News

July 20, 2010

Confident small firms plan to maintain marketing spend

Small businesses are more likely to maintain their marketing spend over the next 12 months than their larger counterparts, research from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has revealed.

According to the CIM’s annual Marketing Trends Survey of more than 800 businesses of all sizes between April and May this year, small businesses showed the highest likelihood of increasing their marketing staff. In fact, 15 per cent said they would hire additional marketers compared to just 3 per cent of large companies.

The research found that small firms were also more positive about their prospects for the forthcoming year than larger firms, despite lingering doubts over the health of the economy.

More than half of small firms said they expected the recovery to gain ground in the next 12 months, while big businesses (those with a turnover of £100 million or more) were far less optimistic, with a fifth predicting further economic slowdown ahead.

The CIM’s director of research, David Thorp, said small firms’ more optimistic outlook could be partly be explained by their reduced exposure to large-scale public sector cuts than bigger organisations. “Small firms are often more adept at changing their business model during tough times,” he added. “Meaning they are under less pressure to cut resources.”

Thorp said that small firms were also increasingly recognising the value of marketing within their business. “Marketing has a powerful role to play as it can help identify emerging opportunities in new markets,” he said.

Forum of Private Business (FPB) spokesman, Chris Gorman, agreed. “Marketing is no longer seen as a nice extra for small firms, but an integral function of the business,” he said.

“Our own research at the end of last year showed that members were pushing the sales and marketing side of their business much harder, in response to the downturn,” added Gorman. “These days there are lots of accessible and cost-effective ways for small firms to get their message across and differentiate from competitors, such as e-marketing and social media networks.”