The higher spending SMBs, which we call Plus Spenders*, use an average of 20.8 different media channels for advertising and promotion, according to Wave 20 (Q3/2016) of our Local Commerce Monitor™ survey of small and medium businesses. But while the number of media channels they use has increased sharply, their ad spending has remained fairly consistent for the past several waves, indicating that these SMBs are taking advantage of free or low cost advertising media, such as various digital and social media channels. “SMBs are benefiting from the lower costs of digital media, as well as the opportunity to do more of the implementation themselves,” said Celine Matthiessen, Vice President of Analysis and Insights at BIA/Kelsey. “The key takeaway for businesses pursuing this segment of SMBs is that they are investing the savings back into their advertising and marketing plans. This could potentially create more space for new types of digital services in areas like mobile and social, as well as continued spend on reliable traditional media advertising.”

As you can see in the infographic above, half of their Top 10 media used are traditional media. Their most used media is Direct Mail, with 66.3% using the medium for advertising and promotion.

More results from BIA/Kelsey’s LCM Wave 20 survey will be profiled at the company’s first event in 2017, LOCAL IMPACT Dallas. The session, Getting Inside the Minds of SMB Advertisers, will explore top findings from the survey, examining Plus Spender and Franchise SMBs in particular. More details can be found here.

* Plus Spender SMBs are those small and medium businesses in our survey who spend a minimum of $25,000 annually on advertising and promotion.

Click on the link to download BIA/Kelsey’s Franchise Advertising and Marketing Research Report for free, compliments of Vya.

Two reports with findings from the Plus Spender SMB portion of the LCM survey are available for purchase: the condensed report, Plus Spenders SMBs TRENDS – LCM Wave 20 and the complete survey and findings, Plus Spenders SMBs REPORT – LCM Wave 20.