“What creates two out of three net new American jobs; produces close to half of our nation’s goods and services (nonfarm private GDP); and can be found, coast to coast, in every small town, big city and rural enclave?”
That was Marla Contreras-Sweet, Small Business Administration Administrator, and the answer is the 30.7 million small businesses (SBA, 2019) that drive the economy and provide goods and services across the nation. These 30 million small businesses in America account for 99% of all businesses and 54% of all U.S. sales (SBA, 2018).
In honor of Small Business Week, a yearly event that began with a presidential proclamation in 1963, we compiled a list of more than 50 compelling small business statistics available in 2019 and 2020.
93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and 47% of people click on one of the first three listings (SEJ, 2016)
Use this list not only as a gauge of where your small business stands in the pack, but also to make strategic decisions in your digital marketing game plan for 2019 and beyond.
General Small Business Statistics
Small Business Failure, Growth, and Operations Statistics
At any given time, 84% of Americans are shopping for something (Google, 2019)
Small businesses accounted for 65% of net new jobs (SBA, 2019)
Two-thirds of all businesses survive at least two years, half of all businesses survive at least five years, and one-third of all businesses will survive at least 10 years (Fundera, 2017)
82% of small business failures are due to issues with cash flow (VisualCapitalist, 2017)
42% of small businesses fail because there’s no market for their product or service and 14% fail because they ignore their customers (VisualCapitalist, 2017)
83% of employers say retaining employees is their top benefits objective (VisualCapitalist, 2017)
Microbusinesses (those that employ fewer than 10 employees) make up 75.3% of private-sector employers and employ 10.5% of all employees (SBA, 2017)
Small businesses create about 2 out of 3 new jobs in the U.S. each year
66% of SMB owners are personally responsible for three or more of the following areas of their business: operations, finance, sales, marketing, human resources, customer service, product development, or IT (Salesforce, 2017)
While only 11% of SMBs currently use AI, 51% believe AI is an important factor when choosing new technologies (Salesforce, 2017)
The average SBA 7(a) loan is $371,628. The maximum loan amount is $5 million. There is no minimum (SBA, 2017)
SMBs + Digital Marketing: Did You Know…
Less than 8% of total B2B product sales are closed directly through the Internet, versus 15% for B2C products
Studies show that between 70-80% of people research a company online BEFORE visiting the small business or making a purchase with them
72% small businesses focus on increasing revenue, but they also see great value in establishing new customer relationships (60%), and marketing and advertising (46%) (Business Insider, 2017)
43% of SMBs says that improving customer experience and retention is their top strategy to improve revenue growth
30% say that keeping up with technology advances is a major concern of small business owners
Driving sales (51.3%) and building brand awareness (48.4%) are the two top digital marketing priorities for small businesses (Leadpages, 2017)
Mobile usage per B2B worker is expected to increase from two hours a day to three by 2020, driven by millennials, Gen Z, and the increasing use of smartphones by older workers (Google, 2017)
Mobile drives or influences an average of more than 40% of revenue in leading B2B organizations (Google, 2017)
50% of B2B search queries today are made on smartphones, and this percentage will grow to 70% by 2020
Mobile marketing can accelerate time to B2B purchase by 20% (BCG, 2017)
81% of shoppers conduct research online before buying.
Studies show that between 70-80% of people research a company online BEFORE visiting a small business or making a purchase with them.
97% of consumers go online to find a local business or local services.
86% of people look up the location of a business on Google Maps
82% of smartphone users use a search engine when looking for a local business
SMBs + Digital Marketing: What Platforms and Strategies Are U.S. Small Businesses Investing In?
59% of marketers say inbound produces the highest quality leads for their sales team. (HubSpot State of Inbound, 2019)
61% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority (Hubspot, 2019)
59% percent of small business leaders express difficulty implementing and rolling out new technologies (Salesforce, 2019)
96% of SMBs say they use social media in their marketing strategy (Social Media Examiner, 2017)
Almost 90% of marketers say their social marketing efforts have increased exposure for their business, and 75% say they’ve increased traffic (Vendasta, 2017)
61% of small businesses invest in social media marketing (Clutch.co, 2018)
25% of small businesses invest in online marketing
17% are investing in search engine optimization (SEO)
26% are investing in email marketing
50% of small business owners use two or fewer software platforms or applications in their marketing
80% of small businesses do not invest in content marketing, and experts warn that they are missing a key marketing opportunity (Clutch.co, 2018)
Email, website, and social media are the top three marketing tools used by small businesses: 54% use email, 51% have a website, and 48% use social media
Less than 30% of small businesses use website analytics, call tracking, or coupon codes. 18% of small businesses admit to not tracking anything
56% of those with a website say their website has a responsive design
73% of businesses are investing in design to differentiate their brands online (Adobe, 2018)
Digital Marketing Channels: SEO Statistics
50% of search queries are four words or longer. (IMPACT, 2019)
Google accounted for 91% of US site visits produced by mobile search in Q3 2017 (Merkle, 2017)
93% of online experiences begin with a search engine
The average mobile webpage still takes 15.3 seconds to load (Google, 2018)
3 in 4 smartphone owners turn to mobile search first to address their immediate needs (Google, 2017)
46% of all searches on Google have local intent (Google, 2018)
Google drives 96% of mobile search traffic, followed by Yahoo at 2% and Bing at 1%. Google Search is also one of the most popular mobile apps in the U.S. (NetMarketShare, 2018)
87% of consumers searching on a smartphone use a search engine at least once a day
61% of marketers list improving SEO and search engine rankings as their top goal (HubSpot, 2017)
65% of 25-49 year old’s speak to their voice-enabled devices at least once a day. (PWC, 2019)
Voice is expected to be a $40 billion channel by 2022. (OC&C Strategy Consultants, 2019)
By 2020, 50% of all online searches will be voice searches. (Wordstream, 2018)
As of January 2018, there were about 1 billion voice searches per month. (Wordstream, 2018)
Two-thirds of people who use digital voice assistants, such as Amazon Echo or Google Home, use their smartphones less often. (CNBC, 2018)
Digital Marketing Channels: Your Website
Once your page loads, users form an opinion in .05 seconds
75% of people have judged a company’s credibility based on its website design
47% of people expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less, and after three seconds, 53% of people will click the “back” button
39% of people will stop engaging with a website if images won’t load or take too long to load
According to a study by B2B research firm Clutch.co:
Less than two-thirds (64%) of small businesses have a website
By 2019, 94% small business websites will be mobile friendly
Among small businesses without a website, 58% plan to build one in 2018
Small businesses cite cost (26%), irrelevance to industry (27%), and social media (21%) as key reasons behind their decision not to have a website
Among small business websites, 81% are mobile friendly
SMB Websites and Consumer Behavior:
80% of internet users own a smartphone (Smart Insights, 2017)
53% of mobile website visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes longer than three seconds to load. For every one second delay in site load time, conversions fall by 12% (Google, 2018)
In 2018, 52.2% of all worldwide online traffic was generated through mobile phones, up from 50.3% in the previous year (Statista, 2018)
57% of all U.S. online traffic now comes from smartphones and tablets (BrightEdge, 2018)
84% of users would abandon a purchase if data was sent over an insecure connection
82% of people won’t browse unsecured websites
As of 2019, 94% of Google search results are HTTPS (Jumpshot, 2019)
75% of consumers have admitted to judging a company’s credibility based on their website design.
A single bad experience on a website makes users 88% less likely to visit the website again
SMBs + Digital Marketing: Let’s Talk About the Money, Honey
While content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing, it generates more than three times as many leads
More than one quarter (28%) of small businesses spend less than $500 on a website
According to GoDaddy research of more than 1,000 very small businesses, nearly half reported suffering a financial loss due to hacking, with one in eight saying the loss was greater than $5,000 (GoDaddy, 2018)
Most small businesses (47%) spend less than $10,000 on digital marketing (Clutch.co, 2018)
1 in 10 SMBs doesn’t invest in any kind of marketing
71% of small business owners do their own digital marketing, instead of leaving it to experts (Digital.com, 2017)
1 in 5 SMBs doesn’t use digital marketing yet
50% of SMBs spend less than $300 per month on online marketing
62% of small businesses are investing 4% or more of their revenue on marketing (Engage2Connect, 2016)
37% of small businesses plan to increase their digital marketing spend in the next 12 months
47% of small business owners handle marketing efforts on their own (LeadPages)
73% of companies are investing in design to differentiate their brands (Adobe, 2018)
Organizations describing themselves as “design-driven” are 69% more likely than their peers to have exceeded their 2017 business goals by a significant margin
Organizations in which creativity is highly valued are 46% more likely to have exceeded their 2017 business goals (Adobe, 2018)
Blue Corona's Editorial Staff is determined to help you increase your leads and sales, optimize your marketing costs, and differentiate your brand by passing on our tribal knowledge. The team vigilantly stays on top of the latest in digital marketing, bringing you the top insights with expert commentary. Want to see something on our blog you haven't seen yet? Shoot us an email and our marketing team will get to work.
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