• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, May 25, 2016

Marketers of small and medium-size businesses struggle with how to spend their advertising budgets. Only 13% responding to a survey from Magisto use search engine optimization and 27% use paid search. More are turning toward social media as a form of word of mouth.

The results -- from Unlocking The Most Powerful Shift In SMB Marketing, released Wednesday -- found that for SMBs it's about selling stories and experiences, not products, and they are using social media rather than search advertising or marketing to tell the tale.

In fact, Millennial marketers are 84% more likely to use social media to promote their small businesses than invest in print advertising, 136% are more likely to create a social video, and virtually none say they would invest in television advertising.

By contrast, nearly one out in three Baby Boomers marketing small businesses employs TV ads and other legacy marketing options.

To better understand the habits of marketing trends for SMBs, Magisto surveyed more than 550 SMBs throughout the United States. The company looked at how SMBs leverage today’s marketing trends and tools, and their focus on social media and video creation.

SMBs are 64% more likely to post on Facebook than YouTube, while Millennials are 183% more likely to post a video on Instagram than Baby Boomers. One in four Millennials post video to company blogs and mobile apps, whereas 0% of Baby Boomers do. Baby Boomers are 164% more likely than Millennials to include a video in email communications

Millennials inherently understand how to push the right content to the right audience at the right time versus posting media and hoping that an audience finds it.

The shift from traditional channels -- such as print, radio and television advertising -- and even classic word-of-mouth marketing, shows how Millennials feel more comfortable with viral, digital practices like social media and particularly online video, according to data from the survey.

The use of specific media continues to change, but the findings show how traditional marketing goals have not, revealing that three out of four SMBs want to generate new customers and more than half want to build customer loyalty and grow brand awareness.

The survey also suggests that the way SMB marketers reach these goals is shifting drastically from traditional methods, such as print and TV advertising, to strategies using social media and video, a shift driven mostly by the Millennial generation.