Digital marketing should not be far-fetched for MSMEs

Today, a business exists in this digital era because it knows how to navigate the marketing world effectively. To accelerate sales in your business, no matter how small it is,  building an online brand presence and brand awareness is really critical.

And in this article, we will build awareness about digital marketing for all SMEs.

The evolving trend of SMEs-Digital marketing is transforming!

Businesses are evolving. When we say the word ‘Business,’ it all dates back to the traditional business concept where there was a wholesale/retail store. But now it’s all changed. Now it’s the world of online businesses. And the conventional old-school concept of marketing strategies like TV, billboards, newspapers, and Yellowpages has transformed into many convenient and convincing strategies.

But SMEs(Small and medium enterprises) are still stepping back from the advanced technology that could increase their sales and revenue. Because of the lack of knowledge and the inability to implement those new strategies, many SMEs are potentially robbing themselves of a lifetime of growth opportunities.

According to a recent study “Digital Marketing and SMEs: A Systematic Mapping Study,” by the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, there are mainly three roadblocks to SMEs adopting digital marketing strategies.

• Less or no awareness of the digital marketing
• Lack of competency among SMEs
• No trust in investing in marketing strategies.

And SMEs should focus more on building their digital presence by implementing digital marketing strategies.

How does digital marketing help local retail/ wholesale businesses?

The technology is so forward right now that any business wants its audience to know that they exist; it happens with the snap of a finger. In this ultra-modern technological era of Google and Facebook, and other social media platforms, the business can quickly leave a footnote through a few simple steps that increase the number of potential buyers.

If digital marketing is the gold mine, should we ignore offline marketing?

Online marketing itself has a lot of growth opportunities, and it has the potential to increase revenue to a great extent. Having said that, that shouldn’t be the only resource. Traditional methods of marketing carry significant weight to bring their own results. And when both online and offline marketing is combined, the business will boom like anything.

According to a survey from a panel of leaders from Business Insider,

“Both online and traditional offline marketing tactics have to be used to form smart hybrid brand awareness activities for small businesses.”

How can SMEs take the first step in digital marketing?

As now you know that digital marketing is the big cheese in transforming your business, it’s time to move on to action. The first and foremost step you can ever take is building a business website. There are so many gateways where you can get the domain and hosting of the website, such as GoDaddy, BigRock, HostGator, and many others.

Remember, after building a website; you can’t simply leave it for your business to make wonders. The website should be properly search engine optimized so that customers can easily contact and transact, and regular content should be created and marketed around your niche.

What are the benefits of digital marketing?

The benefits that implementing an effective marketing strategy can get you too far!

1. A well-established online/digital presence through a website and other social media increases brand visibility.
2. Increase sales and revenue through different modalities such as affiliate marketing and website promotion.
3. Implementing an effective digital marketing strategy gives you an edge over the competition among other SMEs.
4. It is highly cost-effective compared to traditional marketing and does not need an agent or broker to get things done.

This is how digital marketing transforms the entire business. And SMEs should focus largely on executing these strategies to scale their business.