Digital Marketing for SMEs in an Effort to Increase Income in Jambi

Abstract

When the Covid-19 pandemic occurred, only 14.1 % of MSMEs were still in good condition. Most MSMEs or as many as 82.9 % experienced a negative impact from this pandemic. The state of lockdown suddenly stopped economic activity which led to a decrease in demand and disrupted global supply chains, what is currently happening has an impact on the decline in the income of SMEs. The application of digital marketing is an effort to increase the income of SMEs during the pandemic. However, there are still some SME actors who do not understand the use of digital marketing and the application of digital marketing by SMEs is still not optimal. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the application, impact and role of digital marketing for SMEs. This study is a field research using qualitative research methods. The technique of collecting data is by observing, interviewing, and documenting 30 SMEs. The results of this study show that small and medium businesses have implemented digital marketing such as social media marketing (facebook, whatsapp, and Instagram) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM ) . The application of digital marketing has had a positive impact such as making it easier to promote their business, easier to communicate with consumers and negative ones such as business ideas that are easy to imitate and competition between SMEs. During this pandemic, digital marketing has played a significant role in efforts to increase the income of SMEs.