Small Business Owners Send Mixed Signals On Economy, According To New American Express OPEN Research

To set their businesses apart from the competition, 80 percent of entrepreneurs will place a heightened focus on better servicing their customers. In an effort to provide the best customer service possible, more than half (57%) train their employees themselves; one-quarter (26%) have a senior member of staff train them, and one-in-ten (10%) pay for formal training.

Facebook Remains Favorite way to Reach Customers; Google+ Shows Traction

Navigating a tough economy has caused entrepreneurs to use low-cost marketing methods, such as social media (35%), educational marketing (16%) or partnering with non-competitive businesses to stretch marketing budgets (11%).

More than half of business owners use social media tools to attract new customers (55%, up from 50% last fall). Platforms they are using include:

• Facebook (38%)
• Google+ (14%)
• LinkedIn (13%)
• Twitter (11%)
• YouTube (10%)
• Blogs (6%)
• MySpace (4%)
• Foursquare (2%)
• Pinterest (2%)

While social media use is on the rise and correlations to growth are becoming more apparent, just 27 percent say a social media presence is necessary for their company, a similar number (28%) say it is “nice to have” and more than one-third (39%) find it unnecessary. Most business owners tackle social media during daytime working hours (31%); 23 percent tackle it after work and just six percent outsource it. Looking ahead, 41 percent of business owners plan to increase their company’s social media presence in the next year.

Retirement Less of a Concern

Focusing on the long-term has benefited business owners personally. The number of entrepreneurs worried about their ability to save for retirement is down sharply (70%, down from 81% last spring). One-in-five estimate they will need less than $750,000 (20%) to retire, 29 percent say they will need between $750,000 and one million dollars, 21 percent say they will need between one and two million dollars and 17 percent say they will need more than two million to retire. On average, they believe they will need $1,240,000, up slightly from the $1,205,000 they reported in spring 2011.

« First ‹ Previous 1 2 3 4 Next › Last »