Survey: 70% of local MSMEs in Indonesia have difficulty marketing their products

Since the pandemic, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector in Indonesia has begun to transform into digitalization. Based on a survey entitled MSME Empowerment Report conducted by DSInnovate to 1.500 MSMEs in Indonesia, there are 83,8% of MSMEs who digitize or utilize technology to support their business operations..

MSME Empowerment Report 2022, p. 38

The same survey also stated that there were 99,1% of MSME players who had succeeded in increasing their business productivity after using digital services. Meanwhile, 0,9% of MSMEs failed to increase it.

Even though digitization brings benefits to MSMEs, Indonesian MSMEs still experience several obstacles in developing their businesses. One of them is that as many as 70% of MSMEs have difficulty marketing their products (MSME Empowerment Report, 2022).

MSME Empowerment Report 2022, p. 20

The first challenge faced by MSMEs in product marketing is that they have to build brand image strong enough to compete with competitors. If their brand is not well-known, MSME players will find it difficult to attract and retain customers because their products are inferior to more well-known brands.

Second, their financial resources are limited. Some MSMEs do not have sufficient budget to allocate funds for marketing activities, especially advertising or promotion.

Another challenge is that they don't have experts in marketing. In the absence of a marketing team, MSMEs will find it difficult to promote their products and services effectively. Insufficient finances can prevent MSMEs from finding employees who are experts in this field or hiring the services of a marketing agency. 

Even though having a strong/right marketing strategy can help MSMEs to increase brand awareness, find potential targets, foster customer loyalty and ultimately increase sales.

In addition, marketing allows MSMEs to track and evaluate the performance of their marketing strategy so that later they can optimize the strategy even better. 

8 Product Marketing Strategies to Increase Sales 

Menurut Hubspot, product marketing is the process of placing a product on the market, promoting it, and selling it to customers. Meanwhile, the product marketing strategy is designed to guide product positioning, pricing, and promotion of new products.

MSMEs need a product marketing strategy because this strategy can introduce their products and services to consumers in a comprehensive manner. As long as the marketing strategy is right, MSME actors can increase sales, which in turn generates large profits.

So how do MSMEs implement product marketing strategies to increase high sales? Check out the full review below!

Get to know the consumers who are the target market

The first step in marketing a product is to first know the consumers who are your MSME target market and create buyer personas.

By understanding your customers and their needs, challenges and problems, MSME actors can adapt all aspects of their product marketing strategy to their target customers. So that MSME actors can create products and marketing content that are in line with target consumers.

Determine Product Positioning and Messages 

Furthermore, MSME actors must determine positioning (product advantages) and order from their products. Both of these can help MSMEs tell original stories that attract customers so they want to buy them.

MSMEs are expected to be able to convey messages to customers about products and what is unique about their products. Then, make that answer the main point behind your product marketing strategy.

Define Product Purpose

Set your MSME product goals. These goals will vary depending on the product specifics, the type of MSME or where you work, your overall MSME marketing goals, etc.

Generally, the usual product goals for a business consist of increasing revenue, engaging with customers, acquiring customers from competitors, and upgrading brand recognition.

Determine Product Prices 

Then, determine a price that is competitive and affordable by the target market. Prices that are too high can reduce consumer interest, while prices that are too low can damage the product's image.

MSME actors can determine prices based on competitiveness or value. Competitive pricing means setting product prices based on similar products sold by competitors, and being able to set a higher price if you have an advantage over competitors.

Whereas, value-based pricing means pricing a product based on the value of an item in such a way that customers can attribute it to its profitability rather than what trends, industry markets and competitors say.

Promote Products Online

If the product already exists, MSME actors can promote it online. When marketing products online, MSME actors can use social media, websites, marketplace, or other digital platforms.

MSME Empowerment Report 2022, p. 48

In the MSME Empowerment Report 2022, as a digital marketing tool, social media is used by MSMEs with the aim of marketing (91,3%), selling (81,9%), and interacting with customers (72,5%). The following digital platforms, including social media, are used by MSMEs to fulfill these three goals, namely Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn.

MSME Empowerment Report 2022, p. 49

Make sure to choose the right media and also the message conveyed can attract the attention of consumers.

Create Organic Content as well as Paid Ads

Want to improve your campaign to promote your product? TikTok can help MSMEs with one of its features, namely Promotion.

Create organic content on TikTok and experiment with different ways to tell your brand story. After that, analyze the content through the analytics feature on TikTok and then use the information obtained strategically for your paid ads later.

Furthermore, MSME players can find the right creators on the TikTok Creator Marketplace to work with according to your budget or paid advertisements. MSME actors can also convert organic content from creators into paid advertisements using Spark Ads.

Menurut Neuron studies, watching organic video content on TikTok before paid ads can increase brand recalls by 27%. This shows that promoting organic content can increase the performance of your paid ads. 

In addition, creators can influence the purchasing decisions of TikTok users. According to report from TikTok, a user's purchase intent increases by +17% after they see an ad from a creator. So don't forget to collaborate with other creators!

Cooperation with Creators

Apart from creating organic content and/or turning it into paid advertisements on social media, MSMEs can work with creators. Take your pick kreator with niche or the same topic and has a target audience that SMEs are also looking for.

Be sure to select a creatorin order to help SMEs reach their target audience more effectively and increase the success of your marketing campaigns.

Give Attractive Offers to Consumers

Another strategy that can attract many consumers and increase sales is to provide attractive offers. The types of offers that SMEs can offer are discounts, voucher, promo buy 2 get 1 free, and other prizes.

By implementing the right product marketing strategy, MSME actors can increase consumer interest and increase sales of your products. However, remember to stay abreast of market trends and adapt your business marketing strategy to the changes that occur.

If you want to read more fully about the condition of MSMEs in Indonesia and what are the challenges or opportunities they face when facing the digitalization era, please download it MSME Empowerment Report 2022 HERE.