SMBs may not have the same resources as large corporations, but that does not mean that they do not give importance to digital marketing. And as the cost of digital marketing tools drops, SMBs are slowly incorporating them into their marketing mix, according to a survey of digital marketing managers in the US. In March 2013 by the marketing software company Vocus and Inc. Magazine.

SMEs are very clear about their goal: to increase sales and increase brand awareness. But SMEs also have ambitions when using digital tools to help them increase customer engagement and reach out to other customer sectors.

Thus, on a scale of 1 to 5, the increase in sales achieved a score of 4.45; Increasing brand awareness by 4.36; Improving customer engagement by 4.26; Reaching new segments of customers a 4.26; Identifying customer information that may be usable achieved a score of 3.6 and ultimately obtaining cost savings or productivity improvements a 3.14.

The three main tools or solutions used by SMEs for their digital marketing were web pages, used by 86.6% of respondents, social media by 77.3% and email marketing by (65.8% ). At the same time, these three tools have been seen as the most effective, and by the same order, with 33.9%, 24.9% and 19.6% respectively.

The study also found that most SMEs do not have more than one full-time marketing person, this being the case in 1/3 of companies. Among medium-sized companies, 3 out of 10 have between 2 and 5 employees dedicated to digital marketing.

For SMEs where there is a notable lack of resources, both human and otherwise, social media seems something that does not require much extra effort, except time. A survey conducted in January 2013 by the online magazine Social Media Examiner found that a high percentage of small and medium-sized businesses worldwide (89%) thanks to social media had achieved greater exposure and increased traffic in their Web.