While it would be great to write that the dark days of the recession are over and there is nothing but blue skies for the foreseeable future that would be irresponsible. We understand that things are difficult for SMB’s (small and medium business), independent retailers selling major brands / manufacturers’ goods and for the brands themselves.

Things may still be rocky but it is important to see just what people are turning to for relief. Smart money appears to be on marketing and advertising, particularly online, according to new study released recently by FedEx. Here is a chart to give you a real picture of just where businesses are going to help their operations grow.

These are interesting findings (to download the study’s fact sheet click here) especially considering the source. We always caution readers to consider the source of any research materials because they can be more self-serving than informative.

In this case, since FedEx owns and operates many FedExOffice locations around the country (formerly FedEx Kinko’s) you would anticipate some bias toward printed material rather than their online counterparts. Well, that does occur in other parts of the study but the gist of the findings is that online is where the opportunity lives for the SMB. Online spending is essentially remaining the same year over year while newsletters and direct mail have dropped considerably. Of note, the only category that increased was the use of social media which is online marketing’s first cousin and has a very symbiotic relationship with online marketing approaches as a whole.

So what are you doing? Are you in agreement with these findings or are you seeing something different? Whether you are a dealer or a manufacturer it is getting harder and harder to ignore the online channel due to it’s reach, measurability, flexibility and growth potential. Where do you stand today?

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