Adopting cost-effecting tools can help SMEs succeed

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Bikky Khosla | 23 Jun, 2009
It's understandable that when the economy is down and out and one needs new customers as well as more sales from existing clients, one is in a dilemma whether to increase one's marketing efforts, or to save money. It's also equally true that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) cannot do conventional marketing because of limitations of resources and also because SME holders think and react differently from the marketing decision-making practices in big companies.

Since SMEs will never be able to compete with large companies when it comes to brand promotion or marketing, they (SMEs) have to make use of cost-effective tools. And if you thought that it isn't possible, you are wrong!

Interestingly, SMEs have several inherent advantages compared to large enterprises. Being small gives them greater flexibility in operations to respond quickly to changing customer needs.

Having said that however, most SMEs have difficulty in describing in clear terms the products they are selling. They are unaware of or are unable to bring out the features that buyers want to know. The worst part about SMEs when it comes to implementing a marketing strategy is that they try to do things cheap. This is actually more harmful. Firstly, you will hardly get any results and secondly, you stand to lose on the small amount of money you had put aside for marketing your products.

But the sorry state of affairs doesn't end here. I'm quite surprised to see that most SMEs don't see the Internet as a medium to promote themselves and their products. They still shy away from entering the domain which can give them not only easy access to potential buyers but also help in branding, which is of utmost importance.

Many entrepreneurs to whom I had advocated the internet as the best medium with which to promote their company and their products, say it didn't work out well for them. One needs to understand that by just creating a website and expecting it to bring in enquiries and expecting it to translate into revenue is completely wrong. It is not going to happen.

Even when going for the Internet to promote one's company and products, one needs to be very clear about 'who one's customer is' and 'what he or she is specifically looking for.' Like offline or traditional marketing, promoting via the Internet too is not an easy task. It needs a fair amount of thinking and planning. This in actuality calls for professional help.

Today, for SMEs who want to adopt the Internet as their medium for marketing and promotion, B2B portals come very handy. Since these portals are proficient in online research, strategy development and in monitoring individual companies' performances, they can be a ready reckoner for one's online marketing and promotion strategy. It's relatively inexpensive when compared to the ratio of cost against the reach of the target audience.

When traditional means are not working, it calls for a change in one's strategy. The principles of business call for change according to market dynamics and adopting the best. Are we doing the same?