MyCorporation.com recently polled 150,000 of its newsletter subscribers (who are also small business owners) to determine how they plan to allocate their resources for the coming year. What the poll found is that the majority of small businesses plan to spend their available funds on both technology and marketing initiatives in the year 2013. Small business owners have come to believe that both these areas add the most value in today’s business markets and actually directly contribute to both profitability and growth—and thus they require the heaviest investment. Here’s a look at some of the trends predicted for 2013.
Budget: When asked about their budgetary plans for the year 2013, the majority of small business owners indicated that they plan to spend their money primarily on technology and marketing. Specifically, within the survey 22.5 percent of respondents indicated that they were going to spend most of their budget resources on technology expenditures and growth, while 23.3 percent planned to focus their resources on marketing efforts. Additionally, 20 percent responded that they planned to spend the majority of their budget on employees, compensation, and even potential hiring (which bodes well for the job market as well).
Discretionary Income: In small business circles, discretionary spending for 2013 looks to be more pragmatic. In fact, 25 percent of small business owners planned to spend this income on paying bills, 15.6 percent will focus their discretionary income on travel expenses, and 8.8 percent will spend discretionary income on transportation.
Social Media: Social media continues to be a targeted focus in many small business marketing and growth initiatives. Of the respondents in the survey, 50.5 percent of small business owners plan to focus their efforts on Linked In and Facebook in 2013. Other popular social media forums for business marketing include Twitter, Google, and Pinterest.
Expected Growth: The outlook of small business owners is highly positive, with 88.8 percent reporting that they expect their business to grow in 2013. However, new research shows that small business growth has actually slowed and is at 1 percent below the National Employment Index.
References Lesonsky, Rieva. “Budgeting for Success: Small Business Predictions of Technology & Marketing Budgets for 2013.” Small Biz Daily. 3/13/13.
