Month: October 2018

Prospects of E-marketing for SMEs in Africa

E-marketing has the capability of offering numerous benefits to SMEs in Africa. Using the research conducted by Bostanshirin (2014), the prospects that e-marketing offers to SMEs in Africa include the following:

7. Personalization:

Personalization, which comes with customization, is another important aspect peculiar to marketing online through internet. Personalization refers to tailoring products and services to customers’ preferences based on their online, registered purchase history. This process results in offering customized products to customers. In this way, customers are sent personalized messages which produce much greater impact compared with impersonalized, generic messages send indiscriminately to mailbox of customers.

With the aid of gathered data of customers’ preferences, the sites can be customized for the target audience which brings about an increasing interaction and builds up a “sense of intimacy” between marketer and audience. This is especially important due to the fact that traditional modes of marketing such as mass media, TV, and newspapers cannot be shaped by their users’ needs, demands, inclinations, and preferences (Bhui and Ibrahim, 2013).

Prospects of E-marketing for SMEs in Africa

E-marketing has the capability of offering numerous benefits to SMEs in Africa. Using the research conducted by Bostanshirin (2014), the prospects that e-marketing offers to SMEs in Africa include the following:

5. Cost Effectiveness:

It goes without saying that, compared with traditional advertising media channels, which are very resource consuming, online marketing is clearly cost-effective and can accomplish its objectives at a fraction of the cost (Godes and Mayzlin, 2004; Sheth and Sharma, 2005; Buhalis and Law, 2008; Poon and Jevons, 2010). For instance it is obvious that the cost of launching an advert online is far less than placing an ad in a magazine or on a billboard. The cost of establishing one’s virtual presence, networking with other institutions and communication with consumers is significantly low. Consequentially, internet marketing enables the companies to save their resources, an aspect which is highly appreciated by companies since the online marketing campaigns do not require massive investment.

Prospects of E-marketing for SMEs in Africa

E-marketing has the capability of offering numerous benefits to SMEs in Africa. Using the research conducted by Bostanshirin (2014), the prospects that e-marketing offers to SMEs in Africa include the following:

4. 24 hours – 7 Days Availability:

Internet can now provide customers with timely information due to its availability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (Lane, 1996). Due to the establishment of online shops, customers are now able to acquire information and shop online any time of day or night they wish and prefer. There remain no time limitations in this regard because online businesses have no special closing and opening times. People may visit physical markets after searching internet or the other way round they can surf internet for competitive prices after visiting physical stores (Sharma, 2011). Besides that there is no doubt that online purchase is more convenient since there is no need to go out of home, visiting different stores and take the burden of comparing different products and prices. The buyers can do their shopping much more effectively from the comfort of their homes. Needless to say a lot of time and energy is saved this way.

Prospects of E-marketing for SMEs in Africa

E-marketing has the capability of offering numerous benefits to SMEs in Africa. Using the research conducted by Bostanshirin (2014), the prospects that e-marketing offers to SMEs in Africa include the following:

3. Elimination of Geographic Barriers:

Online marketing also removes all geographical limitation from the practice of buying and selling. So internet allows an unlimited global reach (Allen and Fjermestad, 2001; Teo and Tan, 2002; Sigala, 2008) at outstandingly lower cost. Due to massive cost of traditional media, global reach was once the exclusionary realm of huge Multinational Corporations, but the advent of cost-effective internet technologies has enabled SMEs to enjoy this kind of reach. Overcoming the geographic barriers, marketers are now able to present products and services to different groups of customers across the universe with the simple condition that they have access to internet (Mohammed, 2010).

Prospects of E-marketing for SMEs in Africa

E-marketing has the capability of offering numerous benefits to SMEs in Africa. Using the research conducted by Bostanshirin (2014), the prospects that e-marketing offers to SMEs in Africa include the following:

2. Empowering Effect:

Another prospect of online marketing is related with its enabling effect especially on SMEs since “internet can extend market reach and operational efficiency of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)” (Dholekia and Kshetri, 2004). In fact, internet creates a kind of democratized environment in which marketing has been restructured in such a way that even small businesses are given a good chance to promote and brand their products on a much more larger scale (Jobber, 2001; Tapp, 2008). Email marketing, blogging, launching websites, are among easily affordable inter-fostered channels that can provide small businesses with the ability to survive and compete.

Prospects of E-marketing for SMEs in Africa

E-marketing has the capability of offering numerous benefits to SMEs in Africa. Using the research conducted by Bostanshirin (2014), the prospects that e-marketing offers to SMEs in Africa include the following:

1. The Mutually-Inclusive Benefits of the Different Methods of E-Marketing

The individual prospects of the methods of e-marketing for SMEs in Africa need to be briefly analyzed in order to curb some of the challenges portrayed by the adoption and usage of online marketing by the SME operators. For instance, the major objective of online advertising is to increase sales and build brand awareness for these African SMEs as they are becoming recognized at the global market. Email marketing procures high response rates, and it helps reduce the costs as compared to the traditional way of mailing stakeholders.

With search engine optimizations (SEOs), Parikh and Deshmukh (2013) offer this analysis: “The purpose of SEO strategies is to place a given website among highly-listed entries returned by search engines which in its turn, produces more traffic. Its importance lies in the fact that customers most of the time use engines as a major gate to get around in the internet.” Affiliate marketing referring to the process of gaining a commission by promoting products or services of another company has the potential of making two or more website owners to build relationship to increase mutual financial benefits. Another prospect of affiliate marketing for SMEs in Africa is that it can assist extending sales force at the service of a website.

Social media marketing is greatly rewarding and very promising for SMEs in Africa because it increases their competitive edge. It boosts website traffic, or brand awareness, through the use of social media networking sites. Usually, its programmes revolve around creating a unique content that attracts attention and encourages the viewer to share it with their friends and contacts on social networks. The business message spreads from one user to another and impacts with the user in a stronger way because it appears to originate from a trusted source, as opposed to the brand, business or company itself.

Overlapping remarkably with social media marketing and also spreading through social media is viral marketing. It is basically the virtual version of the word-of-mouth marketing campaign. The files used here are small enough to be passed from peer to peer via email after they have downloaded from multiple distribution websites, encouraging greater user-driven spread. They can be tracked after being downloaded. There is also less risk of user interference with the agent. Files like videos are familiar, and are ad-like or film-like formats to users, with the added advantage of interactivity.

[To be continued…]

Introduction [continued…]

In Africa, it is without a doubt that that the number of SMEs exceeds the large companies by a wide margin and also creates around 80% of the region’s employment. SMEs are also said to be responsible for driving innovation and competition in many economic sectors, establishing a new middle class and fuelling demand for new goods and services. This transformational scale should not be underestimated (Filomeno de Sousa dos Santos, 2015).

This is also beneficial for the world’s economy as it creates a growing middle class with such disposable income, vis-a-vis market opportunities for new investors. Large corporations benefit most from SMEs as they depend on them for the completion of various functions, through outsourcing (Frimpong, 2013). Small businesses tend to attract talents who invent new products or implement new solutions for existing ideas.

Several international business forums have concentrated on developing SMEs in Africa. Among the tools for this development is electronic marketing (e-marketing). MBA Skool (2008) defines e-marketing, also known as internet marketing, web marketing, digital marketing, or online marketing, as “the process of marketing a product or service using the internet,” and “also includes marketing done via email and wireless media.”

According to Bostanshirin (2014), there are different methods of e-marketing, all of which achieve similar purposes. They include: online advertising, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), affiliate marketing, social media marketing, and viral marketing. Every aspect of life has been revolutionized by the internet. The usage and adoption of e-marketing by SMEs is steadily increasing because it has improved the way of doing business. As a result, its relevance cannot be underestimated.

HOW DO I CHOOSE A FUND?
To help you choose a fund that suits your particular attitude to risk, investment funds have a risk rating, based on the short-term volatility of the fund – that is, the extent to which it has gone up and down. These fluctuations are caused by a range of factors, including geographic location, the market, the companies in which the fund invests, the exchange rate affecting the fund, and the range of stocks in which the fund invests.

You may want to consider international funds. Generally speaking, these carry greater risks to the ups and downs of the exchange rate. Also, some invest in insecure markets of developing countries. However, investing internationally can give your money wider scope for opportunities to grow.

Investing in a variety of funds is often the best strategy. Whilst high funds can increase the value of your investment, any losses you might also make investing in these funds can be absorbed by the income or capital from the low risk funds you invest in.