SMEs as a Priority Audience
By Teamspirit on Tuesday, 4 February 2020
SMEs account for 99.3% of all private sector businesses, and are set to contribute £217bn to the UK economy in 2020; their contribution has been growing roughly 11% year on year and will continue to do so.
However, with 28% of SMEs one to three years old, many SME bosses do not have the experience or business knowledge to be utilising, or even understanding, all the financial services products available to them.
For example, research showed that when it comes to their employees’ wellbeing, 55% of SME bosses said they would do “everything they could” to aid a member of staff who was in poor health, but a mere 8% have purchased a key financial protection product that would be able to do this. There is a clear knowledge gap between the ideals of how an SME owner would like to run some aspects of their business, and the execution of how they do this.
Never has there been such easy access to a plethora of information and financial services products for SME owners, to help with everything from their payroll, accounting and insurance to funding. 2020 should see financial services brands conduct further research into the SME market and their buying behaviours, to ensure that this huge market is not left in the dark about the products and services available to them.
• Understand your SME buying behaviours: they often buy like individuals and the key decision-maker is often the owner.
• Ensure your marketing and communications are speaking directly to the decision-makers.
• Collateral must be clear and to the point. An SME owner may not have ever needed to have any previous knowledge of financial products, and this could be the first time they’re making these purchases.
