The 7 Marketing Habits Of Successful SMBs

By Atri Chatterjee, CMO, Act-On Software

Standing out in a crowded marketplace, and effectively connecting with prospects across channels, is an overwhelming challenge for SMBs that serve the B2B market. That's why our team at Act-On recently commissioned a Forrester Consulting study designed to uncover the key tactics SMBs can deploy to market themselves successfully in spite of continuing economic uncertainty.

The study, Driving SMB Revenue In A Tough Economy, gathered insights from 208 small and midsized organizations. We examined their online marketing activities, business planning and organizational processes, and customer acquisition strategies.

The first thing we learned was that industry-leading SMBs invest far more in marketing and customer acquisition than their competitors invest in these activities. In fact, top performing SMBs invest nearly twice as much as under-performing companies (40% versus 25%).

Furthermore, just one in three of these top performers cut their marketing budgets during the recession, compared to 56% of their less successful competitors.

Based on these and other findings in the study, Act-On and Forrester identified the key habits that define top-performing SMBs:

 
1. Emphasize digital and online marketing strategies. Our study found that 32% of the top performers view online marketing as a game-changer that allows them to reach a wider audience and compete more efficiently. Just 20% of the under-performing SMBs share this view.

2. Focus on value – not cost. Marketers that concentrate on quality leads and customer lifetime value help to build successful businesses. Those that focus solely on cutting customer acquisition costs aren't as successful.

3. Execute multi-channel campaigns. Leverage email marketing, your business web site and social media as parts of a single, coordinated marketing strategy.

4. Exploit the power of lead nurturing. More than half of the top performing SMBs nurture leads for 4-12 weeks before passing them on to sales. Less successful companies either rush their nurturing campaigns or fail to nurture at all.

5. Collect "metrics that matter" to make strategic decisions. Our study revealed that top performers are far more likely to track a variety of marketing metrics and to use that data to inform their marketing investments. By comparison, 44% of laggard firms admit they don't measure anything!

6. Align your sales and marketing teams. Successful SMBs foster a culture of collaboration between their sales and marketing organizations.

7. Treat your marketing budget as a strategic investment. Your marketing strategy allows you to build momentum, seize new opportunities and gain competitive advantage – even in a challenging economy. Don't sacrifice these advantages by pursuing a short-term, cost-cutting approach.

SMBs face big challenges today, but these best practices can pave the way towards long-term success. That's more important than ever today, since growth in the SMB market can make or break our economic recovery.

Atri Chatterjee is CMO of Act-On Software.