On-going Situation Effecting SME Market - Post Covid Comparison
I own a marketing house focused on social media, digital, communications, and events for SMEs and independent businesses.
The UAE market feels like it’s shifting again. After being in the industry for years, you start feeling these changes almost like earthquakes before they fully happen. With the ongoing situation, which at one point I had my bags packed and ready to go back to the UK, looks like history may repeat itself.
Lately I’ve been meeting so many people running businesses straight from coffee shops with just a laptop. Consultants, creatives, marketers, developers, event people. A lot of them left corporate jobs after realising they could probably offer the same service on their own, faster and with more care.
Honestly, it reminds me a lot of COVID.
One thing I’ve never understood is why smaller businesses here don’t push marketing harder when Dubai is basically built on visibility and perception. The businesses people constantly see are usually the ones that grow. (Not promoting here, just my view from within my field)
At the same time, the market is becoming flooded with generic outreach, recycled services, and businesses that all sound the same.
And just like COVID, this period will either pick your business up and make it fly, or leave you standing completely grounded because of the sheer amount of new companies and services entering the market at once.