Like most businesses in the United States, small businesses have felt the impact of this volatile economy. Yet, small business continues to be one of the key employers and drivers of economic growth in the United States. Small business holds the key to our economic future.
We enjoy infographics and love small business, so we thought we would make the last post before this blog changes direction on Saturday something we had never tried before. We wanted to have fun with learning about this process ourselves, so we created the graphic without the help of professional designers. The end result is not polished linkbait, but hopefully something that the readers of this blog will enjoy.
Many thanks to Bailey B. at IntenseFence for his great work creating the graphic! Please revisit this blog after Saturday to learn more about our new direction.
Click on the graphic to see it at full size.
The State of Small Business in the United States
DID YOU ENJOY THIS POST? CLICK HERE FOR REGULAR UPDATES VIA RSS!
Don’t think marketing will help?… I wonder what they think will help… We’ve got our work cut out for us educating, then, don’t we? And I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that so many think they can do all their marketing themselves.
Shakirah Dawud recently wrote about this…How To Create A Telesummit To Build Business
It’s an interesting phenomenon. Of course, marketing budgets are often among the first to get cut when business gets light — no matter how counterproductive that might be — but I was struck by the $1,000 number. I actually had to go back and make sure that it was not a monthly number — but no, it’s annual!
I agree — I think educating SMB’s is important, particularly for marketing agencies / consultants.
Thanks for stopping by Shakirah!
Thats so true. The last company i worked for stopped mostly all campaigns just to realize that the company cant make enough money as long as there arent new customers.
But as stupid as it sounds – Im thankful that this happened. Otherwise i would never have made it to internet marketing
Yikes! That’s really disheartening to hear that small businesses don’t believe in marketing. And, then for the ones that do, it’s crazy to think that $1,000 will get you anywhere.
As Shakirah said, we need to be better educators at the importance of marketing and the kind of difference it can make for businesses. It makes me wonder if this mindset is perhaps why so many small businesses fail? Definitely some food for that.
Love the graphic! (Despite the dismal numbers).
Laura Click recently wrote about this…How to Build a Blog Community
One thing that might be a part of it is the number of solo businesses counted in the SMB ranks. Nonetheless, I agree with you and Shakirah; the $1k number is staggering. I would think it would be interesting to see it broken down further, by number of employees or some other indicator of business size.
Glad you liked the graphic! Thanks for the thoughts!
Pretty nice graphic, considering you didn’t hire a professional. The 29,000,000 figure is amazing! Well my business made it past the first seven years
It is really tough to drum up business these days, now I see why, … $1,000! Seeing that marketing fact in the bottom right makes me wonder what most small businesses are thinking. As Shakirah and Laura said, we must educate them on the importance of marketing and branding.
Looking forward to see what you have in store, although I’ll be on vacation next week!
That’s very nice to hear coming from a professional like yourself! Congrats on passing the 7 year mark.
$1k… a year! I agree; that one just blew me away. You’re right though; it explains a lot about why so many marketing folks are chasing the few dollars that are in play.
I appreciate you stopping by Craig! Enjoy your vacation… my post will be waiting on you when you return.
Thanks, Adam. Look forward to coming back!
Hey Adam, first time visiting your blog. Excellent info-graphic! We just celebrated our 3rd year in business, actually opened at the beginning of the this mess. What the heck was I thinking?!?!? For the first year and half, we should have closed a number of times. Then we changed our marketing strategy, and it’s been uphill ever since.
I was a little surprised by the $1000 number. I was spending that a month in the beginning. Though now I would put my neck out to say that it can be done with that number. The web has changed the cost of entry for a small business. Most tools are very low cost, so the only real cost is your time until you can afford for someone else to do it for you.
Craig, congrats on year seven!
Thanks again for posting! -Adam
Adam Sokoloff recently wrote about this…5 reasons why you CAN & SHOULD take on the GIANTS of business with Inbound Marketing
Hey Adam, thanks so much for taking time to comment. Congratulations on year 3, a big milestone!
I understand what you are saying about the cost and the web — presumably you’re referring to inbound marketing. (I am assuming based on your link and the fact that I saw you at Marcus’.) I would say the ability to have such a low mktg budget and still be successful is partially dependent on a few things — owner time, the industry, and the competition. Like you said, if you have to pay someone else to do it; the cost changes. Also, how quickly you get results with inbound is definitely affected by the industry and what the competition is doing. That being said, I’m a huge fan of inbound!
I really appreciate you stopping by!
Adam,
Thanks for the words of encouragement, though by your graphic, still much work to be done!
Yes, definitely referring to inbound, it’s what saved my young business, and its a large part of our growth success story. Certainly inbound wouldn’t be the only factor. I’d like to think we are putting out a decent product with excellent service…..at least like to think so
Interesting things will happen when your back is up against wall. Either you give in and submit, or you fight back with everything you got! For me, it was my pride, my savings, and having to look my kids square in the eye. I didn’t have the time, and we certainly had the competition (over 200 other local competitors). So I made time. Many other things were sacrificed, but non of those made the phone ring like inbound.
I agree, it will be different for everyone. As you’ve so beautifully noted, the odds are certainly stacked against us. Online levels the playing field. Small biz owners, especially in their early years have an awesome opportunity that was never accessible at any time in the past.
Adam Sokoloff recently wrote about this…Who are my Biggest “Business Building” Role Models? My Kids of Course!
Like most businesses in the United States, small businesses have felt the impact of this volatile economy -this is true
Twitter: bdorman264
Now we’re talking, I like the new direction…………pictures……………oh wait, that’s not it?
It is amazing to see how many small businesses there really are and the impact it has on the economy. Of course many fail due to lack of planning or capital. It’s pretty naive to think you can just show up and it will be successful but they do.
Looking forward to seeing your new direction; I’m somewhat struggling with mine as well. Maybe I will try pictures…………….:)
Good to see you Adam.
Bill Dorman recently wrote about this…Lean on me
If the new direction is pictures, I’m in trouble! They take a lot of work.
I know, I was surprised by the 29million stat, even with solo businesses included that is a huge number.
Well, I just posted about the new direction, so I now need all the help I can get.
Maybe some food for thought for you there — maybe not.
Thanks for the well wishes and great seeing you as always!
Adam Toporek recently wrote about this…This Blog Is Dead: I’m Starting Over
Twitter: FortuneMktgCo
Wow, with an annual marketing budget of less than $1000 no wonder most small businesses fail! How can Marketing Not help? Well, I take that back, BAD marketing doesn’t help, what a lot of business owners don’t realize is that there is a difference between BAD and GOOD marketing. That’s why my job helping small businesses grow by developing marketing systems that DO work is so hard— seeing it done right is rare in the small business world (sadly).
thanks for the info – good stuff!
-Carolyn Higgins, Fortune Marketing Company
You are so right Carolyn. As you can see from the other comments, the $1,000 figure was the one that floored everyone.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Twitter: balest
We have no measurable evidence that marketing has ever led to increased revenue. Thus, in year 6 we slashed our marketing budget from 15,000 to almost zero – to mostly online advertising. In year 6 we grew by 15%, made more profit and are able to spend that money on improvements that customers benefit from. Word of mouth and a quality product seems to be more important in our restaurant business than marketing. Also, some marketing seems to attract the wrong clientele.