About half of SMBs engaged in digital marketing devote at least 50% of their marketing budgets to digital, according to a new study from Inc.com and Vocus. And with more than 1 in 5 devoting at least three-quarters of their budgets to digital, it’s not surprising that they’re looking for tangible value out of their efforts. Asked to rate their most important digital marketing objectives on a 5-point scale (where 5 is most important), respondents indicated that driving sales (4.45) is most important, ahead of increasing brand awareness (4.36).
Beyond those top 2, SMBs are also looking to reach new customer segments (4.26), drive customer engagement (4.26) and identify usable customer insights (3.6). Interestingly, they’re less likely to be moving to digital marketing for efficiency reasons: achieving cost savings and productivity improvements is of lesser importance, with a rating of 3.14. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.
The e-Strategy Academy covers all aspects of digital marketing including search optimization & marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, video marketing, mobile marketing & public relations.