Small Business Marketing Report

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) says its latest Small Business Optimism Index jumped 8.0 points to 101.7 last month, the highest level since June 2021.

• They report the percentage of owners expecting the economy to improve rose 41 points from October to a net 36%, the highest since June 2020.
• Twenty percent of owners reported that inflation was their single most important problem in operating their business (higher input and labor costs), down three points from October.
• The net percent of small business owners believing it is a good time to expand their business rose eight points to a net 14%. This is the highest reading since June 2021.

NFIB’s uncertainty Index declined 12 points in November to 98.  It seems SMB owners are feeling good now that the Republicans and the Trump 2.0 economy is finally in view. Lower taxes, more credit availability, pro-US business policies, and possibly lower interest rates paint a good outlook picture for 2025.

In this post we explore the trend, the problem and learn what small business owners are feeling about their digital marketing.

With the economy and politics causing confusion and distraction, SMB owners (travel agencies, restaurants, hotels, service firms, software developers, and real estate companies) need to begin focusing on their 2025 marketing strategy. Getting a jump on everyone else is critically important even for travel startups. Front runners claim a lead they’ll never relinquish while followers struggle to gain a foothold with customers hypnotized by the market leaders’ branding and messaging.

A Survey of SMB Feelings on Marketing

In their 2024 study, Ascend2 and Constant Contact surveyed more than 1,300 SMBs across Australia, Canada, UK, and the US. Many of them report being overwhelmed by marketing and all the strategy, creativity and production tasks required today. 3 out of 4 are confident of their current strategy.

“Key obstacles are a lack of time and limited marketing expertise, both of which cause many SMBs to put marketing on the back burner. They recognize the need to amplify their voice and attract new customers, but many are uncertain about which channels to leverage, what content resonates, and how to create a strategy that achieves their goals.”

Do They Really Have a Marketing Strategy?

Strangely, 84% report feeling fairly confident about their current marketing strategy. So, we might have some self-deception going on, as they grapple with a weak market, high costs and tough competition. The chart below shows they’re not experts in marketing.  They intend to spend 5% to 20% more on marketing, and 44% report spending more time on marketing while only 39% say their budget is increasing.

Respondents said they spend the least time on marketing as a business task, which might mean they’re either satisfied with where they’re at or they feel marketing won’t deliver results.  Their attitude toward marketing needs to be opened up and studied.

After reviewing so many small businesses including travel agencies, hotels, and resort destinations, with their web content and social media content, it’s easy to see the real problems which include:

• insufficient, relevant content
• low quality, low impact, and non-engaging content
• low reach and visibility on Google
• lack of depth and sophistication in search engine optimization
• lack of investment in time and money in PR and publisher outreach
• unattractive blogs where the interesting content readers want should reside
• borrowing tour and marketplace provider’s own branded listings of trips/tours/packages
• poor social media marketing campaign
• no paid advertising campaign
• weak branded theme and narrative for their content strategy and social media strategy.
• no testing of content to discover key audience profiles and build content for them
• poor quality traffic/lead funnels and sales analytics to inform strategy

Are Owners Really Qualified to Conduct Their Own Marketing?

SMB owners are talented, but is content marketing and social media marketing really their forte? Does their input actually constrain or weaken the content marketing effort? It has to be asked.

As the chart below shows, creating high-quality content, crafting a marketing strategy, amplifying their content and messages, testing and evaluating campaigns and asset performance, posting and engaging on social media, and managing promotional campaigns are the activities they find time-consuming if not stressful.

The reasons for procrastination vary, with lack of time, budget, marketing knowledge, strategic knowledge and complexity being most cited.

60% of respondents believe finding new customers is their top challenge while 31% believe retaining customers is a top challenge. Seems all customers must be wooed constantly.  They report not knowing what works and what doesn’t is a problem, so creating a marketing strategy with the right messaging might be beyond their capabilities.

Respondents said they use more than one marketing channel and believe it is better to use several. Most are more confident with email and SMS solutions, but less so with even marketing and advanced SEO.

What are Good Expectations?

You might find none of this is unexpected. SMB owners are experts in their business and its products/services, in running a business and managing its financing, and managing people and sales. There’s no embarrassment in not having a big marketing budget or lacking the many digital marketing skills necessary today.

Good expectations are realistic forcing you to get the specific talent you need for your retail store, travel agency, real estate company, or management software firm.

Marketing is a specialized talent that deserves respect.  It’s not just a lead generator either.  Marketing helps owners like yourself understand your customer audience, what they like, to help you reposition to be the company they want.  And its marketing’s persuasiveness that makes them believe “you’re the only company for them.”  That’s where customer retention resides.

The whole, free do-it-yourself trend that rushed in during the pandemic just doesn’t cut it now. And one good reason is the level of competition and complexity.  The bar’s been raised as competitors are putting more effort into high-quality marketing and all it entails.

A great marketing strategy begins with a clear, detailed view of the market and the target customer which provides the focus for the company’s brand image.  From that, the full set of features, benefits, pains, promises, and assets becomes more apparent.

Assemble Your Marketing Dream Team

Small businesses need freelance talent, yet likely can’t find suitable marketers with a wide range of skills, and the ability to hire designers and other consultants as needed. But more likely, it has to do with an unwillingness to invest in marketing skill.

At some point, an SMB owner might want to work with a branding consultant to build a brand image and a value proposition, along with discussing what the offer to customers should be. It is complicated and if you’re a travel agency owner, SaaS software company, or Realtor, you need a brand positioning that makes sense. Bouncing ideas back and forth could be really helpful.

Then to conduct your campaign, a digital marketing strategist would learn the subtleties of your brand, UVP, and customer market, and craft a campaign involving content, marketing channels and messages that get your offer and brand across laser clear.

Find out more about innovative travel marketing, real estate marketing, and travel software marketing.

Contact Gord at 416 998 6246 to discuss helping you excel with your digital marketing strategy.