*With the holiday season approaching, Vistaprint wanted to get a sense for how micro businesses intended on marketing in the upcoming months. The majority have already started implementing marketing plans specific to the holiday season. We examined time, money, methods and expectations of their efforts, as well as campaign specific questions. The survey was completed by over 600 true micro businesses (1-10 employees) over a one week span. While customers of Vistaprint, respondents weren’t incentivized in any way to take the survey. Vistaprint’s customer base is 90% micro businesses, 60% that run their business out of their homes. The majority have an annual marketing spend of $500 and on average less than 60 customers

1. Micro Businesses Holiday Marketing Trends Vistaprint December 4, 2010

2. Overview 12/6/2010 2 With the holiday season approaching, Vistaprint wanted to get a sense for how micro businesses intended on marketing in the upcoming months. The majority have already started implementing marketing plans specific to the holiday season. We examined time, money, methods and expectations of their efforts, as well as campaign specific questions. The survey was completed by over 600 true micro businesses (1-10 employees) over a one week span. While customers of Vistaprint, respondents weren’t incentivized in any way to take the survey. Vistaprint’s customer base is 90% micro businesses, 60% that run their business out of their homes. The majority have an annual marketing spend of $500 and on average less than 60 customers

3. Holiday Marketing Efforts – Time and Money Spent 12/6/2010 3 While micro businesses plan on taking as much (if not more) time marketing this holiday season, nearly 80% plan on spending more or the same amount of money that they did last year, despite the dip in the economy.

4. Holiday Sales 12/6/2010 4 While some micro businesses are relatively unaffected by the holiday season in relation to sales, the majority DO expect to do more business during the holiday season than they would typically. It’s clear that expectations are higher during the next few months. How will the holiday season affect your bottom line?

5. How shopping “holidays” affect micro businesses 12/6/2010 5 While gaining coverage in the media and marketing campaigns, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are not a big driver of revenue for micro businesses.

6. Holiday Greeting Cards: Do micro businesses utilize them? 12/6/2010 6 The majority of micro businesses surveyed do intend on sending holiday cards for their business and do find them to be an effective marketing tool. Many said the holidays were a unique time to market and reconnect with customers while others said they were an effective marketing tool. Do you plan on sending holiday cards to customers this year?

7. Importance of referrals, WOMM in the MB space 12/6/2010 7 We asked how important referrals and word of mouth marketing were to micro businesses specifically around the holidays, but the overwhelming conclusion is that referrals are THE driving force for this group no matter what time of year. 80% indicated referrals played a large role or were the sole factor for success amongst micro businesses.

8. Taking time to thank/reward customers 12/6/2010 8 Micro businesses take the time during the holiday season to specifically thank customers, but many also give gifts to high value or long standing customers. Given they have so few customers, it’s obvious they want to go out of their way to keep them. Did You Know? More than 90% of survey respondents indicated they would be specifically “thanking” customers as part of their marketing efforts during the holiday season

9. Utilizing Social Media in Holiday Campaigns 12/6/2010 9 Social media continues to be an area micro businesses are exploring to reach customers and market their business, specifically around the holidays. Over 40% indicated they would be incorporating SM into their marketing campaigns this season. Facebook is by far the most popular platform used, capturing 85%. What social networking platform will you use this holiday season? Did You Know? When asked if they had ever dabbled in video creation for their business, 82% of micro businesses said they had not.

11. 28% indicated they couldn’t afford to take any time off

12. 31% said they were taking less than one week off

13. 56% indicated they would not be making an holiday related changes to their websites due to the holiday season

14. Over 18% stated they didn’t have a website for their business

15. Just 8% said that the newly passed small business legislation would help their business

16. 25% said it wouldn’t help their business at all