support so that small businesses can sell
digitally.
“We’re trying to democratize enterprise
software for smaller businesses. What
we’re doing is making software easy, ac-
cessible and more affordable for small
businesses and we’re allowing our part-
ners who have feet on the streets in the
local markets to sell these services,” King
said.
THE SECRET BEHIND
EXPONENTIAL GROWTH
For the very first time in local advertising
dollars, digital advertising has surpassed
traditional advertising this year. The other
trend is that money is moving from ‘paid’
to ‘earned and owned’ — more money
is being spent on marketing and promo-
tional services, like Facebook pages and
websites, than paid advertising. Currently,
twice as much money is being spent on
the former and King says that digital mar-
keting is growing rapidly and will continue
to grow.
True to his prediction are some astound-
ing statistics from Borrell Associates —
digital marketing expenditure from 2015
to 2016 has increased from $80 million to
$84 million in North America. Social media
management has grown from $630 million
to $2.18 billion this year; reputation from
$420 million to $1.34 billion; and listings
from $230 million to half a billion dollars.
JUNE 2016
H
business elite canada 101
