Local directory and advertising provider Hibu published a study on small businesses (SMBs) and mobile marketing in the US and UK. It was based on a survey of 1,800 US and UK SMB respondents conducted in November and December 2013. The sample included a range of industries and business sizes.
The survey found that a whopping 45 percent of US and UK SMBs still didn’t have a website let alone a mobile optimized site. In both cases only 6 percent of respondents with websites said they were mobile optimized.
Source: Hibu
Among other findings Hibu exposes the distribution of SMB revenues by “channel” or source. The bulk of revenue for US SMBs comes from in-person or invoice based transactions. Only 7.5 percent is from e-commerce. UK businesses see considerably more e-commerce revenue on a percentage basis, but still less than 20 percent of total sales.
Perhaps the most interesting discussion in the report surrounds the gap between SMB perceptions of the value or importance of mobile marketing and their willingness or capacity to act. US SMBs believed they were losing out on annual revenue of roughly $60,000 on average by not having a mobile optimized site. UK businesses said they thought they might be losing £23,793 per year ($39,441).
Source: Hibu
Collectively US SMBs without a mobile optimized site thought they might be losing out on a total of $1 trillion in annual potential revenue.
Despite this perception of a significant missed opportunity, only 12 percent of US SMBs without a mobile-optimized site said they were likely to get one in the next 12-18 months. In the UK the number was almost identical at 13 percent.
This last finding is a perfect metaphor for the entire SMB segment when it comes to digital marketing. They know what they should be doing but daily inertia holds them back. In addition they probably don’t know precisely where to turn to get their digital marketing needs met.
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