Small businesses say word-of-mouth remains the most effective marketing strategy, according to a report from Infusionsoft. Some 63% of small businesses surveyed cite word-of-mouth/customer referrals as a top 3 marketing strategy, by far the highest endorsement level of any tactic.
Other strategies considered effective include email (34% rank it as a top 3 tactic), networking (25%), social media (23%), search engine marketing (14%), and content marketing (13%). Television/radio ads are viewed as the least effective marketing strategy, with just 2% of respondents ranking them in the top 3.
Don’t fall for the cookie-cutter approach to marketing
This is, of course, highly generalised statistics from a broad sample base of businesses across many sectors. Each businesses marketing success will be based on specific variables dependent on their competitive marketplace, target marketing, growth status and available marketing budget, and others.
Therefore, it’s important to take these stats at face value, and not a foundation for your businesses ‘cookie-cutter’ marketing strategy.
Marketing professionals can help you navigate the foundations of developing a marketing strategy specific for your unique business that will work towards achieving your business objectives.