Small and midsize businesses are considering or adopting marketing technology to better engage with new and existing customers. Over a third — 35% — of SMBs are currently considering adopting new martech to better target audiences. Another 41% are currently adopting new technologies or have done so in the last year.
These findings come from a study of over 600 SMBs in Verizon Business and Morning Consult’s fifth annual “State of Small Business Survey.”
AI adoption. Thirty percent of SMBs are using AI tools for marketing and social media. This represents an increase of 16 percentage points over last year’s survey.
Another 42% of SMBs surveyed don’t use AI tools but are considering adopting them.
Social storefronts. Thirty-nine percent of SMBs are in the process of setting up social media “storefronts” or “shops,” or have done so already, in the aim to sell products and services directly to customers through social media platforms. Another 31% are considering making this move.
While the percentage of those martech adopters remains unchanged from last year, the percentage of SMBs adopting social media storefronts is up 8% over last year.
Concerns over customers. Economic concerns remain the top concerns for SMBs, but with little change over last year. However, concerns over customer relationships have increased year-over-year.
The percentage of SMBs either very or somewhat concerned over existing customer relationships has risen 12% YoY. For engaging new customers, concerns are up 9%.
Here is the breakdown on SMB concerns and YoY change.
Why we care. AI-powered tools and marketing technology are not just considerations for the enterprise. Social commerce, and digital experiences generally, have changed the way consumers shop for products and services, including those goods they buy from SMBs. These responses show that many SMBs are aware of the changes to consumer behavior and are looking to build and update their stacks to adapt.
Dig deeper: Highlights from the 2024 MarTech Replacement Survey