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For radio spots and TV ads, advertisers receive Gross Rating Point (GRP) data from
their marketing agency, from the media channel itself or from a Belgian Centre for
Information about the Media. However, experts admit that GRPs do not deliver
measures on return on investment. Again, SMEs still need to deduce the additional
sales and link these to the GRP delivered.
Occasionally research agencies are consulted to measure variables like customer
satisfaction or brand awareness before and after a campaign.
Data (e.g., of sale volumes) can be bought from third parties like A.C. Nielsen and
GfK.
Marketers or the marketing department often receive support from the financial
department to receive internal data of costs and revenues.
Locally based SMEs 1
27 local oriented SMEs were interviewed about their marketing strategies and
measurement of ROI of marketing expenses and efforts. The companies selected for the
interviews were active in a wide range of areas, such as the construction industry, event
planning, website building, insurances, event planning, an employment agency, a bakery, a
furniture shop, etc.
Digital and online marketing tools are core business in the marketing strategy of SMEs
We found that digital marketing strategies are nowadays at the core of nearly all SMEs we
interviewed. Nearly all had a website and were active on social media (see Graph 1).
Reasons for using online marketing is the relatively low treshold. If you know how to
implement these tools in your overall marketing strategy and you do it well, you can have a
big impact without spending too much money.
Facebook was the most popular social media platform used, but Twitter, Instagram,
Pinterest and even in one case Snapchat were mentioned as well. Photo based social media
tools, of which Instagram is the most popular one, were used most frequently by companies
selling a visually attractive product (like a designer). There was only one company
(employment agency for students) that used Instagram and even Snapchat, although it does
not sell visually attractive products. This company was a start-up founded by a young
person, i.e. a digital native. With his start-up, he tries to create a certain atmosphere around
his business. He was very skilled in online brand building and an exception in our sample of
SMEs. "On Instagram, we have a strong presence. We pay attention to what we share. We
want to spread a very particular image. We share photos of events and scenes that make
work look like fun, and they encourage people to want to work with us” (employment
agency for students).
More than half of the companies used SEO and SEA marketing techniques. Only a minority
of those, 6 companies, used search engine advertising. The rest of them sticked to SEO,
since they did not want to pay for SEA. Athough digital marketing was commonly used, not
all companies were taking full advantage of the possibilities, or even did not take it seriously
enough as a commercial tool. There was a very clear distinction between either the bigger
1 Interviews were conducted by students: Benoot, C., Decolvenaer, J., De Ridder, C., De Vriese, L. Fevery, L. &
Van de Velde A. (2016). PWO ROI: regionaal ook interessant. Een onderzoek naar de kosten en baten van
regionale marketingacties [bachelor dissertation]. Gent: Arteveldehogeschool.
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