South Africa

South Africa’s digital marketing future is as diverse as its people

Digital marketing has changed the face of how companies used to operate and advertise. With new technology flooding the market every minute, digital marketing is also reinventing itself to suit the needs of the times. South Africa is the largest developing market for digital marketing these days owing to the hotbed of brands flocking to the beautiful and diverse nation which is fast becoming one of the business hubs of the world.

With the rapid growth of the digital marketing market, it is estimated that the future holds some amazing plan for this nation.

Reaching out to a higher population

The South African nation has huge and ambitious plans chalked up to install under-sea cables for faster and cheaper internet. Although these plans have been delayed for quite some time due to unavoidable situations, there has been a steady growth in the bandwidth capacity in South Africa. It has indeed grown leaps and bounds, sometimes even doubling, since the year 2011, which holds a very promising chance for digital marketers. Even though legal issues and regulations have often hindered the deployment of broadband, it has indeed not stopped the growth of digital marketing in the country. Thus, digital marketing is soon set to become a primary way of advertising as it will have a higher reach than any other means.

Emergence of video marketing

Over the years the number of internet users has steadily increased across the length and breadth of South Africa, which has prompted the government to facilitate a faster growth in better and cheaper internet connections so that everyone can get access to it. The government in fact sees internet access as critical and essential amenity which every citizen should have access to. As it is working on better means to provide internet to every citizen, it can be safely assumed that data costs will continue to fall over the years as the demand for data will steadily increase. This will lead to a greater demand for GIF and video advertisements.

Increase in marketing for smartphones

Smartphone penetration has been growing rapidly over the past few years. With the falling prices of smartphones with high end features, affordable data plans and high-speed Internet, majority of the urban South African population has taken up smartphones as a preferred means of surfing the Internet, shopping, browsing etc. This gives rise to the need for better and more advertisements which are targeted towards mobile users. It is speculated that more and more companies will gradually move towards creating ads for mobile users. There will be a rise of digital marketing campaigns which do not require a big screen like that of a PC or a laptop to be viewed properly. It’s aspect ratio will be more suited to a mobile screen. It is also expected that companies will launch special coupons for mobile users as well to encourage more and more people to shift to mobile platforms.

Environmental consciousness

With the alarming rate of deforestation, global warming and rise of water level, it can be safely assumed that people will start being more and more conscious about the environment, prompting companies to keep up pace, in order to maintain their position and sales. Therefore, more and more marketing world be aimed at the corporate social responsibility of saving the environment, leading to a growth of digital ads over paper and billboards.

With the advance of technology and better wealth distribution it is speculated that South Africa will continue to grow as a pulsating market for digital marketing.


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