According to the Vistaprint survey, it was revealed that 79 percent of companies found marketing as the most important factor for success. It was found that social media was used for marketing by 46% of the firms surveyed which include micro businesses.
Local firms having 1-10 employees and less than 60 customers are termed as micro businesses. 26.5 million companies of the U.S. were found to be micro businesses which constitute for 95%. The study revealed that the channel was used by 40% of the micro businesses. Online direct marketing and online advertising were used by 36 percent and 19 percent of the micro businesses respectively.
The study reported that use of social and online channels is rising among micro businesses. This was due to lower costs and the advantage of the sites for growth of the businesses. About 66% of the surveyed firms were found to have no interest in the Yellow Pages. Also TV, radio and newspapers were not found to be interesting to 59% of the firms.
Various sources of marketing information are used by businesses. The study revealed that 52% of the firms used friends and family, 49% used internet, and 33% interacted with other local micro businesses. Public resources such as the offices of local Small Business Administration and also Chamber of Commerce were used as sources for marketing information only by 6% and 10% of the firms respectively.
Only 17% of the micro businesses were found to use TV, radio and newspapers for marketing. The Yellow Pages was used as the most important marketing channel by only 3% of the micro business owners.
With provision of more time, it was found that 39% of the micro businesses were interested to use traditional direct marketing, 38% were interested to use social media and 36% were interested to use online direct marketing. The study revealed that with more money 45 percent of the micro businesses were interested to use traditional direct e-mail marketing. It was found that 41 percent of them were interested to use TV, radio, and newspapers.