2009 Small Business Survey Shows Surprising Optimism

Montclair, NJ, December 10, 2008 --(PR.com)-- New Jersey Area Businesses Optimistic for 2009.

Small and medium-sized businesses in the Northern New Jersey area appear to be optimistic about the year ahead, according to the second annual year-end business survey conducted by Samson Media, LLC.

According to the survey of over 1,500 area business people and entrepreneurs comprised of various chambers of commerce and BNI groups, nearly 52% expect business to be better in 2009 than in 2008 with 26% saying it “will be about the same”. That equates to over 75% of respondents feeling that business will be the same or better next year even though the national economy is suffering a recession unseen since the 1940’s.

“It shows that business people are generally an optimistic bunch,” explained Samson Media president, Gene R. Sower. “This appears to be good news from an employment standpoint, too, because a full 32% expect to increase hiring and over 44% expect to make no changes while only 9% plan on staff reductions.”

Optimism For New Administration & Ad Spending
In light of the recent elections, area business people remained mostly positive with 54.55% feeling that the new, incoming administration will improve things for their business with 14.6% feeling it would make things worse. 9% felt it would have no effect and almost 22% responded “Don’t Know”.

Other survey highlights showed nearly 79% expect to increase the amount of networking they do for their business and over 75% expect to either maintain or increase ad spending in 2009. Yellow Page advertising remained last on the list from last year’s survey of ad spending outlets with only 10.91% saying it was effective. Asked to pick their most effective methods to gain new customers, 82% chose “Word of Mouth” followed by 71% of respondents who favored networking groups like chambers of commerce, BNI, etc.

Samson Media, LLC, is an online marketing communications firm celebrating its two year anniversary in December 2008. The company specializes in website design, search engine optimization and small business consulting.

For more information, visit www.samsonmedia.net , or call 973-744-6621.

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