Small commercial business owners in the UK understand the benefits of online PR and marketing however are “too slow to realise their enormous benefits”, according to a recent survey from Malvern-based agency Williams PR*.
The survey, conducted last week, sampled 1,000 small and medium-sized commercial property businesses in the UK about planned marketing activity for 2012.
While four out of five SMEs are set to increase their marketing budgets this year, only one third have a social media policy in force. Nearly a quarter of commercial property businesses polled (23.7 per cent) either do not manage digital and trading marketing, or do so on an ad-hoc basis.
The survey focused on three key sizes of businesses: micro businesses, with fewer than ten employees; small commercial property businesses, with between ten and 49 employees; and medium-sized businesses, with between 50 and 250 employees.
Rowenna Williams, Managing Director of Worcestershire marketing and PR company Williams PR, stated: “We have a bizarre inverted system here when we look at digital marketing. The small companies which stand to benefit the most from social media are unsure, unskilled or even a little too complacent to explore it. On the other side, the larger, medium-sized organisations with the bigger budgets throw money at social media, despite often not having a clue what it is or how it works.”
Mrs Williams further added: “Digital marketing is a proven means to achieve results as part of a coordinated marketing plan. However, too many start-ups and young businesses end up chasing their tails. Perhaps some entrepreneurs want to learn the ropes themselves, or think they’ll wait for the business to grow a little before ultimately investing in an in-house marketing and PR team.”
*Williams PR is a combined online and offline marketing and PR agency based in Worcestershire, ear Birmingham. The company specialises in marketing and PR services for small and medium-sized commercial property businesses.
