The best marketing tactics for SMEs [INFOGRAPHIC]

Any business should be constantly reviewing its marketing with fresh eyes. What tactics have worked well for your business and do you need to incorporate any fresh ideas to target new markets?

One way to increase your revenue is to explore new marketing channels for your business. However, with the world of marketing constantly evolving it can be difficult to know which marketing channel is the best fit for your business. By surveying over 10,000 SME owners, Display Wizard uncovered the most effective marketing tactics for small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in 2015.

From age-old tactics such as print media and face-to-face networking to more modern advertising channels such as online marketing, SMEs revealed the most profitable tactics for their businesses – and while there are definite winners and losers, there doesn’t seem to be a ‘one size’ fits all’ approach to modern marketing.

Face-to-face reigns supreme

The results of the survey, shown in the infographic below, revealed some surprising results, with face-to-face marketing found to be the most popular tactic (71 per cent of business said they made money this way). This response shows that building up trustworthy relationships via face-to-face exchanges remains the best way to gain new customers for small businesses.

Don’t ignore digital

There is no doubt that digital marketing has seen the biggest increase in popularity over the last five or so years (67 per cent of businesses said this won them business in 2015), with social media marketing, PPC and SEO the most useful methods of increasing traffic to the websites of SMEs. These methods are the most effective for SMEs as they are relatively cost effective compared with traditional forms of advertising such as print, radio and TV advertising. 

Events the dark horse

In third place, event marketing is also proving to be one of the favourite promotional channels for small businesses (38 per cent of business owners revealed experiential marketing wins them business). Events such as trade shows and exhibitions are a great way to meet new clients while smaller networking events and meetup groups can help SMEs or freelancers expand their local business network.

Overall, it’s clear marketing for small businesses is more about building personal relationships via face-to-face channels. Networking and events are a great way to do this and can be vital in helping a small business in its development phase. Digital marketing is the most cost-effective means of marketing a small business, but with so much competition online you will need to have a unique message to stand out via these channels.