UNAIR NEWS – The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of life, especially in the economic sector. It has greatly affected micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). MSME contributes to more than 60% of gross domestic product, but the crisis of Covid-19 has caused a global economic recession which has also reduced MSME turnover nationally because many MSMEs still rely on conventional offline marketing.
Genteng Kreatif MSME association has also been affected. The government’s policies on Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) and Physical Distancing make the business model shift from conventional to digitalization using technology.
Online marketing strategies for MSME products have been used before by members of the Genteng Kreatif association, but the strategies have not led to significant profit improvement.
These problems encourage lecturers and students at the Business Department, Faculty of Vocational Studies, Universitas Airlangga to provide assistance to MSMEs in Genteng Kreatif association Surabaya. It is aimed to support the businesses, and they may quickly recover from the economic downturn by converting to an online product marketing approach and regaining competitiveness.
The team was Rizka Milladiah Ervianty, S.E., M.S.M (Marketing Management lecturer), Yanuar Nugroho, S.E., M.Sc., Ak., CA., ACPA., AWP. (Entrepreneurship lecturer), and Anisa Fitri Sya’bania, SE, MA (Accounting lecturer) and Faculty of Vocational Studies’ students Universitas Airlangga. They organized an event at the Genteng Sub-district Office with strict health protocols. They also provided assistance on financial management procedures and product marketing online. This activity is one of UNAIR’s efforts to support the fourth SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) achievement, which is Quality Education.
On that activity, MSMEs were given training on the usage of WhatsApp business app, Instagram ads, and Facebook ads. The purpose of using the applications is to create an effective promotion plan, attract customers’ attention, inform potential customers about the product availability and bind them with the products offered.
Students were also involved in this activity to monitor and assist with financial recording and online marketing techniques so that students could implicitly learn and solve financial and marketing problems.
“We wish to improve MSME’s digital marketing and financial management understanding, especially in light of the pandemic issue. So, MSME can recover its competitiveness and become a solution to the national economic crisis, “said team member Rizka Milladiah Ervianty on Thursday, December 11, 2020.
