A clearer picture of Small Business America’s marketing needs has emerged, thanks to a report issued this week by PRstore.
The report identifies businesses with fewer than 100 employees as the group most under-served by traditional marketing companies and, therefore, at greater risk for long-term survival.
With budgets too small to attract the big ad agencies, many companies under the 100-employee threshold cobble together a mix of do-it-yourself, freelance, and in-house marketing pieces. The result is often inconsistent branding, an unclear marketing message, and poorly targeted campaigns.
PRstore founder Mike Butler is confident there’s a better way.
“Marketing simplified – that’s what these business owners are looking for,” Butler says. “These businesses don’t have time to get a half dozen marketing providers on the same page. They’re busy building their companies and keeping the American economy afloat.”
Over an eight-month period, PRstore partnered with Concentric Marketing, a Charlotte-based market research firm, to extensively analyze of the small business sector’s marketing challenges.
“The lack of access to high quality, affordable marketing services for small firms was more dramatic than we realized,” Butler says. “We got a clear message from Small Business America: The old marketing models aren’t working for us.”
Up to 74% of firms with fewer than 100 employees would embrace a one-stop, retail style marketing franchise, according to the PRstore report. Some need full-scale marketing guidance, while others only need help with execution.
The biggest frustration for firms in this niche: having to patch together a marketing program from five or six different providers.
With more than 30 franchises in 20 states, PRstore has already proven the alternative works. Armed with a new snapshot of Small Business America, Butler says, the company is finding the demand for simpler marketing solutions is as great as ever.