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Digital Marketing Can Boost SMEs According to Archana Vohra, director small and medium businesses, Facebook India, these digital marketing initiatives can promote SME businesses

By Shivang Saxena

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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) make their business models resilient through digital initiatives in the Internet age, and especially amid and post COVID-19. These need to leverage digital resources to have a distinct competitive edge.

According to Archana Vohra, director small and medium businesses, Facebook India, the past few months have been difficult for small and medium businesses and there have been businesses which have shut down.

SMEs contribute nearly 30 per cent to the GDP of the country. "The period of COVID was the time for movement towards digital and we published a study that showed that digital influence—specifically in urban geographies—has gone up by about 15 to 20 per cent. The study also showed 90 per cent of the people would want to proceed to spend money online especially in the apparel category."

Here are some digital marketing tips for promoting SME business, according to Vohra.

Advertisement Budget

It's not confidential. Companies spend crazy amounts on advertising and quality video content is not shattering bank as, thanks to technological improvements, one can now develop content right from their cellphones.

From the SME universe perspective, there are more than 200 million SMEs on Facebook family of apps globally. Vohra launched an offline to online guide that could reach out to all of these customers and reach out to nearly nine million-plus customers to take a step back and see where businesses need support.

Her team is always present to make sure that they genuinely find help.

Be flexible

As an SME business, there is the likelihood to quickly know whom you sell to. It can be asserted that big industries have lost touch with consumers. It allows for more personalized customer experience, but it does offer challenges big business don't have to face such as higher product costs and less return on investment.

As newer generations are given more options (cheaper options), brand loyalty becomes a thing of the past. Expanding the reach online can not only save your business but also market your business to people who otherwise would have never known about it.

Analytics

Expense and revenue are the two largest aspects when it comes to operating an SME business, being prepared to maintain your business is the most traditional challenge. Those two quantities are the disparity between drifting and falling in business, but there are other numbers just as important you should be focusing on. Your analytics can tell you a lot about the customers interacting with your product. The digital imprint your consumers leave can tell you loads about who are involved with your business, not only online but offline as well. Data on consumers can be analysed and leveraged to furnish important understandings into how online and offline sales worlds should work.

Keep it fresh

Not only should you try to be up to date with everything new coming out of the tech world, you should also be watching what is popular in mainstream media and using it to your advantage, on social media, with brand ambassadors, and when creating long term content.

Shivang Saxena

Freelance writer

Shivang Saxena is a New Delhi-based writer-entrepreneur. Reading, writing & entrepreneur-ing always. He's the founder of The Words Vibe. A platform for newbie writers to hone their skills. He's also working with his first book called, "Too Many Thoughts, Too Many People" which is due to get published by end of 2021. 

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