Survey Reveals U.S. Small Businesses Have Strong Outlook for 2006

U.S. small businesses forecast a successful year ahead with strong growth and increased technology and marketing budgets, according to the Corel®/Constant Contact® 2006 Small Business Outlook(1), a recent online survey of nearly 600 small business owners with employees of 50 or fewer. Reporting an upswing in business in 2005, more than 50 percent of small business owners expect even stronger growth in 2006. The majority of small businesses surveyed maintain this positive outlook, despite their concerns about the overall economy and the effects of rising energy costs on their businesses.

Small business owners rated acquiring more customers (44 percent) and increasing sales to existing customers (20 percent) as their top business objectives for driving growth in 2006.

“This survey indicates that small businesses are confident in their prospects for growth and plan to increase expenditures in key growth areas of their business,” said Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact. “U.S. small businesses play a significant role in the health of the U.S. economy, and this survey is a positive indicator of continued economic growth in 2006.”

Technology and Marketing Spending to Increase and Push Small Business Growth
Small businesses owners also expect to increase spending on both technology and marketing activities in 2006 as compared to 2005. In fact, 61 percent of survey respondents said that they plan to spend more money on marketing, while 51 percent expect increased technology expenditures in 2006. Among technology categories, small business owners view communications tools (40 percent) as having the greatest impact on growing their businesses, followed by marketing software and services, computer hardware and business productivity software. Public relations, email marketing and web marketing were reported as the most widely used marketing practices for increasing business.

Additionally, respondents rated value and ease-of-use as the two most important attributes when making a software or services purchase for marketing materials creation, ahead of product features and brand name. Nearly half said that more professional looking marketing collateral would help increase revenue.

“Small business owners recognize the importance of technology for their long-term economic growth and are becoming savvier about how they evaluate technology expenditures and the marketing techniques they employ,” said Richard Carriere, General Manager for Office Productivity at Corel. “By using technology from companies like Corel and Constant Contact, small businesses are creating more professional-looking collateral to compete effectively against larger competitors.”

The survey was conducted jointly by Corel Corporation (www.corel.com) and Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com). Corel provides easy-to-use personal productivity software that helps millions of users worldwide run their businesses and extend their creativity at work and at home. Constant Contact is the leading email marketing service for small businesses, associations, and nonprofits.

To view the complete findings of this survey or speak with Corel and Constant Contact executives, please contact Mike Kaplan (617-785-4156/kaplan@famapr.com) or Tom Francoeur (781-388-7900 ext. 205/tfrancoeur@topazparterners.com).