We all know the term “Small and Medium Enterprise” has a broad definition. Companies in Europe which have fewer than 50 employees are classified as “small” and those with fewer than 250 employees are classified as “medium.” In the US, the definition of SME in terms of the number of employees lies between 100 to 500. In China and Hong Kong, the number is between 5 to 50. But they contribute almost 2/3 of the GDP in this region. Jack says, “Small is beautiful.”

Yes, we all know SME is the bread and butter of our national economy. I am not going to debate nor deny that. As a B2B marketer and was managing a small trade show business in this region, I worked very closely with the SMEs. And I always wonder, how can I make “small” beautiful without being paid “small.”

Ok. Let’s leave the theory for now. Let’s look at something pragmatic. How about this, let’s talk about SME marketing budget.

SMEs love performance based marketing because the ROI justification makes economic sense to them. They also see email marketing as a budgetary solution because they think the cost per reach is extremely low, prior to this perception, of course the cost of a quality list is generally being ignored in the first place.

So, Let me give you some ideas for a budgetary e-marketing plan. As I said, we don’t talk about the effectiveness issue nor the professional practice. I just want to give a flavor for a SME marketing scene in Hong Kong. SMEs in China share pretty much the same consideration set.

- A SEM campaign on Yahoo.com.hk with a buy for 5 keywords, guaranteed 1 click per day costs approx. USD93.5 per year.

- A SEO campaign on Yahoo.com with guaranteed ranking within the top 10 positions of the SERP costs approx. USD999 per year.

- A 12-month email marketing campaign for distributing a monthly e-newsletter with design and tracking costs approx. USD2,000 per year.

- Design a website + maintenance and hosting costs approx. USD1,600 per year.

Anything looks similar to the above budgetary e-marketing plan costs USD4,700 per year. In theory, if a marketing firm can sign up 200 accounts in a year, the annual sales is around USD940,000. Not bad for a small size marketing agency.

It looks good in theory, but in reality it isn’t likely the case. I believe no serious SEO in the market will take a yearly job for USD1,000. No serious search agency will do SEM for USD93.5. Because a serious marketing agency can’t live with the everyday low price. This is not arrogant. This is about getting paid right to do the thing right. Only the consulting fee for those prognoses and diagnoses, time, know-how, responsibility and commitment, worth at least USD10,000 per job. Unless the agency who hits, runs, and leaves the customer with some crappy results. I guess this is why in most cases, the marriage between commodified marketing solution and (S)mall (M)arketing (E)xpense hardly have happy ending.

Small is beautiful, only if we think big.

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