Report Shows Shifts In Small To Medium-Sized Businesses’ Marketing Habits.
Originally published last month by Adam Jacobson of the Radio & Television Business Report.
What sort of shifts in small to medium-sized businesses’ marketing habits are taking place across the U.S.?
Early results from Borrell Associates‘ 2018 survey of local advertisers are in, and Gordon Borrell says he’s picked up on a shift since 2017 in how SMBs are buying media.
Here’s a glimpse of what Borrell’s team finds.
MEDIA’S COMBO BUY
“It’s not surprising that most local advertisers use a combination of digital and non-digital media in their campaigns,” says Borrell in reviewing new data that confirms traditional media is not bought alone anymore.
What is surprising to Borrell is the 12-month decline of 81% in the use of traditional media by itself, and a corresponding 21% increase in the use of both.
Asked which of the following types of advertising respondents bought last year, small and medium-sized business owners replied as follows:
“Once anything moves into the 90%+ realm, it is considered ubiquitous,” Borrell says. “It’s no longer an either-or choice. In other words, one isn’t going to replace the other.”
The findings are tied to a larger look at preliminary results from Borrell’s Local Advertiser Survey, available for purchase. It offers a detailed look at how SMBs like “professional, short video ads”; and how more SMBs are buying Facebook advertisements.
Also being shown in detail is how the biggest budgets go to television and for search marketing.
Radio is fifth among the 1,165 local advertisers surveyed, at $39,860 spent annually on average with the medium. This compares to $176,105 for broadcast TV.
Cable TV, “a cheaper alternative,” comes in at No. 2.
