Two years ago, 31 December 2019 WHO was notified of a case of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan City, China. The new coronavirus was identified as the cause by the Chinese authorities on January 7, 2020 and was tentatively given the name “2019-nCoV”. Despite efforts from China to completely self-quarantine, the COVID-19 virus is still finding a way to go global. Months of lockdown everywhere and variants of the COVID virus began to emerge.
Shortly after that, a new phase began which made itself known in all of our lives. Its social and political impact, education, health and economy can clearly be seen. Significant social and political impacts such as clashes between countries, population displacement, and increased social tensions and discrimination. Many pre-modern pandemics have caused serious demographic shifts, moral shocks, and social and political disruption. Empirical evidence suggests that pandemics can create political tension and unrest, especially in countries with weak institutions. Modern pandemics have subtle social disturbances such as anxiety, social isolation, fear-inducing behaviors, and economic hardship.
Besides that. The pandemic has had a short-term fiscal impact and a long-term economic impact on countries around the world. Efforts to overcome the pandemic include the implementation of quarantine, preparation of health facilities, isolation of infection cases, and contact tracing involving public health resources, human resources, and implementation costs. It also involves spending on the health system to provide health facilities for cases of infection and managing consumables such as antibiotics, medical supplies, and personal protective equipment.
The pandemic could also result in reduced tax receipts and increased spending, causing fiscal pressure, particularly in lower-middle income countries where fiscal constraints are higher, and the tax system still needs to be improved. The severity of this economic impact was observed during the Ebola virus in Liberia due to the increase in public health spending, the economic downturn, and the decline in income due to the government's inability to increase revenue due to quarantines and curfews.
Economic shocks often occur during pandemics due to labor shortages due to disease, rising mortality rates, and fear-driven behavior. Apart from labor shortages, transportation disruptions, workplace closures, trade and travel restrictions, and land border closures are reasons for the pandemic's economic slowdown. This shock also occurred in many countries and does not seem to be recovering in the near future. Unfortunately, this shock is still happening in our beloved country.
When Indonesia was hit by the COVID-19 virus, which spread very easily, the situation in many cities and provinces was a little chaotic. As a result, it experienced setbacks in the fields of education, politics, economy, and society. From an economic perspective, this was felt significantly by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which experienced an economic crisis. The reason is, the decline in people's purchasing power due to the Covid-19 pandemic has also greatly affected the sustainability of the MSME business. The economic crisis experienced by MSMEs can unwittingly be a threat to the national economy.
Therefore, training & donations for MSME actors during the pandemic need to be a concern for many sectors, especially government forums. In order to increase donations & the role of LIPI, especially in fostering and assisting MSME actors. The recovery of MSMEs is one of the things that must be done because of their important position for the national economy. The number of MSMEs in Indonesia is 64.19 million, of which the composition of Micro and Small Enterprises is very dominant, namely 64.13 million or around 99.92% of the entire business sector.
One institution currently assisting the MSME sector is the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). The institution is committed to continuing to contribute in solving the problems of Indonesian MSMEs that have been badly affected by COVID-19. Survey results from several institutions (BPS, Bappenas, and the World Bank) show that this pandemic has caused many MSMEs to have difficulty paying off loans and paying electricity, gas and employee salaries. Some of them had to do layoffs. Other obstacles faced by MSMEs include difficulty in obtaining raw materials, capital, declining customers, distribution and production delays. One institution, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, is committed to making a full contribution to helping MSMEs solve the problems caused by the COVID-19 Virus on micro, small and medium enterprises.
The National Economic Recovery Strategy must start from MSMEs by slowly replacing their business model.
We are no stranger to this model, we have surrounded ourselves with it and we see it everywhere, this model is digitalization. Digital marketing is an attempt to promote a brand using digital media that can reach consumers in a timely, personal, and relevant manner.
This type of digital marketing includes many of the techniques and practices that fall under the internet marketing category. With the dependence of marketing without the internet, the field of digital marketing combines other main elements such as mobile phones, SMS (text messages sent via cellphones), displaying banner ads, and outside digital.
Digital marketing also combines psychological, humanist, anthropological, and technological factors which will become new media with large, interactive, and multimedia capacities. The result of the new era is the interaction between producers, market intermediaries, and consumers. Digital marketing is being expanded to support enterprise service and consumer engagement. According to Salesforse, about 68% of companies have integrated mobile marketing. The government has also realized to restore MSMEs through various programs.
For this reason, all parties must work together to make MSMEs the backbone of the national economy. As many as 97 percent of Indonesia's territory can be accessed by the internet and logistics. Indonesia has the potential to enter the digital market. A number of programs have also been developed, including strengthening MSME market access by making Smesco Indonesia a trading house, compiling e-catalogs to facilitate domestic and foreign buyers, and expanding KUR to suit MSME financing needs.
The government has also realized to restore MSMEs through various programs. For this reason, all parties must work together to make MSMEs the backbone of the national economy. As many as 97% of Indonesia's regions can be accessed by internet and logistics. Indonesia has the potential to enter the digital market. A number of programs have also been developed, including strengthening MSME market access by turning Smesco Indonesia into a trading house, compiling e-catalogs to make it easier for buyers at and abroad, to expanding KUR to synchronize with MSME financing needs. Here are some of the benefits of using the internet to market any business in MSMEs.
Low cost:
Marketing and advertising costs are one of the biggest financial burdens a business has to bear. While large businesses may not have much trouble doling out millions of dollars on marketing and advertising, for small businesses, this may be impossible or an unbearable nightmare. Marketing through digital platforms offers a more affordable alternative to traditional methods. They create the same impact but at a lower cost.
For just a few dollars you can subscribe to an email marketing provider and send transactional or direct emails to thousands of subscribers on your mailing list.
Great return on investment:
Nothing is more important to a business than the return on investment it generates. Digital marketing offers a big return on a small investment. Email marketing or running advertising campaigns on social media platforms costs little when compared to traditional marketing techniques.
Easy to measure:
The success or otherwise of a digital campaign can be easily ascertained. Compared to the traditional method where you have to wait weeks or months to evaluate the correctness of a campaign, with digital campaigns you can immediately find out how an ad is performing.
Email marketing software allows users to track their email performance; they can see how many were sent, how many were read, and learn all about their conversion rates. Google Analytics is a very effective tool for measuring specific goals to be achieved on a website or blog. Google AdWords Manager allows users to monitor the performance of their ads on Google search; they can find out how many people saw their ad and learn all about their conversion rate.
Easy to customize:
Knowledge of ad performance will inform the business on how to proceed. For ad campaigns that perform well, it's easy to invest more in them with just one click. However for ads that don't serve as expected, it can be adjusted or stopped altogether easily.
In traditional marketing, this is more rigid because mountains of paperwork must be signed and in most cases these agreements are long or medium term. So even if the campaign doesn't go as expected, the customer still has to wait for the end of the agreed period. I hope the government facilitates and donates funds to small businesses slowly so that the journey towards a stable and growing economy returns.
