Despite small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) accounting for 44% of US GDP according to the US Small Business Administration, many marketers aren't allocating sufficient resources to reach this powerful segment.

"SMBs make decisions quickly, are open to new solutions, and often prefer digital-first, self-serve buying experiences," said our analyst Kelsey Voss. "While individual deal sizes may be smaller, the opportunity adds up. Marketers who build credibility early can earn long-term loyalty."

Here are five key takeaways for marketers to tap into the SMB market, based on a recent survey of 456 US marketing professionals commissioned by Intuit SMB MediaLabs in partnership with EMARKETER.

The SMB market is an untapped opportunity

Most marketers (53.1%) agree that targeting SMBs is an untapped opportunity, but many aren’t reaching out, per our survey with Intuit.

• Some marketers do not target SMBs at all (14.3%) or focus 30% or less of their budgets on them (38.6%), according to the survey.
• Marketers’ hesitation to market to SMBs isn’t due to a lack of potential business. Some 58.1% of surveyed marketers have products or services designed for or heavily used by SMBs. And they see positive ROI from SMB marketing.

SMBs are ready for more attention

Some 35.5% of marketers will increase their SMB-targeted campaigns this year, the EMARKETER and Intuit survey found.

• Growing demand is the top reason marketers are spending more with SMBs, cited by 44.5% of respondents increasing spend.
• Marketing to SMBs can also expand potential reach by unlocking a new audience, cited by 33.5%.

SMB scale proves challenging

There are 34.8 million small businesses in the US, per the US Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy and 45.9% of US employees work for small businesses.

• Unsurprisingly, 53.1% of marketers find marketing to SMBs is difficult to scale, resulting in the underutilization of that audience, per the EMARKETER and Intuit survey.
• Economic strain on SMBs makes B2B marketers’ jobs harder. They must reach the right decision-makers from the right SMBs at the right time, and communicate deals, discounts, and urgency to encourage businesses with limited spending power to convert.

Consider how SMBs perceive your messaging

Marketers are struggling to perfect their SMB advertising approach. Among marketers, 43.2% say they need help creating an SMB marketing strategy, the EMARKETER and Intuit survey found.

• More than half of marketers talk to SMBs like a business (55.9%), rather than like a consumer (31.6%), per EMARKETER and Intuit. They are reimagining and communicating product and service uses through an SMB-focused lens.
• Marketers need ads with clear language and precise targeting for SMBs. They need to appeal to SMBs’ economic concerns with deals and discounts and reach them in the right places.

Commerce media is an underused channel

The biggest channels for targeting SMBs are social media (59.6%) and email (59.1%), the EMARKETER and Intuit study found. Commerce/retail media networks are less used (17.2%).

• Commerce media networks can help marketers overcome their biggest hindrance to reaching SMBs: the size and diversity of the market.
• “Commerce media networks offer a new way to reach SMBs using first-party data and real-time shopping behavior,” Voss said. “They connect B2B marketers with buyers actively researching or purchasing business products, making them a high-intent, performance-driven channel that complements existing strategies.”

Download the full report here.

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