Danny Richman recently conducted a survey where he reached out to over 500 SME's to find out which online marketing channels they were spending their time and money on. Furthermore, he wanted to then look at which of these marketing channels actually bring a return and determine whether SME's are spending within the correct channels or not. This is an invaluable exercise that Danny has performed and we think that you're going to be quite interested in the results that he compiled. These results are best seen visually, so we've included the graphs and limited our commentary to allow for easy consumption. The first chart looks at where SME's invest their most time. It wasn't surprising that social media took poll position, we believe this is because social media's barrier to entry is low and it's easy for business owners to get started themselves. The process of creating a Facebook Page and writing an update is somewhat of a norm these days. Furthermore, there is a great deal of pressure on business owners to be on social media. 
The second chart takes a similar standpoint, in that social media is where business owners are spending most of their money. Again, this makes sense, businesses are utilising social media, it's incredibly easy to plug in a credit card and boost a Page update. With the pressure to increase Page likes and engagement, it's quick and easy to spend a few dollars here and there each time an update is published. 
It's time for this sort of information to be shared high and wide, stop spending time and money on marketing channels that aren't leading to business! Invest in your organic search, because it's obvious that that is the channel which is bringing the biggest return.
The second chart takes a similar standpoint, in that social media is where business owners are spending most of their money. Again, this makes sense, businesses are utilising social media, it's incredibly easy to plug in a credit card and boost a Page update. With the pressure to increase Page likes and engagement, it's quick and easy to spend a few dollars here and there each time an update is published. Now for the interesting stuff
The next 3 charts focus on social media, email marketing and organic search, specifically looking at the time spent, money spent, traffic gained and conversions gained. If you're a business owner, the very most important thing is the conversions because that's either a business lead or a sale. Nobody cares how many people looked at your shop, it's how many people bought from your shop. It's rather clear that SME's are doing things incorrectly, they're spending a lot of time and money on social media and email marketing when it's organic search that is leading to the most conversions.
This information is more clearly represented in the chart below: It's time for this sort of information to be shared high and wide, stop spending time and money on marketing channels that aren't leading to business! Invest in your organic search, because it's obvious that that is the channel which is bringing the biggest return. 