Have you ever used the term “small business owners” in your marketing copy?
Well I am here to tell you to stop doing that. Here is why…
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, there were 5.73 million employer firms with fewer than 500 workers and they account for 99.7 percent of total U.S. businesses. Businesses with less than 20 workers made up 89.6 percent. Add in the number of nonemployee businesses – there were 23 million in 2013.[1] So, you can easily infer that if a business has an owner (as opposed to a publicly traded company), it is likely small.
More importantly, who likes to be called small? While some owners take pride in being a small, they are in the minority for sure.
What to do? Simple. Refer to “small business owners” as “business owners” in your marketing assets.
Companies are small. People aren’t. Especially business owners.
[1] http://sbecouncil.org/about-us/facts-and-data
