Atlas / Sector
Sector profile
Technology marketing benchmarks
Strongest on Retention & Loyalty, with the most room to move in Brand & Positioning. Technology sits above the national average across 6 industries.
Building evidence · based on 81 businesses, growing
Sector signature
Bars are this sector. Ticks are the national average.
Sector strength
Retention & Loyalty
+4 against the national line. The dimension this sector leans on.
Biggest gap
Brand & Positioning
-2 against the field. The soft spot holding the sector back.
The spread
14 points
Between the strongest and weakest industry in the sector. A wide gap means the average hides real winners.
The map
Where this sector sits
Every dot is an industry we measure. The 6 industries in Technology are lit in red. Choose any two dimensions for the axes.
Acquisition Performance →
Technology sits above average on Retention & Loyalty and above average on Acquisition Performance. The spread of red dots shows how tightly the sector clusters.
The spread inside the sector
Every number is a Marketing Score out of 100, rolling six dimensions into one figure. 48 is a business doing the basics. 90 is one that markets like a business twice its size.
The distance between the strongest and weakest performer in Technology is wide. A small cluster is genuinely good. A long tail sits well behind. The bar to lead this sector is lower than the reputation suggests. So where would you land?
In national context
Where the sector lands on the map
Every industry we measure, sorted low to high. The marker shows where Technology averages out.
In this sector
Every industry in Technology, ranked
Sorted by Marketing Score. Open any one for the full profile.
The read
What the numbers say about Technology
On the whole, Technology is one of the stronger sectors we measure. It leans on retention & loyalty and trails on brand & positioning.
Technology ranks 1st of 11 sectors, 1.8 points above the national average. This might surprise anyone who assumes tech companies are automatically good at marketing. They lead on Digital Maturity and on Retention & Loyalty (+3.8 against the national line). Where they fall short is Brand & Positioning.
B2B SaaS & Software leads the sector and is the standout vertical. These companies invest in content marketing, product-led growth loops and attribution tracking in ways that other tech verticals do not. Telecommunications (Retail Telco & ISPs) anchors the bottom, weighed down by commoditised offerings and acquisition models that prioritise price over experience.
Data and Tracking is a sector strength in relative terms, which makes sense. Tech companies build the tracking tools everyone else uses. But strong-on-paper is not the same as strong-in-practice, which says something about the gap between having the tools and actually using them for marketing decisions.
Technology builds the tracking tools everyone else uses, yet its own scores show that building tracking tools and using them for marketing decisions are two different capabilities.
What to watch in Australian tech
Cybersecurity and Crypto are both punching above weight for relatively young verticals. Cybersecurity benefits from urgent buyer intent. Crypto benefits from community-driven brand equity. Both are worth watching as they mature.
The 13.8-point gap between B2B SaaS & Software and Telecommunications (Retail Telco & ISPs) is the sector's defining tension. Product-led companies outperform sales-led incumbents on nearly every dimension. As AI lowers the cost of building software, the SaaS playbook will spread to more of the sector.
Patterns
What the Technology numbers reveal
Computed from 82 scored businesses across 6 industries. Updated as new audits complete.
By the numbers
17.3-point gap between Enterprise and Small Business
Enterprise businesses average 71.3. Small Business averages 54. Scale creates a 17.3-point advantage in this sector, driven by dedicated marketing teams and infrastructure investment.
Who's leading
ASX-listed companies score 3.7 points higher than unlisted
26 ASX-listed businesses average 69.6 vs 65.9 for 56 unlisted. Public reporting discipline and larger budgets correlate with stronger marketing maturity.
How industries compare
Digital Maturity (68.5) is the sector's edge. Data & Tracking (60.6) is the drag.
A 7.9-point spread between the strongest and weakest dimensions. Digital Maturity is 2.5 points above the national average.
What's shifting
1.8 points above the national average of 63.7
Technology ranks 1 of 11 sectors. The gap is closeable. These are not structurally weak businesses. They are businesses that have not prioritised digital marketing.
Where they are
NSW dominates with 48 of 82 businesses
59% of scored businesses in this sector are headquartered in NSW, averaging 68.2. VIC (22), QLD (8), NZ (3) follow.
Where the gaps are
Xero leads the sector at 90
24.5 points above the sector average. Scores 15.5 points above its own industry (B2B SaaS & Software). ASX-listed. Enterprise scale, based in NZ.
Frequently asked
Common questions about Technology
How does the technology sector compare to other Australian sectors for marketing?+
Technology scores 66 out of 100, ranking 1 of 11 Australian sectors. This is 2 points above the national average of 64.
The sector's strongest dimension is Retention & Loyalty. Its weakest is Brand & Positioning.
Based on 82 scored Australian businesses across 6 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence, April 2026.
Which technology companies have the strongest marketing in Australia?+
The top 5 performers across all technology industries:
1. Xero (90) in B2B SaaS & Software, ASX-listed
2. Atlassian in B2B SaaS & Software
3. Canva (89) in B2B SaaS & Software
4. REA Group (87) in Property Marketplaces & Digital Media, ASX-listed
5. Canva for Education in EdTech & Online Learning Platforms
Xero leads at 90, 25 points above the sector average.
Based on 82 scored Australian businesses across 6 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence, April 2026.
Do larger companies have better marketing than smaller ones in technology?+
Yes. Enterprise-scale businesses average 71, while Small Business averages 54. That is a 17-point gap.
However, LinkedIn Learning (AU), Coinbase (AU), CrowdStrike (AU) all outperform the Enterprise average despite being smaller. The correlation is clear but not absolute.
Based on 82 scored Australian businesses across 6 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence, April 2026.
Do ASX-listed technology companies have better marketing?+
26 ASX-listed businesses average 70, compared to 66 for 56 unlisted. Listed companies have an edge, likely due to dedicated marketing teams and public accountability.
ASX status verified against ASX300 listing. NR Marketing Intelligence.
What is the biggest marketing weakness in Australian technology businesses?+
Brand & Positioning is the weakest dimension, 2 points below the national average of 64.
This is the single biggest lever for improvement.
6-dimension scoring model: Digital Maturity, Acquisition Performance, Conversion Efficiency, Retention and Loyalty, Brand and Positioning, Data and Tracking.
How reliable are the marketing scores for technology businesses?+
Scores are built from a 6-dimension model using up to 150+ data points per business: GA4 analytics, Search Console, Google Ads, site technology, Core Web Vitals and public data.
82 businesses are scored in this sector, benchmarked against 70+ nationally. Each score carries an evidence depth rating so you can see how much data sits behind it.
Evidence depth: Very High (4+ sources), High (3), Medium (2), Baseline (public signals).
Which technology industries perform best at marketing?+
1. B2B SaaS & Software (74.461111)
2. Crypto & Web3 (65.187778)
3. Cybersecurity (64.98)
4. Digital Media & Publishing (64.924)
5. IT Services & Managed Services (MSP) (62.633333)
6. Telecommunications (Retail Telco & ISPs) (60.698)
The 14-point spread shows meaningful variation between industries in this sector.
Based on 82 scored Australian businesses across 6 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence, April 2026.
How can technology businesses improve their marketing score?+
Three high-impact moves:
1. Strengthen brand & positioning., this is the sector's weakest dimension and the fastest path to a higher score. Even basic improvements move the needle 5 to 10 points.
2. Close the gap on retention & loyalty. The sector already scores 66 here. Businesses below that benchmark are leaving easy points on the table.
3. Study the leaders. Xero (90) and Atlassian show what good looks like in this sector.
Based on 82 scored businesses across 6 industries. NR Marketing Intelligence.
Stop reading the average
The Atlas shows the sector. We read your business.
The map tells you what Technology does on average. Get Our Take tells you what you do, where you leak and what to fix first.