TEMPO.CO, Lampung - Digital marketing has enabled many micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Lampung Province to survive, and even book increases in sales in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, a local government official.

"Several MSMEs that we met are able to increase productions and improve revenues thanks to digital marketing," Head of Lampung's Cooperatives and MSMEs Office Syamsurizal Ari said on Sunday.

According to Ari, during the COVID-19 pandemic, travel and public activity restrictions have been imposed but his office continues to encourage local MSMEs to survive and seek new opportunities through online sales.

To this end, the Lampung administration would continue to empower the institutional and human resources of local MSMEs to enable them to have better performance, and to bolster economic growth during the pandemic.

"We offer several programs, including training of how the MSME actors can utilize digital marketing," he said.

Based on Bank Indonesia's (BI's) survey, around 83 percent of 2,970 MSMEs in Lampung got affected by COVID-19 but some 70 percent of the affected MSMEs managed to survive by utilizing digitalization in their marketing.

He also urged the MSMEs not to be fixated on existing platforms since the definition of digitalization is broad.

Therefore, they can use such social media platforms as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook to publicize or to market their products.

"Our job with other related organizations is to provide the MSMEs with mentorship on how to do product marketing, narration, and visualization together so they can be more ready in this digital era," he stated.

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