Marketing Information System - a potent tool to boost SME marketing

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Bikky Khosla | 16 Aug, 2011
The micro, small and medium enterprises are the backbone of the nation's economy. With an astonishing 26 million MSMEs in India, employing about 60 million people, this sector plays a crucial role in manufacturing and exports. But sadly, a number of these firms close their doors every year. Research reveals that one of the major reasons for this failure is poor marketing techniques of MSMEs.

I feel that many small business owners give little regard to their marketing strategy. They rely more on traditional wisdom and focus less on a well-planned strategy. But marketing is so much more. To be more effective, it requires a well-planned Marketing Information System (MIS) for collecting and analysing information related to marketing of goods and services.

These days, the importance of the MIS has increased further. Today, we hardly know our customers first hand; they are widely spread in domestic and international markets. With this, there is also a bigger opportunity, but for which we must have knowledge of potential buyers, prices and other characteristics of various markets.

So, how does a Marketing Information System or MIS help? Simply speaking, it is a structured system of collecting and analysing information related to marketing of goods and services. It helps businesses gather information on various aspects of marketing environment such as marketing channels, competitors, prices, arrivals, grades, standards, etc. For an exporter, the information could be on prices, quality, standard, grades and legal and political aspects in a particular importing country.

We all know that authentic market information is the life blood for profitable marketing. A MIS can help businesses owners and managers judge the pulse of a market, measure its temperature, and monitor its pressure. This systematic approach helps to know whether price is high and sale is active or sluggish, whether prices are rising or falling, and whether supplies are adequate, short or in glut.

When I am emphasising the need for a MIS for your marketing, I am not referring here to those academic exercises found in marketing books. But what I strongly feel is that such an approach will certainly boost marketing efforts of SMEs. Small business owners are doers rather than planners, but doing without direction hinders growth. So, implementing a MIS could be a real solution.