SMBs are feeling pretty optimistic: 35% of them expect to grow by double digits this year, and 10% expect to grow by more than 100%. That translates into plans to invest in telecommunications services — whether to improve internet access speed or upgrade a phone system. SMBs understand what being connected — to customers, prospects, vendors, peers, remote workers, influencers, and others — means to their business. To find out how you can boost sales to SMBs, we recently surveyed 500 U.S. SMB principals.

1. SELLING TELECOMS TO SMBS

2. 2
ORIGINAL RESEARCH  CUSTOM CONTENT
INCREASING SALES TO SMBS

3. • Qualitative
• Live focus groups
• Online bulletin boards
• In-depth interviews
• Quantitative
• Custom phone / online
• SMB Pulse
• New SMB IT Pulse
Methods
ORIGINAL RESEARCH  CUSTOM CONTENT
• Ad, message, positioning
testing
• Attitudes and usage
• Brand awareness / perception
• Buyer identification
• Competitive perceptions
• Customer satisfaction / NPS
• Market segmentation
• Media behaviors / preferences
• New product testing
• Persona / buyer journey
• Purchase intent, behaviors,
channels and preferences
Topics
INCREASING SALES TO SMBS
3
Internal: Actionable product /
marketing insight
External: PR / social / content /
events / collateral
OutputsOutputs

4. 4
ORIGINAL RESEARCH  CUSTOM CONTENT
Video
Email
Newsletters
Checklists /
Worksheets
Case StudiesArticles Blog Posts
White Papers
Podcasts
eBooks
PR Surveys
Social Media
Handbooks /
Guides
Webcasts
Slideshows
Infographics
Interactive
Tools
• Peer data
• Creative brief
• Editorial calendar
• Content development
• Content audit
• Analytics
Contribution
• Expert
• Actionable
• Relevant
• Easy to understand
• Professional
• Brand-building
• Custom
Principles
Direct Mail
Event
Collateral
Brochures /
Sell Sheets
Custom Pubs
INCREASING SALES TO SMBS

5. The SMB telco adoption outlook, sales cycle
preferences and purchase process
5
WHAT WE’LL COVER
Role of content
Key motivations and concerns
Purchase intent and process
Brand perception of 39 companies

6. 6
METHODOLOGY
1
2
3
HOW
WHO
WHEN
Online survey via the Bredin.com/SMBPulse
500 principals of U.S. companies with ≤500 employees (4% +/- CI)
April 17-24, 2018
Representative mix of industries, business ages, locations etc.
250 VSB
<20 employees
(97.7% weighting)
150 SB
20-99 employees
(2.0% weighting)
100 MB
100-500 employees
(0.3% weighting)

7. 7
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• SMBs are prioritizing mobility and speed in 2018, with cellphones,
faster Internet and tablets being the top three planned purchases.
• SMBs most want telecoms solutions that are reliable, followed by easy
to setup and use.
• SMBs are using a wide range of sources and formats for information
during the early stages of the sales cycle, with search, YouTube and
peers being especially important.
• At the purchase stage, SMBs rely heavily on personal interactions
with their peers, employees, consultants, your sales team and retail
stores.
• Interactive content can facilitate sales; content overall can boost
brand perception, conversion and retention

8. DETAILED FINDINGS

9. Respondent Age
Larger and younger SMBs (and younger principals) are more optimistic
9
SMB BUSINESS OUTLOOK
Company size
Company Age
22%
29%
45% 43%
8%
22% 25%
32%
51%
40%
27%
19%18%
9%
4% 6%
Less than 4 years 4 to 9 years 10 to 19 years 20 years or more
34%
17% 15%
21%
27% 25%
35%
44%
48%
10% 12% 12%
VSB (<20) SB (20-99) MB (100-500)
15%
31%
43%
26% 24%
17%
44%
31% 34%
15% 14%
6%
18-34 35-49 50+
n=500
How do you expect your 2018 revenues to compare to 2017?
SMBs in located in rural areas are more likely
to expect no growth in 2018 compared to their
urban peers (39% vs. 25%).

10. Purchase intent is highest for cellphones
10
n=Ranges 492-500
What is your best guess as to when you will buy new / additional, or upgrade, each of these telecommunications solutions for your business? Please pick the most likely option in
each row; pick the soonest option if you will do any given thing multiple times.
PURCHASE / UPGRADE OUTLOOK
‘Cellphone(s)’ is the only product category where the majority of
Baby Boomer SMB principals plan to invest (62%). This is in
stark contrast to Millennial SMB principals, of whom a majority
will invest in every category except landlines.
11%
16%
17%
21%
22%
26%
34%
12%
16%
11%
17%
24%
16%
22%
9%
10%
7%
11%
8%
11%
13%
32%
42%
34%
50%
55%
53%
69%
Landlines
Phone system
Handsets
Routers / switches /
wireless access points
Tablets
Higher-speed Internet
access
Cellphone(s)
By the end of 2018 In 2019 After 2019 = % that plan on buying or upgrading

11. 24%
20%
25%
24%
26%
27%
33%
23%
23%
24%
29%
25%
30%
25%
15%
20%
16%
17%
17%
18%
17%
14%
11%
11%
9%
11%
9%
9%
7%
8%
7%
8%
4%
5%
6%
18%
17%
16%
13%
17%
12%
11%
Landlines
Phone system
Handsets
Routers / switches /
wireless access points
Tablets
Higher-speed Internet
access
Cellphone(s)
A week A month Three months Six months A year More than a year
Cellphones have the shortest purchase time
11
n=Ranges 492-500
On average, how long does it take from starting to conduct research on these telecommunications solutions for your business until you make a purchase or upgrade decision?
(please pick the closest option in each row)
PURCHASE / UPGRADE TIMING

12. 39%
42%
42%
42%
47%
52%
53%
60%
Improve employee productivity
Reduce communication costs
Improve website performance
Keep up with changes in customers' use of
technology
Take advantage of a growth opportunity
Current solution is dated / not working well
Improve performance / business processes
Improve data security
Data security is the number one driver of telecoms solutions purchases
12
n=500 % Rated very important
On a scale of 1 (not at all important) to 3 (very important), please rate each of these possible reasons for purchasing new, or upgrading, telecommunications solutions:
PURCHASE RATIONALE
VSB
(<20)
SB
(20-99)
MB
(100-500)
60% 69% 67%
53% 62% 63%
52% 55% 59%
46% 55% 61%
42% 50% 58%
42% 58% 58%
42% 53% 60%
39% 58% 59%
Total

13. 13
% that rate aspect as ‘very important’
%ofthatrateperformanceas‘verywell’
n=varies. Top 1 box
Horizontal axis: On a scale of 1 (not at all important) to 3 (extremely important), please rate the importance of each of these aspects of acquiring telecommunications solutions:
Vertical axis: On a scale of 1 (not at all well) to 3 (extremely well), please rate how well your telecommunications vendors in general perform on each of these aspects:
Performance outweighs
importance
Importance outweighs
performance
PURCHASE CONSIDERATIONS: IMPORTANCE VS. PERFORMANCE
Reliability, ease of set up and ease of use are the top purchase considerations
Performance gap

14. 14
n=500
Does your company have a telecommunications consultant?
TELECOMS CONSULTANT STATUS
SBs and MBs are much more likely to have a telecoms consultant
25%
88%
Total
24%
90%
VSB (<20)
55%
29%
SB (20-99)
69%
13%
MB (100-500)
2%
6%
28%
64%
Don't know / no opinion
1 Do not trust at all
2 Trust somewhat
3 Trust very much
Trust in telco consultants among users
n=126
Using the same scale of 1 (do not trust at all) to 3 (trust very much),
please rate your trust in your telecommunications consultant.

15. PURCHASE PROCESS

16. 16
TV
Newspaper / magazine
(print or online)
Peer / colleague
YouTube
Search
Awareness
Research report
Product section of a
vendor’s website
Resources section of a
vendor’s website
Search
Online reviews
Research
Peer / colleague
Retail store
In-house IT (or other)
staff
External / third-party IT
(or other) consultant
Call or meeting with a
vendor sales
representative
Purchase
INFORMATION SOURCES ACROSS THE SALES CYCLE: VSB
Search plays an important role for VSBs

17. 17
Email newsletter
External / third-party IT
(or other) consultant
Radio
Podcast
Peer / colleague
Awareness
Resources section of a
vendor’s website
Call or meeting with a
vendor sales
representative
In-house IT (or other)
staff
Online reviews
Search
Research
Call or meeting with a
vendor sales
representative
Research report
In-house IT (or other)
staff
Retail store
External / third-party IT
(or other) consultant
Purchase
INFORMATION SOURCES ACROSS THE SALES CYCLE: SB
SBs rely heavily on their peers, consultants and staff throughout the sales cycle

18. 18
Online reviews
One-off email
Podcast
Radio
Webinar / webcast
Awareness
Call or meeting with a
vendor sales
representative
Press release
Newspaper / magazine
(print or online)
Research report
Peer / colleague
Research
YouTube
Analyst report
In-house IT (or other)
staff
Product section of a
vendor’s website
Resources section of a
vendor’s website
Purchase
INFORMATION SOURCES ACROSS THE SALES CYCLE: MB
MBs first learn about new telecoms solutions via ‘rich content’

19. 26%
30%
30%
33%
35%
35%
46%
48%
55%
Recommend solutions for my company based on prior
purchases, or purchases of companies like mine
Provide more / better articles, research reports, tips etc. to
help me understand how their solutions can help me
achieve my business goals
Let me chat with customers whose businesses are the
same size as mine
Provide examples of how their solutions have helped
companies in my industry
Provide an easy, consistent purchase experience across
multiple channels (e.g. online, mobile, in store, call center
etc.)
Make it easy for me to select the right configuation / specs
for my company, for example through an interactive quiz or
configurator
Make it easy for me to get questions answered on their site
via instant online / phone chat
Make it easy for me to research and buy their products
online without having to talk to a sales rep
Better describe how their solutions can help my company
achieve its business goals
Interactivity can smooth the purchase process
19
n=500
What could telecommunication vendors do to make it easier to buy from them? Please select all that apply.
IMPROVING THE PURCHASE PROCESS
VSB
(<20)
SB
(20-99)
MB
(100-500)
55% 65% 61%
48% 51% 56%
46% 42% 38%
35% 36% 34%
35% 28% 34%
33% 24% 23%
30% 39% 50%
30% 31% 37%
26% 20% 27%
Total

20. ROLE OF CONTENT MARKETING

21. 8%
10%
10%
11%
18%
26%
32%
41%
41%
Import / export
Leadership and management
Human resources
Industry news and trends
Law and taxes
Financial planning and money management
Operations
Business development / sales and marketing
Technology
SMBs want advice on sales and marketing
21
n=490 % Ranked 1st or 2nd
Please rank-order these topics on which you would like telecommunication vendors to provide business and technology management advice, from most important (top) to
least important (bottom):
PREFERRED TOPICS
VSB
(<20)
SB
(20-99)
MB
(100-500)
41% 36% 30%
40% 46% 51%
32% 28% 11%
26% 27% 43%
18% 7% 12%
11% 13% 13%
10% 22% 18%
10% 13% 8%
8% 9% 13%
Total

22. 4%
6%
7%
10%
13%
14%
15%
17%
18%
19%
19%
23%
23%
25%
26%
30%
32%
34%
47%
Peer forum or discussion board
Twitter
LinkedIn post
Webinar / webcast
Facebook post
Infographic
Video
White paper
Research report
Audio podcast
Blog post
Interactive tool, e.g. quiz, calculator, configurator
Online eBook / guide / handbook
Checklist / worksheet
Case study
Printed sheet, booklet or guide
Article
Email newsletter
Analyst report
SMBs prefer analyst reports across the board
22
n=484 % Ranked 1st, 2nd , 3rd, or 4th
Please rank-order the formats in which you would like telecommunication vendors to provide business and technology management advice from most preferred (top) to least
preferred (bottom):
PREFERRED CONTENT FORMATS
VSB
(<20)
SB
(20-99)
MB
(100-500)
47% 51% 63%
34% 23% 19%
32% 37% 41%
30% 12% 11%
26% 32% 39%
25% 29% 22%
24% 13% 8%
23% 18% 12%
19% 26% 26%
18% 33% 35%
19% 11% 6%
17% 17% 27%
15% 13% 11%
14% 19% 14%
12% 24% 14%
10% 13% 10%
7% 5% 8%
6% 11% 15%
4% 7% 7%
Total

23. Content can boost brand perception, conversion and retention
23
n=Ranges 496-498
Please indicate whether the business and technology management advice you’ve read from telecommunication vendors:
EFFECT OF CONTENT MARKETING
72% say reading
business management
advice makes them
think more
favorably of the
sponsoring company
68% say reading
business management
advice makes them
more likely to
become a
customer of the
sponsoring company
69% say reading
business management
advice makes them
more likely to
remain a customer
of the sponsoring
company
Favorability Acquisition Retention
VSB (<20) SB (20-99) MB (100-500)

24. … AND THE SLIDE YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR

25. 25
BRAND AWARENESS VS. TRUST
% of respondents ‘very aware’
%ofrespondentsthat‘trustverymuch’
n=500. Top 1 box
Horizontal axis: On a scale of 1 (not at all aware) to 3 (very aware), please rate your awareness of (or familiarity with) each of these telecommunications companies:
Vertical axis: Using the scale of 1 (do not trust at all) to 3 (trust very much), please rate your trust in each of these telecommunications companies:
AT&T leads in awareness; Apple is the most trusted brand

26. 26
HOW BREDIN CAN HELP
Stu Richards, CEO
stu@bredin.com
• Content strategy
• Creative brief / ed cal
Strategy
• Original content development
• Exclusive SMB focus
Content
• Product / go-to-market strategy
• Persona / buyer journey
• Original data for standout content and PR
Research
Work with the experts in SMB insight and engagement