More than a quarter (28%) of small and medium-sized businesses say increasing their online presence (further developing a website/online store) is their top marketing priority for 2014, according to a recent report by j2 Global's Campaigner, eFax and eVoice.
Adopting email marketing automation to easily and efficiently reach customers was a close second, cited by 23% of survey respondents as their top priority.
Ensuring email marketing efforts aren't thwarted by spam filters or the new tabs in Gmail is third on the list (11%), followed by adopting mobile marketing best practices (14%).
Below, additional key findings from the survey of 1,647 SMB professionals.
Mobile Apps
- 70% of survey respondents plan to use the Facebook mobile app for business development and marketing in 2014.
- Twitter and YouTube are second and third in terms of mobile apps that SMBs have used and/or plan to adopt in the coming year.
- Despite consumer popularity, only 3% of SMBs have used or plan to use Snapchat.
Retiring Technologies
- 27% of SMBs surveyed plan to retire their fax machine in 2014.
- 23% plan to transition from a landline to a virtual phone system/mobile phones.
Personal Priorities
- 43% of respondents say exercising more often is their personal resolution for business success in 2014.
- 23% say being open to new ideas is their personal resolution.
About the research: The report was based on data from an online survey of 1,647 SMB professionals conducted between November 15-22, 2013.
