Telstra has announced an $8.5 million investment into Australia’s small business economy.
The telco giant will hand over major advertising space at some of the nation’s biggest football stadiums and is launching a service to help small businesses plan for and benefit from the digital economy.
Small businesses that register interest for a Telstra Business Go Digital Consult will also have the chance to win a takeover of Telstra’s premium advertising at AFL and NRL games across the country in the first week of May.
Telstra Consumer and Small Business Group Executive Michael Ackland said the initiative comes after the pandemic drove more customers than ever to interact with businesses online.
“Australia’s small to medium businesses deserve both a Dally M and a Brownlow medal for how they have kept themselves and our economy running during an incredibly challenging period. They’ve earned an opportunity to have their name up in lights,” Ackland said.
“We’ve seen a massive acceleration in the number of customers shopping online over the past year. To harness this opportunity, now is the time for more small businesses to go online and interact with customers in new, digital ways, as well as embrace more efficient ways of selling, marketing and invoicing.
“More businesses going digital could help grow Australia’s economy by $90b and create up to 250,000 jobs in the next five years. We know this is a big change for many small businesses, so we are offering free Telstra Business Go Digital Consults to help businesses embrace the digital economy.”
Telstra’s digital consult will be offered for free to SMB customers in 2021, a value of approximately $7.5 million.
And eligible customers who register for the consult before March 23 will enter into a competition to access sports advertising by taking over Telstra’s AFL and NRSL sponsorships at each stadium hosting games from May 3-6.
Winning businesses will be plugged into one of 17 stadiums across Australia.
The Go Digital Consult also unlocks a host of exclusive offers with Telstra’s extensive partner network also providing SMB support, including Small Business Australia, Samsung, Cisco, Spotzer, Facebook and Microsoft.