Let’s examine the new opportunities emerging for small and medium businesses in digital advertising, what’s causing them, and how you can prepare your business to ride the upward curve.
What’s causing digital advertising to grow?
Digital advertising has been growing faster than GDP and this is projected to continue. Many companies are shifting spend from traditional media — like newspapers, magazines, billboards, radio or TV, to digital media and it’s predicted that by 2040 this will make up 80-90% of marketing spend.
But it’s not just big companies making the shift, there are unique opportunities for small to medium businesses to harness the power of digital advertising (more on that below). Let’s take a look at where this opportunity arises from:
A bigger online audience using smartphones
The first factor is that more people are coming online, so businesses can target a bigger consumer pool with digital advertising. It’s simple — a greater percentage of people have smartphones now than ever. What’s more, they spend more time on them than ever before.
And it’s not only smartphones, widespread broadband adoption also contributes to more people being online and ready to buy. With more people online, advertisers can access richer data to personalise and target advertising.
With more people looking down at their phones rather than up at a sign or billboard, consumers’ attention is online — making it the place to be seen. In fact, according to a 2021 article from Australia’s Tech Guide, the average Aussie spends 5.5 hours per day on their smartphone. Looking at just millennials and Gen Z, this rises to over 7 hours per day.
New lower-cost advertising tools and products
This brings us to the second factor: more people are spending more time with media in digital forms, creating an opportunity for new advertising products and more demand from advertisers. The costs for advertisers to enter the market are dropping, thanks to tools like AI that can support rapid content creation or reformatting.
As ads provide better ROI and more measurable formats, businesses can execute targeted and highly measurable campaigns. For example, online used car marketplace Caravana used gen AI to create 13 million bespoke videos aimed at individual customers, celebrating their car purchase in a personalised way.
More innovation and better performance from ad products
As the variety and quality of advertising products expand and improve with innovation, advertising entry costs drop and the total addressable market (TAM) grows. This makes digital advertising accessible to small businesses with modest budgets, providing a pathway to grow the business through digital platforms.
Growth of digital niches
There are more places to display advertising now than ever before, with new alternatives emerging often. From podcasts to Meta, Google, Bing, YouTube, video streaming services, emerging social media platforms and networking sites — digital niches cater to broad and narrow demographics.
Video game platforms, retail media and digital out-of-home advertising are all examples of platforms with opportunities for digital advertising growth. Anywhere consumers are less prepared to pay for media provides an emerging advertising opportunity.
So what can small and medium businesses do now?
Right now there are opportunities for small and medium businesses to grow with digital advertising, taking advantage of affordable entry costs and tools that allow you to appear where your audience’s attention is now.
It starts by knowing your audience — as a business owner or in-house professional, you know this best already. Find out where their attention is online, and play in this space to be seen.
Next, identify and test any new market opportunities: this is where the professional digital marketing team at Kwasi can help with.
Not sure where to begin but keen to get started? Get in touch with our team to learn more about integrated digital marketing strategy for your brand or business.
Digital advertising growth questions
How big is the digital marketing industry in Australia?
Australia’s internet advertising market grew 9.7% year-on-year to reach a total spend of $15.6 billion at the end of the 23/34 financial year, according to PWC’s Internet Advertising Revenue Report.
What is the trend in digital marketing in Australia?
Digital marketing grew steadily before 2020, but since 2020 growth has accelerated faster as new opportunities, platforms and tools become available and AI tools improve.
Is digital marketing saturated in Australia?
Definitely not — this is a myth. With enhanced personalisation and the ability to create bespoke content for audience segments (and in the future, maybe even individuals) digital marketing is an ever-growing opportunity, as more people spend more time online.
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