Valuable Marketing Statistics and Trends

Social media plays a key role in acquiring new consumers and keeping existing ones happy:

• Virtually all small businesses use social media as a marketing tool. ⁽¹⁾

• Nearly 75% of consumers use social media to guide purchasing decisions. ⁽²⁾

• Almost half of small businesses rely on social media to generate brand awareness and to drive revenue. ⁽³⁾

• Customers who engage with businesses on social media spend up to 40% more in the long run and demonstrate a stronger commitment. ⁽⁴⁾

2. Search Engine Optimization

Ensuring SEO best practices will help make the most of consumers’ search engine research habits:

• More than three-quarters of consumers research online before making a purchase. ⁽⁵⁾

• About 75% of local-intent mobile searches result in online store visits within 24 hours, with 30% ending in a purchase. ⁽⁶⁾

• Almost half of Google searches have local intent. ⁽¹⁾

• Prior online research by shoppers leads to 13% greater in-store spending and 23% more repeat visits to businesses. ⁽⁷⁾

3. Websites

Websites provide valuable information – business hours, addresses, phone numbers, etc. – and make in-store shopping easier:

• Almost 95% of business owners believe a website is an effective digital marketing strategy. ⁽⁸⁾

• Over 90% of customers report visiting a business because of an online experience. ⁽¹⁾

• Nearly two-thirds of small businesses have a website. ⁽¹⁾

• Websites rank second as a small business marketing tool with 51% use (email is first at 54%).

4. Reviews

Ask customers to review your business and do not let any review, positive or negative, go unanswered.

• More than 90% of online consumer reviews are positive. ⁽⁹⁾

• Of the 81% of consumers who research online before purchasing, over half are consulting reviews as one of their sources. ⁽¹⁰⁾

• The top two channels for customer research are online reviews at 55% and company websites at 47%. ⁽⁹⁾

• Just over 40% of brick-and-mortar buyers read reviews before making a purchase. ⁽¹⁰⁾