Small and midsize businesses in the U.S. pay an estimated $153 billion annually in hidden fees, according to a study commissioned by money service business Wise in partnership with The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). That sum includes $24.4 billion a year in currency exchange fees and another $19.3 billion in international transfer fees. The study also revealed that 60% of SMB operators believe running a business is more chaotic now than ever before.
Those findings convinced London-based Wise, which facilitates global money transfers for individuals and businesses alike, that now was the time to show SMBs in the U.S. how it could help. In February the company launched its first B2B campaign in the States, “Calm the Chaos,” with an outdoor mural in New York’s SoHo neighborhood, home to numerous SMBs. Updated periodically through April 6, the mural depicted a business owner stressing amid the throes of dealing with international payments, then smiling as she showed off the Wise Business app on her phone.
Based on foot traffic as of late March, the company expects to receive about 500,000 impressions from the mural. A second street mural was created in Austin, TX, in March to coincide with South by Southwest. Wise hosted a panel discussion at the SXSW Fast Company Grill as well, discussing findings from its study.
Solving for SMB Issues by Region
Wise used its social feeds to amplify the murals and promote a free downloadable report based on the study. It also created demo videos for YouTube, ads in several formats for Reddit, and static ads for LinkedIn. “LinkedIn is where the SMBs live in the U.S.,” says Megan Wintle, Business Marketing Lead at Wise. “And we found with tests in other markets that static ads are best.”
While Wise incorporated learnings from earlier campaigns in the UK and other markets, Wintle notes that “every time we launch a campaign we make it regionally-focused, because businesses everywhere have different problems. All of our creative process starts from talking to our customers, finding out what problems do we solve for.”
For instance, customers had previously discussed the importance of being able to sync their Wise account to QuickBooks and other software, so the company makes certain to promote that benefit on its website and collateral. The research study confirmed another item of importance to its customers and other SMBs: transparency regarding transfer fees and other hidden costs. Today Wise makes transparency one of its primary business pillars and unique selling propositions. “SMBs are the heart of this country. They work hard for that money and should be able to track where that money is going,” Wintle says.
Narrowing the Target
More than 33 million U.S. businesses meet the Small Business Administration’s definition of a SMB as an entity with fewer than 500 employees. Wise refined the large potential target audience, focusing on businesses with fewer than 50 employees, including micro-businesses in which the founder made up the entire workforce. It also honed in on four states with the highest concentration of SMBs—California, Florida, New York and Texas—geo-targeting its YouTube and LinkedIn placements to those areas.
Wise is looking for lifts in business in those four locations, and in particular in New York City and Austin, where the murals were, to gauge the success of its campaign. Other metrics include impressions, visits to its website, and number of report downloads.