In many ways this short piece is a personal plea to Australia’s Minister for Small Business Mr Brendan O’Connor.
The majority of small businesses in Australia do not have the understanding of the digital landscape and with little knowledge they are largely ignoring it.
This might sound like a radical, off-the-cuff statement but I say this with the support of findings from MYOB’s Business Monitor released just last month. The findings come from a survey of 1,004 SME’s that highlighted some really startling numbers.
In general, online business activity including email marketing and social media was in decline and less than a quarter (24%) used search engines to promote their business, down from nearly one-third (31%) in March. The one positive sign from the survey was that those with a business website increased from 36% to 38% in the three months to July. As you could imagine this is still way too low.
The fact of the matter is we’re behind and there appears a lack of real leadership from the Australian Government. This brings me to a recent initiative coming from the City of New York.
The good people of the City of New York have released a Small Business Digital Toolkit. It aims to provide the assistance/information required to leverage social media more effectively; launch a website through how-to guides; and incorporate search engine optimisation and advertising techniques.
This is impressive.
To Brendan O’Connor and those in charge in the office of Small Business, I implore you to look into such an initiative so our small businesses no longer have to fly blind into social media, not knowing which is best for them or their business. So they understand that they can no longer afford to ignore the opportunity that a website presents or the ability to drive business through a strong search engine presence.
But I write this knowing that we, the collective group of small businesses in Australia are in this situation because many believe they do not need a website for their business or that Facebook is for little hipsters. So I feel I have to make some sort of case in support of my argument.
5 reasons why Australian small business should go digital
- There are 15.9million Australians online
- Of all Australian women online 58% fall in the ‘big spending’ 25-54 age category
- In the 12 months to June 2012, mobile page views have increased 216%
- A whopping 65% of all online Australians participate in online social networking
- In June 2012 alone, almost 14million Australians accessed Google
* Stats sourced from Nielsen Online Ratings June 2012
5 things that tell me they’re not getting it
- No website
- Have a website but it is built with Flash
- Email address is @hotmail.com or @live.com
- Facebook page set up as a friend page
- No LinkedIn company profile page
5 opportunities that small business should think about TODAY
- Mobile optimised website
- Encouraging online reviews
- Basic Search Engine Optimisation
- Social Media Strategy
- Understanding ROI
The shame about the whole situation is the fact that the digital landscape should be a game-changer for small business. This is the place where the little guys can seriously play on a level playing field. You don’t need a massive budget to engage with your audience.
If you would like to know more about New York’s digital initiatives, check out their Digital Roadmap. It’s a great read if you’re into that sort of thing. I wonder if we have something similar here in Australia?
Quentin Aisbett is the strategist at OnQ Marketing. He loves social media, SEO and mobile. Blogging all the time, tweeting even more so and found rambling on Google Plus at+Quentin Aisbett. Be a little old school and email him.
