Why you need to rethink how you engage with SMEs

Insight Report Findings

Why you need to rethink how you

engage with SMEs

Over 99% of private sector businesses in the UK are Small Medium Sized Enterprises(SMEs)

Despite this figure (or perhaps because of it), they can be a complex group of organisations to fully understand and often not the simplest to communicate with.

We recently published a report to help understand the dynamics of the SME marketplace and glean key insights for consideration when targeting this sector.

Here we share with you 5 of the all-too-common ways in which B2B brands fail to engage this audience.

1. Taking the one-size fits all approach

The day-to-day life between the owner of a new start-up and a 150 employee organisation will be dramatically dissimilar, yet both are considered an “SME” and will therefore both generally be approached in the same

manner by most B2B brands.

Different sizes of SME’s behave differently, have different challenges, different purchasing patterns, and access information differently.

2. Overestimating the breadth of your relevance

It might be that your product/service is, in theory, appropriate for businesses of all types and sizes, but your marketing or messaging probably isn’t - or at least you may find a more targeted approach to content will serve you better.

If you th

ink yo

ur conte

nt is

releva

nt to all

SMEs, you may

want to th

ink again..

.

3. Assuming everyone wants to hear all you have to say

It’s not absurdly unrealistic to think that small business owners should be keen to take on board any information which will help them develop their business in some way.

The reality is that they are just not desperate to hear everything you have to say.

4. Missing key opportunities

With fewer chances to engage this audience it’s even more important to do all you can to take advantage of the opportunities at your disposal.

Many SMEs, especially the larger businesses it would appear, are indeed time-poor.

5. Failing to consider the journey

Some of the more effective B2B campaigns are those which address multiple parts of the SME ‘journey’.

By supporting this audience through different stages of business development with a sustained series of campaigns, advertisers are likely to successfully resonate with their readers at different levels.

1. Not all SMEs are the same. Tailor your message to the size of SME and the challenges they are specifically facing.

2. Don’t expect your content to appeal to all SME’s across the spectrum - if that’s your objective then consider creating more targeted content to suit different groups.

3. SME’s of different sizes have a varying degree of time availability, so unless your content appeals to a vital issue for them, they probably won’t have time to read it.

4. From segmenting your data and using more targeted messaging, to ensuring your campaigns are fully optimised for mobile devices, there are many ways of identifying opportunities for improved engagement.

5. Be mindful of where your target SMEs are on their business journey and build your content around what will work best for them.

Recap: 5 ways to better engage SMEs...

Want more detailed insights?

These findings are from our SME Insight Report which you can download in full from Sift Media.

It’s aimed to help you understand the dynamics of the SME marketplace and glean key insights for consideration when targeting this sector. The study, which looks in detail at the concerns, behaviour and level of engagement of Sift Media’s audience of hundreds of thousands of SMEs, revealed some unique findings.

Download the report today