Small and medium businesses are making best use of emerging technologies to draw customers, provide services and improvise marketing.
Gone are the days, when small and medium businesses (SMBs) need to keep huge marketing budget aside for the campaigns. Today, with the evident of new media, quality in the product and service offering coupled with online presence is helping them to build trust and brand image among the customers.Huge growth in Internet and smart phone penetration is also driving these businesses to think seriously about online presence.
?There is drastic change in the way SMBs think with the evident of new media. They are not ignoring web presence any more. Earlier, we need to push them to go for a business website. They were reluctant to spend for an online presence, as there were not many Internet users.
?However, today, the new media is helping in interaction with customers along with opportunity to go viral for businesses. It is still the creativity that pushes content to go viral and helps in conveying brand message,? said Shashi Vadana Reddy, co-founder, ArtBeat Communications
?Traditionally, the businesses request call to action from a customer whenever there is ad placed in any of the media. The web is helping the potential customer to take immediate action either through a Facebook ?Like? or knowing more about the company by visiting the business website using the QR Code or watching a product video or subscribing to company?s YouTube channel on his smartphone. These will help to form communities or to generate leads to increase the business over time,? she said.
These technologies are pushing businesses like ad agencies, IT companies to spread their wings and to offer varied services to the customers.
Web development firms are also employing SEO, Social media strategists to manage the online presence of business apart from development of websites.Advertising agencies are not just concentrating on the creative side but are also hiring the employees with new media skills to offer holistic services in building the brand.
?There is also partnering between small ad agencies and IT companies or digital agencies. It is better to associate rather than offering services directly. There are huge costs involved in hiring quality web developers and social media and SEO strategists.
?It does not make business sense to manage these in-house with few clients. Whereas?partnering will give agencies the flexibility to get quality services with the support of the team and pay them as and when there is a requirement,? she added.
Rapid growth in internet penetration is creating a win-win situation for both SMBs and the IT and advertising industry. With more than 50 million SMB units in the country, there is huge opportunity for companies to offer web services for the businesses.On the flip side, there is so much for the businesses to gain by being online in this evolving Internet economy.
Net power
Number of Internet users:13.7 crore
Contribution of Internet to GDP by 2015: `5 lakh crore
Number of SMBs:5 crore
Number of SMBs own a website:5 lakh
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Category: Business, Business News
Source: http://postnoon.com/2013/01/10/new-media-powers-biz/101777
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