SMB Digital Marketing Trends 2018: Objectives, Success, and Challenges
Explore the key findings from the 2018 Digital Marketing Plans survey for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), including strategic objectives, success rates in achieving objectives, and critical challenges faced. Discover the most important objectives for SMB digital marketing, success levels, and how these compare to challenges and budget trends for the year ahead.
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Table of Contents METHODOLOGY 3. 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB 4. Most Important Strategic Objectives Ascend2 benchmarks the performance of popular digital marketing strategies and tactics using a standardized questionnaire and a proprietary 3-Minute Survey format. 5. Success Achieving Objectives 6. Critical Challenges to Success 7. How Objectives and Challenges Compare 8. Budget Trends for the Year Ahead 9. Most Effective Tactics This survey was fielded to a panel of research subscribers and marketing influencers by Ascend2 and Insty-Prints. 10. How Tactical Effectiveness is Changing 11. Most Difficult Tactics to Execute 12. Resources Used to Execute Tactics 13. How Effectiveness and Difficulty Compare 14. About the Research Partners
2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB An effective digital marketing plan contains a series of tactics used to achieve your most important marketing objectives. SURVEY RESPONDENTS N=173 SMBs But what will an effective digital marketing plan for the small and medium-sized business (SMB) look like in 2018? Role in the Company Owner / Partner / CXO 44% To find out, Insty-Prints and Ascend2 fielded the 2018 Digital Marketing Plans Survey. VP / Director / Manager 44% Non-Management Pro 12% This edition of the study, titled the 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the Small and Medium-sized Business, exclusively represents the opinions of marketing influencers working for companies with fewer than 500 employees. We thank these busy professionals for sharing their valuable insights with us, and you. Primary Marketing Channel B2B (Business-to-Business) 41% B2C (Business-to-Consumer) 35% This research has been produced for your use. Put it to work in your own marketing strategy. Clip the charts and write about them in your blog or post them on social media. Please share this research credited as published. B2B and B2C Equally 24% Enjoy! 3
Most Important Strategic Objectives What are the most important OBJECTIVES for a digital marketing plan to achieve? For more than half of SMBs, important objectives for a digital marketing plan are increasing lead generation and increasing sales revenue. 49% of SMBs point to improving brand awareness as the next most important digital marketing plan objective to achieve. 55% Increase lead generation 54% Increase sales revenue 49% Improve brand awareness 35% Improve user experience 34% Increase website traffic 29% Improve data quality 17% Improve process automation 4 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB, Ascend2 and Insty-Prints, Published January 2018
Success Achieving Objectives Which best describes the SUCCESS of a digital marketing plan at achieving important objectives? Nearly half (48%) of SMBs consider a digital marketing plan very successful at achieving important objectives, describing it as best-in-class. Another 49% consider it somewhat successful. Only 3% pessimistically describe digital marketing planning as unsuccessful. 2% 48% 49% 1% Very successful (best-in-class) Somewhat successful (above average) Somewhat unsuccessful (below average) Very unsuccessful (worst-in-class) 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB, Ascend2 and Insty-Prints, Published January 2018 5
Critical Challenges to Success What are the most critical CHALLENGES to the success of a digital marketing plan? A most critical challenge to the success of a digital marketing plan is lead generation for 48% of SMBs. More importantly, 43% point to data quality as a challenge. Without data quality improvements, advances such as marketing personalization can not be practiced. 48% Lead generation 43% Data quality 42% Website traffic 39% User experience 37% Sales revenue 34% Brand awareness 30% Process automation 6 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB, Ascend2 and Insty-Prints, Published January 2018
How Objectives and Challenges Compare Comparative analysis of strategic objectives and challenges. Objectives that are significantly more important than challenging to achieve, such as increasing sales revenue, are strategically preferable to objectives that are more challenging than important to achieve, such as improving process automation. Important Objectives Critical Challenges 55% Lead generation 48% 54% Sales revenue 37% 49% Brand awareness 34% 35% User experience 39% 34% Website traffic 42% 29% Data quality 43% 17% Process automation 30% 7 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB, Ascend2 and Insty-Prints, Published January 2018
Budget Trends for the Year Ahead The trend for digital marketing budgets continues to improve for SMBs with 31% describing the increase as significant, and another 60% increasing it marginally. This trend may reflect a very positive outlook for continued business growth in the year ahead. To what extent will the digital marketing BUDGET change in the year ahead? 2% 31% 60% 7% Budget will increase significantly Budget will increase marginally Budget will decrease marginally Budget will decrease significantly 8 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB, Ascend2 and Insty-Prints, Published January 2018
Most Effective Tactics What will be the most EFFECTIVE tactics used in a digital marketing plan in 2018? Content marketing and social media marketing are most effective tactics for 52% and 47% of SMBs respectively. Marketing technology, which streamlines the execution of many other tactics, is considered effective for 42% of SMBs. 52% Content marketing 47% Social media marketing 42% Marketing technology 42% Email marketing 35% Search engine optimization 30% Search and social ads 27% Data management 9 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB, Ascend2 and Insty-Prints, Published January 2018
How Tactical Effectiveness is Changing To what extent is the effectiveness of digital marketing tactics CHANGING? The effectiveness of digital marketing tactics is changing in a very promising way for a total of 94% of SMBs, with 41% describing the increase in tactical effectiveness as significant. 4% 2% 41% 53% Effectiveness is increasing significantly Effectiveness is increasing marginally Effectiveness is decreasing marginally Effectiveness is decreasing significantly 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB, Ascend2 and Insty-Prints, Published January 2018 10
Most Difficult Tactics to Execute What are the most DIFFICULT tactics to execute in a digital marketing plan? Two very technical tactics data management and marketing technology stand out as difficult to execute. This is primarily due to the fact that the skills, capabilities and resources required to execute these technical tactics are not always available in-house. 52% Data management 48% Marketing technology 42% Content marketing 37% Search engine optimization Most Difficult Tactics to Execute 27% Email marketing 26% Social media marketing 21% Search and social ads 11 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB, Ascend2 and Insty-Prints, Published January 2018
Resources Used to Execute Tactics Which best describes the RESOURCES used to execute digital marketing tactics most effectively? 92% of SMBs in total say they outsource all or part of the execution of digital marketing tactics to specialists. However, more than two-thirds (70%) consider a collaboration between outsourced and in- house resources the most effective way to execute digital marketing tactics. In-house resources only 8% Outsourced to a specialist 22% Combination of outsourced and in-house resources 70% 12 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB, Ascend2 and Insty-Prints, Published January 2018
How Effectiveness and Difficulty Compare Comparative analysis of tactical effectiveness and difficulty. Effective Tactics Difficult Tactics Tactics that are much more effective than difficult to execute, such as social media marketing, are more likely to be part of a digital marketing plan than a tactic that is considered less effective than difficult to execute, such as data management. This is an example of how difficulty can negatively impact perceived effectiveness. 52% Content marketing 42% 47% Social media marketing 26% 42% Marketing technology 48% 42% Email marketing 27% 35% Search engine optimization 37% 30% Search and social ads 21% 27% Data management 52% 13 2018 Digital Marketing Plans for the SMB, Ascend2 and Insty-Prints, Published January 2018
About the Research Partners Insty-Prints is your local, one-stop resource for high- quality print and business communications solutions with fresh ideas to help you connect. We pioneered fast- turnaround printing, and today we offer you an array of capabilities including multi-channel marketing campaigns, direct mail marketing, promotional items, graphic design, web marketing, signs, banners and much more. Marketing technology companies and digital marketing agencies partner with Ascend2 to reliably generate demand and supplement content for their firms. Our Research Partner Programs are transparent spotlighting your brand and the interests of your market. If marketing professionals are your ideal prospects, we can help you find more of them. Learn more at instyprints.com Learn more about Ascend2 Insty-Prints is independently owned and operated. 14
