The level of IT spending in South Africa is forecast to increase in 2025 at a higher pace than the economy did in 2020. Although the general state of the economy has a direct impact on the growth of the ICT sector, its customers continue to invest in technology, and the sector consistently shows a growth rate that is higher than GDP. 

Cybersecurity is a high priority, with global statistics indicating that South Africa is the third most targeted country in the world for cyberattacks. Alleged IT-related procurement irregularities revealed through a number of commissions of inquiry and investigations continue to affect the reputation of some industry players. It is estimated that there are over 13,000 IT companies and over 3,000 electronics companies in South Africa, with the vast majority being small companies employing less than 50 people, according to Globe-News Wire.

Why Work With a South African IT Company

New and growing trends will provide significant opportunities for small and large players in the sector. These include growth in telecommunications, data center revenues and artificial intelligence, and the internet of things, where start-ups are expected to lead innovation. Digital transformation to improve customer experiences and online purchasing, fintech banking, blockchain, augmented reality, and virtual reality are some of the technologies that will disrupt the South African ICT industry in 2019. Improvements continue in 2025, with more than 120 million cellular mobile connections equal to 193% of the total population. 

The industry is characterized by consolidation and convergence of companies within the IT sector, and between companies in the IT and telecommunications sectors.

What You Should Be Aware of When Working With South-African IT Companies

The growth projections of the IT market could be higher were it not for certain factors that seem to constrain it, including the cost sensitivity of customers, low expenditure by the public sector, market maturity, and bigger companies sourcing directly from the original equipment manufacturers. 

 IT market growth is also impeded by bigger companies that bypass IT vendors and go directly to OEMs for products and services. This impacts negatively on smaller companies that provide niche services within the broader IT sector. 

How Reliable Are South African IT Companies

Despite the challenges facing the IT sector, its products and services have become part and parcel of everyday business and social life. The fast pace of innovation helps the sector to remain relevant while shaping the future of business and society. 

How Does the South-African IT Industry Relate to the Neighboring Countries?

The South African IT market, comprising hardware, packaged software, and IT services submarkets, is regarded as one of the most developed and sophisticated within the continent. South African IT companies rank among world leaders in areas such as mobile software, electronic banking services, pre-payment, revenue management, fraud prevention systems, and the manufacture of set-top boxes, according to a report provided by the South African Department of Communications. 

Digital marketing, also known as web marketing, Internet marketing or online marketing, is one of the most popular advertising methods on the web. It includes a wide set of other promotion techniques like SEO, pay-per-click advertising, email marketing, affiliate marketing and many more.

In simple words, digital marketing is everything you do to promote your business or brand online. It’s basically the same as marketing, but for the web audience. 

If you want to discover the ins and outs of digital marketing, its current state and how IT companies use different marketing channels, read this comprehensive guide created by TechBehemoths, which is based on info provided by more than 2,500 surveyed companies.

There are multiple benefits of digital marketing. Here are some of them:

• Multiple channels/strategies

• Global or local reach

• Great scalability

• Cost efficient, if optimized for leads/sales

• Advanced/granular targeting

• Usually a higher conversion rate

• Advanced and precise analytics

• Automatization

Digital marketing agencies might have different approaches and tactics. Some agencies focus on a broad range of advertising services, while others focus on specific industries, channels or locations. Finding the best digital marketing company for your needs is not an easy task. 

You have to take into account all the aspects and define your goals in advance, so the selection process is smooth and efficient.

Here are some things to look for when choosing a digital marketing agency:

• Expertise

• Portfolio

• Location

• Price and pricing structure

• Approach and particularities

• Communication and reporting

• Client reviews

TechBehemoths lists more than 9,000 companies providing online marketing services from all over the world. Check out their profiles to learn more about their previous work and speciality.

To ease the selection process, we’ve created a powerful filter which you can use to narrow down the results and shortlist the companies based on your project requirements.

Where do tech businesses advertise?

TechBehemoths conducted a study in the past, where they asked tech companies what digital marketing channels they use the most. SEO/AEO, email marketing, content marketing, social media and PPC were the most popular choices.

An interesting stat revealed that only 21% of survey respondents chose video marketing as their preferred channel. Out of those, only 5.8% of respondents said that their video marketing activity is high (based on a 1-5 scale, where 1 is low and 5 is high).

This can mean a missed opportunity for businesses, as video has become a major media format used on most popular search engines and social media networks.

Getting help from a video production company can significantly contribute to the success of your marketing activity.

Another graph showed that around 30% of tech firms don’t use PPC (pay per click) advertising, which can also mean a missed opportunity.

Getting organic traffic from Google, Bing and other search engines is getting so much harder these days, as AI summaries and AI chatbots make users less likely to click on organic links => company websites don’t get visits.

This is where digital marketing agencies can help you with Google Ads, Bing ads and pay per click services.And finally, only about 3% of respondents said that influencer marketing is a part of their marketing activity and the vast majority of them (around 60%) don’t focus on influencer marketing at all.
 

In the era of AI, personal/real experiences and recommendations matter more than before. Hence, influencer advertising can be a productive marketing channel. Who would you trust more? A human with real feedback or a synthesized AI summary? The answer is obvious.

What digital marketing strategies work in 2026?

Digital marketing in 2026 is no longer optional, it’s essential if not vital. From AI-powered search to short-form video and personalized email campaigns, businesses must adapt to evolving platforms and consumer behavior to stay competitive.

Businesses that ignore investing in a strong online presence - risk losing digital visibility, trust, and competitive advantage.

Here are the most effective types of digital marketing for this year:

1. SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) represents a type of digital marketing meant to increase the visibility of a website on search engines. Ultimately, the goal is to try to get as much organic or paid traffic as possible.

SEM is mainly based on 2 parts:

• SEO/AEO/GEO - search or answer or generative engine optimization

• Paid advertising and PPC (pay per click)

As Google dominates the search engine market, it’s vital to be present there and target relevant audiences.

2. Content marketing

Content marketing is based on the creation and distribution of relevant and useful content that attracts the attention of visitors/consumers.

There can be multiple types of content, here is a visual illustration:

3. Social media marketing (SMM)

Almost everyone uses a kind of social media platform. Creating brand awareness on social media can be the primary focus for a business, along with ecommerce opportunities, as there’s a clear trend of people using social platforms for shopping.

4. Email marketing

Email marketing includes sending promotional emails to potential customers. There are different ways to achieve that:

5. Influencer marketing

This might be one of the most overlooked marketing channels and it basically means partnering with an online influencer to market one of your products or services.

In this way, you can get access to their audience of hundreds,thousands or even millions of followers, who trust their influencers.

6. Video marketing

Video marketing might be the future of digital marketing, mainly because of the time people spend on video hosting and streaming platforms like Youtube, TikTok and others. Hence, it makes sense for small and large businesses to invest in it.

According to Renderforrest, video marketing help businesses increase:

• Brand awareness by 70%

• Traffic by 51%

• Sales by 34%

7. VR (Virtual Reality) Marketing

This is an emerging one. VR software takes users in an interactive virtual three-dimensional environment usually using headsets with special lenses (like Meta Quest VR) - to simulate a real-life experience.

While VR marketing might be more expensive, more and more brands use VR for product promotion and virtual storytelling.

If you need help with your digital marketing, TechBehemoths list thousands of trusted agencies that you can search and shortlist. Additionally, you can use the Project submission tool to get tailored offers based on your digital marketing needs.