Small-Business Marketing & Webinars: Make the Most of Your Budget

What's Working in Small Business
Marketing and Webinars
A Quantum Leap Marketing White Paper Published May 2009 SPONSORED BY

Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. . PO Box 68 . Hopkinton MA 01748 Phone 617-901-6886 . Fax 801-991-6886 . bhanson@qlmarketing.com . www.qlmarketing.com What's Working in Small Business Marketing and Webinars Summary What are small businesses doing this year to get more leads and sales from their marketing budget? How do Webinars fit into this marketing mix? What are some winning strategies you can use to get a higher return-on-investment from your marketing dollars? Avoid the common Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. conducted a survey in the mistakes, get more first quarter of 2009 to find answers to these questions and from your marketing more. Small business executives and marketers were asked budget, and execute about their marketing plans, including how they plan to a more effective react to the recession and how they intend to change the marketing plan right marketing mix for better results. They were also asked for away. their views on lead-generation (marketing) Webinars. This white paper presents a summary of the survey results regarding their marketing plan and tactics, identifies top trends from this survey, and also discusses the increasingly important role of Webinars in small business marketing in 2009. About the Survey The data shared in this report comes from a recently completed online survey of 143 individuals who identified themselves as being responsible for, or contributing to, their organization's marketing. To qualify, their company needed to be actively marketing and have under 1,000 employees. The survey population generally consisted of smaller businesses; that is, 79% came from organizations with 100 or fewer employees. The survey pool represents a wide diversity of industries, although over 54% identified themselves as offering services such as marketing services, financial services, or professional or legal services. Just over 51% identified themselves as a business owner or firm partner, with the remainder having a marketing role.
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 1 What's Working in Small Business Marketing and Webinars Trends in Small Business Marketing Here are the key findings from this recent survey of small business owners and marketers. Primary Marketing Tactics in 2009 When asked about their planned marketing tactics for 2009, 76% of small businesses indicated they will using referrals to get more leads and new clients. Primary Ways of Marketing80%70%Referrals and email 60%50%marketing are the 40%most popular ways of 30%20%attracting new 10%customers. 0% l r rriss gg g abl io eosea nn n gs l wee a t g idsi ii r peir tnrt to sc st n eMr e e iaa as r i rW e ae e thn a nte v nt b ie iai kPif nk k eMl lem eS ie r icr r e n nLle klf ns it kE aemea a rfrp rre m a te r bR W i iO ei ar a a mAd o eM M em c hD Si eaP P MS M lor WS W eST T Interestingly, 55% indicated that they will be using email marketing, 49% have a simple Web presence, while 43% will be using live seminars or trade shows. These stats are significant when one considers that the average small business will actively use multiple ways of generating business. Companies are looking to aggressively recruit for new customers in 2009 despite a tough economy. Success Criteria for Marketing Campaigns When asked about the ways they judged the effectiveness of their overall marketing activities, 58% cited the Number of Sales Opportunities Generated.
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 2 What's Working in Small Business Marketing and Webinars Measuring Marketing Effectiveness70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0% Number of Number of Number of Campaign ROI Total Revenue Cost Per Lead Don't Track,Sales Leads Won Sales Generated Don't MeasureOpportunities Generated OpportunitiesGenerated Forty-two percent cited both the Number of Won Sales Where marketers may Opportunities and Number of Leads Generated. Only 11% have been more reported that they do not measure or track the effectiveness concerned with leads of marketing tactics. in the past, they're looking at sales Small business marketers appear to be much more focused opportunities and on the bottom line in 2009. Where marketers may have been revenue now. more concerned with leads in the past, they're lo... [download for more]