In 2009, small businesses are increasingly leveraging online marketing techniques, including webinars, to enhance lead generation and sales amid economic challenges. A survey showed that effective marketing strategies focused on referrals, email marketing, and webinars, with significant cost savings and higher return on investment reported for webinars. As businesses adapt their tactics, tracking metrics becomes essential to improve marketing effectiveness and capitalize on cost-efficient channels.

1. What’s Working in Small Business
Marketing and Webinars in 2009
A Quantum Leap Marketing White Paper
Published May 2009
SPONSORED BY
Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. • PO Box 68 • Hopkinton MA 01748
Phone 617-901-6886 • Fax 801-991-6886 • bhanson@qlmarketing.com • www.qlmarketing.com

2. What’s Working in Small Business Marketing
and Webinars in 2009
Summary
What are small businesses doing this year to get more leads
and sales from their marketing budget? How do Webinars fit
into this marketing mix in 2009?
What are some winning strategies you can use to get a
higher return-on-investment from your marketing dollars?
Avoid the common Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. conducted a survey in the
mistakes, get more first quarter of 2009 to find answers to these questions and
from your marketing more. Small business executives and marketers were asked
budget, and execute about their marketing plans, including how they plan to
a more effective react to the recession and how they intend to change the
marketing plan right marketing mix for better results. They were also asked for
away. their views on lead-generation (marketing) Webinars.
This white paper presents a summary of the survey results
regarding their marketing plan and tactics, identifies top
trends from this survey, and also discusses the increasingly
important role of Webinars in small business marketing in
2009.
About the Survey
The data shared in this report comes from a recently
completed online survey of 143 individuals who identified
themselves as being responsible for, or contributing to, their
organization’s marketing. To qualify, their company needed
to be actively marketing and have under 1,000 employees.
The survey population generally consisted of smaller
businesses; that is, 79% came from organizations with 100 or
fewer employees.
The survey pool represents a wide diversity of industries,
although over 54% identified themselves as offering services
such as marketing services, financial services, or professional
or legal services. Just over 51% identified themselves as a
business owner or firm partner, with the remainder having a
marketing role.
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 1

3. What’s Working in Small Business Marketing
and Webinars in 2009
Trends in Small Business Marketing
Here are the key findings from this recent survey of small
business owners and marketers.
Primary Marketing Tactics in 2009
When asked about their planned marketing tactics for 2009,
76% of small businesses indicated they will using referrals to
get more leads and new clients.
Primary Ways of Marketing
80%
70%
Referrals and email 60%
marketing are the 50%
40%
most popular ways of 30%
attracting new 20%
10%
customers. 0%
Telemarketing
Trade Shows
Referrals
Marketing
Marketing
Partners or
Social Media
Direct Mail
Webinars or
White Paper
Simple Web
Website
Affiliates
Marketing
Seminars
Presence
Marketing
Seminars
Email
Online
or Live
Interestingly, 55% indicated that they will be using email
marketing, 49% have a simple Web presence, while 43% will
be using live seminars or trade shows. These stats are
significant when one considers that the average small
business will actively use multiple ways of generating
business. Companies are looking to aggressively recruit for
new customers in 2009 despite a tough economy.
Success Criteria for Marketing Campaigns
When asked about the ways they judged the effectiveness
of their overall marketing activities, 58% cited the Number of
Sales Opportunities Generated.
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 2

4. What’s Working in Small Business Marketing
and Webinars in 2009
Measuring Marketing Effectiveness
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Number of Number of Number of Campaign ROI Total Revenue Cost Per Lead Don't Track,
Sales Leads Won Sales Generated Don't Measure
Opportunities Generated Opportunities
Generated
Forty-two percent cited both the Number of Won Sales
Where marketers may Opportunities and Number of Leads Generated. Only 11%
have been more reported that they do not measure or track the effectiveness
concerned with leads of marketing tactics.
in the past, they’re
looking at sales Small business marketers appear to be much more focused
opportunities and on the bottom line in 2009. Where marketers may have been
revenue now. more concerned with leads in the past, they’re looking at
sales opportunities and revenue now.
Marketing Tactics Looking Forward in 2009 and Beyond
When asked which marketing tactics were going to be used
more in 2009, the following tactics were highlighted:
• Email Marketing
• Referral Marketing
• Partner or Affiliate Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Webinars
The following tactics will be emphasized less this year by
small business marketers:
• Direct Mail
• Trade Shows
The general trend appears to be away from more
expensive, less effective tactics, and towards newer, more
effective ones.
Email and Webinars Dominate the Technology Specturm for
SMBs as Online Marketing Budgets Increase in 2009
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 3

5. What’s Working in Small Business Marketing
and Webinars in 2009
When asked which online marketing technologies will be
used in 2009, 4 in 5 small businesses will use Email Marketing
while just over half will use Webinars.
Online Marketing Technologies
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Conferencing
Marketing
Social Media
Email Auto-
eCommerce
Management
(Google) Ads
Management
Responders
Web Leads,
Webinars or
Customer
Marketing
Pay-Per-
Email
Website
Content
(CRM)
Click
Web
Social Media Marketing, Website Content Management,
Pay-Per-Click Web Ads (Google Adwords) and Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) will also be used by over 1
in 3 small businesses.
Online marketing is clearly growing in the wake of a tough
economy as smaller companies search for both cheaper
and more effective channels of promotion.
Online marketing is Online Marketing Budget in 2009
clearly growing in the
wake of a tough
economy as smaller 3% 8%
companies search for 14%
More than 51% Decrease
both cheaper and 41%
0 to 50% Decrease
more effective Same as Last Year
0 to 50% Increase
channels of More than a 50% increase
promotion. 34%
Forty-four percent of small businesses are increasing their
online marketing budget while 34% plan no change in online
budget over 2008.
Summary of General Marketing Trends for Small Businesses
Almost all small business marketers are tracking what is
working; they have taken this feedback and, fueled by the
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 4

6. What’s Working in Small Business Marketing
and Webinars in 2009
external pressure of having to improve in 2009, are
increasing their activity and spend in the online arena.
Events continue to be successful for smaller businesses; as
these businesses develop their email marketing lists they are
able to better take advantage of Webinars.
The next section will outline how small business marketers
view Webinars in 2009.
Small Business Webinar Trends in 2009
Here are trends in how marketers view Webinars for lead-
generation objectives.
Number of Marketing Webinars per Year - 2008
When asked how many marketing Webinars their
organization held in the past year, 58% of marketers said
they held no events, while 30% reported that they held 6 or
fewer Webinars.
Events continue to be Number of Marketing Webinars in 2008
successful for smaller
businesses; as these
businesses develop
18%
their email marketing 12%
1 to 3
4 to 6
lists they are able to 7 to 12
better take advantage 13 to 26
of Webinars. 58%
27 or More
None
22%
4% 1%
Significantly, 4% said that they held online marketing
generation events at least every other week.
Projected Number of Marketing Webinars per Year - 2009
When asked how many marketing Webinars their
organization plans to host in 2009, 35% of marketers said they
are planning between 1 and 6 events, and 9% plan at least
a Webinar every other week.
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 5

7. What’s Working in Small Business Marketing
and Webinars in 2009
Number of Projected Marketing Webinars - 2009
About two-thirds of 18%
32%
small businesses plan 1 to 3
to hold a marketing 4 to 6
7 to 12
Webinar in 2009. 13 to 26
17% 27 or More
None
9%
8% 16%
Significantly, only one in three said that they had no plans as
of the survey period to hold a Webinar in 2009.
Average Attendance at a Typical Marketing Webinar
Sixty-three percent of business marketers reported an
average attendance of 50 or fewer at their marketing
Webinars.
Average Attendance - Marketing Webinars
13% 21%
9% 10 or less
11 to 24
25 to 50
51 to 75
76 to 100
14% 20% More than 100
22%
In the survey, 13% reported more than 100 attendees at their
average marketing Webinar. For comparison purposes,
estimate 2 registrants (leads) for every attendee, which is a
good benchmark when calculating the number of leads
from each small business marketing Webinar.
The next section will cover many of the reasons why business
marketers view Webinars as a key strategy.
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 6

8. What’s Working in Small Business Marketing
and Webinars in 2009
Webinars That Work for Small Business
The Webinar is becoming a more popular communication
medium for small business marketers. It can be intimate,
convenient, and highly interactive.
The Webinar medium can be viewed in either a live format,
where viewers can participate in the excitement of a live
event and ask the expert presenter(s) questions, or through
an on-demand recording, which they can access and view
at their convenience.
Here is a summary of some of the important components of
small business Webinar success.
Accomplish Your Most Important Small Business Marketing
Objectives
Webinars are flexible in that they help small businesses
accomplish a variety of marketing objectives.
Listed below are the diverse marketing objectives for small
business Webinars and the reported reasons these marketers
hold their events.
Marketing Objectives with Webinars
90%
Webinars are flexible in 80%
that they help small 70%
60%
businesses accomplish 50%
a variety of marketing 40%
30%
objectives. 20%
10%
0%
Educate Your Generate New Position Your Nurture Existing Add New Opt-in Create a Webinar
Prospects or Leads Company in the Leads into Sales Names to the Recording
Customers Marketplace Database
Note the two most popular reasons for holding Webinars are
Educating Prospects or Customers and Generating New
Leads. Positioning in the Marketplace and Nurturing Existing
Leads into Sales are also common.
Increase the Number of Registrants at Each Event
Webinars, which use some of today’s leading technologies,
enable small businesses to hold marketing events for small
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 7

9. What’s Working in Small Business Marketing
and Webinars in 2009
groups or to audiences of thousands of registrants for
virtually the same price.
This flexibility and scalability allows a higher percentage of
the event budget to go into higher value activities such
marketing to get more registrants (sales leads). As small
businesses build their email marketing lists through 2009 and
beyond, they will be able to create more Webinar leads and
attendees for virtually zero incremental costs.
In addition, Webinars offer the opportunity to feature your
best speaker in the presentation, which will likely increase
the quantity of registrants at the Webinar and the results
from it, especially for SMBs.
Having Buyers in the “Room” – High Quality Sales Leads and
Return on Investment (ROI)
Webinars can be a very effective way to get a quantifiable
return on investment (ROI) from your marketing dollars and
overall resource investment.
This comes partly from having buyers in your virtual seminar
room. As reported in the survey by marketers who track this
metric, 57% of small business marketers reported that
Webinars produce the highest quality leads of any online
Smaller businesses in marketing tactic. In addition, 46% of those that track report
the survey estimated that Webinars produce the highest ROI among the online
they save an average marketing tactics.
of $101,146 marketing
dollars a year by Dramatic Cost Savings over Live Events and Trade Shows
doing fewer of these
in-person events and By their nature, Webinars can help you save significant time,
more Webinars. travel and promotional costs over live events and trade
shows.
Smaller businesses in the survey estimated they save an
average of $101,146 marketing dollars a year by doing
fewer of these in-person events and more Webinars.
Getting More Small Business Marketing Leads
and Sales Conversion in 2009
With the projected increase in online marketing tactics such
as email marketing and Webinars, there will be more
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 8

10. What’s Working in Small Business Marketing
and Webinars in 2009
requests for the attention of your prospects, so it is important
to understand best practices that leading organizations
large and small have found profitable.
While each organization has a unique set of circumstances
to consider for their marketing efforts in 2009, small business
executives and marketers have a tremendous opportunity to
use the tough economic times to tune up their marketing
engine and master the ability to gain more customers and
sales in any environment.
Key Recommendations for Small Business Marketing Success
in 2009
Some key recommendations for small business marketing
success in 2009 are:
Webinars help smaller 1. Get Permission to Market to Prospects – Permission
businesses, regardless Marketing is not just for building an opt-in email list, although
of their size or market that is a big part of it. Getting prospects onto your list at
share, expand their different stages of the information gathering or buying
market reach and process will open the door to many more potential buyers
compete on a level and help you build a large marketing list.
playing field with all
competitors. 2. Take Advantage of Effective Online Tactics and
Technologies – Those small businesses that are able to take
an early advantage of marketing opportunities online will
gain a competitive edge. Likewise, it is easier for smaller
companies to adopt and benefit faster from new
technologies such as Google Adwords, Automated Follow-
up Campaigns with CRM, and Email Marketing Technologies
because they are more flexible and nimble than larger
companies.
3. Build Your Email Marketing List, Now – Email marketing
offers a fast, cheap, and effective way to reach prospects,
clients, or influencers. Those small businesses that build and
cultivate a relatively large email list will lower their cost of
conversion and be able to create sales quickly through
relatively aggressive email marketing campaigns.
4. Consider Webinars in the Marketing Mix – As discussed
above, Webinars help smaller businesses, regardless of their
size or market share, expand their market reach and
compete on a level playing field with all competitors. Your
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 9

11. What’s Working in Small Business Marketing
and Webinars in 2009
own, a partner, or a speaker’s email list are all great sources
of Webinar invitation lists.
5. Track and Improve – One of the many benefits of online
and email marketing is it is easy for small businesses to track
the results from each marketing campaign, repeat what
works, and improve over time.
Summary
Small business executives and marketers are increasingly
using online marketing to generate leads for their
organizations. More are taking advantage of online
marketing technologies such as Webinars in 2009 than ever
before, and organizations are also increasing the average
number of events they will hold. Webinars are allowing
marketers to reach more prospects and deliver more
qualified leads to sales.
This white paper has presented some insights into these
trends and also shared ideas about how to get more leads
and sales from your own online marketing and Webinars. Try
some of the best practices put forth here and reap the
rewards in your own organization.
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 10

12. What’s Working in Small Business Marketing
and Webinars in 2009
About Citrix Online
Citrix Online, a division of Citrix Systems, Inc., is a leading provider of easy-
to-use, on-demand applications for Web conferencing and collaboration.
Its award-winning services include GoToMeeting Corporate, a complete
collaboration solution that satisfies all Web conferencing needs ranging
from large Webinars to small online meetings.
With GoToMeeting Corporate, organizations of any size can use
GoToWebinar for do-it-yourself Web events and GoToMeeting for smaller,
more interactive online meetings. For a free evaluation of GoToMeeting
Corporate, please visit www.gotomeeting.com/corp.
About the Author
Bob Hanson is the President of lead generation and conversion
consultancy Quantum Leap Marketing and creator of the Must-See
Webinars™ success system. He has also published a recent guide to
online lead generation, the “What’s Working Now in B-to-B Lead
Generation Guide: Success with New Media: Webinars and Google Ads.”
To get a free chapter of the guide or more information about his services,
email bhanson@qlmarketing.com or call 617-901-6886.
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this document may be reproduced in any form by any means, nor may
it be distributed without the permission of Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc., nor may it
be resold by any entity other than Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc., without the prior
written authorization of Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc.
THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS”. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED REPRESENTATIONS,
CONDITIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OR FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH
DISCLAIMERS ARE DETERMINED TO BE ILLEGAL.
© 2009 Quantum Leap Marketing, Inc. Page 11