For the third consecutive year, social media is the top marketing channel used by small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), according to BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor™, Wave 20 (LCM20). Among 1,000 SMBs surveyed, 77.6 percent (up from 73.2 last year)…
American Express is in its sixth year of supporting small businesses and the local economy with Small Business Saturday. The National Federation of Independent Businesses and American Express released the fourth-annual Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey. In it they…
Small businesses use multiple channels for advertising and promotion, both paid and free. In our most recent Wave 20 of the Local Commerce Monitor™ (3Q/2016) small businesses that use broadcast in their mix of advertising have big advertising budgets that…
Facebook and other social media channels tracked in the Local Commerce Monitor™ (LCM) Wave 20 continue to be the most popular used channels among small businesses. Small businesses' top three reasons they spend to advertise on social media are 1) ease…
Fall is usually ushered in by shorter days and lots of pumpkin spice lattes. At BIA/Kelsey fall is the time we release data from our annual survey of small businesses, The Local Commerce Monitor™ now in Wave 20. BIA/Kelsey's Local Commerce…
Mobile coupon usage by consumers is on the rise and is proving to drive consumers to buy more and try new technologies, according to eMarketer. eMarketer reports that by the end of 2016 104 million adults in the U.S. will be…
A recent study from Campaign Monitor and Market Cube on small and mid-size businesses use for marketing tools found that an all-in-one marketing cloud solution is not the answer. Small and mid-size businesses use a variety of advertising and marketing tools and, according…
A new study from the Alternative Board looks at the challenges faced by small businesses on social media. Over half of small businesses in the US have a Facebook page and the challenge for small businesses is not social presence…
With the end of summer and start of school, back to school shopping is on many consumers minds - 55% are using Pinterest for online shopping according to a Kleiner Perkin's trend report. BIA/Kelsey track small business use of more…
Small businesses are beginning to adopt mobile apps to their marketing strategies with 4% of SMBs in our Local Commerce Monitor™ say they use a mobile app in their advertising and marketing strategies. In a recent Clutch study, "Mobile Apps…
June is graduation month and in the spirit of graduation month in our Local Commerce Monitor™ Wave 19 data, there are some interesting segments of SMBs who are ahead of the curve on their use social or mobile channels than the…
Millennial consumers heavy usage of social and video is driving changes in how small businesses approach advertising according to a new study, "Unlocking the Most Powerful Shift in SMB Marketing," from Magisto. Millennials create video and share on social more than…
Instagram is being used by more small businesses. According to our Local Commerce Monitor ™ social media, especially newer channels like Instagram, are very appealing to small businesses. In our survey 11% of SMBs say they use Instagram and the…
The National Federal of Independent Businesses (NFIB), which is known for keeping the pulse on US small businesses through their monthly small business economics trends report, offers other interesting data on small business owners. There's been a lot of mention lately…
Yesterday at BIA/Kelsey's Engage pre-conference Women Leading In Local session sponsored by Advice Local, Nancy Shenker, media strategist and CEO of TheOnSwitch spoke about her new initiative, SheBoom, and offered advice on career development for women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. She…
The consumer’s path to purchase is changing. Technology, consumer preferences and, often, managerial decisions at major search companies can reshape industry strategy. BIA/Kelsey's new report "Consumer Micro-Moments and Businesses: Trends and Best Practices," explores Google's commissioned report from Ipsos, a…
Wrapping up National Small Business Week, the Local Search Association (LSA) published a great infographic that compiles research on the state of small business marketing. LSA's infographic reports 71 percent of SMBs manage their digital marketing internally and they use 7.8 marketing channels.…
Nielsen's latest Watch Report on the media touch points of digital shoppers found live TV, specifically local news and broadcast, continues to be an effective medium to reach digital auto shoppers. According to Nielsen, consumers' decisions like shopping for a…
In our Local Commerce Monitor (LCM) Wave 19 survey of small businesses, when we look at small businesses who use direct mail, almost 60% pay a third party to manage their digital advertising. 30% of these small businesses say they…
Very small businesses (VSBs) compete on digital channels because they take advantage of the large amount of free digital advertising and marketing available. In our Local Commerce Monitor™ (LCM) survey of small businesses, VSBs are defined as small businesses with one…