A well known entrepreneur said businesses should be creative in pushing their products to the broader market, especially in times of crisis.

Pacita “Chit” Juan of Echostore said that unlike large companies SME's seldom are able to compete head on with large companies, particularly in traditional marketing tactics such as promos and discounts. Small businesses can overcome this, she says, by coming up with innovative ideas to get the word out about their products.

“Never compete on price. Someone will always be bigger than you and eat you up. Differentiate yourself from your competitors through other products or service features, never just on price.” Juan said on the sidelines of the Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc. (AFFI) seminar on introducing products to the media.

Jeannie Javelosa, Director of public relations firm EON, added that with so many available mediums and products it has become imperative for a brand to gain public and media awareness to succeed. Gaining media attention in particular is difficult according to Javelosa

"Editors even writers have to go through reams of materials everyday and if you don’t catch their attention for even two seconds then your material wont get used," she said.

Javelosa also stressed the need for entrepreneurs to look beyond mere publicity in dealing with media and to focus instead on developing relationships.

"They will see right through you if you are just using them its better to build up a relationship with them," she said.


Furthermore, she emphasizes the need for consistency in the brand's message.

Juan agrees. “Even SME’s must have a communications plan if we are to optimize out limited resources for communicating to our customers,” she said.

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