In an interview with Ticker, Jon Hollenberg discusses the importance of businesses dialling up their digital capabilities, what we have seen in the industry over the last 18 months, and trends he predicts for the future.
Check out the interview below
Adrian Franklin:
Welcome back, well every business, these days has a website and an online presence, but how much have you really thought about it? Announced recently as marketing agency of the year finalist, Five by Five is a leading digital agency founded by Jon Hollenberg 16 years ago. Jon is with us now to explain more on what your digital solution needs to look like. Welcome, mate. How are you today? Thanks for your time. So firstly, tell us a bit about your journey 16 years in the business, been a long time. What brought you to this point?
Jon Hollenberg:
In the land of the internet, it is a very long time. So I started the business back in 2006, working in my spare bedroom here in Burleigh Heads at the Gold Coast. We’re now a team of 32 and we’re full service agency doing website design, development, search engine optimization, paid traffic, hosting and support. So that’s us.
Adrian Franklin:
So tell us some of the key changes that you’ve seen in your time in terms of how far the digital web space has come. I mean, quite a few changes I would imagine.
Jon Hollenberg:
That’s spot on. So really what’s happening at the moment is this tremendous shift in and what the, what the internet has done for the average business owner is it has leveled the playing field. It is allowed, you know, a one man show to go and compete with the big boys to put together an amazing digital presence that is jam packed full of awesome content, photography, and video. And they can get leads and enquiries coming in all around Australia and the world. So that’s been the big shift it’s levelled the playing field.
Adrian Franklin:
Have you seen that also over the past 18 months as well? Has gone to that next level? What else have you seen over recent times? Beause in your space, I mean, things have been booming in most cases,
Jon Hollenberg:
Yes, spot on. The last 18 months has really, really accelerated that obviously, the inability to go out and do business in the traditional format that it’s always done face to face, has forced people to reinvent their digital shopfront because usually this is where people start their buying journey, whether it’s working, you know, seeking out products or services, people go to Google and they punch in that search phrase. So, you want to make sure that obviously your digital shopfront is an appealing one, that it encourages people to reach out, to raise their hand and to get in touch.
Adrian Franklin:
We talk about the fact that business growth is more dependent than ever on an effective website. Tell us a bit more about that.
Jon Hollenberg:
So Google published a whole bunch of research and content around this, 59% of people before they buy any products or service, they go to Google and they punch in that search phrase. And interestingly, when people are physically on site, say at shops, 50% of people are using video when they’re in the shops to do further research, to understand you know, the different products that they’re working with. We work with a lot of service-based businesses, lawyers and accountants and financial planners. It basically has allowed people to open up and work with anyone from anywhere. And the wonderful thing is people are a lot more open to that now. Utilizing tools like Zoom, Slack and Trello and all this sort of stuff has really accelerated that. So, where people may have been hesitant to work with a provider in a different capital city or a different country now they’re very much open to that, which is amazing.
Adrian Franklin:
And Jon, let’s talk about the future just to finish up. What, what are some of the key trends in the digital sphere that we might see, or we should be focusing on over the next, let’s say five years or so.
Jon Hollenberg:
So it’s all going to be about personalization. So we’ve worked with Queensland’s largest home builder. They automatically detect where you’re geographically coming from. They serve up products and offerings that are specific to that. It’s all about your past search and usage on a website, so very much around the personalization and providing a more bespoken, customized content for the end user.
Adrian Franklin:
Jon, great to have a chat with you and keep us up to date. It sounds like it’s an exciting and busy time for you. Thanks for sharing today on Ticker News.
About Ticker
Ticker focusses on news and stories relating to business, tech & digital, start-ups, entrepreneurs, media and travel. Ticker was started by Ahron Young, an award winning journalist who has worked in television, radio and newspapers across the globe. He was also the Melbourne Bureau Chief of Sky News Australia prior to Ticker.
