Taking the Big Leap: How AI Marketing Tools Can Benefit SMEs and Start-ups
Technology has revolutionized the advertising and marketing world, and every day there are new innovations in the fields of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and automation. Small-sized businesses and startups can benefit from these tools, as they can help them to get recognition and reach the masses before their competition. However, there is slow growth in terms of adopting technology by India’s SMEs. The success of new-age, digital-first brands like Mamaearth, Plum Goodness, and Wow Skin Science is encouraging more small businesses to proactively embrace digital marketing tools.
A survey by McKinsey found that 70% of small businesses use their own websites to reach clients, compared with 82% of big companies. Small businesses are less likely than big companies to buy display ads on the web (37% versus 66%), but they are ahead of big companies in connecting with customers via social media and more likely to use search engine optimization.
However, there is a heavy dependency on social media and platforms like WhatsApp to push out offers and promotions, but there is little effort put into the content. Among B2B companies, digital marketing is very underexplored. They are more traditional and archaic in their approach to marketing, but this will have to change if they need to scale up and reach a larger audience base. Every company and brand needs to build its image, and marketing is not always about revenue. If the right noise is made, then the revenue will eventually flow in.
Startups in India have seen massive growth over the last few years, as an increase in funding gave a tremendous boost to entrepreneurs to grow their trade. Small-sized businesses, on the other hand, had two tough pandemic years, but awareness and government boost seem to have molded them up towards a better recovery. However, the use of technology to advance their marketing skills is the need of the hour for these businesses. Recognition, leadership, and business can only come from better use of technology that is available in vast numbers.
