- In 2020, the top 5 goals for digital marketing are to convert leads (19%), increase web traffic (17%), support revenue generation (15%), increase brand and customer engagement (14%), and generate a high volume of qualified leads (14%). The right goal varies by business need.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
