Sensis takes to the road to tout digital marketing credentials

Stuart Corner
Saturday, 07 May 2011 07:26

IT Industry - Strategy

With its print advertising revenues in decline and its digital revenues static, Telstra subsidiary Sensis has embarked on a six week roadshow around Australia to promote digital marketing to small and medium businesses.

The 'Driving Your Business' roadshow will offer free digital marketing seminars to small businesses "to help equip them with practical tips and insights on how to make the most of digital marketing and drive their businesses' success."

The move comes after Telstra's half year results revealed 18 percent decline in Sensis' Yellow Pages print revenues, but growth in Yellow Pages digital revenue of only 0.2 percent. Just days later, Sensis slashed some 120 positions.

At the half year results announcement Sensis said it had "developed a digital strategy to address the decline in print revenues," and this was fleshed out in a presentation to the market by CEO Bruce Akhurst at the end of March.

Despite the lack of growth in its digital business, Akhurst claimed that Sensis was now "A digital led business". He said the digital market was fragmenting as it grew, making marketing increasingly difficult, but that Sensis had a unique ability to build, package and market cross-platform solutions.

Kim Van Prooyen, Yellow Pages' Driving Your Business ambassador, said: "From online shopping to consumer reviews, the digital world presents huge opportunities for businesses of all sizes, yet it is a complex landscape which presents something of a digital dilemma for many SMEs. They want to embrace this new world but understandably in many instances they just aren't sure how to tackle it.

"Through [the 'Driving Your Business' roadshows] we want to show our support of Australia's SMEs by helping to unlock the power of digital marketing and proving it isn't just for larger businesses. There is a lot that small businesses can - and should - be doing online to successfully compete in this space and drive more customers through their doors."

To co-incide with the launch of the roadshow Telstra has released the results of a survey saying: "When it comes to digital marketing, many SMEs are at risk of falling behind their larger competitors. Given only 17 percent of Australian small businesses have a digital strategy, it is no surprise that a staggering 40 percent of them don't have a website, and only 14 percent have a presence on social media - compared to 50 percent of larger businesses.

"A lack of experience in the digital field seems to be at the root of the problem for Australia's SMEs. Whilst nearly three quarters of large companies in Australia employ a marketing department to manage their social media presence, it's a luxury that only one in ten small businesses invest in."

The Driving Your Business series kicks off in Brisbane on 17t May, before moving on to Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney throughout May and June.