Traditional Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) usually rely on word of mouth approach to increase their customer base, but the market realities and rules of engaging a customer today have changed. A huge chunk of the country's MSMEs today face stiff challenges of marketing their products. Undoubtedly, all will agree, that weak marketing today is a main constraint for the sector, which otherwise could have done much better than what it is doing now.
I strongly believe that in today's market context, increasing one's product basket and confined to being a part of the supply chain is not enough at all. Each and every MSME now has to find a niche for itself to market its products through either through strategic alliances or directly.
What saddens me is the fact that most MSMEs are missing out on one essential requirement - that is to focus on brand management. The players of the sector need to understand that marketing is no longer a specialized activity and it encompasses the entire business and is thus of utmost importance for a healthy business.
MSMEs also need to understand that every aspect of marketing, be it their products, channels of distribution, pricing, or marketing communications, affects the customers' response to a product or service tremendously. They need to see from the customer's point of view and then decide their marketing strategy.
There may have been occasions when many potential customers had probably shown an interest in your products or services in the past, but didn't end up buying due to several reasons. You must ask yourself this question: have I tried to keep them interested in my products? Invariably, by keeping past customers within one's reach, one can drastically increase the ability to spread news of one's new product range in the market.
Moreover, most MSMEs feel that marketing via the web is a wasted exercise. You cannot be more wrong, if you think so. If you have not been generating revenue via your web presence till now, I think it is time you adapted to take advantage of this medium. Tens of thousands of companies have profited from their presence on the web...you could be the next!
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