Why Artisans And Small Businesses Should Go For Digital Marketing?
Artisans and small businesses form the backbone of the Indian-rural economy. They serve a small population and provide employment opportunities in rural and semi-urban areas. These community-based enterprises use local resources, such as local raw materials and cheap labour, which helps to elevate the economic conditions of rural and semi-urban areas. Artisans are the custodians of our cultural heritage. They provide rich traditional home decor artifacts and create intricate work on clothes. This unorganized sector uses manual skills and derives their livelihood from the products they make.
Small businesses which are privately owned involves less number of labour, low investment with few types of machinery to operate.
With the rapid increase in technologies, digital marketing has made a prominent place in the online business sector. It attracts various artisans, small scale businesses and entrepreneurs to sell, promote and earn profit from it.
Selling products online helps to reach wider customers, removing all geographical limitations. Also, digital marketing increases sales quicker and reduces business operating costs. Moreover, online marketing is a convenient way for customers to view and purchase products at any time in a day, which will increase sales and profits. Initiatives such as offers and incentives are good for both artisans and small size businesses to maximize sales. Moreover, online businesses can be operated from anywhere thereby increasing the sales of the products.
Both artisans and small-scale businesses are plagued with several challenges ranging from a paucity of infrastructure, deprived financial assistance to exploitation by a middleman. The solution to these challenges is an e-commerce business. Staff wages, expense on electricity and rent are reduced in an online business sector. The saved money can be used to develop a website and products further.
To drive more revenue from sales the owner can employ strategies such as upselling and cross-selling. Upselling is a strategy to convince a consumer to buy an upgraded or superior version of the product that the consumer is buying. Cross-selling is a technique to increase income by selling additional or complementary products to buyers.
Artisan and small businesses can employ different marketing strategies such as gift vouchers, free delivery, cashback and guarantee.
Online marketing is less time-intensive, as it allows one to decide which products they want to sell next, track the trends and offers they want to launch.
Wondering how to keep track of the order placed and the total revenue generated? Online marketing is trackable and statistics can be viewed effortlessly through systems such as Google Analytics.
Technology has provided a platform for skilled artisans and small size businesses to showcase their potentials and earn for their livelihood. A bunch of entrepreneurs and startups have taken up the challenge to bring these community-based organizations to the global marketplace.
Amazon India supports small and medium-sized businesses to attract millions of customers and boost their revenue and productivity. Moreover, Amazon Saheli and Amazon Karigar support women entrepreneurs and local artisans to sell their authentic crafts to customers across the world. Bunavat, Rare Planet, Art Exotica and other startups empower local artisans and rural women to launch their eco-friendly and ethical products internationally.
However, local artisans and small- scale businesses have been the worst-hit by pandemic COVID-19. But thanks to the Internet, as has helped the e-commerce industry to progress to cater to the demands of the customers globally.
About the author:
I am Farjana Basir currently pursuing Master’s in English. I am a private tutor who loves to interact with children. I like to pen down my thoughts and use my abilities for greater good.