Member Article

Businesses 'putting themselves at risk'

A new survey of small and medium enterprises from across the UK suggests that while a large majority expect an economic downturn in 2008, very few are planning accordingly, and those that are will drop traditional marketing in favour of online options when times are hard. As well as investigating SMEs’ preparedness for a potential financial slump, the survey also wenquired about their use of online marketing, including blogging and social networking.

If recession hits, small businesses in particular will abandon traditional advertising in favour of online options. However, SMEs currently see direct mail as offering the best return on investment of all their marketing spend.

Accrding to the results, only 11% of businesses use social networking for business-to-business marketing, and even fewer use it for business-to-consumer communications. Two thirds of businesses think blogs are overrated as marketing tools.

Almost half of businesses haven’t updated their website in the last month, despite ‘website updates’ being cited as one of the most successful marketing tools available.

Ben Harris, Managing Director of New Brand Vision Group, who carried out the research, said: “Many SMEs will not have been in business during the last recession and won’t anticipate how they could be affected. “This ‘wait and see’ approach may weaken their position if and when a downturn does take hold.

“I’m surprised that despite increasing spends on online marketing by many companies; our survey shows that few SME businesses are making it pay. It may be that unlike traditional advertising, when the work goes in prior to campaign launch, online marketing often requires the bulk of the effort during the campaign. SMEs should persist, as well as being aware that their websites must accurately reflect the quality of their products and services.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .