Commentary

The Email Edge: Too Small To Fail

The last thing a small business owner needs is an expensive platform to drive email. Right? Think again. Research shows that SMBs are spending on email, and on digital marketing in general. Of 200 SMBs recently surveyed by GetResponse, 70% are increasing their spend, digital 30% “considerably,” Fender Bender reports. A full 50% are investing more in mobile, followed by 42% who are doing the same for email. But it’s not clear what these percentages mean in dollar amounts.  

And SMBs may be too busy coping with their other problems to effectively manage their digital marketing.

“Small business owners are too often trying to juggle many roles, needing to be experts in everything from customer service to IT to serving as Chief Marketing Officer for their business,” according to a report by David Brown, CEO of Web.com, and Dr. David Ricketts, Chief Innovation Officer, Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard. ‘When asked about the biggest challenges they face with their online presence, the clear winner for small business owners was managing content.”

SMBs also worry about security, although they claim to have it under control, and about their bigger competitors. “The biggest threat from large businesses is their ability to offer a better price, followed by their speed in responding to customers and their wider reach,” Brown and Ricketts write.

And how do SMBs get their digital work done? The research shows that 68% build and maintain their online presence inhouse, 22% outsource it and 9% rely on family and friends, Brown and Ricketts continue. Only 17% are investing in SEO.

So let’s say a small business proprietor is a non-spending mode—turning to family, for example. What can that person do in email in the limited time available? Here are a couple of tactical tips.

Depending on your industry, I suggest to send emails bi-weekly, but this can change depending on what type of business you are,” Ronald Dod advises on Small Business Trends. “However, every other week I suggest spending 30 minutes to sit down, pick a good template, and give value to your past customers through email marketing. Giving them a 5 percent discount is not valuable enough. Give them good content, advice or other items that they can really sink their teeth in and get value from.”

Meanwhile, Appdexa’s Janet Scott urges marketers to pursue mobile and personalization (assuming they have invested in those capabilities).  

“Messaging hot offers and exceptional business deals to the clients is one thing and then texting a personalized message is another,” Scott writes. “Personalizing the services for the clients creates a feeling that their needs are being cared by the business. This crops up their loyalty towards the business.”

Scott adds, “Personalization does not mean just having your client’s name on every mail that is sent to them. It’s arranging the services depending upon the client’s interest. The data for the same can be taken through user’s browsing behavior.”

Meanwhile, here’s some additional intelligence from GetResponse. As reported by Fender Bender, SMBs are also boosting their spending on:

  • Video production (28%)
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  • Search marketing, including paid
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  • Content creation (26%)
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  • Content management (26%)
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  • Data collection and analytics (23%)
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  • Corporate website maintenance and development (23%)
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  • Commerce experiences (16%)
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