The results from LSA’s Local Pulse Study conducted by Thrive Analytics are in.  Over a thousand SMB’s were surveyed on topics including where they need help and how they are managing their marketing budgets and I explored these results in detail in my Search Engine Land column.

The area of help that SMB’s expressed the highest demand for is SEO.  Regardless of the age of business from less than a year old to 15 years old, SMB’s ranked SEO their top need.  But that doesn’t mean they just want to hand over the reins to an agency to manage it – SMB’s expressed that they want marketers to help educate and train them.

Remember, these are SMB’s we’re talking about – business owners that know every aspect of their businesses and keep track of every penny spent.  Marketing is no different and not helping business owners understand marketing solutions and how they work is one of the biggest mistakes providers are making.

Other areas did vary greatly with age of the business.  For example, content creation was the highest area of need for new businesses, but demand dropped sharply for businesses more than a year old.

The study also revealed that SMB’s plan on increasing how much they spend and the number of media outlets they utilize for marketing.  So the business is there – agencies and marketers just need to understand what businesses want and evolve their services to meet those needs that change as the SMB matures.

Check out my Search Engine Land column for the charts and numbers from the study.

Lastly, LSA will also be releasing a report this summer in partnership with Vendasta on the topic of SMB churn. Check back soon for the report results.