When building up your business, it’s not always easy to know where to turn to draw in new clients, particularly given the myriad available channels one can pursue. Should you be focusing on SEO? Social? Traditional PR? Well according to a recent survey of 10,000 British business owners, it seems that the personal touch is best, with nearly three-quarters of SMEs claiming face-to-face has won them the greatest return.
Conducted by Display Wizard, the provider of display stands for promotions and exhibitions, the research found that good old-fashioned face-to-face was the most profitable promotional channel for 71% of SMEs.
Whilst this may suggest that modern marketing channels were struggling to compete with more traditional channels, it still seems that no SME owner can afford to underestimate the power of online marketing, with 67% of respondents saying that online marketing wins them the most business. Predictably the most avid fans of online are millennial entrepreneurs, 83% of whom use digital media to win new business.
Experiential marketing is another successful marketing channel for SMEs, with 38% of business owners saying that attending events is a good way for them to secure business. And this seems to be even more true of female entrepreneurs, 50% of whom stated it was a good tool for finding new customers and clients.
Tactics that were slightly less well rated were print media campaigns, radio and telemarketing, which only 34%, 19% and 16% of entrepreneurs respectively felt won them business. Some owners of small businesses also cited that word of mouth helped a great deal with winning business.
Perhaps the old traditions are still the best. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 
