Adoption of Digital Marketing in Strengthening Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Mataram City during The Covid 19 Pandemic Baiq Dewi Lita Andiana* Accounting Universitas Islam Al-Azhar Mataram, Indonesia dewilita123@gmail.com Laili Hurriati Economic Development Universitas Islam Al-Azhar Mataram, Indonesia lailihurriati.86@gmail.com F Fathurrahman Accounting Universitas Islam Al-Azhar Mataram, Indonesia fathurrahmanmaksi@gmail.com Abstract— Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of national economic growth because they cover nearly 90% of business actors in Indonesia. Therefore, the government has launched various strengthening schemes for MSMEs in the form of capital strengthening programs, business management programs, and technical support. The era of the industrial revolution 4.0 with the acceleration and development of the flow of technology and information has required MSME's players to adapt to these developments in managing their business. The concept of Less Contact Economy (LCE) is a form of adaptation to order new normal life which in the current context is living side by side with the covid-19 pandemic virus. Concerning economic recovery efforts, economic actors including MSME's are required to remain active, creative, innovative, and productive even though they coexist with a deadly virus. Thus, MSMEs in running their businesses need the use of information technology during the Covid 19 pandemic. One of the most widely used digital technology platforms is digital marketing. Digital marketing is a marketing system that uses digital media to create and promote marketing messages. The purpose of this study is to describe the impact of adopting digital modeling to strengthen MSME's players in Mataram City. This study used a qualitative method, using a triangulation model. Data collection techniques used observation methods and in-depth interviews with MSME's actors who are actively registered in the Cooperative, Industry, and Trade Office Mataram. The result suggests that the adoption of digital marketing has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adoption of digital marketing makes it easier for MSME players to provide information and interact directly with consumers, expand the market, increase awareness, and cost of the market of the product decreases significantly for MSME players during the Covid-19 pandemic. Keywords— Digital Marketing, MSME’s, COVID-19 I. INTRODUCTION Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of national economic growth and have an important role in the development and growth of the Indonesian economy. The existence of the MSMEs sector assists in reducing the unemployment rate as it captive unabsorbed workforce from the formal sector. The growth of MSMEs has become a source of growth for job opportunities and income rise. Having this unique capacity made MSMEs have a strategic role in the government's efforts to overcome poverty and unemployment problems. Apart from being one of the new employment opportunities, MSMEs also played an important role in driving the rate of economic growth after the monetary crisis when large companies experienced stagnation and even stopped their activities. MSMEs sector proved to be more resilient in dealing with this crisis. Given the experiences that Indonesia has faced during the crisis, it would not be an exaggeration if the development of the private sector is focused on MSMEs. Moreover, this business unit is often neglected merely because of the small scale in production and has not been able to compete with other larger business units. Therefore, the government and related parties need to strengthen and accelerate the development of MSMEs through several schemes/programs such as capital strengthening programs, business management programs, licensing programs, and also technical support over training and capacity building for MSMEs. Facing the current digitalization era, almost all aspects of development are affected. It opens new opportunities and simultaneously conveys constraints. Thus, MSMEs are required to be more adaptive to technological developments in the industrial era 4.0 which offers many business opportunities which include online business transactions and online business management. This means that MSMEs need to adopt and integrate their business online. In addition, MSMEs must be able to strengthen in many ways within their own company, such as improving management skills, leadership entrepreneurs, capital management, marketing and bookkeeping skills, product development, and innovation the use of technology in running its business. The reluctance in adapting to this change lead to stagnant business or even ceased the business as they are defeated by competitors who are more adaptive to technological developments. In the last several months, the world has suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic that affects most countries in the world including Indonesia. Countries impacted by the covid-19 outbreak have experienced a huge decline in their economic growth. Based on the OECD report (2020), the covid-19 pandemic that occurred globally has had a severe impact on the sustainability of SMEs both from the supply side and from the demand side. From the supply side, MSMEs are forced to temporarily close their businesses and reduce the number of their employees. Meanwhile, from the supply side, it is influenced by the decline in the level of consumption and public expenditure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Some special sectors such as the tourism, arts and entertainment, and Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 556 Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Conference on Education and Social Science (ACCESS 2020) Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL. This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license -http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. 554