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Marketing. Regularly talked about. Often misunderstood. Frequently underutilised. It’s certainly one of the more polarising subjects when we speak with small business owners, especially those in regional areas such as the NSW South Coast.
Some swear by it. But others are far more wary. From our experience, much of this comes down to mindset. For example, do you see marketing as an investment? Or an expense? An asset, or a liability? A time-consuming distraction? Or time very well spent?
Perspective is everything. Which is why we set out to learn more about how small businesses, especially in regional Australia, currently feel about the value of marketing. Our intention was to establish a deeper understanding of the top priorities and motivations when it comes to the way business owners want – and need – to market their businesses for success. The next step was to use this information to help identify gaps when it came to how they were currently approaching their marketing, and how they could do it even better.
As for the results? They were truly illuminating.
Some of the things business owners told us were to be expected. But other things caught us by surprise – fascinating insights that have helped to shed sharp new light on key areas of opportunity for small businesses in 2022, and beyond.
The following pages provide a summary of the findings from each question in the survey, together with our commentary on each. We hope you find it interesting, thought-provoking and, above all, valuable in helping to shape your own marketing activities in the weeks, months and years to come.
It was no real surprise that a vast majority of the business owners we surveyed clearly valued the role of marketing in their business.
But, critically, there were many common roadblocks standing in the way – roadblocks that meant marketing activities frequently didn’t get done properly, or even at all.
Small regional business owners revealed they don’t necessarily have the time, the marketing expertise or the budget to undertake effective, strategic marketing activities.
When we dug a bit deeper to explore the biggest marketing challenges small business owners are facing right now, we found several key pain points. Time and again, they told us these were the things that were holding their marketing efforts back.
We’ve listed them in order of priority.
Do any sound familiar to you?
A whopping 70% of respondents told us they don’t currently have an inhouse marketing department (or even a marketing person).
This directly correlates to the key feedback from Q2 • specifically, that many marketing activities aren’t adequately executed simply due to a lack of expertise, direction and proper strategy. What’s more, it also suggests it’s highly unlikely they’re currently seeing a decent Return on Marketing Investment.
There’s little doubt a more structured approach to marketing planning, with dedicated marketing specialists (internal or external), would ensure a far higher chance of success in achieving the overall business objectives.
It also stands to reason that many of the pain points that have been highlighted can be reduced by having an effective brand and marketing strategy especially those relating to lead generation and customer retention.
This question always generates a lot of discussion, and our recent survey was no different.
It’s amazing how many small businesses are so busy, they rarely stop to even think about their brand and the role it plays – or could be playing – in their future growth and success.
Often, we hear things like ‘Brand Marketing? That’s only for big companies’. But that’s simply not true! We’ve long been huge advocates of the business-building power of brands for small businesses. Over and over, we see what a well thought-through brand can deliver both in attracting and retaining customers.
When we say ‘brand’, we don’t simply mean your logo either. It’s everything your business stands for. It’s how it’s presented to the world, in words, images and experience. But, perhaps most importantly, it’s about always being relevant and ‘sticky’ for your customers – that’s the secret to success.
A majority respondents revealed they wanted to do more, and achieve more, with their marketing.
As we explored why this was the case, common themes once again emerged. Frequently, businesses told us they were interested in being smarter and more effective with the time and resources they already devote to marketing, while also finding ways to free up more of their time and resources to do it ‘properly’.
Of course, there are countless ways to go about achieving these objectives. Some are fast and simple to implement. Others are more exhaustive and, yes, expensive. The challenge is identifying which changes are the right changes to make for you, your customers and your business.
One of the more enlightening insights from the survey pointed to an absence of research, and often a lack of priority when it comes to gathering up-to-date customer insights.
Over 80% of respondents told us they hadn’t conducted any customer research in the last 12 months, of which 46% said they never have.
In our experience, when customer research is left at the very bottom of the ‘to-do’ list, it’s hard to have high expectations when it comes to how effective your marketing and communication effectiveness will be. After all, it’s a bit like driving a car whilst blindfolded. You really have no idea where you are, or how well (or not) you’re travelling.
Listen to your customers and keeping listening. Free from assumptions and guesswork, it’s the purest way to get a clear picture of what they value about your product or service, what they want and, just as importantly, what they don’t want. Only when you’re armed with this vital information can you be truly objective with your marketing planning and investment.
Let’s not forget about your employees too. Think of them as your internal customers, so getting better insights from them can only make your plans more robust.
When you’re faced with constant challenges across every facet of your business, it’s easy for marketing to seem all-too-hard and overwhelming. Of course, if you had to do everything yourself inhouse, it would be. But the great news is, as a small to medium sized business, you don’t have to do it all yourself.
With marketing being such a critical function within a modern business, it’s worth considering how the skills and experience of a seasoned marketing team could help solve many of your business problems, without you having to wear the continuous overheads of a full-time inhouse marketing resource (let alone the cost to find and recruit them.)
Here at The Marketing Clan we bring decades of expertise working with small businesses in Australia. Being based in regional NSW ourselves, we’re uniquely placed to understand your business and help you succeed filling the critical skills and resource gaps when it comes to developing marketing activities that deliver proven, measurable results.
The Marketing Clan is a marketing agency based in Huskisson on the south coast of NSW and work with clients across Australia and overseas. Everyday, we help businesses with smarter marketing, brand strategy and measurable communication initiatives to help serve their customers better.