According to our latest research among small and medium business (SMB) owners, three of the most effective ways to engage SMBs are case studies, webcasts and white papers. SMBs use these content formats especially at the research and decision-making stages of the sales cycle, but they can also play an important role in creating product awareness.
Your peer marketers also rank these content formats highly at all stages of the sales cycle; in each case, 60% or more of marketers rate these formats as effective or highly effective for driving site traffic, generating leads, and retaining and upselling current customers.
Case Studies
Crucial for purchase decision: More than two out of three respondents (68.5%) rate case studies as important or very important when considering a new product or service for their business, with 63.6% reading them “always” or “most of the time.”
Size matters: Larger SMBs use case studies more than their smaller counterparts. 81.3% of companies with 100-500 employees frequently read case studies vs. 50.4% of companies with 1-19 employees.
Best for tech: Case studies are most important to SMBs who are considering technology hardware, business travel and cellphone equipment and plans.
Less is more: SMBs prefer to read case studies online, in PDF or HTML format (50.5% vs. 37.3% preferring video and 12.2% preferring print). Regardless of format, SMBs want case studies short: one page for written case studies and two or three minutes for videos.
White Papers
Important for purchase decision: More than half (50.5%) of SMBs rate white papers as important or very important when considering a new product or service for their business, with 46.6% reading them “always” or “most of the time.”
…especially for tech purchases: SMBs are most likely to use white papers to research local tech solution providers, hardware, software, and ISPs and web hosting providers.
Short and sweet: 80.9% of respondents prefer white papers of two to three pages vs. 16.4% wanting four to six pages and 2.7% wanting more than six pages.
Looks matter: The most important aspect of a white paper is that it is “well designed and easy to read” (67.4% rate this important or very important), followed by “provides examples of users who have tried the product or service” (62.9%) and “provides technical detail on the product or service” (61.4%).
Webcasts
Important for purchase decision: 45.3% of SMBs rate webcasts as important or very important to the purchase decision, with 36.7% watching them “always” or “most of the time.” Larger SMBs (those with 100 to 500 employees) are significantly more likely to rate webcasts higher than are companies with fewer than 100 employees.
…and also for tech purchases: Like white papers, SMBs are most likely to participate in webcasts from local tech solutions providers, software companies, ISPs and web hosts, and hardware manufacturers.
Keep it brief: SMBs strongly prefer short webcasts. 64.4% prefer webcasts of less than 15 minutes, and 24.5% prefer 15 to 30 minutes. Larger SMBs (those with 100 to 500 employees) prefer longer webcasts than SMBs with fewer than 100 employees.
Relevance is key: The most important aspect of a webcast is that “it focuses on a product or service I am interested in” (62.5% of SMBs rate this important or very important), followed by “it features a company in my industry” (55.2%) and “it features a company with the same kind of challenges I am facing” (54.8%).