A survey reveals how 730 small businesses market online

Do you provide marketing tools for SMBs? Then you might want to pay close attention.

We've just discovered a recent report which analyzed the "latest SMB marketing trends". Or, in simpler words, the authors asked 730 small businesses how they market online.

Here are some of the results.

Social media is the top marketing channel for SMBs

The surprising thing here is that only 40% of small businesses do search advertising. That percentage was even lower (27%) for small businesses with a monthly marketing budget under $1,000.

A missed opportunity: According to the authors of the survey, the fact that a small % of small businesses do search advertising could be a missed opportunity, especially because 65% of people will click on a search ad when they’re looking to make a purchase.

Facebook is the #1 social media channel that SMBs use

Most businesses use Facebook, followed by Instagram and LinkedIn.

The real question is: Which of these platforms bring actual results?

Now this is interesting. Most businesses were satisfied by search advertising. It makes sense; people have the highest intent when they're actively searching for something online. Video came in second place.

Most SMBs want to experiment with short videos

These are the channels that SMBs are most willing to experiment with. It makes sense as we see more short videos on Instagram, TikTok, and other social media channels.

SMB's biggest challenge is economic uncertainty

These are all jobs-to-be-done that are potentially solvable with software and/or digital products.

SMBs are most willing to invest in content marketing

The reason for this is pretty simple: content marketing = search traffic. Search traffic is free. Who doesn't want free traffic?

Web analytics is the #1 software category SMBs use for their marketing

Design tools are second (prob Canva is 70%+ of what SMBs use), followed by social media tools and email software.

Key takeaways and opportunities for indie hackers

Here are some key takeaways from the report that are relevant to us, indie hackers:

• SEO/SEM is a channel many SMBs are not using. If they start using it, however, there's a high probability they'd start seeing results.

• Most small businesses expect to increase or retain their marketing budgets. This is good news for any indie founder in this (marketing) space.

• 33% of SMBs have a budget of less than $1k a month. Consider this fact when reaching out to SMBs; around 1/3rd are probably outside of your target market.