Survey Shows SMBs Ready to Increase Internet Marketing Spend in 2015

The “SMB Internet Marketing Survey 2014,” conducted by BrightLocal, shows that 37 percent of small businesses plan on spending more money on Internet-based marketing in 2015. This is compared to 21 percent who responded the same way when the survey was conducted last year.

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“There has been a 16 percent rise in SMBs that plan to increase their internet marketing spend over the next 12 months, giving those of us involved with local search/marketing a positive indicator for our businesses in 2015,” wrote the authors of the report. “Forty-seven percent of businesses are unsure about whether they will change their spend level in 2015 – so maybe this figure of 37 percent will actually increase if business conditions are positive in 2015.”

Approximately 28 percent of survey respondents said that word of mouth is the most effective was of bringing in new leads and customers, topping a list of channels that included email marketing, SEO and PPC advertising. Nearly 26 percent of people said the same in last year’s survey.

However, Internet marketing won’t be the only area getting a budget boost in 2015.

Investing in New Technology

A survey published by Conductor earlier this month showed that 65 percent of senior marketers planned to spend more on marketing technology in 2015 than they did last year. More specifically, 28 percent of marketers plan on boosting spending by as much as 25 percent.

“These days, marketers need huge swaths of data to stay competitive and understand their growing digital businesses,” wrote the authors of the report. “Technology makes it possible to scale data collection, analysis, and reporting. This study made it clear there’s a growing focus on technology among marketing executives.”

Nearly 18 percent of survey respondents claimed that they would be increasing their spend by between 26 to 50 percent. Approximately 26 percent of marketers said they will invest the same amount of money in marketing tech as they did in 2014.

Image credit: www.brightlocal.com

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Scott Stone — Scott Stone, Advertising & E-Business Manager, Cisco Eagle

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