Without any prompting from me, I swear, Ivy Worldwide embarked on a scientific survey to determine the purchase habits of small and medium businesses.

Opened to small businesses globally, the survey pulled in answers from a varied number of businesses, and the results have recently been published.

What did it find? My snarky analysis of the top-level findings are in green, and I have posted the entire press release in purple below.

Top-level findings are as follows:

• Search is first consideration for SMB buyers:  When building a criteria for a technology purchases, they largely start with search engines (49%)

Do you have any more doubts why Microsoft is still in the search business, and devoting a lot of assets to making Bing™ successful? Microsoft is also trying to build verticals to address what it sees as shortcomings in Google’s offerings.

However, we as SMB VARs or solution providers should make sure that we keep abreast of the latest and greatest in our space, for our clients can easily search for answers online for themselves.

• SMBs lean heavily on word-of-mouth referral such as blogs and forums (34%) or third-party reviews (35%)

You are here, and that is why we endeavor to bring you our reviews of real-world scenarios akin to yours. Not synthetic benchmarks or lab junk.

The importance of this answer cannot be understated: your opinions, reviews, and recommendations matter!

• SMBs act like value-conscious consumers when buying technology:  Price (33%) and third-party referral (25%) strongly influence decisions; in addition, a significant quantity (18%) focus on potential dual-utility for both business and personal use

In most SMBs, there is a direct umbilical from the purse strings to the business owner’s brain. No committees or whatnot to dilute or extend the process. A person who immediately feels the pain of purchases.

• Traditional media, Twitter and Facebook not a factor in purchases:  SMBs use traditional media (9%) and Twitter/Facebook (5%) minimally when making buying decisions

This was a big surprise! It means that expanded social media has a lot to do when it comes to gaining the trust of SMBs to the stage where it is relied upon in the purchase decision process.

• 70% tend to purchase online

Apart from special circumstances, almost all purchasing for Logikworx is done online. As is the same for several of the businesses we assist.

• Large companies miss the mark when marketing to SMBs:  75% feel they’re not effectively marketed to by the companies that target them

A realization that the personal touch goes a long way might help larger businesses better understand SMBs

• Most SMB purchasers do not have a specific technology brand in mind when seeking information

That was another surprise. And an opening for solutions providers to become trusted advisors to SMBs.

We must step up our game in order to gain, and maintain that trust relationship.

A full read of the report, found here, is needed in order to understand this complex issue.

As promised, the full press release from Ivy Worldwide is re-printed below.

New Small, Medium Business (SMB) Survey Reveals Six Secrets Of Selling Marketers Need To Know

Search, Third-Party Reviews, Blogs and Forums Strongly Influence SMB Purchasing Decisions

AUSTIN, TX—(August 24, 2010) – Ivy Worldwide, the leading social media and influencer marketing agency, today released the results of its 2010 SMB Technology Purchasing Survey, which reveals six “secrets” that every marketer should know about small and medium-sized businesses (SMB): What sources of information they consider worthwhile and what resources they use to help make technology purchasing decisions.

Search engines remain the primary resource for SMBs to find information about products and services (49%). However, once most SMBs have search results in hand, many rely on word-of-mouth referral when making their purchasing decisions. The main word-of-mouth referrals come from blogs and forums (34%) and third-party reviews (35%).

Surprisingly, the survey found that SMBs do not rely on traditional media (9%) or Twitter or Facebook (5%) when making buying decisions. Many respondents stated that Twitter and Facebook lack detail and the timeliness necessary needed when purchasing for their organizations.

Another interesting fact revealed by the survey is nearly one in five SMB respondents (18%) consider a technology product or service not only on its merits for business usage, but they consider personal context too. In fact, SMBs act like “value-conscious” consumers, in that they consider total cost of ownership (33%) as well as potential dual-utility for both business and personal use when making technology purchases

“Ivy Worldwide’s 2010 SMB Purchasing survey really speaks to the way I and other SMB buyers look for and buy technology,” said Ivana Taylor, CEO of Third Force Marketing. “It also reaffirms what we feel is that product and service providers have ample room to improve upon their approach to the SMB market. Hopefully, companies can employ strategies used to market to consumers and apply them to SMBs including making better use of SEO, local search and customer reviews. Also, appealing to SMB buyers’ practical need to meet both business and personal needs whenever possible can drive consideration within this important market segment.”

“Our survey shows what marketing professionals might be overlooking about the purchasing habits of SMBs, including the primacy of search and that SMBs act like value-conscious consumers when making their decisions,” said Nick White, partner at Ivy Worldwide. “The data tells us that SMBs are increasingly turning to trusted third-parties to find information, select from amongst brands and make their purchasing decisions. To be honest, we were a little surprised how much blogs and forums were used to make buying decisions and the remarkably weak performance of traditional media, Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms espoused by so many social media gurus. But, the numbers don’t lie.”

Another interesting fact is that the vast majority of SMBs -- slightly more than 75% -- feel they’re not effectively marketed to by the companies that target them. However, a few brands were mentioned by name as being effective in marketing to SMBs in the unaided responses. These include Microsoft (19%), HP (17%), Dell (14%) and Lenovo (9%). Another surprise was Apple’s relatively poor showing at just 3%.

Ivy Worldwide collected over 1000 responses and analyzed them for relevance to SMB decision makers. Of those, 602 respondents were qualified and their responses were analyzed regarding SMB purchasing habits.

Download Ivy Worldwide’s SMB Social Media Survey: http://www.ivyworldwide.com/results/case-studies/2010-smb-technology-purchasing-survey

About Ivy Worldwide
Ivy Worldwide, formerly Buzz Corps, an Austin-headquartered social media and influencer marketing agency, leverages existing relationships with bloggers to provide their customers with a marketing advantage by connecting them with online influencers. Founded in 2007, Ivy Worldwide works with their clients to develop mutually beneficial relationships with blogging communities and industry influencers that provide a strategic solution to its customers. Past measures have included driving sales, improving search engine ranking and transforming readers into buyers, all while creating avenues for product discussion and third-party endorsement. The agency has earned recognition from WOMMA as the WOMMIE recipient and as a finalist for ad:tech's Limelight Award for Best Social Media Marketing & WOM campaign. With offices in Austin, Seattle and Houston, Ivy Worldwide is recommended by community influencers as the most advantageous company to work with, for both clients and bloggers alike. For more information, visit http://www.ivyworldwide.com/