Promotion and Advertising
• Small employers think the most effective means to promote their business is positive word-of-mouth and associated referrals. Eighty-two (82) percent report word-of-mouth contributes substantially to generating their sales revenues.
• Of the promotional means that small employers directly and immediately control, personal selling and business location generate more sales revenues for more firms than other means. Advertising and Web sites also appear reasonably effective in generating sales revenues for the small, employing businesses using them.
• Few small, employing businesses generate significant revenues through telemarketing (5%), trade shows and events (10%) or free publicity (13%). Also, neither the strategies of price changes, that is to say, sales and specials (10%) nor changes in the mix of goods and services offered (15%) appear to yield significant revenues for many firms.
• Forty-one (41) percent of small, employing businesses advertise enough so that it contributes more than marginal amounts to revenue generation. The most frequent forms of advertising include Web sites; fliers, circulars, and handouts; newspapers; newsletters, bulletins, etc.; and direct mail. The least frequent forms include television; value packs or shopper supplements; outdoor off-premise signage; radio; and magazines.
• The single most important means of advertising for small, employing businesses are the Internet (16%), word-of-mouth (15%), newspapers (15%) and direct mail (14%). Since multiple means are often employed, the importance of an advertising means and its frequency of use are not necessarily related.
• Half (50%) who advertise, advertise steadily throughout the year and another 25 percent do so with periodic ups and downs. Just 13 percent confine their advertising to a season or short period. The content of advertising material is typically (57%) developed by someone inside the business.
• Virtually all small employers use subjective means to evaluate the effectiveness of their advertising.
• Fifty-one (51) percent of small, employing businesses have a Web site, but their owners do not think that their site contributes much toward generating sales. Twenty-one (21) percent of those Web sites are equipped to make a secured financial transaction.
• Sixty-four (64) percent of small employers change the content on their Web site less frequently than once a month. Five percent do it daily or more often.
• Sixty-six (66) percent of small, employing businesses have a logo or trademark, including 84 percent of those employing 20 or more people. However, just 43 percent have theirs registered with the government.
