Shifting up a gear online

In May 1999, The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that there were 1.1 million households accessing the Internet in Australia. This accords to what is known as a penetration rate of 16%.

Last year, it was calculated that 8,300,000 Australians accessed the Internet each month, a penetration rate of over 60% and a growth rate of over 800% in just 5 years.

It seems the growth of the internet is unstoppable as it provides an ever expanding means to communicate, conduct research and finalise crucial purchasing decisions.

With such a large proportion of society utilising the internet, the number of websites worldwide has now grown to over 8,000,000,000, and in our era of constant technological advancement, it is well known that the internet can only continue to grow.

The importance of the appeal and functionality of websites has never been more pertinent in light of the substantial growth in internet use, as illustrated by the fact that the majority of Australian corporate entities now directly associate their corporate identity and success with the look, feel and ease-of-use of their websites.

However, extending beyond the importance of having an appealing and efficient website, through the use of innovative web design and user-orientated web development technologies such as search engine optimisation and blogging, it is now possible to penetrate the sheer size and anonymity of the internet and target a desired group of browsers.

As such, it is of no surprise that many corporate entities have begun to realise the growing and seemingly untapped potential of online marketing campaigns, in many cases reducing their ‘above-the line’ spend on traditional marketing methods such as press to account for the increased importance of digital media.

In a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald by Paul McIntyre entitled “Cost-cutting, Toyota sees online as the way to go”, a clear and vivid message was sent to marketing managers across Australia outlining the intense growth in the importance of online marketing to the point where it may now be considered more essential than traditional press-based methods. 

Mr Evans, the head of marketing communications at Toyota, said that Toyota had increased its search engine marketing spend by a factor of five this year, that its website budget had doubled and that electronic direct marketing budgets had moved into "seven figures" for the first time in 2006.

In his direct acknowledgement that more traditional forms of direct marketing were not as appealing to Toyota due to their reduced levels of efficiency and content personalisation, a clear trend has now been set for the automotive industry; develop your internet marketing capabilities or get left behind.

Many companies have now realised the marketing potential of the internet and the importance of having a website that not only represents and sells their identity to consumers but also personalises content specifically to the needs of each individual user.

It would appear that those companies which remain ignorant to the ever-expanding internet marketing opportunities are likely to be left behind as more and more of society decides to choose the internet as their primary means to research and initiate the bulk of their purchasing decisions.