Ambitious SMEs Should Go For Smart Marketing
For any Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, smart marketing is a perfect recipe for success. This was what was something which was agreed unanimously at the BW Businessworld Growth Leadership Conclave and Awards 2018: From SMEs to Unicorns, there was a panel discussion on "Smarter Marketing for Ambitious SMEs" which was moderated by Abhijit Saxena, Founder, Mobilox.
Ramita Chaudhuri, Chief Marketer, Mahou India, "SMEs need effective marketing stools need very effective execution as well for companies who are lesser money marketing that you have to come up with to get the bang for your buck. It all depends how innovative you can be because customers have lots of choices. It has to be differentiated and making sense from the perspective of what your brand stands for, It should also touch base with a couple of consumers and how quickly you can turn around this effective, innovative marketing strategies into conversions at the end of the day. So marketing is not just about having ideas but also ensuring that each level of conversion is working. Whether it is generating awareness or it is helping you engage your brand with the consumers, whether it is experiential marketing, or whether it is helping in sales as well. It is a constantly evolving process."
Priti Gulati, Founder, Experties, "The concept of customer-centricity talks about providing not just the best user-friendly experience but also looking at customers through different lens, and that is through data-driven customer science. How well do we know our customers' behaviour? How can we analyze them and see what works for them? And that is where data analytics comes in, which is the buzzword anyway. This concept goes a step ahead and says identify your key customers and also differentiate by providing them better service/value. Another thing I want to ask is ‘how agile are we’ because it's a very fast and rapidly changing environment. Technology is moving very fast and business models are being transformed, so are we ready to embrace that change?
Manasije Mishra, MD, Indian Health Organization & Aetna India-Aetna stated, "As we are aiming to disrupt the healthcare market, we want to leverage technologies and partnerships to create a unique health experience. When you think about what is the purpose of your brand. That can result in a fascinating discussion. You also need to discern what customer problems you are trying to solve. What is the customers' need that you want to fulfil? And I think it should be designed the business. Once you figure you that this is the problem in the marketplace and this is the place in the consumer's life that my company wants to occupy, I think that can lead to all the benefits. First, in inspiring yourself and your colleagues and engaging with customers."
Shrikanth Natarajan, Director, Channels India and SAARC, Ruckus Network, "We have been present in India for over 10 years now and one of the fastest growth has been in small and medium business. You must have a fantastic marketing idea which is very innovative, you know your customers. But the important point is how you are going to execute and how you are going to get the customers on board. I think that IT plays that role in creating the room for all your ideas. We cannot live without that. What we are seeing is that there is a lot of respect for SMEs. Every IT company worth its salt will have a suite of offerings for the small and medium business. You cannot ignore this market. And when we have developed relations with these entrepreneurs, how they see IT as enablers of business as a transformation."
