FOR businesses, the move to go digital has become more than a need than a want.
This prompted Google Business Group (GBG) Cebu to host a one-day seminar dubbed as Biz-fest on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019, at the Arts and Sciences conference hall of the University of the Philippines-Cebu.
Around 150 individuals, startups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are expected to join this annual event. The organizer said they will be taught on how to use the latest technologies and digital tools availabe in Google.
GBG Cebu is a non-profit community of business professionals sharing knowledge about Google web technologies for business success.
The event supported by the Department of Trade and Industry 7, will have a panel discussion in the morning composed of successful entrepreneurs. In the afternoon, there will be breakout sessions that include hands-on workshop about self-empowerment, startups and MSMEs.
Some of the workshop topics are: building your team and hiring, developing the entrepreneurial mindset and Google tools for business.
“We want to help and develop the 21st century skills of startups and MSMEs. We want to enable them with the right tools for them to survive in today’s competitive and tech-driven economy,” said Arbon.
She is confident that after the on-day workshop, MSMEs in particular will gain more knowledge in doing business online.
Besides growing big in the domestic scene, entrepreneurs who actively use social media and marketing to promote their products, can also grow big overseas.
Mikee Morado, sales coach and co-founder of Cebu Innovation Network, said local entrepreneurs should have digital marketing strategy, skills and capabilities to execute strategies to ensure rapid business growth.
She pointed out that digital marketing involves the promotion of products or brands through one or more forms of electronic media “like promoting through internet, mobile, SMS, email, etc.”
In the Philippines, Morado said the essential headline data needed to understand mobile, internet and social media use are total population, mobile subscriptions, internet users, active social media users and mobile social media users.
“Internet and social media penetration increased by more than eight percent since 2018,” she said. Citing data, she noted that 3.2 billion people now use social media across the world.
She said millennials comprise the bulk of online consumers, followed by gen-X, baby boomers and seniors. (KOC with Philexport News and Features)