Small and medium-sized businesses operate in a world that sets them apart from larger corporations. Their concerns, motivations, and financial pressures are unique. They approach decision-making differently and follow distinct growth trajectories, shaped by their specific challenges and opportunities.
Equally important is the remarkable diversity among SMBs themselves. This isn’t surprising given the broad definitions often used for SMBs—whether the cutoff is 400, 500, or even 1,000 employees. These businesses range from micro-enterprises with just one or two people to major employers that serve as the backbone of their local town or neighborhood. They include companies focused on providing a stable income for their founders and families, as well as those driven by innovation and rapid growth. Some begin as one type of business and evolve into something entirely different over time. This wide variety highlights the vast spectrum of goals, sizes, and ambitions that define SMBs.
Our Approach to Analyzing SMB Growth Journeys
Marketers are able to create much greater value for SMBs when they avoid treating them as a single, monolithic category. When we understand the diversity of the SMB landscape, and the different needs that businesses have at each point in their journeys, we can support those journeys far more effectively.
Capturing the vast diversity of SMBs is no small feat. In our comprehensive study, Meet the SMB, we tackled this challenge by surveying businesses with fewer than 400 employees and leveraging LinkedIn's own data. Through this approach, we uncovered key growth tipping points—critical moments when small businesses evolve their mindset and accelerate their growth trajectory.
We call this critical milestone Employee Number 11 because, statistically, it’s when businesses experience a turning point. Hiring the 11th employee often triggers significant changes—it acts as a growth catalyst that sharpens founders’ focus, reinforces the need to invest in their business, reshapes decision-making structures, and expands their vision of what’s achievable.
By examining the key characteristics that emerge at this stage, we can develop valuable guidelines to support the growth of these businesses. At LinkedIn, our mission is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce, but this effort extends beyond us. It’s a mission shared by marketers across countless organizations, all working toward the same goal of helping businesses thrive.
Here are five key traits that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) begin to exhibit as they gear up to transition into larger enterprises—and how marketers can effectively adapt to support this growth:
Employee Number 11 empowers SMBs to expand budgets and boost purchase intent across all B2B categories
Once businesses surpass the 10-employee threshold, their spending increases significantly across a broader range of B2B categories. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with 10 to 50 employees allocate 3-4 times more to payroll services, IT solutions, advertising, logistics, and office space compared to smaller companies. Their purchase intent for these categories also rises sharply. This increased investment reflects their focus on enhancing employee productivity, which often drives faster growth and leads to even greater investments over time.
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) credit LinkedIn as a key driver of their growth. In fact, 68% of SMB users say LinkedIn plays a vital role in expanding their business—more than any other social platform.
They involve more individuals in the decision-making process.
Smaller businesses tend to make decisions faster and in more streamlined ways than large enterprises. However, the nature of this decision-making starts to change after they take on their 11th employee. At this stage, they become 32% more likely to deliberate over purchasing decisions for more than a week and 18% less likely to rely on individual decision-makers. Instead, these businesses begin forming buying committees to guide their choices. Notably, the majority of professionals in these decision-making groups are active on LinkedIn more than any other platform.
A significant number of these individuals have experience working at large companies
SMBs with more than 10 employees are comfortable with group buying decisions, because their founders and leaders often have experience of working at larger businesses. According to LinkedIn data, 43% of small business owners and leaders previously worked in companies with more than 500 employees before starting or joining their current ventures. These leaders are accustomed to using LinkedIn as a key resource in their buying process, a habit that carries over into their roles as SMB decision-makers. In fact, 40% of businesses with 10 to 50 employees rely on their professional network to guide their purchasing decisions.
Growing SMBs gain a stronger sense of purpose that drives their continuous growth
As businesses expand, they don’t just increase investments or shift decision-making processes—they adopt an entirely new mindset. For instance, once small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) reach 50 employees, their workforce is 46% less likely to take on second jobs or supplemental work. At this stage, the focus shifts from mere survival to securing leadership positions and long-term success. These businesses tend to be more resilient, supported by a wider customer base and diversified revenue streams. They also face fewer obstacles, being 28% less likely to struggle with revenue growth and 34% more likely to prioritize adopting new technologies.
This forward-thinking strategy aligns perfectly with the mindset of SMB professionals on LinkedIn. Studies show that after engaging on the platform, SMB members are 33% more likely to feel ambitious and 27% more likely to feel confident compared to users of other social networks.
SMB decision-makers reinforce their growth through noticeably stronger engagement on LinkedIn
As small businesses approach critical growth milestones, their activity on LinkedIn increases—and it accelerates even further as they continue to scale. On LinkedIn, SMB members place significantly higher value on video ads and posts from companies compared to other platforms. They actively use insights from ads and thought leaders to guide their business decisions. Over the past two years, engagement with LinkedIn content among SMB members has skyrocketed, increasing 25 times (LinkedIn Internal Data).
Empowering SMBs at the point of belief
When SMBs reach their first major growth milestone, a powerful sense of belief often takes hold—one that can quickly become self-fulfilling. This confidence drives them to expand their teams, invest in business growth, boost productivity, and think more strategically and ambitiously about their future. At LinkedIn, we’re proud to see SMB members so active and engaged on our platform. But what we’re most proud of is how LinkedIn fosters this sense of potential. It creates opportunities not only for SMBs to thrive but also for those who seek to build meaningful, productive relationships with them.
Download your copy of our Meet the SMB report for full, in-depth insight on the journey these businesses take on LinkedIn. For more information about getting started with LinkedIn ads, explore our how-to resources.
Source: LinkedIn Meet the SMB Research Study, Commissioned by Interpret, May 2024; n = 4,287 Global SMB decision-makers 18+
Topics: Small business
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