Return on Investment on Various Digital Marketing Strategies: A qualitative assessment of
Small Medium Enterprises operating across the world
Nikhil P C
MSc International Business
Ecole de Management Leonard de Vinci
Supervisor: Professor Erik Ernesto Vazquez Hernande
Date: August 31, 2021
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Declaration
Author’s Declaration of Originality
I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that it presents mainly my ideas, analyses,
and evaluation of the findings of my research.
I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, this document does not infringe upon anyone’s
copyright and that any ideas, methodologies, quotations, or any other material from the work of
other people has been completely and correctly referenced in the body of the work and in the
References and/or Bibliography. All citations use the referencing system, which has been adopted
by the school.
Any direct quotations from written or verbal data are shown in quotes, and appropriately
referenced.
Any part of this document which has been used in previous academic assessments during my
program of study has been identified and referenced in accordance with the APA regulations.
I confirm that there has been no unauthorized assistance from other students or friends during the
production of this document. No part of this work comes from any academic support Internet site.
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I declare that this is a true copy of my own work and that I accept that it be submitted through the
anti-plagiarism software used by the school for confirmation of this fact.
Date: 31st August 2021.
Signature: NIKHIL P C
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Confidentiality & COMPILATIO Similarity Index (to be completed by supervisor)
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Abstract
Digital marketing has become a crucial element in today's marketing along with the fast-changing
circumstances and the rush of achieving maximum benefits by exploiting contemporary
technology and digital marketing tools. The present study carries a crucial value of showcasing
small and medium enterprises the usage and adoption techniques of different digital marketing
strategies in order to extract the most out of it. Therefore, the research is attempted to investigate
the matter based on the opinions of prior researchers as well as the insights contemporary business
persons have to offer.
From turning the pages of past years when SMEs already started adopting digital marketing to
uncovering different benefits it can offer along with data handling, the researcher collected various
research papers and presented a compact review based on them. On the other hand, the researcher
prepared a questionnaire that contains such questions that are capable of leading its answers
towards uncovering the benefits and limitations of adopting digital marketing for SMEs.
With the help of different strategic processes in every stage of this research, from selecting
Research Design, approach, philosophy, to data collection, and analysis techniques, the researchers
successfully achieved each and every objective of the research and therefore it reached its
previously set aim. By answering all the research questions adequately, the researcher reached a
successful conclusion that not only generated certain ideas and theories but also provided a clear
path for future research with a few effective recommendations.
Keywords: digital marketing, data handling, data management, sme, roi,
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Acknowledgements
I would firstly like to acknowledge and give my sincere thanks to my supervisor Professor Erik Ernesto
Vazquez Hernande, who made this work possible for me. His ideas, approach, guidance, supervision and
advice carried me through all the stages of writing this project. I would also like to thank all my professors in
EMLV Business School for teaching wonderful courses throughout the academic year.
I would also like to give special thanks to my father, Mr. Polepalli Chandramohan and my mother Polepalli
Chandramohan Mamatha for their continuous support throughout my life and making sure I achieve my
goals.
I cannot forget my younger brother Akhil P C, who has been my biggest supporter through out the research
helping me get a different perspective.
I would also like to thank my colleagues from my Internship, Peter Hoogland, Operations Manager
of Rollor Packaging and Stefan Zwiebel, CEO of Rollor Packaging for continuous support during
the thesis period.
Finally, I would like to thank Sri Rama Bhakt Bhajrangbali, Sri Ramachandra, Tirupati Sri Venkateswara
Swamy for letting me through all the difficulties. I have experienced your blessings and guidance every single
day of my life. I will always keep trusting you always for my future.
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Table of Contents
Declaration ................................................................................................................................1
Abstract .....................................................................................................................................3
Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................4
Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................7
1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................7
1.2 Rationale .......................................................................................................................7
1.3 Aims and objectives .......................................................................................................7
1.4 Research Questions........................................................................................................8
1.5 Brief literature review ....................................................................................................9
1.6 Methodology ............................................................................................................... 10
1.7 Ethical Consideration................................................................................................... 11
1.8 Literature gap .............................................................................................................. 11
Chapter 2: Literature review .................................................................................................. 13
2.1 History of SME’s and Digital Marketing...................................................................... 13
2.2 Challenges in digital marketing of SMEs ..................................................................... 14
2.3 Relationship between data handling and digital marketing strategies of SMEs ............. 15
2.4 Impact of innovations of digital marketing strategies on SMEs .................................... 15
2.5 Use of “Personalized digital marketing recommender engine” to increase ROI in SMEs
.............................................................................................................................................. 17
2.6 Impact of data management and protection on SMEs ................................................... 19
2.7 Data Management Requirements ................................................................................. 20
2.8 Critical factors associated with digital strategies in business ........................................ 23
Chapter 3: Methodology ......................................................................................................... 25
3.1 Overview ..................................................................................................................... 25
3.2 Research Design .......................................................................................................... 27
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3.3 Research Philosophy .................................................................................................... 27
3.4 Research Approach ...................................................................................................... 28
3.5 Research Strategy ........................................................................................................ 29
3.6 Data Collection ............................................................................................................ 29
3.7 Data Analysis .............................................................................................................. 30
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings ................................................................................. 31
4.1 Data Analysis .............................................................................................................. 31
4.2 Findings....................................................................................................................... 48
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations ...................................................................... 50
5.1 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 50
5.2 Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 51
List of Acronyms Used in the Research Paper ....................................................................... 53
References................................................................................................................................ 54
List of Figures.......................................................................................................................... 63
Appendices .............................................................................................................................. 64
Appendix 1: Interview Questions .......................................................................................... 64
Appendix 2: List of Interviewees ........................................................................................... 65
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Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter gives an introduction into the research. It gives a brief background about Digital
Marketing, ROI, and a brief literature review. In addition, it outlines the research’s aim and
objectives and research questions. Lastly, it shows the ethical consideration and the literature gap
in which the research aims to test.
1.1 Background
In digital marketing, return on investment (ROI) is to calculate the profit or the loss that is
generated in the campaigns of digital marketing. ROI is a vital section of digital marketing (Lal,
et al., 2020). In the entire process of advertising, the calculation of costs and the impacts is
considered a complex process. ROI is a common financial metric for evaluating the investment
cost (Choudhry, and Ponzio, 2020). In most large and multinational corporations, the business
intelligence (BI) tools are adopted for the immense cost that is required in expertise and
capabilities. But the SMEs do not have adequate resources for implementing the Business
Intelligence (BI) tools. Approximately 45% of the SMEs do not analyze the ROI on their spend on
digital marketing. If the SMEs are not measuring the ROI, then it is estimated that they are not
making the proper investment.
1.2 Rationale
Digital marketing uses various technologies to understand the need of the consumers (Avhad, and
Giri, 2020). The perception of consumers is changing with the passing days and with it, digital
marketing is gaining a lot of importance. For the measurement of ROI, it is a very efficient method.
The researchers found that many large companies are using ROI as the strategy in digital marketing
but most of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not using ROI on the digital
marketing strategies. Using ROI, the SMEs can make the most out of the investment. While
evaluating ROI, SMEs make certain mistakes. Today, digital marketing has developed to a huge
scale and with it, the analysis of the data is important for SMEs (Sopha, Jie, and Himadhani, 2020).
1.3 Aims and objectives
The study aims to analyze the ROI of digital marketing strategies for SMEs. The effectiveness of
digital marketing can be understood by measuring ROI, and so it is important to use ROI in SMEs.
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Through the entire study, the researcher can evaluate the importance of ROI in digital marketing
strategies for SMEs.
1.3.1 Objectives
The objectives of the research are-
● To recognize the relationship between data handling and digital marketing strategies for
SMEs.
● To identify the various strategies for protecting big data.
● To determine the impact of data management and protection on Return on investment
(ROI) for small and medium-sized enterprises.
● To recognize the disruptive innovation on the strategies of the retail sector.
1.4 Research Questions
The current study aims to answer the following questions and cover all the unanswered areas from
previous researchers:
RQ 1: What are the challenges in handling and protecting the big data for small and medium-size
business industries (SMEs)?
The research will emphasize mainly on SMEs and discover how the use of digital marketing
strategies are helping them to boost their ROI as previous literatures did not take SMEs into
account.
RQ Part 1: How digital marketing strategies helps in data handling?
In this case, the researcher will focus more on larger companies due to the small amount of data in
SMEs and fill the gaps of previous literatures by discussing opportunities in this case.
RQ Part 2: How digital marketing strategies provides insurance to data and protects it?
While answering this question, the focus will be on factors like data kidnapping or hacking and
how it can impact the ROI.
RQ 2: How personal information is being used in “permission-based opt-in advertising”and how
it boosts ROI?
Permission-based opt-in advertising is one of the most famous promotion strategies in the world
of digital marketing. But its associated areas like risks for consumers with their personal
information are not yet covered. Therefore, here, such areas will be enlightened.
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1.5 Brief literature review
A thorough and detailed analysis of the ROI on digital marketing strategies for small and medium-
sized enterprises will result in a comprehensive understanding. The effect of data management and
protection on the ROI of SMEs will provide deep insights into the study. The systematic literary
reviews will also help in understanding the various approaches of ROI on SMEs.
As the concept of digital marketing is evolving, it has gained extreme importance in large and
medium-sized enterprises. Small and medium-sized enterprises have faced severe challenges in
managing and protecting a substantial amount of data (Holmlund, et al., 2020). ROI plays a
significant part in digital marketing as it empowers the SMEs with the data so that the various
campaigns of marketing can move in the right direction. There are various types of innovative
digital marketing strategies which have a wide impact on small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs). This study also shows the impact of disruptive innovation on the strategies of the retail
sector.
Here Miklosik et al., (2019), highlighted the strategies associated with machine learning tools to
be integrated with digital marketing strategies to get a better return on investment. As per the study,
by extracting insights from huge volumes of data collected, machine learning help anticipates and
promote future development and decision making. Thus, the machine learning analytical tool can
consume a wide area in this research. On the other hand, Bala and Verma (2018), emphasized the
matter of promotion and suggested using it as a proper technique for SMEs to reach the world at a
minimal expense and boost the ROI.
According to the researchers, by online marketing, any corporate promotional idea has much wider
coverage than conventional marketing campaigns and once any marketer in this site has optimized
the important content of word search criteria in terms of the word search, it is an excellent
investment return, and it costs only very little to continue to position itself.
Here the research presented by Behera et al. (2020) is necessary to mention as it highlights the use
of a "Personalized digital marketing recommender engine" in digital marketing to get maximum
benefits. As per the research paper, the business must recommend extra products that clients may
not know about or find interesting to enhance the chance of selling. For reasons such as the delivery
of relevant products, therefore increasing cart value as well as increasing customer commitment,
Recommender Engine (RE) is considered to be the ideal option in certain circumstances. The
Literature Review chapter will put more light on these factors.
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1.6 Methodology
1.6.1 Research methods
To conduct the research appropriately and to maintain the authenticity of the study, the analysis of
the data will be collected from interviews which can serve the purpose of the research. The
observation in this topic clearly decided the validity of the sources and the data of this respective
topic. A qualitative study design has been used to determine the responses to the research question
and the various objectives. The entire research is based on primary sources of data. The qualitative
design of the study has aided the researcher to understand the description in the particular article.
The qualitative research design has been a useful technique to conduct the study.
1.6.2 Research Plan
For the research, a case study will be chosen. The research plan has to be made in such a way that
it can determine the Return on Investment (ROI) on the strategies of digital marketing of SMEs.
While conducting the research, several issues are there that may arise in the process and, so the
issues are the considerable points in this topic. The methods for this study must be planned in an
appropriate way so that it can cover all the aspects of this current topic. The impact of data
management on ROI will help the SMEs to understand the matter well. So, the research will focus
on these factors well.
1.6.3 Interpretivism research philosophy
The interpretivism research philosophy will be used by the researcher to conduct the study. The
interpretivism approach narrows down the data to personal views which was proper while
evaluating the data by interpreting with the sense-making process (Wickramasinghe, and
Alawattage, 2017). This philosophy will be used for interpreting appropriate themes or patterns
from the collected response for the research.
1.6.4 Collection of data
The interview method will have opted for the collection of data. The interviews will contain a set
of questionnaires on the ROI for SMEs and data management. The data for the research study will
be collected from secondary sources which include various books, journals, and articles in order
to review the existing literature which will help to evaluate the subject area. The articles that are
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mainly published after 2017 will be preferred for the study for collecting the right information.
and based on the answers given to the questions mentioned in the Appendix, the research subject
areas will be analyzed.
1.7 Ethical Consideration
In conducting this research, all areas of ethics were examined. No danger or hazard was presented
to either the researcher or the participant in the process data collection. All data collected from
internet websites and publications for research were both legitimate and adequate. The study
makes no infringement of the data gathered by the participants or on the sites. No information was
copied directly from the sources, only useful information was borrowed and interpreted from the
previous researchers.
1.8 Literature gap
Here the researcher had to face a significant lack of data during the data collection process and
interpretive philosophy has been a great use to gather relevant assumptions on the research since
the study aims to cover the ‘less-discussed’ areas on the topic.
Most pieces of literature on this subject highlighted how different digital marketing strategies
might be useful to increase ROI, but there are not many researchers who considered SMEs in this
case. Most of their insights have been given to the business from a holistic point of view. Even the
case of ROI with digital marketing strategies, itself was not fully adopted by researchers. On top
of that, digital marketing strategies also play crucial roles in data handling and data protection.
Especially, it protects data from cases of ‘Data Kidnapping’ by creating a data insurance. There
are very few literatures who linked these factors with the matter of increasing ROI in businesses’,
which is why, present study aims to cover these areas by answering the ‘research question’ based
on such undiscovered areas of previous researches.
Permission-based opt-in advertising is one of the most innovative genres of business promotion
with digital marketing. It not only increases traffic in website but at the same time it also
participates in boots a company’s ROI. But this area might contain risks for customers as it
involves using the personal information of consumers. Which is why in order to make use of
permission-based opt-in advertising, businesses need to focus on increased transparency and gain
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trust from their consumers. Similar to the focus areas of other research questions, it is also less
discovered area among literatures. Which is why, this factor will also be covered in this study
while answering the “Research Question 2”.
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Chapter 2: Literature review
This chapter highlights the various literature reviewed articles pertaining to the research. It gives
a brief history of SMEs and Digital Marketing and the challenges faced along with the impact of
innovations in Digital Marketing and the use of Personalized Digital Marketing Recommender
Engine. In addition, it talks about the impact and data management requirements, and the critical
factors associated with digital strategies in business.
2.1 History of SME’s and Digital Marketing
The rise in internet use and social media usage is changing the way people use the internet by using
online services like as web surfing, music storage and playback, email, Facebook, Twitter, and
other applications on different connected devices such as smart phones, tablets, and laptops, stated
Taiminen, and Karjaluoto (2015). The study highlighted a certain psychology of social media users
that states that, if they cannot find it on Google, they quickly take the decision that the factor does
not exists and it sums up the current consumer mindset. Thus, the importance of digital platforms
for brands is obvious, and SMEs should follow suit if they want to remain competitive and expand.
Most small businesses don't appear to take use of these new digital tools. Small and medium-sized
businesses (SMEs) make up a major portion of the global economy. There are 99% SMEs in
Europe (of which 92 percent are microenterprises), and these businesses account for more than
75% of private sector employment in the continent's economy, as per Pradhan, Nigam, and Ck
(2018).
Pradhan, Nigam, and Ck (2018) initiated research on 462 SMEs in the USA found that many SMEs
are struggling with the additional burden of using social media. As per the research results, SMEs
spend up to six hours a week on social media, according to the research. Facebook (90 percent
usage) and Twitter (70 percent use) are the most popular tools, whereas blogging, LinkedIn (used
by approximately half of the surveyed SMEs), Google+, and Pinterest are still in their infancy as
social media platforms. Third of questioned small businesses would prefer to spend less time on
social media, says the study's findings.
In terms of SME size, there are substantial statistical variations in the use of digital marketing, as
per the survey result conducted by Pradhan, Nigam, and Ck (2018). Although company size has
no influence on digital marketing budget allocation, it does have a substantial impact on the self-
reported use of digital marketing, as can be seen in the chart below. Larger companies are better
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at digital marketing, despite the fact that most people believe they are not. Companies who reported
spending more in digital marketing felt that they were using it more effectively as a result of it.
Companies who have embraced digital marketing and made the required expenditures have been
able to take use of these tools.
2.2 Challenges in digital marketing of SMEs
Digital marketing is growing at a rapid rate and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are
facing several challenges due to digital marketing (Bala, and Verma, 2018). Most SMEs are unable
to recognize their target customers. Without knowing the target customers, the SMEs will not be
able to enhance the profit margin as customers are the major resource for enhancing the
profitability of a business. Marketing of the product is also beneficial for the growth of SMEs. The
major motive of marketing is to create the products according to the choices of the customers, sell
the products to the customers, and maintain the profitability between the consumers and the SMEs
(Papageorgiou et al., 2020). Social media plays a big role in the growth of SMEs. They can engage
with the customers to give the required information to the consumers. The marketing of the
products will become easy by taking this move.
SMEs also face the challenge of budget in digital marketing. A small proportion of the marketing
budget is unable to meet the programs of digital marketing approximately 46% of the budget of
marketing is spending by the SMEs in digital advertising. There are several technologies that are
innovated with the passing days.
The internet is one of the most important things in today's world, and most consumers are
dependent on the internet for buying any products. The ROI in digital marketing is very high in
comparison to traditional marketing. Digital marketing is quite affordable and the campaigns of
this marketing are adapted to any form of budget. Content creation is also a big challenge for
SMEs. Most SMEs face huge competition from large corporations in the world of digital
marketing. In order to stand against the large corporations, the SMEs can create powerful buyer
personas and build an appropriate approach customer-centric. Increasing the ROI in small
businesses is also a big challenge.
Lack of proper resources is the major challenge that is faced by most SMEs. The resources include
budget and time. Going with the current trends is also a big issue for SMEs.
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2.3 Relationship between data handling and digital marketing strategies of SMEs
In small and medium-sized enterprises, handling big data is a big challenge. The data that are from
the various legacy systems is a major issue in SMEs. Big data helps all kinds of businesses to
understand the need of the customers (Raguseo, 2018). With the passing days, the world is
becoming extremely digital. And so, the large and the small-sized enterprises have to appropriately
deal with the substantial amount of data. In the strategies of digital marketing, data handling plays
a very crucial role. Thus, at the same time, it is challenging for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Each stage of marketing has a huge impact on the perception of the consumers.
The SMEs focus on analytics to keep an eye on the demand of the products. Small and medium-
sized enterprises are continuously enhancing their investment in the field of digital marketing. By
analyzing the highest ROI in the channels of digital marketing, SMEs can enhance the profit
margin of their business. But the SMEs do not have extreme resources to measure the ROI. Lack
of resources is a disadvantage for SMEs.
Data handling provides various opportunities in digital marketing strategies. SMEs enjoy various
advantages due to their digital marketing strategies. In the world of digital marketing, the
hypothesis does not measure the ideas and decisions of the business. Big data determines the ideas
of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By the analysis of the data, the SMEs can make
better ROI and focus on the insights that will create effective strategies in the business (Iqbal et
al., 2018).
Proper management of the data is the biggest key in running the operations of the business in a
smooth way. The data of the SMEs must be protected in a proper way so that it becomes free from
any kind of risks. The more the SMEs grow, the high is the responsibility of protecting the data.
Data handling is extremely important in all types of business. If the data is handled in an
appropriate way, then the chances are there to protect the data of the customers and establish a
long-term relationship with them.
Handling of the data is significant in all types of business as it not only protects it from
cybercriminals but also keeps a record of the customers, by which the SMEs can determine their
target customers (Soldić-Aleksić, Krasavac, and Karamata, 2020).
2.4 Impact of innovations of digital marketing strategies on SMEs
Various researchers have previously discussed the need for technology innovation in the world of
digital marketing. However, there are several impacts of innovation of digital marketing strategies
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on SMEs (Saura, Palos-Sanchez, and Correia, 2019). Implementation of the new technologies in
the SMEs is a big issue and the infrastructure required in the implementation is much costly for
the SMEs. To compete with the large corporations, the SMEs try to adopt the current strategies of
digital marketing but fail to adopt the strategies due to the lack of appropriate resources.
On one hand, there are some advantages of the innovation of digital marketing strategies but on
the other hand, there are some disadvantages too. SMEs are favored by the governments due to
their economic contribution. In developing countries, the role of SMEs is vital. Innovations in
digital marketing upgrade privacy systems. But, most of the SMEs are unable to upgrade the
system due to less budget. Even, the innovations bring huge competition in the complex market.
As a result, SMEs are unable to compete with their rivals.
There was a research gap in the association of digital marketing and SMEs. Several researchers
conducted many studies to understand the impact of innovation of digital marketing strategies on
SMEs. To some extent, digital marketing strategies are cost-effective for SMEs in comparison to
traditional marketing (Cole, DeNardin, and Clow, 2017). But, the SMEs face challenges in
generating online content and, this, in turn, requires more skills and knowledge in the business.
SMEs can enjoy certain advantages by acquiring new skills.
Digital marketing improves communication with customers. So, the implementation of this
strategy has improved the efficiency of the operations of many SMEs. With the use of various
technological innovations, SMEs keep an eye on the data of the consumers. The evaluation of the
data helps the SMEs to understand the choices of the customers. This has helped the SMEs to take
important decisions for the business. Digital marketing helps to encourage various innovations
(Jadhav, 2020). and the various innovative ways help to reach the target customers easily. There
are certain innovations in digital marketing strategies which have immensely helped SMEs. The
various innovative approaches have helped several SMEs to stand against the tough competition
in the complex market (Ritz, Wolf, and McQuitty, 2019).
Innovation is required in every field but the innovations in digital marketing strategies have
provided several opportunities for SMEs. By the technological innovations, the SMEs leverage
their operations (Oklander, et al., 2018). The revenue of the business is increased by innovations.
The higher rates of conversion get enhanced by the increased revenue. The reputation of several
SMEs has increased due to the innovations. The trust of the customers can be won by the
innovations.
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SMEs can grow to a large extent by some of the innovations of the strategies of digital marketing.
2.5 Use of “Personalized digital marketing recommender engine” to increase ROI in SMEs
Previously the researcher has already presented an insight on the latest emergence of a digital
marketing strategy that is the Recommender Engine. As mentioned in the research of Behera et al.
(2020), the recommender engine enables companies to tailor the consumer experience and to
propose the most meaningful elements for them. One can also evaluate the present usage of the
customer's website and its past browsing history to give appropriate product suggestions.
Figure 1: Recommendation Engine working process with the integration of AI
(Source: Tamturk, 2018)
Here Appier (2020), analyzed the matter with several examples which helped to make it clear how
RE (Recommendation Engine) can be used to increase a company's ROI. In the blog, it is
mentioned that Netflix utilizes an engine to offer movies and suggestions for viewers. On the other
hand, Amazon utilizes a recommender engine to provide product recommendations to customers.
Each employ one for objectives that are slightly different, but both aim for the same objective: to
improve sales, commitment, and retention and to offer a more tailored customer experience. In the
past, a salesman or friends and relatives recommended them. This duty we have now transferred
onto algorithms.
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Here in order to achieve the core aim of this research, it is important to analyze how the use of
REs can benefit SMEs. As per Behera et al. (2020), digital marketing is designed to make use of
multiple strategies and gather better e-business revenue. Nowadays almost every e-Commerce site
uses its own Recommender Engine to keep its business stable. In the researcher paper, the
researcher suggested a basic framework that can use by businesses that use digital marketing, to
maximize their revenue. As per the researcher, the strength of the framework is the suggestion of
goods in line with the e-market design and the adoption of the suggested customized
recommendation model to follow the recommended procedure. But at the same time, the research
paper has not been enough to showcase RE as a useful strategy for SMEs' digital marketing.
Figure 2: “Proposed Framework for Digital Marketing of Recommended Items”
(Source: Behera et al., 2020)
Tamturk (2018) stated that a recommender engine provides a personalized experience to
consumers and therefore it attracts customers, hence increases ROI. As mentioned in the paper,
from the consumer point of view, this engine simplifies their life by reducing the time they spend
looking at contents that are not interesting for them. The final aim is to produce an experience that
makes the visitor feel understood and well treated as well as people. The suggestion engines are
used. As customization is a sophisticated and complicated field, companies gain from an exchange
of lucrative benefits for a little amount of time and effort as it leads to bigger transformations. In
fact, a study surveying 2,000 consumers in the USA and Great Britain revealed that 73% of clients
prefer individualized purchasing experiences (Tamturk, 2018). Thus, it can be stated that the use
of Recommender Engine can surely be quite resourceful for any size of companies that uses digital
marketing.
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2.6 Impact of data management and protection on SMEs
Globally, the small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) has a different structure of the business.
The competition between the large-sized business and the small-sized business is huge. Thus, in
this case, the protection of the data plays a major role in the continuation of the business. To
enhance the efficiency and productivity of SMEs, databases can be helpful. Data management
helps the owners and also the leaders to improve the decision-making process by using tools which
is dependent on data management. The SMEs are targeted by the various apps which are cloud
accounting. SMEs are highly impacted by data management. Data management has increased the
accuracy of SMEs. The scalability is also maintained by the data management. The backup of the
data saves the information of the SMEs. Data management helps in the automation of the system
of data processing (Shah, Soriano, and Coutroubis, 2017). The appropriate speed of the data
transmission is also maintained by data management. SMEs enjoy the benefits of data
management.
SMEs are a major victim due to the problem of security. Not all the options of data storage
management can be changed to cloud storage. Thus, SMEs suffer this issue on a huge scale. There
is a lack of resources in SMEs. Data management creates opportunities for SMEs to bring
efficiency to their operations (Britzelmaier, Graue, and Sterk, 2020). The SMEs need to maintain
proper planning of the data storage to avoid the threats of data attack. The budgets of the large
companies and the small businesses are different.
To attain the ROI, the data of the SMEs need to be seamlessly accessible for every individual in
the entire organization. Data management and protection are very important for the development
of SMEs (Yee, 2021). It helps SMEs to protect the data inappropriate ways. Many SMEs have
unorganized data. This kind of data suffers from the attack of the data breaches. For the hackers,
SMEs have become a major target. The Act of data protection helps SMEs to be aware of hackers.
As digital marketing is developing rapidly, SMEs are also facing the problem to manage the data.
SMEs must implement effective strategies for data protection. Appropriate data management is
the major reason for success in the business.
The vital data of the SMEs can be retrieved by the process of data management. In the world of
digital marketing, large-sized business and SMEs are taking out effective strategies to improve the
operations of the business. Besides, protecting the data is equally important. Thus, data
management plays an important role in SMEs.
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2.7 Data Management Requirements
In line with Tatić et al., (2018), the processing, viewing, and storing of the data management phase
involves data gathering. With small and medium-sized businesses, this phase may go beyond these
ideas to the broader idea of creating memories. The manufacturing memory generation is a key
step in this approach. Therefore, some measures must be examined. Corò, and Volpe, (2020), in
their research the authors highlight the significant connection between data quality and decision-
making and suggest that the data gathered are characterized by metrics that ensure the intended
goals. A full set of measurements representing data will be defined in the ISO/IEC 25024 standard.
These measurements are divided into system-dependent and data-inherent measurements. The
process of creating a production memory may be performed in 4 stages, as stated above:
Step 1. Data categorization according to the targets set;
Step 2: Implementation of the data quality assessment system;
Step 3: Data obtained pre-processing;
Step 4: Save and visualize the information received (production memory creation).
This phase involves collecting raw data and preprocessing to derive indications regarding the
health status and the system performance. The features of the necessary data may be specified
when the goals are determined. This applies to the necessary variables, their sources, frequency
and measurement period, and the necessary degree of accuracy. In order to assess the
appropriateness between the measuring system and the set goals, metrics need to be identified. In
this context, businesses should automatically collect the necessary data to provide an acceptable
degree of accuracy without human involvement.
In the case of SMEs, however, staff information is essential to start the research, even if its
accuracy is not guaranteed. In general, data gathered include some noise, missing values,
redundancies, etc. To address these issues and enhance data quality, a pre-processing system is
utilized. The processing phase is based on statistical techniques and involves the transformation,
integration, cleansing, and normalization of the data primarily. These methods aim to enhance the
overall system description. In addition, the pre-processing step facilitates the viewing,
understanding, and storing of the data.
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The process of data administration may be split into three modules: "data collection, pre-
processing, extraction and display of indicators". The below figure shows the many stages of this
procedure.
Figure 3: Data Management Approach
(Source: Munyai, Mbonyane, and Mbohwa, 2017)
A. SME data characterization
Researchers suggest that the SME data be characterized on the basis of empirical SCODER
research. They compared literature studies to the industrial reality and discovered that certain data
issues have been extremely prevalent in small and medium-sized enterprises. SCODER data
contains manual data features, low data volumes, irrelevancy, and lack of data.
Manual data: Even in big businesses, there are problems associated with manual data collecting.
The study of Seles et al., (2018) highlighted, however, that this is a more frequent issue among
small and medium-sized businesses who often manually gather their data. The manual method
gives the same occurrence a different description. Each worker may display the same information
in their own way. Therefore, the manual data may be an important restriction for findings
correctness in the event of automated data analysis.
Small data volumes: The data management concept is not yet widely utilized in small and
medium-sized businesses. Consequently, the evaluation of their information as a strategic resource
is challenging for SMEs. Singh, and Kumar, (2020), showed in the empirical research that only
certain important questions are taken into account while collecting data in SMEs. The data
gathered will be discontinued after these issues have been addressed. Furthermore, data storage in
small and medium-sized companies poses a major issue because sophisticated storage solutions
have not been accessible for a long time to create and maintain data recording. The limited amount
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of data is thus inadequate to develop precise analytical models and especially the application of
PHM methods.
Important data: As data management goals in small and medium-sized enterprises are not often
recognized, a full list of variables is gathered to define a single issue. The gathered data may thus
be inappropriate and redundant that may influence the outcome or choice to follow. In addition, a
lot of unneeded data is generated, and storage issues are caused.
Missing data: Employees feel that they are losing much time recording all the information about
the manufacturing process in a similar context to the manually acquired data. They have restricted
recording just the major events without delving into details for this reason. In addition, this
information may be erased since it is stored on paper.
B. Pre-treatment data:
After identifying the most frequent data issues in SMEs, Rekarti, and Doktoralina, (2017), had
tried to investigate the best suitable pre-processing technology for improving the quality of data in
SMEs. Data structure: the first step for data pre-treatment is to examine how the data is stored in
an organized manner in the memory. Data are saved and transferred in various formats as CSV,
PDF, and TXT files for small and medium-sized enterprises. Moeuf et al., (2018), suggested that
all accessible data be structured in a single relational database that would enable future
modifications to solve this issue.
Data encoding: As already stated, quantitative and qualitative information is included in the data
accessible in small enterprises. The purpose of encoding is to transform all quality data into
quantitative data so that its pre-processing, analysis and storage are facilitated. The encoding also
enables data representation to be unified and, therefore, its distribution facilitated. On the basis of
our empirical research, Munyai, Mbonyane, and Mbohwa, (2017), observed numerous difficulties
with data transformation, such as non-unified language messages, diverse sensor codes, etc.
Modeling of data: SME data may be useless, bruising, and have missing values. Different factors
including measuring system mistakes, Analog-to-Digital transition, and manual recording may
explain this. To address noisy problems, filtering technologies will be employed. Selection
methods for the solution of an analytical issue are extremely common in handling the problems of
irrelevant or duplicated variables.
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Data generation: Producing a small amount of data may be an efficient option in the case of
modest quantities of data. Similar data may be utilized to train diagnostic and prognostic systems
using statistical techniques.
2.8 Critical factors associated with digital strategies in business
Modern marketers must plan, execute it, examine it, and utilize it to create proper strategies.
However, today, every person has to deal with practically unlimited internet channels, from mail
to social networks and everything in between besides all the conventional publicity and
communications channels, as mentioned by Bridle (2017). It is nearly difficult to find enough time
to advertise and execute all things effectively.
Marketing is a realm of incredible dynamism. New technology and techniques are reported every
day, and ideas are now far more sophisticated than the 4Ps in the 'good old days' stated Goldfarb,
and Tucker (2019). The ability and trust to utilize all accessible internet tools, especially if the
majority of the company is not from the Y generation, may be significant.
Data analysis includes statistics and mathematics, which may frighten many individuals.
Consequently, they prevent anything more comprehensive than a straightforward summary and
risk missing this lovely bunch of knowledge that could change their income.
For most marketers, the ultimate goal is to identify and develop prospective consumers. The
marketing has to provide high-quality products with the most significant sales potential, so a dead
horse does not spend that time and money. It does not only concern statistics. All customer's
purchase cycles are found, researched, compared, and purchased, but marketers may have
difficulties acquiring prospects at all these stages and transporting them along the selling trunk.
In this context Du Plessis (2017), mentioned that a company may have an excellent website, but it
is useless without helpful information, which is where content marketing comes into the picture.
Resources must be invested in the development of content, but it takes a great deal of time.
Consistency may help with the publication of material on social media platforms, or conversely, it
can contribute to externalizing content production by recruiting specialist experts.
Intrepid travel produces material for what it offers: "small groups, big experiences, and responsible
travel." They have created a hub called 'The Journal' and a half million followers on a Facebook
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page to encourage individuals to submit pictures and tales on their journeys with Intrepid (Budić,
2019). As customers see pictures of real people and experiences, the content is becoming more
relevant and trustworthy. The tales do not originate from paid influencers/actors and create
confidence between the consumer and the company.
Ritz, Wolf, and McQuitty (2019) mentioned that, the material created by SMEs may not be taken
care of in turn, mainly when competing with big enterprises, without the capacity to get a search
by loyal customers. Influencer social media marketing is most costly and unreal for a small
company compared to more affordable email newsletters. This may be very helpful if a company
becomes able to constantly keep the support focus on the consumer's inbox since three out of four
businesses believe email provides 'great' to 'good' ROI agreed McGruer (2020).
Praising the matter of digital marketing, ickauske et al., (2020) mentioned that, Digital marketing
material has robustly converted into sales numbers based on the content it promotes and on its
relevance to the public, and the resolution of its problems. As a small company that competes with
big rivals, it is essential to provide excellent customer service at every stage of the client
experience. A smaller company may be helpful if it supports consumers with inquiries and
provides customized content through continuous contact, which bigger rivals cannot deliver.
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Chapter 3: Methodology
This chapter highlights the approach in collecting the data for the research and the distribution
technique. It also highlights the Saunder’s Research Model, Qualitative Research Design and
Interpretivism Research Philosophy. It also highlights the grounded evaluation framework, data
collection along with systematic narrative analysis methodology used in the study.
3.1 Overview
A technique for research helps to examine all elements of a subject. In this instance, different
aspects of the research were distinguished through the employment of suitable techniques in the
investigation (Sileyew, 2019). Therefore, the researcher gained a good understanding of the
methodologies the researchers should select and how the technique is used to achieve the goals
and purposes of the study. The research technique may also be identified as an attempt or a strategy
to guide researchers successfully. The researcher is also able to remove in the study process every
ambiguity and all misunderstanding.
The study's objective is to evaluate how various digital marketing strategies help SMEs get a return
on investment. The study shows how digital marketing strategies empower small and medium-
sized businesses. Research here decides on SME activities' economic development. This research
aims to discuss how small and medium-sized enterprises return on investment with possibilities of
expanded business.
In this context, it was stated that there is a topic of return on investment to identify the biggest
problems and the benefits that no SME has gained without the phenomena of digital marketing
across the globe. However, the study seeks to concentrate on the key points of view and ideas that
strengthen the basis for SME growth (Ngozwana, 2018).
In this study, every piece of information was represented using a systematic approach. The study
has utilized Saunder's onion model to conduct a disciplined data gathering approach. The model
also helps the investigator establish the research techniques utilized for the study's requirements.
The inclusion & exclusion procedure was performed methodically to ensure that all duplicates
were removed and meaningful data collected. The technique of research is designed to provide
ideas and to include each theory. The model, therefore, reduced the subject and simplified the goals
that facilitate the subject during the study.
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The methodology section described how the data gathered were examined after providing the
techniques of data collection. The study used the right strategy, coupled with the concept of
interpretivism and research. The explanatory model here concentrated on tracking the involvement
of SMEs in digital marketing and the effects on the development of return on investment in terms
of small and medium-sized businesses. In the preceding study articles, the secondary data gathered
here were adopted by others who provided their knowledge on the significance of small and
medium-sized companies and how they are related to digital marketing (Murray, and Nash, 2017)
with an aim to evaluate the subject area through reviewing the existing literatures.
In order to provide the pupil a clear concept about each phase of the study to comprehend how the
work was conducted, the following method has explained the procedure utilized in research. The
model of Saunder was very useful to the researcher here since the model was systematically used
to peel all of the many layers of the topic. The researcher, therefore, had a clear notion of how to
go forward and successfully conduct the study (Melnikovas, 2018).
The methodology part also contains an ethical part to illustrate how appropriate ethics have been
followed and eliminated from any non-ethical actions, including plagiarism, irrelevant references
etc. A comprehensive narrative analysis will be carried out for the study, and a review of the
literature was created to update all the academics' current views.
Figure 4: Saunder’s Research Model
(Source: Melnikovas, 2018)
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3.2 Research Design
This research was qualitative, and therefore a large part of the energy and information gathered
here may be generated and synthesized through online sources. The researcher thus improved
cognitive capabilities and enhanced research based on the individual learner's comprehension
skills.
The researchers have been helped by quality design to examine all accessible case studies from
different scholarly databases and the backdrop of digital marketing and its effect on SMEs
(Dodgson, 2017). The study of SME components allowed us to identify the variables which
connect capacity and development factors of small and medium-sized enterprises. The quality
design method is why the researcher may collect information on a wider scale in different factors.
In this regard, a comprehensive examination of journals, publications, and other journal articles
showed the marginalization of SMEs' bias, economic growth, and digital marketing importance to
enhance return on investment. The design also helps comprehend how various digital marketing
strategies help SMEs to get a return on investment.
3.3 Research Philosophy
The researchers may select which method and why to follow a philosophical approach (Fabris,
2020). The main assumptions in the philosophy of research contribute to defining the researcher's
perspectives on the topic. The research used interpretivism philosophy within the research
paradigm (Alharahsheh and Pius, 2020). The philosophy of research helps to assume the available
facts. To be very precise, the researcher will interpret the interview results based on the narrative
codes or themes created by the researcher and analyze the data. It helps to detect and
simultaneously analyze the data. The philosophy of the study contributed to incorporating the
personal views and thoughts of the researcher. In a critical subject like this, the researcher was,
therefore, able to apply values effectively. The method contributed to comprehend the
development in return on investment by developing assumptions about the variables driving or
boosting digital marketing strategies used by the SMEs (Flanagan, Lepisto, and Ofstein, 2018).
The figure added below showcases the “Grounded theory” on interpreting information in research.
The present research might be accurately following the model, but the model denotes a basic
understanding on the current research design and methods.
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Figure 5: “The proposed grounded evaluation framework”
(Source: Abdel-Fattah, 2015)
3.4 Research Approach
In the data gathering and analysis procedure, a particular research method is utilized here. The
investigator simultaneously analyzed the rationale for the data gathered here.
The qualitative manner of the study leads to the creation of the inductive view of science, and the
inductive method serves as a very good instrument to collect, evaluate and develop sustainable
assumptions on all types of information and data accessible on the internet. Thus, all the ideas may
be created by patterns followed by past scientists. The lack of extra knowledge about the subject,
on either hand, made it easier to utilize the inductive method. The research methodology was also
useful since it was not time-limited to bind the project. The inductive approach has also been
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utilized to create many concepts and theories via existing research articles and, therefore, the
researcher has been able to enhance his involvement.
The researcher also helped create empirical generalizations using an inductive method. The
researcher then investigated efficiently the connections that influence the study process.
The inductive method helped the investigator grasp the many areas where the topic's significance
may expand since the investigator could understand it from a deep viewpoint with the assistance
of this approach. The study recognized how digital marketing strategies used by SMEs might
influence a return on investment. The method was useful to learn about various digital marketing
strategies, SMEs and return on investment. However, due to the researchers' choice of a suitable
method, the aggregate data was collected. There is also an individual study on the link between
SMEs and digital marketing.
3.5 Research Strategy
The method as mentioned above may be coupled with the qualitative research method in particular.
The researchers were especially helpful in gaining positive answers to acquire a deep knowledge
of the study subject. Through this approach, the investigator has learned about different thoughts
and beliefs of people and some of the researchers (Le Grange, 2018).
The research approach assisted in comprehending many elements of the study issue since the topic
included a broad viewpoint. The connection between the return on investment of SMEs and digital
marketing could not be determined without knowing the distinct aspects. However, qualitative
research is a sustainable technology. The researchers have saved a great deal of money and
produced a cost-effective study that will be extremely helpful to the small medium businesses.
Without a qualitative research method, this would not be feasible.
3.6 Data Collection
In order to inspire and apply in the future the same characteristics to the Researcher’s study, the
data collecting technique was essential as learners needed to be aware of which approaches are
applied to data gathering. Also extremely helpful is the data-gathering technique, which generates
insights into the process.
Firsthand information is gathered from interviews conducted to collect data from employees in
different SMEs. The researcher has conducted primary data collection process through interviews
in order to understand the perspective of employees in SMEs and learn their companies’ digital
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marketing and its role to earn ROI. The researchers only utilized adequate and legitimate data and
fake information, and, in parallel, no deceptive information was supported in the study report.
The primary data collection method involved 20 questions that were asked to 20 participants. As
the research followed a qualitative design, there was not method involved here in terms of
collecting stats or calculating them. The description answers of the interview participants were
gathered with open ended questions so that they can describe their perceptions properly. On the
other hand, in order to link the interview answers with the study discussion and reach towards a
successful conclusion, the researcher also collected prior researches on the subject area so that the
study understand if there is a certain pattern and similarity in the interview answers and the prior
research assumptions. Such method has been useful in order to incorporate all the other
components of the research methodology, especially the data analysis technique.
3.7 Data Analysis
A systematic narrative analysis methodology will be used in the present qualitative research
(Akinyode and Khan, 2018). Narrative analysis is a useful or rather beneficial process to detect the
underlying beliefs in history and the wider society that produces tales; in this case, the pattern of
digital marketing in SMEs. The goal is on understanding how individuals interpret their everyday
events. Thus, the interpretation is crucial. In the data analysis section, the researcher will first
create codes and themes based on the patterns of the interview answers. Then the researcher will
connect the findings after reviewing the literatures and the observations of the interviewees and
analyze the data.
Based on the narrative study, the study will determine that digital marketing is an important topic
in recent days for SMEs. In this context, the researcher will be analyzing all the answers gathered
with the primary data collection techniques and attempt to highlight the places where the current
study area and the path led by interview perception matches. The results of the analysis will
provide a greater depth on various attributes of the subject under the roof of the realization how
digital marketing has just reached a worldwide scale. Digital marketing, in this instance, denotes
those on the path to success of getting a return on investment. Return on investment depends on
various things, and one of the major aspects of this is digital marketing strategies (Seo, 2017).
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Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings
This chapter starts off with Data Analysis of the strategically framed questions, asked to the 20
interviewees and also covers some important topics like Digital Marketing Trends, Investing in
different areas of digital marketing, benefits of market research and holistic view of data lifecycle.
Later part of the chapter is about key findings from the qualitative research.
4.1 Data Analysis
In order to conduct the present research, 20 participants with solid marketing and business
background were interviewed and their answers were used in this research by integrating them
with the assumptions made by prior researchers.
From the answers, a common factor came to light that showcases that all of the participants stated
the usefulness of digital marketing and provided different benefits in their way. Similarly, the
participants also provided a few great insights into the subject area.
Responding to the question, “How digital marketing is helpful for SMEs?” respondent 1,
“Robert Vonk” highlighted some distinguishable points between digital marketing and traditional
marketing like television. Small businesses especially find it a bit difficult to invest in the latter
option. The upcoming of digital marketing has proved to be a boon as it hardly demands any space
and investment. One need to be aware of some of the latest techniques of online marketing like
Facebook Ads, Email marketing and Google Ads. It is possible to carry on with the campaigns any
time anywhere. It enables a systematic and narrative approach, thus making project
implementation easy. Here one of the collected papers can put as evidence that states, as one of
the world's most prominent social media platforms, online marketing using Facebook has become
more popular. An online community that offers excellent marketing options, cheap costs and great
performance as well as tailored visitors. Customer service is quick and efficient for both new and
existing clients (Thomkaew et al., 2018). Thus, it can be interpreted that, online marketing not
only reduces the marketing costs for SMEs but it also provides an efficient point of view of
interacting with consumers.
Respondent 2, “Anshuman Chakraborty” supported this fact by stating that unlike traditional
marketing; digital marketing strategies help businesses to have an online presence. With an online
presence, it becomes easy to popularize the products and services among a large set of audiences.
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By publishing advertisements on various e-platforms, it becomes easy to inform the viewers about
the brand. It instigates them to visit the website, browse through the product list and make a
purchase. Consumers can easily come across some of the best deals from the sellers on a worldwide
basis. The statement makes the insights provided by Saura, Palos-Sanchez, and Correia (2019),
even clearer where researcher highlighted the term, “content marketing” and the immense benefit
of attributes like SEO and so on while the matter is about creating a strong online presence.
The above evaluation has highlighted that fact that, effective marketing of the products and
services is very important to generate high ROI (Saura, Palos-Sanchez, and Correia, 2019).
Otherwise, it will become difficult for the SMEs to popularize their brands, as per respondent 3,
“Naga Basava”, the digital media is very much helpful in this respect. It will let marketers know
about the overall performance of the brand in the market. Based on the reports, marketers will be
able to implement certain changes for further betterment.
Thus, the present study focused on the fact that, regardless of the size of the business, digital
marketing is helpful in effective marketing of the brand provided it is applied in the right manner.
In this case, another response is crucial to highlight, i.e., respondent 9, “Suchi Goyal”, inferred
that one need not be technically sound to market products and services. Knowing the basics of
running ads on Google and Facebook will help in achieving good ranks on the search engine pages.
As a business owner is more familiar to some of the best ways that will help in taking the business
ahead, researching and applying of some better online marketing strategies will let easy
influencing of the brand. The respondent also supported his statement with effective example of
case studies, such as, “Neil Patel himself tells how he was struggling earlier; He paid some people
to get traffic. Then he decided to learn on his own”. The gist of the whole statement can also be
supported by the statement by Zhang et al., (2020), who stated that, market research may reveal
how current and prospective customers perceive an organization, as well as any discrepancies
between client expectations and what the company delivers. When it comes time to finalize the
marketing plan, this knowledge will be irreplaceable. Thus, it becomes clear that market research
is another attribute in marketing that can be improved to several levels with the digital marketing
tools.
The present study has already established the fact that, the number of benefits associated with
digital marketing is uncountable (Avhad et. al., 2020). Almost everyone is using this particular
form of marketing to standstill in the competitive market. But every strategy is not suitable for all
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types of business. Some may need to go with online advertising while others may go with email
marketing. This is where the research agrees with the answer of respondent 20, “Rajat Sharma”,
that stated, researching and applying the right type of online marketing strategy will help in
establishing of the business based on demographics and other vital factors. The brand owner will
be able to enjoy the lucrative benefits for long.
On the other hand, in the answer to the question, "Does digital marketing have the ability to
help SMEs in terms of return on investment?", respondent 1, “Robert Vonk” responded
positively. It was clearly stated that being easy in-terms of accessing, one may implement lots of
strategies without spending heftily. According to Chaffey (2021), such a great feature makes this
digital marketing suitable for all types of businesses. While from the perspective of respondent 2,
“Anshuman Chakraborthy”; investing in digital marketing will help enterprises in reaping
maximum benefits in terms of Return on Investment. As this form of marketing helps smaller-
sized businesses to grow the base of audience, it becomes easy to popularize the products and
services. Gauging the audience based on demographic, it become easy to target them for
betterment.
Respondent 5, "Anish Modi" on the other hand, explained exactly how Digital marketing works.
As per the participant, in order to understand the usefulness of digital marketing in the case of
ROI, an organization needs to nourish their invested marketing and wait for the fruit for at least
the first few months. During this period the marketing will help the brand by building a more
effective path towards long-term success. This is why in terms of expectations from digital
marketing, entrepreneurs need to change their expectations and underhand the ROI from Digital
marketing can also come in different forms rather than monetary returns, such as brand
awareness. The respondent stated that, achieving high ROI by implementing digital marketing
strategies is not a one-night job. It requires time to get the business known to others. If someone
expects to enjoy a lucrative return within few hours of investment and the person applies some
methods of marketing randomly; then it may result in a blunder. Along with it, the impeccable
advertisements also help in converting the prospects to customers.
As per Shahid, Hussain, and Zafar (2017), it is the awareness and brand recognition that help in
attracting a large base of customers. It is also a type of achievement that will help the business in
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beating the prevailing competition. Applying of the right type of online marketing strategy will
help the brand to reach literally to everyone on the web.
In this case from the prior research, the present research has repeatedly received a number of
suggestions for SMEs in terms of increased innovation. In this case, the research by Chaffey (2021)
has also provided clear insights on contemporary digital marketing trends and innovations which
can improve consumer effectiveness.
Figure 6: Digital marketing trends
(Source: Chaffey, 2021)
The perspective of respondent 8, "Naga Basava" can be mentioned where the participant has
emphasized a few basic digital marketing methods for small and medium businesses, such as local
optimization. The participant also came up with the fact that there are innumerable ways of
promoting the business online. Only, the brand owner needs to invest time to research for the right
type of resources regarding online marketing. Local optimization along with online content
publishing and website development are some of the best ways to let your brand name appear on
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top of the search engine result page. The answer emphasizes on the matter that the present
evaluation emphasized, with the name of a brand appearing on top of the search engine results
page, the SMEs may enjoy the lucrative benefits of high ROI in terms of popularity.
While answering the same question, respondent 9, "Suchi Goyal" has emphasized SEO marketing,
and website upgrading and handling. The method of data handling popped up in this research.
While the participants were asked about the relationship between digital marketing and data
handling, a common part of the answers received from the participants was that they all presented
the term data handling as a part of digital marketing. Here Carroll (2020), added that, Website
design, impeccable content, high-quality images and relevant advertisements play a vital role in
enhancing the ROI for the brand, since all of it supports to improve brand awareness. Especially,
start-up companies must pay high attention to these factors. Along with financial benefits, good
reputation along with branding are also perks of better ROI.
Here, respondent 20, “Rajat Sharma’s” answer mainly emphasized on the relationship between
Online Marketing and Data handling. He provided a straight forward answer that states where
there is an effective data and hence, a strong requirement of adequate data handling. In this case,
the participant emphasized on the business and data handling methods of Amazon, Myntra and
Flipkart. Rajat also highlighted that, performing A/B testing will help the brand owners to gain an
insight about their competitors and come-up with the right channel that will work for them. Here
the research of McGruer (2020) makes great supporting evidence.
In this area, the researcher was able to find out a few studies that have suggested the use of
personalized digital marketing recommender engines. Several prior researchers including Appier
(2020), showcased the recommender engine as an effective tool for increasing a company’s ROI.
As for the research, by using such Technology it is easier to gain the trust of consumers and attract
them to the business.
The question, “What is the relationship between digital marketing and data handling?” brings
up another crucial side of the research that states, there exists a relationship between digital
marketing and data handling.
To support the fact, respondent 1, “Robert Vonk” stated clearly that without inputting and
outputting of data; it will become difficult to carry on with the operations of digital marketing.
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Thus, it can be inferred that there is a great relationship between digital marketing and data
handling.
The same concept was cleared a bit precisely by respondent 2, “Anshuman Chakraborty”.
According to this candidate, a wide number of activities come under digital marketing. Social
media marketing, lead generation, Facebook ads and website designing are some indispensable
pillars of digital marketing. The entire process of this specific type of marketing is helping to
popularize the brand almost everywhere. It is possible through collection of data. Without proper
handling of data, it will become difficult to carry on with the task of digital marketing in its way.
Following the same vein, Brown, Kaiser, and Allison (2018), stated that, as a result of poor data
handling, the quality of data falls to many levels and the “poor-quality data” indeed provides a
number of negative effects on the bottom line. Here researcher has also highlighted messages that
do not result in sales because the underlying client data is inaccurate. A lack of data may lead to
incorrect targeting and messaging, which can be particularly harmful in multichannel marketing
Under the similar discussion, respondent 5, “Anish Modi” stated that it has been clarified that
without data, it will become difficult to carry on with the promotional activities like email
marketing and many more. Customer’s data can be collected based on the number of people that
are interacting with the ads and content posted about the brand. The data collected will let the
brand owner know the time spent on the website, items added in the cart and performing of a
checkout. Based on this inference, it will become easy to go with suitable online marketing
activities for improving the state of the brand in the competitive market. It will make the business
owner become more focused to scale-up the business to further height. Therefore, pre-sales data is
critical for marketing since it provides insight into who is purchasing the goods, what age group
they are in, and what profession they are in, whether they are physicians, attorneys, or students.
The participant mentioned the use of different tools for data handling such as Facebook, Twitter
or LinkedIn, Emails or website forms and highlighted the extensive use of Facebook, since the
above-mentioned kind of profiling that Facebook engages in. Facebook has access to data points
and information about a person that they may not be aware of, such as the websites a specific user
visits or the purchasing habits of a particular individual.
Supporting to this fact, respondent 9, “Suchi Goyal”, stated that top brands including Amazon
make the best decision based on the data with them. It becomes easy to analyze the overall situation
based on which a suitable decision can be taken. By peeping into the data, it becomes easy to gauge
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the rate of success along with the improvements required further, if any. Instead of going with
guess work, collection of data will help in carrying out the activities logically.
Respondent 20, “Rajat Sharma”, specified that both online marketing and data handling
complement each other. Without having a good amount of data, it will become difficult to halt to
a decision. With the help of data, brand owners will be able to change the strategy to ensure further
growth.
The answers of the participants were supported by different researchers who have stated that data
management opens up a plethora of possibilities for digital marketing tactics. Due to their digital
marketing tactics, SMEs get many benefits. ROI is employed in companies to justify their
expenditures and Small and medium-sized businesses' concepts are shaped by big data (SMEs).
Where “Rajat Sharma” highlighted a slower but steadier approach while investing money in
different area of digital marketing. As per the interviewee, not all business “requires” digital
marketing unless they adopting a strategy that requires digital presence. Thus, rushing would be
the worst decision while creating marketing investments around digital marketing stages.
Now respondent 8, "Naga Basava" stated the use of tools like Google Analytics to get better results
in terms of data handling. As application of the strategies related to digital marketing will help in
knowing the genuine sources of traffic. On that basis, it will become easy for the brand owner to
understand the most effective medium for marketing the brand online. In this case, the following
figure showcases how the use of Google Analytics can represent the performance of different
digital marketing tools. Thus, it becomes possible for an organization to point to their areas of
work and move forward accordingly.
38
Figure 7: Example of using Google analytics
(Source: Martinez, 2019)
To summarize. Naga Basava’s answer, it can be stated that, once the brand owner is successful in
owning a website, the ladder of success will almost start. With proper feeding of information
followed by applying suitable techniques of marketing, the website will start coming across leads.
All these activities become possible through availability of relevant data. This is where the matter
of the requirement of digital marketing strategies came to light.
In order to receive a good ROI, the SMEs need to focus on the strategies of digital marketing. In
support of the question, “How the SMEs need to focus on the strategies of digital marketing
to obtain an enhanced ROI?”; respondent 1, “Robert Vonk” stated clearly that businesses must
pay due attention to their audiences. It will become easy to infer the demands of the customers
based on which the brand owner will be able to take the best action. In case of high orientation
online, more focus can be given on mobile advertising and content development.
39
Supporting the answer, one more evidence was proposed by respondent 2, “Anshuman
Chakraborty”, stating that whenever it comes to digital marketing; the role of education and
awareness cannot be taken for granted. Without having proper understanding of the concept of
digital marketing, implementing a suitable strategy for promoting the brand will be difficult.
Handling the task to the hands of the digital marketing professionals will be a smart decision
because they keep themselves up-to-date with latest updates. If the business owner has the basic
understanding of the digital marketing along with sufficient budget to hire a professional, then it
will be a great option. In this case, the stats provided by Radd Interactive (2021), should be
mentioned, that showcased,32% of marketers globally, search engine optimization (SEO) has the
greatest return on investment, while 41% believe it has a medium ROI, therefore, it can be
emphasized that, the long-term benefits of SEO. An effective search engine optimization strategy
may offer websites access to one of the world's biggest traffic generating sectors.
Another response was received from respondent 5, “Anish Modi”, which specified the importance
for business owners to keep an eye-on-detail for decent trends. They must pay attention to the
feedback provided by the audiences as it will help them to stand still in the prevailing competition.
Adapting to NFTs, i.e., Non-Fungible Tokens will be a trendy move as it will help in clear
assessment. Simply relying on technologies like Facebook and Instagram will hardly do. Overall,
the quality of the goods and services must be good that will help in enhancing an emotional
connection. Only then the presence on digital channels will reap high benefits.
Nowadays, maximum activities are taking place online due to which the importance of having an
online presence is becoming utmost important. The observation by respondent 8, “Naga Basava”
stated that in order to succeed, the business must start with creating a virtual representation of its
model online. Google maps listing and Facebook page will be among great choices. After wards,
the activities of creating content, updating them and others must be carried out. Once the brand
starts receiving customer feedback; based on that it may go with paid ads like Google Ads and
Facebook Ads for targeting their audience. It will help the businesses on getting high return on
investment digitally.
Presence and respond by the audience are another vital point to look after by the companies,
especially small-sized companies (Minarini, 2021). Supporting this fact, respondent 9, “Suchi
Goyal” justified by saying that companies involved in digital marketing must be aware of the
presence and respond of their audience. Platforms where the responds must be checked initially
40
include Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Tik-Tok videos. Based on the responses received, it will
become possible to implement certain changes in the marketing strategy with business objective
in mind.
Supporting this fact, respondent 20, “Rajat Sharma” stated that businesses need to start with
investing a small amount of time and money. Rushing out by selecting random channels must be
avoided. Without an online presence, it will become difficult to get the brand known to all. Starting
with some research and carrying out awareness will be a great step. Otherwise, random application
of strategies may result in lots of confusions initially. While growing through the similar branch,
the above study has analyzed that most of the digital marketing tools do not requires money at all.
Thus, it has interpreted that, it is not tough for businesses to create an online presence with a small
amount of money. But while growing the area and achieve more reach, businesses need to invest
little bits of amount and achieve its goal with digital marketing. In this case, the stat added in figure
*** makes the picture even clearer on how investing money on digital marketing works (Herhold,
2018).
Figure 8: Investing in different areas of digital marketing
(Source: Herhold, 2018)
Responding to the next question, “In what ways the strategies of digital marketing protect the
data of the SMEs?”; respondent 1, “Robert Vonk” said that it is essential for small businesses to
be highly vigilant regarding the entire process of protecting data. It is preferable not to share too
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much data along with making sure that customer data is in safe hands. For running the campaigns,
it is preferable to keep customer data in safe hands.
Here, in terms of discussing digital marketing tools, participants stated the smart use of digital
marketing tools as one of the strategies. Respondent 2, "Anshuman Chakraborty" stated, if the
matter is about the security of data and data handling, free tools under the roof of digital marketing
can surely cause significant loss. Even the participant emphasized the factor while every business
needs to invest in digital marketing where paid tools should also be included. Following the similar
vein, the respondent has clearly specified that data goes into wrong hands only when SMEs start
making use of tools randomly that are available at free-of-cost online. Such tools may result in
unethical selling and exposing of data that may result in high level risks. The same will be hardly
prevalent with using premium tools like SEMrush and so on. At the same time, the handling of
the data must be done carefully to prevent misuse of data. Also, the SME must carry out in-depth
research on some of the best digital marketing strategies that will help the business in taking ahead.
Following the trail of the discussion, the researcher was able to collect a number of research papers
where Pappas et al., (2018), stated that, previous researchers have highlighted concerns about
privacy and individual rights in terms of using Facebook, they were widely covered by the media
in recent comments on the role of big data. Companies, economists, marketers, and political
scientists are increasingly using big data analytics to study and forecast a wide range of
phenomena, from stock prices to purchasing behavior and voting intentions. Big data and business
analytics expertise may be used to target individuals with particular information to change
perceptions, attitudes, or behavior over time (Pappas et al., 2018).
However, respondent 5, “Anish Modi” said that data privacy is another vital issue that is rising. In
a tech-based society, it will serve as a good step towards a highly advanced marketing process.
Supporting the above answer, respondent 8, “Naga Basava” said that as data gets exchanged
almost everywhere, it will help in taking the essential steps for growing of the business in future.
Businesses must take the consent from the users followed by cross-checking to prevent any type
of discrepancy in the future. Respondent 9, “Suchi Goyal”, placed views on data protection. The
participant stated that, the protection of the data to some extent depends on the control of the SMEs.
Having data insurance will prevent unnecessary breaching of the data. In support to this fact,
respondent 20, “Rajat Sharma” inferred that every procedure must be carried in a systematic
manner. Using of special tools like Google Form by businesses will prevent misuse of the data.
42
The concept regarding data awareness must be spread all over to prevent data from getting go in
wrong hands.
Thus, it has found that, while one of the participants stated that, even though data protection is a
crucial factor, it must not be the priority of a business. Therefore, the participant stated the key
priority should be research, awareness, education on the working process of a particular SME
market and how therefore finding out how business can earn a significant amount of growth.
Supporting the answer, “Robert Vonk’s” perception can be stated that highlights that, data
protection starts from the company responsibility where the amount of sharing data requires to be
decreased, and simultaneously, keeping data into the company’s own system should be increased.
In this regard, the researcher was able to collect evidence that showcases the benefits of market
research for companies (Fig 8).
Figure 9: Benefits of market research
(Source: Yu et al., 2021)
43
Therefore, it can be established that apart from various other factors market research can also bring
success to digital marketing strategies.
In the next stage, responding to the question, “What is the impact of data management on the
ROI of SMEs?”, respondent 1, “Robert Vonk”, responded by stating that with the help of the
right type of data; businesses will be able to create a high ROI. If the business carefully looks after
the data that has been generated, then coming up with the right type of online marketing strategy
will be no more difficult. Proper data management will help the business in terms of optimization
followed with greater ROI.
In this case, the above evaluation has been able to find that, the return on investment (ROI) from
a data management investment is evaluated by less emotional measures such as money and time
saved, quicker time-to-market, and increased sales via more targeted marketing. The advantages
of “government and regulatory compliance”, financial transparency, better data consistency and
integrity, quicker data availability” and the use of performance management to operate the
company may be difficult to measure, but they may be even more important in terms of their
impact (Duggan et al., 2020). Even in this case, one might need to quantify the impact that these
benefits will have on your business.
Based on this fact, respondent 2, “Anshuman Chakraborthy” supported the same by stating that
SMEs involved in the online marketing must analyze every data with care. Addition of charts and
growth curves will give an idea about the way the business is getting impacted. Based on the data,
it will become easy to switch from one strategy to the other. With reference to the declaration by
respondent 5, “Anish Modi”, businesses gain a lot of insights from proper data management. Data
management is possible by gathering data from a wide number of people. It will also help in
running of surveys to understand the problems faced by customers along with the positive sides of
the business. Supporting the same, respondent 8,” Naga Basava”, cited the fact that businesses
must dig through the analysis in-depth for taking insights and refining digital marketing
campaigns. If someone is benefitting from Google My Business campaign, then investing in other
campaigns may lead to wastage of resources. Proper study is required for halting to the best
decision. Regarding the type of data, respondent 9, “Suchi Goyal” stated that the ROI of the
businesses depends on the type of data they are having. Deleting of irrelevant and too old data will
44
help in smoother operation related to marketing. According to respondent 20, “Rajat Sharma”, it
is essential for the businesses to be aware of data management before starting any campaign.
Running the campaign will provide tons of data in terms of leads and demographics. Hence, being
aware about the same will help in efficient management of the data. These data must not be left at
any cost as they will be helpful in future as well. In order to clearly present the insights, here the
framework provided by Gharaibeh et al., (2017) must be mentioned that showcases the data
lifecycle with every stage from data management to data security and privacy and establishes a
certain relationship among the stages.
Figure 10: A holistic view of the data lifecycle
(Source: Gharaibeh et al., 2017)
With reference to the question, “How can the efficiency of digital marketing strategies increase
the rate of ROI in SMEs?”, respondent 1, “Robert Vonk”, explained the direct relation between
ROI and digital marketing strategies. According to him, if both of them go hand-in-hand; then the
overall project will become highly successful. The ROI serves as the measure of efficiency,
especially for small businesses (McGruer, 2020). Based on the return, it will become easy for the
companies to switch from one approach to the other.
Supporting this statement, respondent 2, “Anshuman Chakraborthy”, stated that the efficiency can
be easily achieved by forming the right type of strategy. Only then, the chances of enjoying
lucrative benefits of high ROI will be escalated. The business perspective strategies will be
considered as effective if they help in further promotion of the brand.
45
According to respondent 5, “Anish Modi”, efficiency is not limited to ROI. It also helps in
measuring the number of prospects that have been converted to leads along with the number of
awareness created among the public. There must be an appreciable number of followers to make
sure that the digital marketing strategy that is being applied is highly effective.
Under the answer area, the research of Visser Sikkenga, and Berry (2019) highlighted that, online
market sensing includes, among other things, actively tracking and analyzing the behavior of own
website users, collecting information from social media and doing online market research. The
present study has helped to find it out that, results from online market research might be rapidly
gathered and instantly accessible, which is one of the greatest benefits that showcases the
efficiency of digital marketing. A new product brings into play ideas such as “User Generated
Content' (UGC)” and “crowdsourcing”. It has found that, when consumers evaluate goods and
answer queries from other users, they build the groundwork for future products and product
enhancements. Internet communities are actively encouraged to participate in crowdsourcing and
come up with fresh ideas for goods by organizations that use crowdsourcing services. From these
factors, the efficiency of digital marketing strategies can also be interpreted in terms of boosting
different aspects associated with increasing ROI.
With reference to the above answer, another justification was given by respondent 8, “Naga
Basava”, that effectiveness of digital marketing strategy is related with data. SMEs must
understand the value of certain tools to analyze the number of leads generated online. The ones
giving high ROI must be selected to carry on further research.
Respondent 9, “Suchi Goyal”, stated that businesses may gain high ROI in tangible and non-
tangible forms. Doing the homework in terms of planning strategies will make the business
successful online and offline. If the business is successful in informing about the products and
services and the right type of marketing strategy is applied, then achieving success will remain no
more a hassle. Respondent 20, “Rajat Sharma” said that along with efficiency, it is the consistency
of the business that matters. Though online marketing is not a one-night job, but the right team
having sound knowledge about digital marketing will help in achieving high success.
On the other hand, responding to the question, “What is the role of digital marketing in
protecting the data of SMEs?”; respondent 1, “Robert Vonk” responded by saying that it will be
a great idea to stay careful with data. Businesses must make sure that the data is stored carefully
46
and safely. Especially, for SMEs; it is vital to store data safely as without it, they will hardly be
able to apply digital marketing strategies. Supporting the fact, respondent 2, “Anshuman
Chakraborthy” stated that digital marketing is about collection of data. Companies may go either
with cold storage or premium software for encrypting and storing of data. As the SMEs are targeted
by maximum hackers, investing in premium tools will be a wise decision.
Respondent 5, “Anish Modi” explained clearly that the storing of data must be done systematically.
Following GDPR rules and ethical methodologies, storing of protecting of customer data will
remain no more a hassle.
Online securing of the data present on the website is also important from the business perspective.
Respondent 8, “Naga Basava” justified this statement by stating the benefit of using https in the
website. It will prevent misinterpretation of the data along with enabling easy updating of the
content online. Companies must not disclose their credentials to anybody during the first
interaction. Respondent 9, “SuchiGoyal” explained that the principles along with the practices and
types of digital marketing policies employed by the business that make a difference. By applying
best practices, it will become easy to protect the customer data and preventing them from getting
misused. Respondent 20, “Rajat Sharma” described the fact that digital marketers must be well
aware of some of the decent trends in digital marketing rather than moving too fast. The ability to
protect the data by the business will give them the confidence to apply some of the best strategies
of digital marketing.
In this case, the term, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) came to light from the research
papers under the roof of Europe. As a result of the GDPR, European data protection has been
standardized (Voigt, and Von demBussche, 2017). For all EU member states, its formulation takes
into account technical advancements in digital communication, as well as in the collection and use
of data. Most importantly, the new rules aim to safeguard personal data of people in a thorough
and effective manner. The GDPR classifies certain personal data, such as health information, as
“particularly sensitive” (Voigt, and Von demBussche, 2017). This factor provides a certain scope
to the future study on the requirement of emphasizing on data protection in an age of digital
marketing.
A set of research papers were also collected that highlighted the role of innovations on the
effectiveness of digital marketing strategies on SMEs. The research papers provided the researcher
with a significant amount of data that proved innovations can not only increase the potentials of
47
digital marketing but it can also upgrade the notions of data management to a great extent. The
figure added above (Fig 1) can also be denoted as proof here. Following the path of this factor,
when participants were asked about the particular digital marketing strategies that help SMEs in
understanding the changing perception of consumers, "Robert Vonk" has stated the ease of
interaction and data available here as two impressive objectives of digital marketing. Thus, “Anish
Modi’s” provide even clearer insight that states using a small amount of SMPs (social media
platforms) can only narrow the attraction of consumers down, but it can also help the company to
protect their data easily. Which is the reason why, under micro businesses SMEs are not required
to be bothered much in terms of protecting data since there is less competition and less social
media platforms used with a lesser amount of sharing data.
In order to better understand the factor, the answer given by "Anshuman Chakraborty" can be
analyzed, where the participant presented the example of the COVID-19 period when everyone
switches to online in India including businesses and customers. From the answer, it can be stated
that the attributes of digital marketing not only help businesses to make shape their marketing with
an aim of long-term growth but also helps to gather a significant amount of data when it comes to
understanding consumer perception, a great example here has been presented as email marketing
as it is not only capable of gathering customer feedback but it can also maintain the professionalism
that a business requires while dealing with consumers.
The above research presented a detailed evaluation of the data management process of an SME
which has showcased how digital marketing has made the process easier for companies (Munyai,
Mbonyane, and Mbohwa, 2017). While a common factor was highlighted from the answer of the
participants, which indicated that, not only the tools of digital marketing can help an organization
to manage data but also with the data management process a business can earn a lot of insights that
can help them to develop an efficient marketing strategy.
However, the data analysis stage has helped the researchers to showcase how the insights received
from the survey participants have been integrated with the collected research papers. Hence, the
research successfully presented some insightful areas and achieved the research objectives.
48
4.2 Findings
From the answers given by the participants a certain pattern was found out; every participant
answered the questions positively and highlighted the matter of digital marketing as a “must-have”
tool for SMEs.
The research also provided a significant number of insights on data management, protection, and
handling (Bridle, 2017; Du Plessis, 2017; McGruer, 2020). While incorporating the answers of the
participants and the collected research papers, it was found that digital marketing and its tools on
one side makes the matter of data protection easier and effective and on the other side, the
techniques around data management provide organizations significant opportunities when it comes
to earning ROIs.
The research previously mentioned that even though digital marketing can indeed provide a certain
boost in the sector of ROI, the results can only be understood on a long-term basis. During this
process, with the help of data management organizations can easily understand the areas where
they are performing incorrectly. The main reason behind such usefulness of data management is
that data management aims at handling data on a large level where there is a significant opportunity
for businesses to manage and go through data on a large scale and gather insights.
Brands will also come across some highly remarkable benefits. Rather than monetary returns,
brand owners will be able to create awareness all along. If entrepreneurs are able to change their
ways of implementing techniques related to digital marketing, then they will be able to grasp
something more than monetary benefits.
Businesses, especially small and medium sized ones may go with few additional methodologies
that include local optimization, online marketing, website handling and upgrading for better
outcomes. Even, data handling will also be able to fetch a wide range of benefits as it is also a vital
part of digital marketing.
Among various techniques, it the A/B testing will be much effective in carrying out research
followed by improving customer journey. Along with implementation of various digital marketing
techniques, the matter of security is another point to look for. There are various tools available for
free-of-cost, but the overall outcome will be temporary. For ensuring high security, it will be better
to go with premium tools.
Without the implementation of the right type of data protection techniques, business growth may
seem to be challenging. Hence, data protection has same importance along with researching and
49
creating brand awareness. Research conducted at an interval of every quarter will ensure high
growth than the ones conducted occasionally. Without frequent research, it will become difficult
to understand where your brand stands in the market. Based on the inferences, you will be able to
apply some exclusive techniques of marketing for further improvement.
With the hitting of the pandemic of novel coronavirus, almost everyone including consumers and
business owners has shifted towards online transactions. Such a great facility has helped a lot in
carrying out every transaction by placing few clicks from own comfort. It has all been possible
due to the high advancement in the digital marketing sector. Through email, it has become easy
not only in promoting businesses; but also come across customer feedback. Brand owners are
carrying on with their patronage of maintaining the professionalism with the help of email
marketing. It has also made businesses keep a proper track of their success and failure through
easy interaction with the customers digitally.
Making proper utilization of digital marketing tools, companies will not only be able to manage
data efficiently; but also help them get lots of insights for ensuring effective marketing strategy.
Concentrating on some exclusive plans related to development will help companies to create brand
awareness and win the trust of consumers.
The impact on ROI may vary from the one strategy to the other. With digital marketing on its way
to touch the sky height, it is vital to choose the most effective strategies will only help in achieving
the target by the companies.
50
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations
This final chapter conclusion and recommendations from the qualitative research approach. The
conclusions and recommendations is based on the previous chapters of Data Analysis,
Methodology adopted and the Literature Review.
5.1 Conclusion
The topic of the research has been all about calculating the return on investment on various digital
marketing strategies for small and medium enterprises. It is all about calculation of profit and loss
that has been generated all along the campaigning of digital marketing. The researcher has come
across various technologies related to digital marketing that help in understanding the need of
customers. The objective of this research was to make proper analysis of the return on investment
of digital marketing strategies for small and medium sized enterprises. There are several evidences
that speak about the relationship between various strategies related to data handling and digital
marketing.
From the previous research papers, it has been inferred that protection of data handling is also one
of the crucial aspects related to proper management of data. Some of the key priorities include
researching along with creating awareness and educating the SMEs regarding making the best of
digital marketing strategies.
A wide range of information has been gathered by making generous use of online resources.
Detailed study of the components of SME has helped in coming up with the identification of
variables that connect the capacity and factors related to development. A wide range of information
has been collected widely in variable factors. A comprehensive study of journals along with
publications and articles has also been conducted for reflecting the importance of digital marketing
in letting SMEs getting a high ROI.
Special focus has been given on the impact of the hitting of the pandemic of novel coronavirus.
The studies show the way high development in digital marketing strategies has helped businesses
to carry on with their transactions smoothly. Also, such exclusive development has led customers
to deal with companies without leaving their comfort. Along with enjoying monetary benefits,
brands have been able to create awareness all along successfully.
The importance of going with additional methodologies including website handling, data handling
local optimization and website handling has also been highlighted to ensure better outcome. Also,
51
some techniques have been highlighted that will prove to be highly effective in improving the
overall journey of the customers.
As security is also a matter to think about, the difference between freely available tools and the
premium ones have also been mentioned in a nutshell. It is hoped that after going through the
difference, decision making will remain no more a constraint. Studies by previous users also
highlighted the role of innovation on the overall effectiveness of digital marketing strategies on
SMEs. With a significant amount of data, it has been able to infer that a significant amount of data
will help in upgrading the notions of data management to a high extent. The importance of proper
implementation of online marketing strategies has also been highlighted to let users implement
them for staying away from the hacking of the data. Permission-based advertisements have also
been highlighted to make readers understand about the importance of social media marketing
strategies broadly. All data collected are well-researched and from the papers of some selective
researchers.
5.2 Recommendations
The following recommendations has been gathered by the researcher based on the above analysis
and interpretations made in this case. Therefore, it will provide a good insight to the SMEs in terms
of using digital marketing and increase their ROI.
● These results indicate that a business might not benefit much only by investing in a mobile
presence, but should optimize the complete organization for a mobile-centric environment
in order to establish stronger relationships with their audience (Krishna, 2015). In order to
reach its target market, a business must adopt mobile marketing strategies at every step of
the consumer purchasing cycle.
● Using social media and Facebook's “ad targeting capabilities”, a business may reach
customers who are constantly online and on all devices. In general, SMEs should acquire
a robust social media existence and display its business frequently in order to establish
trust, boost brand recognition, and eventually develop consumer connections on an
international scale.
● The first time a company tries anything new, it is essential that they do not spend more
money on resources than necessary. As a result, the choice to hire a digital firm must be
carefully examined since they charge 10 - 15% of the marketing budget (Krishna, 2015).
However, where there is any kind of investment, as per the interview participants, the
52
entire matter should be divided into different categories and adopt slow methods of
decision taking, rather than rushing. For example, before contacting an agency, or a digital
marketing expert, any personnel in the company should not take any steps that are most
likely to leave a long-term impact, such as opening multiple accounts in social media
platforms.
● The future study should also include Google+, LinkedIn, internet forum blogs and other
social media mediums (Krishna, 2015). However, future studies may develop a complete
research approach that includes a big sample size and a variety of industry comparisons.
Using this kind of research tool, it will be easier to find out what forms of social network
marketing efforts boost the performance of a company's bottom line.
● According to the findings, companies of the same size, but with varying social media
strategies, may be distinguished by a systematic comparison. For SMEs intending to utilize
social media as a “competitive marketing tool” (Öztamur, and Karakadılar, 2014), it is
recommended that they invest time creating quality material on their social media accounts
to capture the attention of their target consumers.
● Apart from straightforward digital platforms, SMEs also need to focus on data
management, data handling, data protection, and extensive research on finding out future
movements. Therefore, it will also be easier to find out proper approaches to communicate
with consumers and create a brand awareness; since brand awareness is the key step of
achieving impressive ROI in a long-term basis.
● Large quantities of information have been gathered through e-mails as well as internet-
based resources, which will continue to be collected for secondary and primary marketing
research (Wright, and Oktemgil, 2006). When it comes to marketing intelligence,
methodical integration is preferable than unplanned and unlimited use of the Internet.
53
List of Acronyms Used in the Research Paper
1. ROI: Return of Investment
2. BI: Business Intelligence
3. SME: Small Medium Business
4. RE: Recommender Engine
5. ISO/IEC: The International Organization for Standardization/ The International
Electrotechnical Commission
6. COVID-19: Corona Virus Disease-2019
7. SEO: Search Engine Optimization
54
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Recommendation Engine working process with the integration of AI ......................... 17
Figure 2: “Proposed Framework for Digital Marketing of Recommended Items” ...................... 18
Figure 3: Data Management Approach ...................................................................................... 21
Figure 4: Saunder’s Research Model ......................................................................................... 26
Figure 5: “The proposed grounded evaluation framework” ........................................................ 28
Figure 6: Digital marketing trends ............................................................................................. 34
Figure 7: Example of using Google analytics ............................................................................ 38
Figure 8: Investing in different areas of digital marketing .......................................................... 40
Figure 9: Benefits of market research ........................................................................................ 42
Figure 10: A holistic view of the data lifecycle .......................................................................... 44
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Interview Questions
1. How digital marketing is helpful for the SMEs?
2. Does digital marketing have the ability to help SMEs in terms of return of investment?
3. What is the relationship between digital marketing and data handling?
4. How the SMEs need to focus on digital marketing strategies to obtain enhanced ROI?
5. In what ways digital marketing strategies protect the data of the SMEs?
6. What is the impact of data management on the ROI of SMEs?
7. How can the efficiency of digital marketing strategies increase the rate of ROI in SMEs?
8. What is the role of digital marketing in protecting the data of SMEs?
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Appendix 2: List of Interviewees
The Researcher interviewed 20 professionals with solid background in Marketing and Business
from India, France, Netherlands, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Lebanon.
Interviewee 1: Robert Vonk – Digital Marketing Manager: Priva (Netherlands)
Interviewee 2: Anshuman Chakraborthy – Founder: Searckey Marketing and Media (India)
Interviewee 3: Owner of a Small Business specializing in Baby Foods in Sierra Leone
Interviewee 4: Owner of a Salon in Lebanon
Interviewee 5: Anish Modi – Founder and CEO: Deeper Designs (India)
Interviewee 6: Managing Director for a Property Management Company in India
Interviewee 7: Sonu Kumar – CEO: Softwebb (France)
Interviewee 8: Naga Basava – Owner: Indian Digital Guru (India)
Interviewee 9: Suchi Goyal – Marketing Manager: Tavant (India)
Interviewee 10: Ananth Kandasamy – Digital Marketing Manager – enQoS (India)
Interviewee 11: Hariharan Rajendran – Global Digital Marketing Strategist – Legal Unite (France)
Interviewee 12: Haroon Siddiqui – Client Servicing Manager – Designbox (India)
Interviewee 13: Operations Manager for a Small Medium Business in Netherlands
Interviewee 14: Marketing and Communications Assistant from Ivory Coast
Interviewee 15: Marketing and Sales Manager for a Tech Startup in Ivory Coast
Interviewee 16: Marketing Manager for Amazon, India with previous experience in Startup
Marketing.
Interviewee 17: Brand Marketing Manager in Ivory Coast
Interviewee 18: Stefan Zweiebel - CEO: Rollor Packaging (Netherlands)
Interviewee 19: Co-founder of a Digital Marketing Agency in India
Interviewee 20: Rajat Sharma – Cofounder: Business Exchange Network (India)
