Challenges are manifold

Indian SMEs have always revealed the true spirit of Indian entrepreneurship, but the dearth of marketing support has begun to harm the sector as a whole. With the entering of global conglomerates into India to take advantage of the massive Indian domestic market in order to get their share of growth profits from the Indian market, entrepreneurs in our country have started feeling the adverse effect since they are unable to match the marketing blitzkrieg of their global counterparts and rivals.

Below are some of the major marketing challenges being faced by Indian SMEs across the sectors and how it is possible to bring a change for a better future.

Absence of consumer behavior perception

The actual funda in Marketing is to know thoroughly the customer behavior and predict the change in advance. Companies in India have been lethargic and damn slow in the way they conduct business and usually, fail to spend sufficient time and money on understanding the fluctuating behavioral changes of customers at large.

Still, entrepreneurs have a long way to go as far as online presence is concerned; where having a website of their own or a directory presence could result in their business getting marketed itself to a large number of upcoming and promising new clients from all over the globe.

It is a proven fact that overseas companies venturing into India are using cutting edge advertising blitzkrieg in order to penetrate and introduce global brands in the country; We were at the forefront of innovation is yet to realize the advantage of having a committed and focused marketing program.

Entrepreneurs in this country have never shown an inclination towards developing a world-class brand and have in fact been lagging behind in building brands for their products compared to global brands which in turn has lead to loss of market share considerably.

Availability of quality marketing graduates

Despite India churning out hundreds of fresh graduates every year, SMEs in the country has been unable to recruit this young brigade of marketing graduates from colleges and perhaps fresh marketing graduates from business schools either. The reason behind such a negative effect is that young graduates from reputed business schools are either absorbed by multinational companies or they start up their own ventures.

The end result is the lack of quality marketing personnel to sustain an effective marketing program for their company. What companies should do is to go on an aggressive recruitment drive and start employing a team of marketing professionals from reputed institutions so that they can make a dedicated marketing plan rather than waiting for the top management to enforce the marketing campaigns upon them.

Non Adoption of Latest Technology

Entrepreneurs in our country are lagging behind as far as manufacturing technology is concerned. They are also equally reluctant in implementing new technology tools for marketing.  World over digital and mobile marketing has taken over traditional methods with cloud-based marketing plans through various means in the future. Indian SMEs are not only reluctant to adapt to new technology in marketing but are also naïve of how new marketing plan can help them increase the overall worth of their business.

Non Recruitment of Professionals and Marketing Consultants

In India, SMEs don’t rely on professionals and marketing consultants. As far as implementing marketing programs are concerned it is the entrepreneurs who have the final say depending on their budget and what they think might work for the enterprises. Inefficient approach will not only have a negative impact on the marketing plan but will also result in finances being in disarray if gone wrong. Entrepreneurs need to keep a birds-eye view on all departments and always let the professionals handle the work rather than entrepreneurs doing everything from production to customer support.

To conclude we can say that marketing is an effective tool to reach the masses and win their confidence. Without an adequate and effective marketing strategy, no entrepreneur can succeed in today’s volatile and competitive market place.