Internet Marketing for SME businesses (Doc)

To analyse the usefulness of
internet marketing for SME
businesses while operating a
business in UK

ABSTRACT
Purpose:
This study aims at analysing the impact and usefulness of internet marketing on
performance of small and medium enterprises.
Research-methodology:
For executing the research this study uses exploratory design and inductive approach.
Interpretivism philosophy is also used for qualitative analysis of data. In this report through
random sampling method 50 employees of Plan.com are taken as samples for the study. The
primary data collection methods are employed to gather the data and for analysing this data
thematic analysis has been used in this research.
Findings:
It has been analysed from the study that internet marketing brings significant changes in
performance and growth of SMEs into the global economies. This marketing approach also
enables organisations to enhance their productivity and efficiency.
Limitations:
To develop better clarity and understanding it would have been beneficial if the
corresponding challenges related to online marketing were also included. However this limitation
does not affect the reliability of the findings.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that for achieving the desired success goals SMEs must employ
effective practices of internet marketing so that organisations can sustain their growth in
competitive environment as well.
Value:
There are considerable number of small enterprises who has potential to explore the vast
opportunities across the globe. This study helps in determining the benefits of internet marketing
which can encourage SMEs to reach new levels of growth and success.
Keywords: SME, Internet marketing, online and digital marketing tools

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................2
.........................................................................................................................................................4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..............................................................................................................5
DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................7
1.1 Study overview ................................................................................................................7
1.2 Aim ..................................................................................................................................9
1.3 Objectives ........................................................................................................................9
1.4 Research questions ........................................................................................................10
1.5 Rationale of research .....................................................................................................10
1.6 Significance ...................................................................................................................11
1.7 Scope of the study .........................................................................................................12
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................13
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................21
3.1 Research design .............................................................................................................21
3.2 Research approach .........................................................................................................21
3.3 Research philosophy.......................................................................................................22
3.4 Sampling.........................................................................................................................23
3.5 Data collection ...............................................................................................................24
3.6 Data analysis...................................................................................................................24
3.7 Ethical considerations.....................................................................................................25
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION .............................................................27
CHAPTER 5 : SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION .....................................................................42
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................47
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................52

ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: Traditional and internet marketing............................................................................5
Illustration 2: Need of internet marketing........................................................................................8

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to give my sincere thanks and gratitude to my professors and mentors who
provided me the guidance and support so that I can accomplish this projects. Their regular
encouragement and motivation helped me to explore vast sources of knowledge which was
essential for successful accomplishment of this study. Secondary I also want to dedicated my
success in completing this work to my family members and friends who gave me emotional and
moral support. Their cooperation and support helped me to manage the time frame of finishing
this project.

DECLARATION
I sincerely declare that this research project with title”To analyse the usefulness of
internet marketing for SME businesses while operating a business in UK” is carried out by me
under the guidance of my research supervisors. I also declare that this dissertation has not formed
previously as the basis for award of any educational, fellowship or similar programs.

TITLE: - Analyse the usefulness of internet marketing for SME businesses in UK
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Study overview
Internet marketing is defined as the method to promote products and services among
customers with the help of internet and related tools. It is also known as the online marketing and
is considered as one of the most influential and inexpensive way to achieve marketing goals.
Contrary to the conventional approaches of marketing, internet marketing is more customized
and provide more effective solutions to business (Mathews and et.al., 2018). This marketing
encompasses various strategies and marketing tactics for creating brand awareness among target
audience of the business.
For SMEs, internet marketing is considered as the tool which can help them to explore
the international customers as well as way to optimize their benefits and operational costs. The
SME which uses the conventional methods such as posters or advertisements can no longer exist
in the competitive marketing environment (Järvinen, Töllmen and Karjaluoto, 2015). Contrary to
other marketing methods internet marketing provides a two way communication path for
organisation (Valaei and et.al., 2016). For instance Plan.com is one of the leading telecom
service providers which is providing its services in UK. The internet marketing methods used by
the organisation allows its customers to interact with the SME whenever they required.
The marketing authorities of the SMEs can analyse the needs and perspectives of their
target customers with the help of these marketing tools (Girchenko and Ovsiannikova, 2016).
Online marketing includes the methods such as email marketing, paid media and various search
engines. The internet marketing helps to execute the performance evaluation which is one of the
most important aspects for the long term success of any company. This study is focused on
analysing and comparing these benefits of internet marketing from perspective of both SME and
consumers. Most of the people are using digital technology for entertainment and business
purpose.
Thus, use of internet marketing tool enable SME to target the masses on a single platform
without making additional cost and effort to search that where it can find people who may buy
the products and services of organisation (Fernandes and et.al., 2018). The use of internet
marketing creates huge differences in terms of operational cost. The profitability and operational

range of SMEs has increased because with the internet marketing they are able to approach wide
range of customers. These benefits formulate the background of the study.
The study will focus on the various advantages provided by internet marketing tools such
as search engine marketing, social media, chat and email marketing as well as paid methods of
promotion (Galan-Ladero and Galera-Casquet, 2019). Internet marketing has the capability to
measure the response of people on any particular event or action of the organisation. Thus
instead of predicting the response of people internet marketing allows SMEs to actually analyse
the purchasing behaviour of the customers and the factors which are affecting this behaviour.
According to Ward., (2018), in 2017 there has been 16% increment in online retailing of
products. This statistic shows that people are spending more time on digital platforms. Thus, the
reviews and presence of the business organisations on these digital platforms can make
significant differences to the overall performance of SME (Järvinen, Töllmen and Karjaluoto,
2015).
(Source: Digital Marketing vs Traditional Marketing: Which Produces Better ROI?, 2018)
Illustration 1: Traditional and internet marketing