SMBs Shift Budgets to Digital Advertising: Opportunities for Marketing Resellers

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are reallocating their budgets, showing a clear preference for digital advertising. The recent “Modern Commerce Monitor – Localogy Wave 9” report underlines this trend, offering valuable insights for marketing service resellers. These points reflect the growing importance and strategic shift towards digital and social media channels among SMBs, highlighting the effectiveness and targeted engagement capabilities of these platforms.

Digital Advertising Channels

A significant majority (84%) of SMBs leverage digital channels, including social media, website marketing, paid search listings, online display advertising, SEO, mobile advertising, SMS marketing, and online video. These channels offer targeted engagement and measurable results.

Social Media Dominance

SMBs primarily use Meta/Facebook (88%), Instagram (42%), YouTube (33%), and Snapchat (25%). Other notable platforms include Pinterest (22%), LinkedIn (21%), and TikTok (19%). This wide usage underscores the platforms’ effectiveness and reach.

Increased Investments

A notable 36% of SMBs plan to boost their social media budgets. This shift is driven by the reallocation from traditional (23%) and digital (12%) media channels, with some investing new funds (8%). The primary motivators include cost-effectiveness (36%), better audience targeting (31%), real-time engagement (29%), support for visual content (23%), and brand building (21%).

Managing Digital Marketing

Many SMBs (41%) handle their digital marketing internally. Others hire agencies (24%), collaborate with media companies (22%), or consult local experts (13%). 

Digital Advertising Opportunities for Marketing Resellers

For marketing resellers, this digital shift presents a golden opportunity. Most SMBs lack marketing expertise and look for a single partner to manage their online efforts or offer an easy-to-use DIY solution. While they understand the value of digital advertising, they require support. Offering a breadth of digital channels, like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Amazon Sponsored Display, enables marketing resellers to compete effectively with larger agencies and fellow media resellers. Also, this approach positions resellers as vital partners in SMBs’ marketing strategies by driving foot traffic, web traffic, and leads with ease and efficiency, boosting online visibility, engaging with customers more effectively, and garnering substantial sales. 

Amazon Ads Sponsored Display

Amazon Sponsored Display is a powerful new tool for targeting proprietary audiences based on purchase and viewing behaviors in the Amazon ecosystem. Tiger Pistol’s collaboration with Amazon Ads introduces Sponsored Display Ads to a broad range of businesses, including those not selling directly on Amazon, like home services, restaurants, education, automotive, travel and tourism, and entertainment. Amazon assembles high-intent audiences from its vast data, allowing SMBs to reach potential customers efficiently. Creative execution is a cinch, and Amazon Sponsored Display requires no minimum daily budget.  

Social Media Advertising

Facebook’s massive audience spans a wide range of age groups, making it ideal for reaching every demographic. Its sophisticated targeting capabilities allow SMBs to connect with high-intent local audiences, driving sign-ups. Radius, zip code, and city targeting hone in on specific service areas. Minimum budgets of $1 a day make Facebook advertising attainable for most local businesses. Dayparting by location can increase performance and improve relevancy.

Vertical video content dominates both Instagram and TikTok, and these platforms are ideal for promoting SMB differentiators and unique features. Reels on Instagram and Facebook offer broad demographic reach with quick, impactful ads, though music usage is limited to original or licensed tracks. TikTok, appealing to a younger crowd, provides flexible video lengths for varied storytelling and boasts a vast music library. Both platforms offer valuable analytics, guiding resellers to optimize their clients’ ad strategies. By empowering SMBs with an easy-to-use platform, you help them overcome the challenges of creating short-form video and enable them to take advantage of the power of vertical video advertising.  

While Reels targeting parameters are the same as Facebook (see above), it should be noted that TikTok parameters differ in several meaningful ways. First, TikTok does not support radius targeting but focuses on a level up to zip codes, DMA, or city. Second, TikTok’s minimum budget requirements are higher at $50 per day. However, these spending requirements are lower than in years past and will continue to decrease as more and more advertisers leverage the tool and publish ads.

Benefits of Tiger Pistol for SMBs and Marketing Resellers

Enhanced Value for SMBs

By leveraging Tiger Pistol’s robust platform, both SMBs and marketing resellers can achieve greater efficiency, scalability, and performance in their digital advertising efforts.

For SMBs, the ability to run recurring campaigns with A/B testing is a game-changer. This feature allows them to “set it and forget it” while continuously improving performance based on real-time data. Additionally, the ease of updating promotions ensures that businesses can quickly adapt to market changes and maintain relevance with their audience.

Scalability for Marketing Resellers

Tiger Pistol’s platform stands out for marketing service resellers by offering a highly automated approach to digital advertising fulfillment. This automation enables resellers to scale their operations without additional digital advertising experts or resources. The platform’s user-friendly interface simplifies the process, making it accessible for teams of any size. With built-in A/B testing and recurring revenue from subscription options, resellers can offer reliable, performance-driven solutions to their SMB clients, driving consistent growth and engagement.

The “Modern Commerce Monitor – Localogy Wave 9” report highlights a decisive move towards digital advertising among SMBs. By understanding and capitalizing on these trends, marketing resellers can offer valuable, streamlined solutions, ensuring SMBs achieve their marketing goals effectively and efficiently.