Do small and large companies follow different strategies or are there well-established norms, which always apply? A new research called 2014 Digital Business Survey attempted to find the answer. For that purpose, it examined the attitudes of small business owners and representatives of large companies on a trending business topic – digital business strategy. The results were expected, yet surprising.
Lack of Money vs. Lack of Time
The first discovery made by the survey was that over 70% of the big-sized companies had developed a digital strategy. In comparison, a little over 60% of small business had done the same. Those that did not have a strategy cited various reasons for that. For small business owners it was the lack of money, whereas with large business organizations it was the lack of time. Interestingly, all of the large company respondents who participated in the survey stated that they do need a digital strategy. However, about 25% of small business owners were found to believe that they did not need such a strategy at all.
Where Opinions Meet
Still, both small and large businesses seem to agree on one thing – a company website is an important part of any digital business strategy. In addition, the two groups face a similar challenge when designing a digital strategy. According to 30% of big companies and 36% of small-sized businesses, competing demands makes creating digital strategies extremely difficult. According to the majority of the participants in the study, the things which consumers like do not always benefit businesses and vice versa.
Trends Always Count
Even more surprising is the fact that both small and large businesses seem to recognize the growing popularity of mobile apps among consumers. The two groups have similar views when it comes to using applications with business marketing purposes and agree that this too requires a strategy.
Safe Bet
One of the best and most reliable ways for small-sized and big companies to measure their digital success remains the direct revenue they receive. Around half of small business owners rely namely on this method to measure their social media, mobile app and overall online performance. With large businesses this percentage is lower – 43%. However, more than half of them also report that they also measure their digital success through the loyalty of their consumers.
What it can be concluded from this research is that often both small and large businesses use the same tricks and follow similar rules to reach new heights. However, while small-sized companies seem to focus more on quick results, large ones prefer to collect the fruit of their work tomorrow. However, it is also true that small companies have no choice but to act now, since their budgets are limited. In contrast, most large businesses rely more on spending and less on using their time efficiently.
