There was recently a survey carried out by one of the UKs leading sales and marketing advisors regarding the marketing strategies of the UKs smaller, owner-managed technology businesses, and the results were somewhat surprising.
Overall, the 2009 technology sales and marketing survey found that for the most part, smaller, owner-managed technology companies in the UK arent helping themselves as much as they could be doing in these adverse economic times.
Companies from across the technology sector were asked 5 questions designed to profile the impact of the recession on their businesses and how they will be marketing themselves in the year ahead, the results showed that all respondents expected a downturn in revenues and that 98% were seeking new customers ” with the majority of those stating that they expected up to 25% of sales to come from this source.
It was discovered that web service providers had cut most staff and were also the ones reducing marketing spend. This suggests those in this sector have felt the pain more than most but by reducing marketing activities demonstrates great short-sightedness, as it is recognised that those who continue to actively market themselves will be the ones who will emerge from the recession in the best shape. These businesses should be doing more marketing ” not less.
It was also fairly concerning to learn that these small businesses were far too reliant on the personal approach, quoting referrals as their most frequent method of attracting new business ” and shying away from web and electronic forms of marketing.
Ironic though it is, it looks like it is these technology companies that arent making full use of the Internet, despite the fact that it is almost a simple fix and emarketing systems can be implemented almost immediately. Personal contacts should of course not be abandoned but companies cannot afford to shut out other options of marketing, particularly in these hard times.
The main standout finding from this survey was that a lot of companies that provide services on the web are making considerable cuts to their marketing spend. Findings from the last recession will tell you that it will be the companies that keep up their marketing strategies who will come out on top at the end of it all.
