The smallest companies in Britain look like the firmest believers in marketing.

A study made by Chartered Institute of Marketing has revealed this startling finding. Based on the study, small firms are more likely to see marketing as an essential part of their business, invest in marketing, and quickly recognise why it is important to put a marketer at senior level. In simpler terms, the smaller the business, the more important the art of marketing is to them.

The study said that in 90 percent of companies that have a turnover of less than £1 million cited business process as a high priority.

Contrast this to companies with an annual turnover of more than £100 million. Less than half of these firms had rated marketing as a top priority in their respective companies.

The study said that larger firms have a tendency to restrict the powers of marketing operations. Two-thirds of in-house marketers have admitted that they are finding difficulty in getting a budget for supporting their marketing projects.

But among companies with less than 1 million in turnover annually, it was reported that 10 percent of their expenditure is earmarked to marketing exercises. This is a significant improvement over the national average of 7.2 percent.

This tactic is working because smaller business are more optimistic about the prospects of their businesses compared to the larger companies. These small firms have also expressed more confidence that their investments in marketing will eventually pay dividends.

Business solutions and Company formation experts have also cited the importance of marketing in business. Marketing, they stressed, is a crucial tool in helping a company increase its profits and should not be ignored. Marketing efforts, they said, eventually pay for itself.