You know that until 95% of citizens in western countries connect to the internet every day, and only 36% of mom and dad businesses have a website?
Local businesses will not be the same after the COVID19 pandemic Although with an increasing number of internet users, digitization was inevitable even before the pandemic
The percentage of local businesses that do not have a website is overwhelming. This is partly because many do not consider it necessary. This today is a serious mistake.
On the other hand, the costs of creating and maintaining a website, although they have plummeted in recent times, are still considerable. And many cannot or do not want to assume this expense
- 41% of local businesses depend on social media to drive revenue.
- 74% of consumers rely on social media to guide purchasing decisions.
- 96% of small businesses say they use social media in their marketing strategy.
- 81% of shoppers research online before purchasing.
- 60% of consumers begin their product research with a search engine before heading to a particular website.
- 75% of local-intent mobile searches result in offline store visits within 24 hours.
- 11% of small businesses that don’t have a website don’t see value in it.
- 92% of business owners believe that having a website is the most effective digital marketing strategy.
- Customers who engage with a business on social media spend up to 40% more with them in the long term.
- 41% of brick-and-mortar buyers read reviews before making a purchase.
- Prior online research led to 13% greater in-store spending among omnichannel shoppers.
- Within six months after an omnichannel shopping experience, these customers logged 23% more repeat shopping trips to the retailer’s stores.
- 47% of businesses spend less than $10,000 on digital marketing.
- 1 in 5 small businesses doesn’t utilize digital marketing.
- 1 in 10 small businesses doesn’t invest in any kind of marketing.
- 64% of small businesses have a website.
- 35% of small businesses without a website believe they are too small to have one.
- The top two channels for customer research are online reviews at 55% and company websites at 47%.
- 92% of reviews that consumers shared online were positive.
- 91% of customers have visited a store because of an online experience.
- Nearly 90% of marketers say social marketing efforts have increased their business’s exposure.
- At 54% use, email is the top marketing tool used by small businesses.
- Email marketing’s average ROI is 122%.
- 46% of all Google searches have local intent.
- 47% of small business owners run marketing entirely on their own.
- Almost half of small businesses spend less than two hours per week on marketing efforts.
- 75% of small business owners think that internet marketing is very effective or effective for attracting new customers.
- 61% of marketers say their biggest challenges are generating traffic and leads.
Source: Fundera
In December 2021, more than half of those who connected to the internet did so through their mobile phones.
54.86% compared to 42.65% on desktop. – Statcounter
People spend an average of 5 hours on their smartphones per day.
- 16% of U.S. internet users use their phone exclusively to go online
- 40% of users will not engage with a website that isn’t mobile-friendly
- 68% of companies now use mobile marketing as part of their marketing strategy
- 63% of global marketing revenue is accounted to mobile ads
- 50% of global eCommerce revenue comes from mobile
- 2% of all internet traffic is mobile
- 91% of small businesses are mobile-optimized
- It’s estimated that by 2023, the global number of mobile devices will reach 16.8 billion.
- 40% of online transactions are done via a mobile device
Not all online presence has to be through a web page or only through a web page…
In fact, many of the small businesses, although they do not have a website, do have a presence on social networks or on platforms such as Amazon or Shopify, for example.
Social networks are the most economical and until recently the most effective method of having an online presence.
Why do we say “until recently”
Very easy…
Although the main social networks continue to have an increasing reach, they are also increasingly crowded and full of irrelevant content.
To these we must add the constant changes that large social networks like Facebook introduce to their algorithm to favor ads.
The problem with ads is that there is so much competition that to be effective you have to spend a lot of money.
It is very unfair competition for small businesses as they compete with large companies that have huge amounts of money and marketing budgets.
Not everything is lost. There are very interesting options for local businesses.
One of them can be to have a presence in niche social networks or in marketplace and electronic commerce platforms.
Citizer, a market network, can be a great option for local businesses and a great storefront.
The Next 10 Years Will Be About “Market Networks”
-NfX.com
Citizer is an internet platform that combines:
-A social network “only for professionals”
Why the quotes?
Because although only professionals and local businesses can create content in the sense of a social network (posts, updates, videos, photos or multimedia material), private customers can consume such content: They can view the business profile, view and leave reviews, launch questions and receive answers, ask for budgets for example for a move or reform or book in businesses such as hairdressers, mechanical workshops, etc.
All from their own profile that they can customize and where they can save photos, businesses, etc.
They can also communicate with professionals through Citizer chat.
Chat that they can use as an individual, in a group for more complex projects where several are involved or they can start it from any saved project or profile
-On the other hand, Citizer offers unique free tools for professionals to manage their business: Templates for budgets, secure payments, a CRM where you can keep track of each client and project or an online reputation and review manager.
Citizer will be fully operational in the next few months. So hurry up, reserve your unique profile and be among the first to try and get exclusive access to unique features.