Marketing for the REALLY Small Business

Photo by Rob Sarmiento on Unsplash

Growing up in a sometimes income-challenged family made me, as an adult, curious when it comes to small businesses and their owners. Those that are truly small interest me in particular. Maybe they're a one-owner, one-employee operation. Or maybe they're family-owned, tucked away, but still in business after long years. How do they do it -- stay in business? Why do they do it?

I'm always looking at things from a marketing and advertising perspective. Getting noticed as a product manufacturer or a service provider takes time, effort, and money. How does that all come together for the small business, especially when maybe there's not much to work with? For that matter, how small is a small business -- or a REALLY small business?

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration website, "Small business size standards define the largest that a business concern, together with its affiliates, may be and yet qualify as a small business concern for SBA and most other federal programs" (see the link at the end of this post). Size standards vary from one business classification code (NAICS) to the next. Broadly speaking, as of October 1, 2017, 500 employees is the size limit for most "manufacturing and mining industries" with nonmanufacturing limited to "$7.5 million in average annual receipts."

Statistics from the March-April 2016 issue of The Small Business Advocate show that 99.7% of all businesses in the United States meet the standards for a small business and that they account for 48% of the U.S. workforce.

But here's a different take, a smaller take, on those same stats. I live in Southwest Ohio, literally just a few miles from the Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky state lines. A recent search of ReferenceUSA's U.S. Businesses Database (Infogroup) reveals that there are 957,950 businesses in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. Of those, 799,005 (83%) have less than 20 employees. And out of that number, 554,688 (58% of the total) generate one million dollars or less in annual revenue.

That means 58% of Ohio-Indiana-Kentucky businesses don't even come close to the maximum standards for small business qualification!

Let's get smaller still. A 25-mile radius search with my home ZIP code at the center shows 40,443 businesses with less than 20 employees and under $1 million in annual revenue. That's a lot of business. And that's a great thing but it makes my head hurt.

The statistics need some analysis. At first glance, they don't tell us (me) how many of those businesses have been around for a long time and how many are relatively new. They don't reveal what service or product the business offers. They don't tell us what the business does in terms of its own marketing, advertising, and selling to stay in business.

That information is out there. So the real question is what can marketers do to assist and help grow the really small businesses, the large percentage that may not have much to spend on marketing or marketing tools? Most small businesses have, at the least, a website and maybe a Facebook page. Those that do usually make an effort to keep the website current and create a social media presence. Also, depending upon the industry, local print ads and event or seasonally-focused online ads may provide additional exposure at a relatively low cost.

Still, the one thing many small businesses lack is a blog. Like it or not, current, well-written information plays a big role in determining search results. Even businesses needing only to capitalize on local search would do well to both keep the website up-to-date and post timely information in a weekly blog. Since not all business owners feel confident writing for the web, there's been an increase in content generation companies over the last several years. But smaller businesses with limited budgets may still prefer a more personal, local touch to their web content efforts.

That's something a marketer, who actually knows the local small business owner, might be able to provide. Which raises additional questions:

• Would such a service be seen as cost-effective by the business owner? 
• And would providing that service be worth the marketer's time and effort?

I'm open to suggestions.


Related Articles:  A Start-Up for StartUp's

Links:  U.S. Small Business Administration, Small Business Size Standards