We surveyed 243 SMB advertisers in July 2019 to understand when, how and where they are spending their holiday ad dollars. We conducted a similar study in 2018 as well, so we have the unique ability to compare 2019 ad spending trends to last year.

1. During the holidays, my advertising budget (or my clients’ ad budget):

Our research shows that 44% of SMB advertisers are increasing their ad spend for the holidays in 2019. This represents an 18.3% increase over last year. We have a few hypotheses as to why this is:

When the economy is doing well, consumer confidence index goes up. SMBs tend to capitalize on that optimism by spending more on holiday advertising. With the CCI being fairly durable ad spending is up.

The “retail apocalypse” seems to have slowed as well. The National Retail Foundation reports “for every retailer closing stores, five retailers are opening stores”.  With more stores, there is more competition and the need to advertise.