Owners of financial services businesses in the UK understand the benefits of online PR and marketing but many are “too slow to realise their enormous benefits,” according to a recent survey.

The survey polled 1,000 businesses in the UK about planned marketing activity for 2012.
While four out of five are set to increase their marketing budgets this year, only one third have a social media policy in place. Almost a quarter of businesses polled (23.7%) either do not coordinate digital and traditional marketing, or do so on an ad-hoc basis.

Key findings

• Only one-third of businesses in the UK have a social media policy
• For micro-businesses with fewer than 10 employees, this figure drops to less than 2%
• Of those that do, almost half (44%) are not confident about their policies
• One-third of small businesses do not plan to have a social media policy in 2012
• One quarter of small businesses plan to trial a new marketing agency in 2012
• 26% will increase PR budget, 29% social media budget, and 25% overall marketing budget in 2012
• Only 4% of small businesses will reduce their marketing budget in 2012
• Over one-third of small businesses still rely on the managing director or single key figure to tie together online and offline marketing
• Small businesses see digital marketing as a low-risk, low-cost strategy – but 38% of micro-businesses still haven’t thought about a digital marketing plan

Coordinated marketing

The survey focused on three key sizes of business: micro businesses, with fewer than ten employees; small businesses, with between ten and 49 employees; and medium-sized businesses, with between 50 and 250 employees.

Digital marketing is a proven means to achieve results as part of a coordinated marketing plan. However, too many financial services businesses end up chasing their tails. At the moment, too many business owners seem too slow to realise their enormous benefits.

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