This is how digital SMEs are today and tomorrow
German small and medium-sized enterprises are already tending to interact with their customers through digital channels. Six of the top 10 channels for customer engagement are online.
The company website is at the top of the list. For 85%, it is the most important way to reach customers and ensure the company's success. This is followed by a presence in search engines such as Google (60 percent) and own profiles in social media (52 percent). Trade fairs (45%) and the sales force (43%) are only in fourth and fifth place. These are the findings of a survey conducted by the online media agency Kontor Digital Media in cooperation with the Bundesverband mittelständische Wirtschaft (BVMW) Metropolregion Hamburg. A total of 129 local marketing decision-makers from medium-sized companies were surveyed.
In the next two years, SMEs want to address their customers even more digitally. The five channels in which companies want to invest more are all digital: almost eight out of ten will rely more heavily on their website, while around three quarters of respondents will focus on their presence in search engines and social media accounts. More than half of those surveyed will make greater use of advertisements in social media and communication via newsletters. Around a quarter will consider their own apps or online stores.
The currently most frequently used non-digital channels of trade fairs and field sales will not lose their importance across the board in the future, but will become less relevant compared to the aforementioned digital channels for addressing customers. The store or office as well as print products are slowly disappearing from the marketing mix: 31% plan to make less use of the office or store. 43% and 54% of SMEs respectively will reduce the use of printed catalogs or direct mail.
Thomas Kabke-Sommer, Managing Director, Kontor Digital Media: "Medium-sized companies have to deal with a variety of channels and instruments for addressing customers. Moving image platforms and banner advertising are also important customer contact points. The key is to only focus on communication channels that offer a healthy balance between investment and profit."
Andreas Feike, State Representative, BVMW Hamburg Metropolitan Region: "The survey results show that companies are already communicating digitally, but some are still stuck in old structures and habits that cannot be eliminated overnight. However, digitalization is a huge burden, and they are aware of this."
The Report with all the important results from the survey "Digital Marketing in SMEs" can be here can be downloaded.
About the survey
The "Digital Marketing in SMEs" survey was conducted by Kontor Digital Media in cooperation with the German Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (BVMW) Hamburg Metropolitan Region. A total of 129 marketing decision-makers from medium-sized brand companies (B2B and B2C) that are members of the BVMW Hamburg Metropolitan Region were surveyed in July 2016. The process was an online survey to which respondents were invited by email. The topics surveyed included the current and future use of offline and online tools and channels, sources of information on digital marketing, use of budget and strategy, goals, measuring success, collaboration with external service providers and challenges in digital marketing.
