How Hybrid Publicity Propels Small Businesses to Global Recognition
Imrana’s vision is to provide a practical, affordable, and effective campaign system, ensuring that every small business with a great product gets the opportunity to thrive and grow into a global name because, as she states, publicity is power.
By Imrana
Small and medium businesses (SMBs) are often hailed as the engines of innovation, creating unique products and services that can transform lives and push society forward. Yet, many of these promising ventures falter, not due to weak ideas, but because their products fail to reach the right audience. To overcome this, a comprehensive promotional campaign system, combining digital power with traditional methods, is essential for making brands visible, memorable, and competitive in both local and global markets.
The cornerstone of business success is publicity, which creates invaluable recall value in people’s minds. Brands like “Colgate” for toothpaste and “Maggi” for noodles in India demonstrate the power of years of strong, consistent promotion through constant ads and repeated presence on various media. For SMBs, achieving similar recognition means promoting their products so consistently that customers instantly recall their brand name when thinking of a product category. This makes promotion and publicity not optional extras, but the most critical investment a small business can make.
However, the effectiveness of promotion is amplified when the product itself is strong. Businesses must prioritize building offerings that address clear demand, solve problems, and simplify life, much like autonomous vehicles represent freedom, safety, and efficiency. Once this strong foundation is established, promotion can powerfully amplify its impact. Even large organizations like the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) understand this, using campaigns involving podcasts, websites, social media, and hashtags to spread messages like “clean air is a fundamental right“. This highlights that publicity is a versatile tool, not just for sales, but also for driving social change and building customer trust and loyalty.
The most effective approach for SMBs is often a hybrid campaign, integrating both digital and traditional strategies. While digital promotion is powerful, traditional methods like pamphlets and local events still hold significant sway, especially in regions like India where internet access is growing but not yet universal. This blend means combining digital ads, social media, and online publicity with physical posters, flyers, or local events.
Venturing into global markets presents additional challenges for Indian SMBs. International trade restrictions, such as the 25% tariffs and penalties imposed by countries like the United States, can make Indian products more expensive and less competitive. To circumvent this, businesses might need to explore new markets, such as Germany or other parts of Europe, where demand may be higher and tariffs lower. However, this introduces language and cultural barriers, necessitating investment in translation, localization, and market research to connect with local audiences. Adapting campaigns to local tastes and languages is a significant but necessary step for global growth.
Imrana proposes a practical, end-to-end campaign system for SMBs, structured around six key steps:
- Market Research: Identifying products with local and global demand.
- Product Positioning: Creating a unique identity for the product.
- Affordable Packages: Offering starter, growth, and premium promotional plans tailored to different budgets.
- Publicity Focus: Emphasizing heavy use of digital ads, influencer marketing, and local outreach to generate recall.
- Hybrid Strategies: Combining pamphlets, events, and physical promotion with digital campaigns.
- Global Outreach: Implementing translation and localization for markets like Germany, moving beyond regions with high tariffs such as the U.S.
Ultimately, strong publicity and promotion are crucial for SMBs to prevent their innovative ideas from fading away. The path forward involves building end-to-end digital and hybrid campaigns that establish strong recall value, mirroring the success of brands like Colgate or Maggi.
Simultaneously, businesses must proactively address global challenges like tariffs, penalties, and language barriers through creative solutions. Imrana’s vision is to provide a practical, affordable, and effective campaign system, ensuring that every small business with a great product gets the opportunity to thrive and grow into a global name because, as she states, publicity is power.
This consultative article has been written exclusively for RMN News by Imrana, who is a student specializing in multiple domains such as business, trade, education, technology, entertainment, and politics.
She also produces Imrana’s Insight podcast program on diverse topics. You can click here to read more articles by Imrana.
You can click here to know more about Imrana’s editorial and humanitarian work.
