Marketing response and innovation of coffee powder SMEs of Tanah Datar Regency in address unstable business environment

The external environment of the business that is constantly changing requires SMEs always to be responsive and innovate to survive. This article discusses how coffee powder SMEs respond to external shocks (in this case, Covid-19 pandemic) and the marketing innovations undertaken to overcome them. We also analyze the influence of marketing mix variables on income to determine which attributes need improvement. We conducted interviews with 100 entrepreneurs of coffee powder in Tanah Datar Regency, Sumatera Barat Province, who were chosen randomly. There are 56% of respondents have established their business for more than 20 years. The results show that SMEs are not responsive to shocks. There are almost no innovations to marketing mix attributes carried out by SMEs during the Covid-19 pandemic, even though the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in many SMEs going bankrupt. The multiple regression results show that attributes of production quantities, packaging variations, price, marketing areas, and marketing media significantly affect income. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the performance of these attributes.