FICCI and Facebook collaborate to help Indian SMEs

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Facebook partner together to help the Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to harness the capability of Internet and Social Media.

Mr Rajiv Kumar, FICCI's Secretary General, said, “FICCI is delighted to be the anchor partner for Facebook in India to run its global SMB Boost program. The SME sector is an area of critical focus for FICCI considering its impact to innovation and growth. In addition to working with Facebook to provide this Boost to our members, FICCI and Facebook will also integrate training sessions on online marketing through social networks in its tradeshows and Conferences for SMEs.”

Moreover, India currently got almost 6400-industrial clusters, out of which almost 6000 are low tech. The poor technology adoption continues to stay as a significant cause for the poor operational and marketing competitiveness in the MSME sector.

Jointly, Facebook and FICCI hope to make technology as the consistent growth factor for boosting the international competitiveness of the Indian SME sector via this partnership.

Read more on: http://news.indiamart.com/story/ficci-and-facebook-collaborate-help-indian-smes-156960.html

Know Your Customer for Higher Growth

The customer is the key entity that drives the market. If a company is able to understand the various dimensions of its customers including social, functional or emotional factors, it would be equipped to design a better product for it. Customers expect excellent products at optimum prices and are also willing to pay as per the product or service. For example, for a hypermarket chain, the behavior of its staff, the pace of its service, maximum discounts on the prices, availability of variety of products will determine its success amongst the users. With a tough competitive market, the SME with a better understanding of its users would have a better chance to outstand others. 

The success of an SME is identified by its grasp of the market, which is in turn driven by the needs of the customers. Thus, knowing the customer becomes imperative for any SME. Every company must develop its own program to understand their customers. The company, the nature of its users and the type of products or services it has to offer are some of the important considerations while planning the program. 

How Well Do You Know Your Customer?
A customer knowledge program should make the SME aware of customer emotions and experience about their products and goods. It should also educate them about the customers’ needs and expectations and also present the market perspective for their products. For example, a company selling shoes should realize factors such as material preferences, designs, looks, climate conditions and average shoe sizes of the population, before even manufacturing any product.

Communicate with the Customer
Communication is the key word in a Know Your Customer (KYC) program and it should consist of interactive surveys, information feedback forms from the customers to know their needs from time to time, et al. Customers need to be visualized as the best brand ambassadors of any company's products/services. Their problems need to be assessed in a regular manner and for every purchase. They need to be offered more for being loyal to the brand. For example, a paints company could provide customers with a sample booklet for choosing colors and in return, request them to fill out a form regarding their preferences in colors, materials from that particular company. This way, both agencies are benefited from the mutual exchange. Presently, the world wide web provides the SME to have a better connect with users directly.

Through the KYC program, the customer also needs to be assured that his inputs are considered for developing the existing products into better ones. Many companies conduct product surveys and often reward the customer for participating in it. These programs also help SMEs enter into a new market or launch a new product in an existing one. They also save a potential company from causing itself any damage through a new service or product.

Key Objectives of KYC
Some of the key objectives of a KYC program include verifying the needs of the customers, monitoring changes in their preferences, manage risks regarding new initiatives, etc. In short, the existence of a stable KYC program contributes to the growth and success of an SME. So, when are you improving a KYC program?

IndiaMART.com Offers ‘Get Free Website’ via Facebook

Do you take social networking seriously? Now, you can take advantage of social marketing with IndiaMART.com, which has launched a great new page on Facebook to help you promote your business online… only as you surf. As social media marketing becomes an innovative, new and cost effective way to market your business, IndiaMART.com has taken it a notch further with an easy to use page. This page is available to you via Facebook that allows you to register yourself for a free website with IndiaMART.com. You can do it in 2 easy steps from Facebook itself:

1. Submit your Contact Info & Business Profile

2. Add Products to your Website

Easy to understand form on Facebook

Register At a Click

IndiaMART.com has always been at the forefront of partnering with SMEs to help them grow their business. We are doing it again with this facility of helping you develop your own website for free. It can’t get easier than this because you don’t have to access IndiaMART.com or go through a lengthy registration process to register yourself. You can do it easily via this Facebook page provided to you only by IndiaMART.com. At IndiaMART.com, we believe in building and nurturing the businesses of SMEs through a continuous focus on creating a world class marketing experience for you. This one’s a proof of that. 

 

With the Get Free Website facility from IndiaMART.com, you can now publish your own website simply by filling in some basic details about yourself, your business and the products you offer. It’s so easy and sure to yield tremendous marketing results because the website will give you the opportunity to market your products and services for free. It will take your business to all parts of the world. The website will also give you free space for advertising and your customers will have access to these advertisements for a longer period of time. You will also have the advantage of changing the content and graphics anytime you want, suiting your needs.

Fill in details about the company

Take Your Marketing Global

IndiaMART.com wants you to reach a wider clientele with your own free website. With this option of creating your own website for free, it’ll be easier for you to make your presence felt in the world market. This means you can expect your business to flourish like never before. So, if a person sitting in Europe wants your service, he would just need to browse through your website and get in contact with you. How simple is that! 

 

What advantages does this facility entail?

1. Make your business accessible to customers who are on Facebook and make your business more interactive.
2. There are no lengthy procedures involved, so registering for your own new website on Facebook is as easy as A-B-C.
3. Do business while you chat on facebook. It's 'Fun-biz' with IndiaMART.com.

Facebook has more than 800 million active users and more than 50% of their active users log on to Facebook in any given day. It’s a market that must be tapped. With this IndiaMART.com website, it will be convenient for customers on Facebook to browse through everything you have to offer—anywhere, anytime. So, you don’t have to turn down your potential customer when it’s time to close your shop. Once you publish your free website, it’ll be easier to deliver convenience to your customer. They will get personalized customer attention, which will add value to your offering. It will also be easier for you to update clients about your business. Another great advantage will be that you will get an IndiaMART.com Intermesh seal website that will win you the trust and confidence of your potential customer. 

 

Just submit your contact information and business profile in the form given to create a website that will open the doors of your business to the world. Add your products and services for people to avail them with you just sitting at home. You can sell products or services and get feedback from potential customers. You can also use various features such as visitor’s poll and surveys to understand the consumer’s psyche and tap the needs of your customer. So, now you don’t have to go to people’s doorstep to sell your products and services. With IndiaMART.com you will have people coming to you. 

 

Get, set and go to become the proud owner of your website with us @ IndiaMART.com.

Targeted Marketing with Internet

Companies are increasingly using internet to promote products online. Social media has become a primary tool and internet marketing is increasingly being harnessed to curtail expenses besides saving precious time and energy. If you own a SME then you must discover the secret of saving your money through targeted marketing. Market research is its twin strategy that is again indispensable for a firm that wants to be successful.

Specifying Customers and Analysing Behaviour Pattern
The first step before creating a searchable site is to know who you are targeting. You must bring to your customers what they really want. Critically examine your customers’ behaviour and then plan your marketing campaign accordingly. Targeted internet marketing allows the web-master to design a marketing program to draw the attention of the predetermined group of people. Your target market is your ideal customer in the specific segment of the population you attempt to reach. This might mean pin-pointing their gender, income, education level, geographic location, interests, dreams and desires, problems they want to overcome and so on, as these affect the decision to purchase. The more specific you get, the easier it is to find and market to your target visitor. You can develop stronger customer relationships by targeting the needs of a specialized group. You need to define your target market so that you can immediately capture the attention of customers.

You must let your customers know that you understand their lifestyle – this gives a unique dimension to your site. Through this, you can give a personalised touch to your website and excel in the market. So if you are selling a product then you must smartly target your customers keeping in mind the purchasing power as well as the kind of mindset people have. Targeted marketing is all about how people think because it helps to know the market. Therefore, it is important to analyze this phenomenon to become a successful entrepreneur.

Strategies for Targeting Customers
There are many innovative internet marketing strategies to track potential customers. You can opt for the banner advertising option on the internet to target customers. The advancing technology makes it possible for advertisers to make your ads appear on specific sites which contain content that is similar or related to that of your site. For instance, if you have a clothes firm then your advertisement would appear on the sites dealing with the clothes industry.

The next big revolution in this stream is geo-targeting where, by tracking the IP addresses of the user, you can have ads appear before them. Another powerful force in internet marketing is the Pay-Per-Click option. It allows you to create a small text ad and then it appears on the screen when the user is searching on keywords relating to your product or services. It provides you with an edge as your ad appears in the Sponsored Links section of the search result page. You can also dwell upon organic search where the listing is generated based on the HTML tags and the relevant content found in a website.

Behavioural targeting is another popular medium as it delivers ads to consumers based on their past search behaviour. This reveals their interest and it is easy to convert them into customers. You can also target users with paid search ads on landing pages after they leave a search site.

Not taking things for granted, it is better to research the probable behaviour of the customer and choose the keywords accordingly. You must analyse the behaviour pattern of the customers which manifests in a better response in the market. You can create a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) program to attract the targeted traffic. You can link with the sites which provide information that deals with your product. Keywords should be popular and relevant; you should not assume them but research them. You can also make use of the keyword research tool, to be more precise.

Local Market
You can also target the local market customers through internet marketing as you can publish the latest events; for example, winter sales or festive season discounts can appear in the local newspaper website. You can also send emails to potential customers.

Undeniably, the internet promises to replace blanket marketing with targeted marketing. It is popularly stated that 'time is money' and target marketing is a less time consuming and a less expensive method.

Expert Speak: Mr. Nandan Sharma, TATA Communications

MPLS - The Gen-Next Intelligent Networking Solution for SMEs

Small and medium enterprises (SME)s today leverage the power of technology to ‘go global’ and stay connected with associates and clients ‘24x7’. In this age of globalization and localization or as we say “glocalization”, small enterprises need to conduct bulk of their business over the internet and in a secured manner.

There are multiple options, but the best suited is the Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), the networking system that is reliable and secure for national and global connectivity. What makes MPLS the most sought after technology to deliver voice and data services for small enterprises? It is mature, sophisticated and delivers voice and data services faster. MPLS provides faster packet forwarding for IP routers and supports Virtual Private Network (VPN) services with traffic engineering and network convergence.

In addition, by virtue of its performance and versatility, MPLS offers lower network total cost of ownership (TCO) than any other solution.

Now, as a SME business, would you not want a fully managed solution that helps you streamline your business operations more efficient? MPLS not only provides you with cutting edge technology with ample capacity for future expansion but also offers cost-effective scalability across multiple locations. After all, you do not want to spend a fortune on your network infrastructure.

But it is not just costs, in this age of cut-throat competition among businesses in all domains, SMEs always need to improvise and enhance product or service in order to carve a niche in the market.  We understand that you need to concentrate on your core competencies instead of struggling with high-end technologies and networking system. 

MPLS networking service provides you with a fully managed solution for all network and connectivity requirements along with supporting business critical applications. MPLS service thus is the key for you to get an edge over your competitors.

The contributor for this blog is Mr. Nandan Sharma, Product Head, Network Services, Tata Communications-SME (http://www.tatacommunications.com/sme/mpls.asp)

Techno- Savvy Age

Internet marketing is also known as web marketing, online marketing or e-marketing. It is a broad term and cannot be confined to just marketing through the internet but also through other mediums such as the wireless or email. The world, as postulated by Marshal McLuhan, can be regarded as a global village. McLuhan envisaged the world as interconnected by an electronic nervous system; this is popularly regarded as the internet. We live in the world of cloud computing where everyone is connected. No one can escape technology seeing that, everyone from a rickshaw puller to a billionaire, carries a mobile.

Web Presence
Technology is the pulse of life of the present generation. When a company establishes itself, it is extremely important for it to have a web presence. This acquaints the customers not just with the product but also with the company. Nowadays, the consumers are intelligent and the internet is the best medium to lure them. The media has a strong impact on the mindset of the people, who live in the world of virtual reality. Due to its nature, the internet medium allows consumers to research and to purchase products and services conveniently. So the internet has become a must in order to make a positive utilization of internet marketing.

Age of Information
It is essential for SMEs to realize that we live in the age of information. The way information is conveyed plays a very important role in boosting the sales of the product. This is the world of mediacracy and there could be nothing better than the internet to attract customers. Marcus Sheridan, the owner of ‘The Sales Lion’, says that effective content leads to winning the trust of the customer which further helps to get a lead in the market and thereby increase sales. So embrace internet marketing if you want to remain ahead in the promotion of the sales of your company.
 

Fast and cost effective mode
The best part is that with a small amount of investment just about anyone can have a web page on the Internet. In this manner, almost any business can reach a large market, directly, fast and economically. It is irrespective of the size or location of the business. This medium is cost effective as any SME can save its funds through internet marketing. This is because, anyone who can read and write can have access to the World Wide Web. According to the Internet World Stats, India has a large number of internet users which has gone up to about 100,000,000 till December 31, 2010.

Interactive medium
The internet has consolidated itself as a very powerful platform with an impact on the working culture and the manner in which people communicate. It has changed the working environment and affected the way businesses operate. It is about interaction — interaction creates relationships and those relationships open up the opportunities for you to share information about your products and services. Good personal relations can actually boost your sales.

Thus it is important to ensure that your website is user friendly, concise and up to date. In this way you can inform the world about the latest developments in your firm. Make good use of the innovative method of marketing through the internet to generate a more positive responses towards your business.

Free for SME's: How to Create a Blog Using Wordpress Hosted on Your Server

IndiaMART Knowledge Services team aims at making knowledge available to SMEs to enhance their business growth. While we are covering the various 'freely' available solutions and services online, this post looks at blogging as an activity and blogging platforms as a service.

What exactly is blogging?
Blogging essentially is about sharing your thoughts on a subject on a 'weblog'. This Wikipedia article defines the blog well. It all started with websites. Even if we trace a couple of years back, websites were the most popular mode of communicating with your customer 'online'. With web 2.0 ushering in, the monologue has now evolved into a two way communication, with your customer's getting as much a chance to engage with your business and not just be at the receiving end of 'a' communication.

How is a blog of help to me/ my business?
A blog though a platform to express views, is a powerful mode of communication with your customers and not just that. Its a powerful mode of taking your message to the intended target audience. Instead of really maintaining a corporate blog, which has its own positioning. A content driven, high on call-to-action blog which shares insights about the business you are in, which lets your customers know you better and engage with you, which gives people interested in the industry, access to information is the best possible choice to make when making a blog.

How do I create my blog?
Even before we go ahead and do it, we must have the purpose clear in our minds. One of the basic most is, whether the blog you are creating, a personal blog OR an official blog! This defines many aspects, starting from the design of the blog to what content goes in there.

Now to the creation aspect: there are many 'free' blogging platforms available, eg:

• Wordpress
• Blogspot
• Blogger

The one platform which has gained most popularity lately is WordPress. A free blogging platform which has gained a global acceptance by the blogging fraternity. Its simple, easy to understand, a powerful content management system, scalable and is updated automatically.

Step-wise process to create your own blog, hosted on your own server

When we say hosted on your own server, we mean, the host where you have hosted your website. And just in case if you have not done any hosting yet, we suggest you choose any good web host (there are many available).

1. Once you have chosen the host, register a domain name: eg: www.xyz.com
2. Along with the domain also buy a hosting package which you can buy for 1 and more than 1 year.
3. Once the domain and hosting is activated, you will get access to a 'Cpanel', which will be provided by the host only
4. Login to your Cpanel and it will provide you with an easy (generally a one step) process to install "Wordpress" on your "domain name" which you have hosted: www.xyz.com
1. This is the simplest way to install Wordpress. The other way is to use a FTP client like filezilla (a free software which you can install on your desktop). fiezilla helps you configure your hosting on it and upload files. Download the latest version of Wordpress here and upload it to your root directory on the hosting server.
5. Once Wordpress has been installed, you will be able to access the back-end content management system as: http://xyz.com/wp-admin
1. Login with your User-id and password and you will reach to a screen (as shown in the sreen capture below)

Wordpress Dashboard

Once you are logged inside the WP (Wordpress) CMS (content management system) the first screen if seen all at once can be a little overwhelming, but its another 3-5 minutes and you will get a hang of it.

How to go about it?

Lets take it logically:

• Since its a blog, you need to choose/ design how it appears! Simply look at the screen in front of you and expand the link which says "Appearance" and click on the 'Themes' link. This will take you to a screen which will show you options and also allow you to upload new themes.

Wordpress - Theme Appearance

• Once the theme is existing, you will have your basic blog design in real time ready at www.xyz.com, as whatever changes you make through this CMS, get updated instantly on your domain.
• If you are not really a tech-enabled person, do not try to 'edit' the themes till you are well aware of PhP.
• Once you are done, now comes the real deal! How to write the first blog post?!
• On the home screen, the top drop-down option on the left sidebar will say "Posts". Click the "Add New" link on the same.
• What you see on your screen now is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get editor). Which means, whatever you will write, as it will look here, so it will appear on your blog.

Wordpress - Add new post

• Using the top menu of the editor, you can write your post and embed any kind of content in it. From Videos to Pictures.
• Once the post is done, press publish on the top right corner, in the right side bar, choose the category of the content you have written (you can create your own categories), add tags to the post and you are ready to go LIVE!!

For advanced users if this platform, Plugins and Widgets which are freely available and can add a lot of value to your blog!

Happy blogging. IndiaMART Knowledge Services Team will be happy to feature your blogs as comments to this post! Create a new blog and send it to us! For more help, leave a comment to this post and we will be happy to help!

Free for SME's: Business Networking through LinkedIn

The IndiaMART Knowledge Services team introduces how MSME's can leverage the power of freely available tools and services on the WWW, to their advantage.

Tool: Linkedin
Service type: Free and paid

How could it benefit business: overview

1. Global professional networking
2. Generating business leads
3. Reducing cost of recruitment/ talent acquisition

What exactly is Linkedin?

Simply speaking, Linkedin is one of the most powerful 'professional networking' online platform globally. People from all across the globe are free to create their professional profiles on this social network and are also free to network and connect with others.

Is Linkedin free?

There are many features on LinkedIn which are free and many others which are paid. The most basic one's which consist of creating a 'professional profile', creating your company's corporate profile, connecting with people are all free.

If you wish to advertise for jobs, send in-mails (to connect with people who wish to be introduced only through In-mails), Advertise (buying ad-space) on Linkedin, these are some of the features which are paid.

How should I go about using Linkedin?

Linkedin can prove to be highly beneficial for your business. Before you go ahead leveraging this network, the first thing you must be very clear about, is your business objectives, for which you are proposing to go online.

Let us help you arrive on some objectives, which you can achieve through Linkedin:

1. Reduce down cost of talent acquisition
2. Connect with global partners in your business domain: creating new alliances
3. Generating business leads
4. Keeping yourself updated about events in your business domain
5. Marketing your business

Let us now help you navigate through Linkedin and get you active online!

Login to your Linkedin profile (the screen will be as shown below)

Once you are logged in, your home screen will look like the following:

The top menu on the 'Home Screen' is the navigation menu, which provides you with all the options for navigating across features available to you.

The center of the screen, which essentially is divided into three columns, is the 'News Feed'. This consists of all the activities being done by 'your contacts' on Linkedin. Example, if me and you are connected on Linkedin and I like an update done by one of my contacts, it will show in your News Feed, that 'I have Liked this update' and if you find it relevant, you can comment/ liked the same.

How does this help your business?

The News Feed is free information flow. At times you may bounce across a new blog post/ a new presentation or something which is of interest to your business and if you find it. You are free to connect with the source of the information. Which means, if its a blog, you can click on the link, read the same and contact the author to benefit your business.

How else can it help me?: lets say if you happen to bounce across an update on your News Feed, which was done by someone relevant to your business in the US. You don't necessarily happen to know that person, but you think he/ she might be a good business connect. All you need to do is click on his/ her profile name and send a 'Connecting Request'. Hence effectively it took you only a few seconds, to get connected to someone in the US, relevant to your business, while sitting right here in your country.

Okay, I find this interesting! How can I effectively use it to market my business?

The key ways that you can use Linkedin to market your business are:

1. Create a powerful profile:
1. Ensure your 'profile summary' has all keywords relevant to describe what business you are in
2. Ask for recommendations: the more the better
2. Groups
1. There are many groups existing on Linkedin. They are both global and local in nature and have members who are interested in a "focused topic" which is relevant to their line of profession. Eg: if you want to network with global entrepreneurs, the following groups (attached screenshot) may interest you! And hence you may connect with these people and explore business opportunities. These groups are not "marketing tools", but they can help you propagate your message to the relevant segment
3. Answers
1. One of the powerful most features on Linkedin is the Q&A: (refer to the screenshot below). On the top menu, under "More" drop menu, the first option is called "Answers". You are free to pose questions on anything you would like to find answers on. The questions you ask, are propagated not only to the Linkedin members you are directly connected to, but also to many people globally who are till your 3rd degree network and are relevant to the domain to which the question pertains.
1. To each question you might find multiple people globally answering. These are the relevant people that you must network with. Many of them might be your next business leads/ partners/ alliances OR at times direct consumers!

Groups on Linkedin

________________

Question and Answers on Linkedin

Great, but reducing cost of talent acquisition?

While you can leverage the power of groups to propagate the Job openings you have in your company. You might also want to use the "paid" jobs feature which will help you propagate your job openings to the relevant target audience on Linkedin.

This actually helps you reach out to the relevant target audience (your future prospective hires), while not being dependant as a business on recruitment consultants.

Keeping yourself updated about events in your business domain:

Doubtless to say one of the best way to network with the relevant people globally in your network are events. Exchanging business cards at evens has always been the first connect creating step for any sales/ marketer. Linkedin has a dedicated "events" section, which is in the form of "User generated information". Companies and event organizers update their upcoming evens on Linkedin which are open to public.

You can easily search for the one's relevant to you and attend the same. What also is of extreme importance here is the fact that you can also see those people who are on Linkedin and are also coming to the event. Hence your pre-event networking starts right here, online!! (to access events, see the screen-capture below)

The information has been sourced from 'Free for SMEs' report issued by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) in collaboration with IndiaMART.com.
To know more drop in a comment to this post and our team of experts will get in touch!

Free for SME's: Internet based Services to Help Your Business Grow

Micro Small and Medium Enterprises form the backbone of emerging India and there are no two views about the same.  In the past few years, and through times such as the economic recession, the innovation and growth of the MSME ensured that the Indian economy maintains its sheen and strength. There have been tremendous employment opportunities created in the past by the MSME's and they are constantly being generated, while employing not only the urban Indian, but also creating a plethora of never before opportunities for the rural India.

In terms of value, the sector accounts for about 45% of the manufacturing output and 40% of the total exports of the country.

The Business Evolution: the Internet Revolution
One of the biggest evolutionary factors for the business ecosystem globally has been the advent of the Internet. We have evolved from being in just  a" having website" to the "web 2.0". The business dynamics have changed as the world has gone online. Well,  worth noting is that as perceived, not just the communications part has changed but, internet as a technology has changed how SMEs are scaling up and growing to the next level. Businesses have come to realize the power of the medium across operations, marketing, sales and many other intricate business functions.

The India MSME story
The Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in India, for whom Internet is a major boon, are still not utilizing the full potential of the medium. Internet penetration in India is one factor, but the education on the usage is the other, which is a roadblock in the growth of the MSME. There are many industries which have adapted to the new media and mode and hence benefited, while scaling up.

A recent study by Assocham predicts that by 2012, the SME sector is expected to contribute 22% to India's Gross Domestic Product, up from 17% at present. 

Internet based services across the value chain for MSMEs: Focus Marketing
The IndiaMART Knowledge Services team has published reports before which have found their place in Business Standard. There are many free and cost -effective online applications which are available for all business processes that an SME may has.

Marketing is one of the key and crucial activities for any SME. Building a brand and creating and finding a recall with the customer is extremely crucial. And not just that, it is important for the brand to have a strong presence and recall in the market to attract the relevant talent from across the market.

The challenge here is the investment. There is a lot of money needed for marketing. Apart from hiring a team one has to invest into advertising, branding.

When we said 'Free' for SMEs, we meant it
SMEs can leverage the internet powerfully to achieve business objectives, while keeping their spending to the minimum. And at times at no cost at all. Most of the SMEs find it difficult to allocate funds for marketing due to budgetary constraints and depend on goodwill, personal-contacts and word-of-mouth for their sales.

There are many solutions available online which can take your emerging enterprise to the next level, without making a hole in your pocket. All that you need to do, is to be aware and that is what IndiaMART Knowledge Services team aims to achieve with this blog!

Which online tools can you leverage for marketing?

• B2B Portals

If your businesses' current and pressing need is to generate business leads, find suppliers, connect with buyers, create a global business, while not investing into creating global operations, the best option which is available to you for free or at a very low cost are B2B portals. The top B2B portals existing are:

1. IndiaMART.com
2. Tradeindia.com
3. BizXchange.in
4. Busytrade.com
5. Itrademarket.com
6. Indianyellowpages.com
7. Sme.in

But are these B2B portals giving any value or is it just about creating another account on a website with no results?!

A very valid question this. A proof in case will be IndiaMART itself. With more than 50 lakh buyers and suppliers registered globally, IndiaMART has helped many SMEs PAN India to develop global business.

And while we are looking at future growth options, we are seeing the trends where almost every small and medium enterprise owner (be it your corner tea stall owner) aspires to grow to the next level and hence B2B platforms like IndiaMART are the right choice.

• Social Networking

There is a buzz around now-a-days about social networking and we are sure, many of you would have heard of and a majority of you will be having their accounts on sites like: facebook, LinkedIn, twitter etc.

Let us first set and create the expectation that Social Networking is not a game for only the young and the kids. Its serious business. Some of the largest organisations globally are leveraging the power of this media to connect with their target audience globally and new business models are emerging out.

Social Networking is one of the most cost effective media to be leveraged to effectively market your brand to the relevant target audience.

Which Social Networking sites should I go to, for serious business?

1. LinkedIn: Professional networking system that can be used for marketing, business development and searching for new business contacts, customers and employees.
2. facebook: SME's can choose to market their service offerings by targeting its audience aptly by using its premium ad space or by creating a facebook page for the brand, which is a free service
3. twitter: SME's can powerfully use this platform to quickly spread news, connect with relevant people globally who are somehow connected to their domain
4. ibibo.com: SMEs can choose one of over 230 categories to list their business on ibibo CityAd for free and get leads on their mobile directly through ibibo's free SMS service. Other way is to use iPromote to promote business or website to others present or not present on ibibo.

Social Networking is no more just the buzz word. We strongly suggest that your business must leverage the power of this medium for effectively reaching out to the relevant target audience globally.

Source: http://alpha-web-design.com/web_images/grow-your-business-online.jpg

• Blogs

Blogging is one of the most powerful way of engaging your target audience to your message/ communication. Blogs as a medium of communication have been very effective, engaging and powerful. Almost every large organisation that we know of, either has 'a blog' or a 'collection of blogs'. A blog must be positioned across as the branding/ communication platform for your business.

Which are the platforms that you can quickly setup your blogs on and does it cost you anything?

1. Wordpress.org
2. Typepad.com
3. Blogspot.com
4. Blogger.com

There are many others as well, but these are few of the top and well known blogging platforms. You can download the installation from wordpress.org and install a custom blog on your own hosted server.

But who will blog for me? There has to be someone who writes!

Obviously this is a critical question. You have to have a smart team which understands not only your product/ proposition/ services, but also your customers and how your customers feel about your proposition. This will help the blog really gain acceptance and relevance in the target segment.

• Google Maps

Mark your business on the global map. Google maps is a free solution which helps you mark your business on the global map. And its not just about marking a presence on the map, its about the fact that your business is visible to people globally who are searching for directions on Google maps. Infact Google sends you monthly e-mails which allow you to know the number of times your business found an impression in front of the audience which was searching for either your business/ or something near by.

• Wikimapia

Wikimapia is an online map and satellite imaging resource that combines Google Maps with a Wikipedia

system, the largest online encyclopedia. It allows users to add information, in the form of a note, to any location on Earth. It is free and over 650,500 users from around the world currently are registered.

• Google hosted Email

The Google hosted Email solution was previously a free (fr the 1st 50 employees) and now is a low cost hosted Email solution for SMEs. All it takes is about 15 minutes to read all the instructions given by Google clearly and while following them, configure your mail server with Google hosted Email solution and you will have a perfectly working online hosted Email in no time at all.

This solution is scalable to any size, as your organization grows.

How can I access this service? 

This is the official Google Apps for business website where you can find not only the hosted Email but many other Apps available.

• Website creation

You can quickly build a good looking and fairly scalable website in less than a week's time using Wordpress as the content management system. Wordpress is a free solution which you can download on your own hosted server and build not only blogs, but integrated websites on the internet.

There are many WP experts in the market who cost you a very little and hence your official website can be built and managed in either no cost at all or a very little cost.

The solution is easy enough for you to get a hang of it in a few days, post which you may not really need much management support from your web design vendors.

• Free business Guides and Newsletters and News Updates

1. SME Toolkit:  This is an online resource centre to empower Indian SME's and help them become globally competitive. It also has free downloadable software tools such as the 'Business Plan Maker' the 'Website Builder' and a large collection of 'How To Articles' (http://india.smetoolkit.org/india/en/index)
2. SME Times: (http://smetimes.tradeindia.com/)
3. SME News: (http://news.indiamart.com/)

The information has been sourced from 'Free for SMEs' report issued by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) in collaboration with IndiaMART.com. 

To know more drop in a comment to this post and the IndiaMART Knowledge Services team will be happy to help you grow!

Awareness In the Market: How Do Small Companies get It?

Small and Medium Enterprises, this segment of the business ecosystem is a class of their own! Why? Well, SME's represent that emerging segment of the business ecosystem which is slowly becoming the backbone of the growing Indian economy. There is a new scale emerging in the economy and that due to entrepreneurs who are rising to the occasion of building new enterprises, coming up with innovative solutions to problems being faced by consumers.

Entrepreneurs: challenge of reaching out for them
Entrepreneurs may be solving many challenges, but one the most heard of challenge which we hear of, from every SME is that of Go To Market/ Outreach/ Reaching out to the relevant target audience.

Why is it a challenge?

• Budgets
• Cost of marketing
• Does it generate ROI in terms of increasing business for the SME?
• Who does it for me, I don't have the bandwidth?!
• I am not a marketing professional, where and how can I seek trustworthy help?

Our experience in the Indian SME space has provided us many insights, which have led us to compile this list of ways in which the SME can create effective outreach campaigns, which lead to results, if leveraged effectively, driven by the right people.

Your Marketing Strategy

Your marketing strategy should be a good mix of various media, which help you satisfy and align with your business objectives. But before you create your marketing strategy, ensure that your business objectives are absolutely clear and set, with defined results that you are looking at achieving from them.

• Learning: Define and Set your business objectives before creating your marketing plan

Your Customer/ Consumer

The next and one of th most crucial steps is to understand your target audience. Lets set this expectation that its not the fact that only the people you want to reach out to, only they will be seeing your marketing messages and the rest will shut their eyes to them. Hence understand, that all you are doing is "communicating" and you need to do it very well!

You must understand your customers and what are they talking about/ communicating/ looking for/ searching for, when they are searching for your/ your set of services/ parallel services.

"Understand the context" this is crucial to understand what the various set of your clients are meaning of your proposition.

"Where is your customer searching you": online/ offline media

• Learning: customer understanding has to be powerful with trends and insights

Lets Talk: Communicate Now

We know well, the fact that you understand your business very well. But its a different ball game to understand what "perceived value" are your target customers/ audience putting on what you are "trying to create"

We all like expressing but we all do it in our own way and manner and hence expect the same. Thus you must not set a one size fits all rule in your communications to all your clients!

• Learning: create powerful and targeted messaging and communication

Cost effective tools/ methods to use?

There are many ways you can bring down your marketing cost drastically. And low cost marketing does NOT mean low engagement. Infact you can powerfully drive your communications and measure the results generated as well.

• Use the Internet
• SEO
• SEM (Google Ads)
• behavioral targeting to your evolving customers
• Blogging
• Social Media Marketing
• ensuring strong content
• innovative engaging propositions
• making your brand an "Experience" to engage with
• Leverage events
• be quick to reach out to editorials with your thoughts on various events happening across the industry and how do you see business being affected and solutions being generated
• *an editorial space is worth many more paid ads

Talk: Literally

Why don't you talk to your customers each month by creating a video of your's and communicating the various wins and instill confidence in them about your emerging initiatives. You will see word of mouth happening by its own self. 

And don't forget to talk to your first customers: the internal customers. Keep them updated and engaged with your messages and you will see a team building up with as much excitement, sharing the same vision as you!

Marketing today has evolved as a discipline and in scope. There are innovative go to market methods and methodologies which if leveraged well, can give your business the energy and excitement and engage your target audience in your conversation.

Leave a comment to this post, to know more about going online and leverage the Internet powerfully for your business, from our team of experts!