A new report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) Australian SMEs in the digital economy highlights that while SMEs lag behind larger businesses in relation to digital marketing and engagement 17% of those SMEs have some form of outsourcing arrangement to manage their day to day communications requirements.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are estimated to be responsible for 69% of the total Australian workforce and 57% of income earned during 2011-12.
However, the report shows that many small businesses continue to lag behind in relation to embracing their position as an integral part of Australia’s digital economy when compared to large businesses.
Current research shows that only 64% of SMEs have a website and only 18% advertise their business on other websites.
The ACMA report also looks at the “digitally-confident” SME, assessing “confidence” through the amount of online services used. Services include everything from social media to search and information and marketing. Using these criteria, only 50% of SMEs were found to be using more than 6 online activities.
The ACMA’s research also found that despite Australia’s massive smartphone adoption, only 18% of SMEs had a mobile-optimised site in 2013. Even though this figure is twice that of 2012, uptake is still relatively slow.
65% of SMEs believe conducting business online is important to future growth but 60% felt their lack of knowledge in the online arena is preventing them from taking advantage of it.
Of those embracing the digitisation of their business, only 14% feel they’re using the Internet to its full advantage.
It is understandable that most large businesses have full time communications teams to handle their online and offline communications strategies.
At the same time it is integral for SMEs to embrace outsourced communications strategies that are supported by offsite teams to help them compete and succeed in the digital economy.
Speak with the team from Infodec Communications to find out more.