A new marketing study suggests. Whilst many large businesses have been steadily investing in mobile marketing over the last few years, this progression has been much slower with smaller companies. In the study by PB Smart Essentials, it has been suggested that as few as 8% of small and medium enterprises even have a mobile optimised website. A mobile optimised website is a key for encouraging mobile commerce but it appears that smaller businesses are left wondering why (and even how) they should go about creating one.
The study aimed to find out how trends within marketing are reflected in small and medium businesses, with some interesting findings with regards to marketing via mobile.
Current Mobile Marketing with SMEs
Of those questioned, the average SME spent £23,810 a year on marketing. 49% stated that mobile was part of that. However mobile was listed after other marketing avenues such as print, email and even Facebook specifically. Whilst online marketing is beginning to take root even with smaller businesses, it seems that mobile marketing still has some way to go before it’s as accepted.
The Future of Mobile Marketing
Whilst SME’s don’t command a great deal of marketing revenue, they are the biggest employers in the UK. Their success is thusly tied with the British economy and it’s encouraging to see that there is a movement of interest towards mobile marketing. Because of their small scale, small and medium enterprises are actually far more agile and able to adapt than larger business with a massive hierarchy. 10% of businesses questioned stated that they wanted to invest more in mobile marketing in the coming year and another 7% said specifically that they wanted to invest in mobile payments. This gives the indication that smaller enterprises are aware of how important mobile is set to become in the world of eCommerce. That said though, if only a third of marketing plans are carried through then this could be an opportunity that slips through the net for smaller businesses in the UK.
PB Smart Essentials is a marketing package that allows small and medium enterprises to get to grips with the new age of mobile marketing. Featuring tailor made approaches that include email marketing, mobile marketing and QR code campaigns, Pitney Bowes offers the smart and essential package for affordable promotion.
