Ever since internet accessibility became a norm, businesses and various industries have begun to go digital. The same goes for marketing as well. Digital marketing is not something new. In fact, it has been here more decades now.
Why digital marketing?
Digital marketing is not just a gimmick. In fact, it has been gaining traction, especially in recent years. Digital marketing is now one of the most commonly employed strategies for any marketing campaign. As the number of internet users increases, many are starting to tap into this population of digital traffic.
As people are spending more of their time online, trends have shown that digital marketing and advertising is quickly becoming a huge driving factor for sales and conversions. Especially in times like the Covid-19 pandemic, movement outdoors is restricted. In this case, digital marketing truly shines as it still enables business owners to continue running.
The Malaysian government is pushing digitalization for many companies in the form of the SME Digitalisation Grant.
What is the SME Digitalisation Grant?
SME Digitalisation Grant is a Budget 2020 initiative to encourage SMEs to adopt digitalisation in their business operations. Through this initiative, the government will provide each company with a 50% matching grant, up to RM5,000 for the subscription of approved digital services. The grant worth RM500 million over 5 years is limited to the first 100,000 SMEs.
Through the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Malaysian government is actively working together with Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), SME Bank and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) in managing the grant to eligible Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to adopt digitalisation in daily operations.
The 5 Digitalisation services covered by the SME grant by BSN are:
- Electronic Point of Sales (e-POS) System
- Human Resource Payroll System (HR) / Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Digital Marketing / Sales
- Procurement
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) / Accounting Tax
Companies will have a few criteria that they need to fulfil in order to get the SME grant by BSN:
- The company has to be at least 60% owned by Malaysian individually
- The company has to be registered under the relevant laws of Malaysia and classified as an SME.
- The company has to be in operation for at least one (1) year;
- SMEs which has been in operation for one (1) year, the SME is required to have a minimum annual sales turnover of RM100,000.00 for the first year; and
- For SMEs which have been in operation for two (2) years or more, the SME is required to have a minimum annual sales turnover of RM50,000.00 for the preceding two (2) consecutive years.
In tough times like the pandemic and MCO, the true potential of digitalization really shines. Qualified companies should not miss out on this fantastic opportunity to put your business on the digital map! If you are interested, talk to the digital marketing experts at Locus-T! With more than 20 years of experience, there is no one better in helping you digitalise your business!
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