Australian businesses pack more change into last 4 years than previous two decades
HubSpot, the customer platform for scaling businesses, has released new data that shows Australian companies are transforming their business models in response to global megatrends, including generative AI and changing customer expectations.
Businesses have to pivot with the times, all the time. But SMBs agree the AI era is different, with three in four businesses saying they've evolved more in the past four years than previous twenty. In 2024, businesses are navigating a new reality whereby keeping pace with technological disruption and innovation is critical to business success.
In the AI era, Australian businesses are the most likely globally to feel the pressure to do more with less. According to HubSpot’s research, 70 per cent of local businesses agree that the introduction of AI has required them to reinvent. But that doesn’t necessarily mean starting from scratch.
"A combination of rising business costs, new technology and evolving customer expectations have impacted the effectiveness of conventional growth tactics among Australia’s businesses, accelerating a need for reinvention. Our research shows that the majority of local businesses believe delivering streamlined, personalised customer experiences is key to growth and success in 2024. Long term success will be determined by the ability of businesses to effectively engage with their audiences across multiple channels, and deliver more value to customers to maximise retention,” said Kat Warboys, Senior Marketing Director - APAC, HubSpot.
Rethinking content marketing…again
Today, customers are everywhere. Their purchase path is fragmented across multiplying channels and marketers are left facing two major challenges: reach and relevance. Businesses need to efficiently meet customers wherever they are, and do it with quality content that’s personalised, unique and valuable.
However, marketers are struggling to meet demands for multi-channel content, with 70 per cent saying they need tools to help them remix their content from one format or channel to another. Australia is also the second most likely country, behind Singapore, to cite an increasing number of channels as a pain point (32 per cent).
"The data reveals that a majority of Australian businesses need to review and reset their go-to-market strategies, but it’s not a case of one size fits all. This is a journey that many businesses are on, or need to commence, in order to understand the content that best engages customers. For marketing teams wanting to effectively reach and engage their audiences, they must focus on personalised content, on the channels customers are showing up on, to build deeper connections with customers ,” shared Warboys.
To help local businesses meet demands for remixed, multi-channel content, HubSpot has launched Content Hub. The all-in-one marketing solution, powered by HubSpot AI, helps to create and manage content across the entire customer journey, through tools like AI Content Creation, Content Remix, Brand Voice, audio tooling, Members Blog and Gated Content Library (among others).
"As a small business with big growth goals, Content Hub enables us to have a complete content marketing solution that grows with us. Content marketing is the growth engine of our business, and we now spend 60 per cent less time repurposing content across platforms because the workflows are so much simpler. While the paid media landscape is becoming increasingly challenging to navigate, we’re experiencing returns on organic content growing 150 per cent year on year. There’s no doubt that Content Hub has been a game changer for our business and connecting with new customers,” added Colm Walsh, Managing Director at Swimming Pool Kits Direct.
Transforming support teams into revenue drivers
Beyond acquisition, SMBs must focus on retention and customer experience for growth. Personalised, responsive support and alignment across an organisation’s go-to-market teams are essential components of retaining and delighting customers. With three in five (62 per cent) Australian businesses agreeing that it’s important to have one platform for their go-to-market teams to work in, rather than many separate tools within an organisation’s tech stack. To meet this need, the all-new Service Hub, powered by HubSpot AI, is the only solution that brings together customer support and success functions for the first time.
"Service Hub aligned perfectly with our desire to introduce a new support ticketing system to our business. We can now effectively track how our support teams manage client queries. Not only does this grant us greater visibility into the type of customer feedback we’re receiving, but it also helps us understand opportunities for improvement at a product level so that we can constantly improve as a business. Service Hub has become a central resource to our business, and our new ticketing system produced savings of nearly half a million dollars per year,” explained Catriona Hay, Head of Platform Success at Archipro.
"In today’s climate, change is happening in days and weeks, not years. Maintaining the level of business innovation that the Australian community is known for will require adaptation to this reinvented environment. Transformation can be daunting, but having access to the right tools will empower businesses to harness change, maintain pace with customer needs and better connect with their target market,” concluded Warboys.
Learn more about these launches and the over 100 updates made across the customer platform at hubspot.com/spotlight.
