Business is a worldly thriving arena. A business is a legal organization that is in the business of producing goods or services for profit. Businesses employ the staff on a regular basis and are also known to hire temporary staff if need be. A business can take a lot of time and money to set up but once it is set up it runs without any problems.
The story of business is one of change. Few industries have undergone as much and as quickly as the business world. From revolutionary ideas to major paradigm shifts, the business world has seen trends come and go. Some big names of the past have long been forgotten, like the four-color printing press, railroad, and twentieth century.
While some people may have the option to earn a college degree, most people do not have that luxury and must decide in high school or during their college years about whether they want to pursue a career in business. While most people aspire to become an entrepreneur someday, a small percentage are able to make that dream a reality.
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1. Half of all small businesses still don’t have a website
Did you know that only half of all small businesses in the US have a website? And that a third of the large businesses in the US don’t have a website either? If you don’t have a website, you’re missing out on web marketing opportunities, are less likely to attract new customers, and may find it more difficult to hire employees.
Although a small number of small businesses have a website, there’s a lot of room left for potential growth as more and more of us rely on the internet for everything from photos to shopping. But, many small businesses don’t have a website, and may instead be found in their local area. It’s no secret that a website can be an invaluable tool for small businesses—it can boost visibility by providing a contact point, enable simple online ordering and payment, and, of course, make it easier for potential customers to find and contact them.
2.Only three out of ten small businesses invest enough in marketing
Did you know that only three out of ten small businesses invest enough in marketing? According to a report by BCG, only 27% of small businesses are effective at marketing their products or services. Of those businesses, only 12% spend more than $1000 of marketing money per year. This is a rather shocking statistic, and there are several reasons why it may be surprising. For example:
It’s no secret that many small businesses are falling behind in their marketing plans. In fact, a recent PostMortem report revealed that only 45% of small businesses are doing enough marketing to help grow their business.In this day and age, the internet is constantly buzzing with online reviews. You may have heard that one-third of all small business customers leave a review on their experience with your business. But, is that true? In this article, we will investigate the validity of this claim, and what you can do to change it.
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are often held up as the ideal for entrepreneurs to start. They require less money and time than a larger company, and they give owners the flexibility to change their business models to meet the needs of their customers. In fact, many entrepreneurs (and investors) think that SMBs have a more promising future than bigger companies. We wanted to find out how many SMBs are investing in marketing, to find out whether small businesses are really as easy to run as they claim to be.
3.Small businesses don’t outsource their marketing
The average size of a U.S. firm has fallen by a third since the early 1980s, and more than one out of every three firms is now small. This trend is not limited to the private sector, with the government also seeing a significant reduction in its size. However, while this trend might be moving in the right direction, it doesn’t tell the full story. In fact, the research shows that small firms still outsource a significant amount of their marketing and advertising.
If you’re a small business owner, you know the importance of marketing. After all, your potential customers are few and far between; your competitors are a lot more numerous. For this reason, many business owners make the decision to outsource the marketing of their businesses. This is done by hiring a marketing company to market their business with a specific focus on social media.
4.Email marketing is still alive and well
Many people think that email marketing is dead because it’s been replaced by social media, but that’s just not true! In fact, email marketing is now more popular than ever, and the growth is even more popular. Just look at how much email marketing is increasing every year, and how much people are using email to communicate with others.
From simple newsletters sent to website visitors and list members, to text messages sent to mobile devices, email still remains one of the most effective ways to communicate with your audience. Research shows that email marketing is still very important to businesses, with a reported 83% rate (according to the email marketing company Constant Contact) of direct response email lists being used for marketing purposes.
5. Word of mouth generates more business than any other marketing tactic
Word of mouth has become an essential element in the success of any business. Without the marketers’ claims that their products are “sold by word of mouth”, sales figures would be much lower.
For more than 2,000 years, people have been drawing conclusions from others about what to buy, what to use, and what to say. What’s new is the rapid and widespread dissemination of these conclusions online. A trend called “word of mouth” has quickly overtaken “advertising” in terms of the reach of influence, and businesses that neglect this channel will find that it carries a disproportionate influence on their bottom line.
Author bio: Usman Raza is a content writer at a Church Advertising Company, also working with PSD to WordPress, Lynne Torgerson and many other small companies. He’s devoted to helping small businesses bridge success gaps by providing in-depth, actionable advice on digital marketing, SEO, and small business growth. Follow her on Twitter @usmanintrotech.