‘How to Start Business Post Covid

With the objective of enabling MSMEs sail through the challenging Covid 19 crisis, World Trade Center Mumbai organised a series of webinars on ‘Digital Marketing’ and ‘How to Start Business Post Covid’ in June 2021, in association with IAMKHADI, Arya Bharat, Udaan and India International Home and Interior Show.

These training programmes are a part of World Trade Center Mumbai’s endeavor to create awareness about the benefits of e-commerce marketing, through its digital platform wetrade.org, exhibiting Indian products and services such as handicrafts, home furnishings, and healthcare and wellness to Indian as well as international customers.

In her address, Ms. Pooja Dhaundiyal, COO, House of Brands (A unit of IAMKHADI) explained that marketing is about deep psychological understanding of customer needs. It involves coordination of the 4 Ps - product, price, place and promotion. Digital marketing requires marketing over the internet through various digital devices such as personal computers, smart phones, tablets and gaming consoles on platforms such as websites, emails, apps and social networks.

Digital marketing is cost-effective, enhances reach, creates brand awareness, generates business leads, tracks and monitors marketing campaigns, serves as an extra outlet for sales, and challenges competitors. Through digital marketing, one can target not just the local audience, but also international audiences, and receive feedback in real time.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an organic (unpaid) technique of raising the ranking of websites and their visibility on numerous search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. Inorganic results or paid advertisements can be created using Google AdWords.

Ms. Dhaundiyal expressed that social media marketing is used to identify potential buyers, build connections, communicate and engage through social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube etc. Email marketing is critical to stay connected with customers and prospective leads through newsletters, email campaigns and auto responders to update them about new or additional offerings of products and services, and price drops etc. Mobile promotion offers instant updates, offers and information on customers’ interests.

The ten steps required to start with digital marketing include booking a domain, buying web hosting, content planning, conceptualizing the website, A/B testing, getting the website developed, boosting social media visibility, creating a blog, getting the website mentioned and online advertising.

The digital marketing process involves planning visibility, bringing targeted traffic, engaging visitors, generating leads, measuring and evaluating performance and customer retention.

Ms. Divya Jain, COO, Satatsouk (A unit of IAMKHADI Export) opined, business involves taking risks and requires funding. If one wants to take minimal risk, the best way forward post-Covid is to engage with e-commerce. To restart business post-Covid, one will have to budget and plan it, design / manufacture, label, package and market through e-commerce, and scale it up.

Ms. Jain suggested that, top five government business loan schemes in India in 2021 include PSB loan in 59 minutes, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises, NSIC schemes and Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme.