Small Business Marketing Focus On Existing Customers, April 2014 [TABLE]

Table - Small Business Marketing Focus On Existing Customers

Small business owners are now spending the bulk of their time and money marketing to existing customers rather than trying to attract new ones, according to a report from Manta and BIA/Kelsey. That determination is based on a couple of surveys carried out among Manta’s membership, which found 62% of small business owners spending the majority of their annual marketing budgets to retain existing customers.

By contrast, some 56% are investing less than one-quarter of their time and effort on marketing for customer acquisition.

That’s a stark turnaround from previous research conducted by BIA/Kelsey, in which more than one-third of SMBs surveyed had claimed to devote the majority of their marketing budgets to customer acquisition, compared to just 6% allocating the majority to customer retention. It’s difficult to conceive of such a wholesale turnaround occurring in little more than a year, suggesting that the varying survey samples may play a role in the difference. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.