By Emeka Aginam

UNLESS  Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria retool for online directory, targeted SMS, website design & optimization, among others, growth rate may be at low ebb, the General Manager, VConnect Global Services Limited , Deepankar Rustagi has said.

VConnect is one of the Nigeria’s largest local search engine, providing information about various products, services and companies in the country.

With about 17 Million Micro, Small and Medium Scale businesses in Nigeria, a sizeable number do not have online presence, Rustagi in a press conference at the weekend  told IT Journalists that  the first success factor for any SMEs is to register their business with an online directory or local search engine like VConnect.com.

Accordingly, Rustagi disclosed that more than 700,000 businesses are currently listed with Vconnect, adding by listing businesses online, global visibility would be achieved.

By doing this, he said that organisations can manage their business profile including products, services and even the brands they deal on.

Priority listing, display advert banners

Another success factor for SMEs growth in the ever challenging business environment , according to him is visibility via priority listing and display advert banners

“Merely listing business is not just enough.. Say you open new Salon, you don’t expect customers to start coming without any efforts from you. You will do basic things such as printing call cards, fliers and word of mouth marketing.

“Similarly for online business directories; it does not just end at business listing. millions of people make different searches everyday; so wouldn’t you want your business to appear tops if someone searches for a salon in your area? That is called priority listing.

“A business gets priority listing on VConnect website when they enjoy premium visibility. They appear tops when any search is done in their category of business. Hence people find them easily and they enjoy huge footfall and traffic” he explained.

SMEs, according to him should promote their businesses via display advert to create better online visibility, thereby generating more prospects.

Targeted SMS

Explaining how targeted SMS will not only reach the right people, he said that there is high chance of getting new ones too.

“Organisations think that by sending bulk SMSs, a business will get lot of customers.