1. CHALLENGES FACED BY SME’S IN MARKETING THEIR PRODUCT AND SERVICES By : Mr. Lal Keerthi Gunawardhana (MBA,Manipal,India),BA (Hons)Leadership & Management Chairman & Group Managing Director Lucky Lanka Group of companies Director - National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) Founder - Athahitha Lanka Foundation & Positive Mind Club Editor - Sammaditthi Magazine

2. Marketing is nothing other than facing challengers

3. What are the Challengers  Difficulties in manufacturing competitive products due to lack of capital and high cost of finance  Incapable to offering competitive price due to high overhead cost  Access barriers to the modern trade  Difficulties of allocation budgets for brand building

4. Manufacturing competitive products  Technology Gap  High cost of acquisition of knowledge and expertise  Use best practices  Use best material as much as possible  Concentrate on your quality rather than profit margin  Identifying your core values

5. Offering Competitive price  Use penetrating pricing strategy in the initial stages  Consider the dealer margin  Economic of scale  Threats on heavy promotions with price discounts from Multinational organizations

6. Access barriers to the modern trade  Try to fill the small retail shops first  Whole sale Margin  Lack of brand awareness

7. Branding Name and logo POSM Use branding at your level best Promote Hand made, home made concept  Difficulties of allocation budgets for brand building

8. Marketing is relationship