Despite an improving economy and record-setting consumer spending in the first quarter of 2024, small businesses are struggling to effectively market their goods and services. The latest report from Constant Contact reveals that many small business owners are overwhelmed by marketing, with 73% not confident that their current strategy is contributing to their business goals. Factors behind this anxiety include economic worry, lack of time to plan marketing, and uncertainty about the best methods for communicating with customers.
The survey found that small business owners spend most of their time interacting with customers, processing and fulfilling orders, and managing operations. A big challenge for these entrepreneurs is a marketing knowledge gap, as they struggle to understand what a successful marketing campaign looks like and how to measure its effectiveness. The report also highlights areas where small business owners need the most help with marketing, including social media marketing, email marketing, and contact management.
Small business owners reported that their top marketing challenges include finding new customers, determining what is working, lack of resources, retaining current customers, creating a strategy, sending the right messages, using multiple platforms/tools, and motivation. Despite these challenges, most small businesses plan to increase their marketing budgets in 2024 and focus on improving their channel mix, working more efficiently, adhering to a strategy, and expanding their customer base.
Overall, marketing is crucial for small businesses to attract new customers and generate revenue. It is important for business owners to view marketing as a way to tell the story of who they are, what they offer, and why people should buy from them. By improving their marketing strategy, small businesses can overcome challenges, grow their customer base, use the right marketing channels, work more efficiently, and accurately measure campaign performance. Sign up for the Currents newsletter for more insights on business trends from Rieva Lesonsky, CEO of GrowBiz Media and SmallBusinessCurrents.com.
