Authors: Md Ashif Karim Assistant Professor, Anshul Dangi, Satyendra Rajpoot
Abstract: The Small and Medium Enterprises are the backbone of the present day economy because of their role in innovation, job creation, and socio-economic development. But the rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) along with the changing consumer behavior has pushed SMEs to abandon the traditional marketing strategies and adopt digital marketing practices. Digital marketing practices come with many benefits like increased market coverage, reduced costs, audience targeting, and real time customer communication but SMEs face some challenges in adopting these practices fully owing to structural deficiencies, technical knowledge limitations, and financial constraints. This is a research paper on the adoption and implementation of digital marketing practices by SMEs. In consideration of RBV and TOE theoretical frameworks, this research utilizes quantitative research design involving collection of empirical evidence from 280 SMEs owner-managers, marketers and executives across different business sectors. In the course of empirical evidence data analysis, statistical tools including SPSS were applied to carry out Cronbach’s alpha reliability test, descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regressions to test the five hypotheses developed. The results show that SMM, SEO, content marketing and PPC advertising have statistically significant positive influence on SME overall business performance in terms of financial performance, brand visibility and customer retention. SMM proved to have the highest influence as an individual factor driving customer acquisition while SEO proved to have the highest influence on digital sustainability and organic brand equity. Financial constraints, lack of digital skills and inadequate strategic alignment were some of the main barriers inhibiting effective digital conversion. The results of empirical evidence have guided the development of a conceptual model and recommendations for SMEs leaders, policy makers and industry practitioners on how to enhance their digital skills to ensure sustainable enterprise growth.
