Assessing Search and Social Media Marketing on Dorothy Perkins Brand

This dissertation, titled "To assess the impact of search and social media marketing on brand image of the business: A study on Dorothy Perkins UK," investigates the influence of search engine marketing (SEM) and social media marketing (SMM) on the brand image of Dorothy Perkins, a UK-based fashion retailer. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, including qualitative data analysis of primary data collected from 25 Dorothy Perkins customers. The study explores the effectiveness of SMM in enhancing business performance, identifies challenges faced by the company in adopting social media tools, and examines the impact of these marketing strategies on brand awareness and customer loyalty. The dissertation reviews relevant literature, outlines the research methodology, presents findings, and offers recommendations for Dorothy Perkins to improve its social media practices and product promotion within the fashion industry. The conclusion highlights the significant role of SMM in advertising, product development, and building brand awareness, emphasizing the importance of providing detailed product information to build customer trust. This document is a student's work, available on Desklib for study purposes.

DISSERTATION
Title: To assess the impact of search and social media marketing on brand image of
the business: A study on Dorothy Perkins UK.
Name: ____________
Student ID: ____________
Word count: 14882
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DECLARATION
I Hereby declare that thesis titled as To assess the impact of search and social media
marketing on brand image of the business: A study on Dorothy Perkins UK submitted by me is
on the basis of actual as well as original work carried out by me. The references of work done by
other person or material attained through other sources have been cited as well as references.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to give my genuine thanks to my mentor who motivated me and guided my
through the dissertation. Due to his support in the overall study I am able to complete this
research more effectively. They raise my confidence level by answering about all my issues
faced by throughout the dissertation. Special thanks to all my family members as without their
support it would not have been a successful research.
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ABSTRACT
Social media marketing is regarded as the platform that assist in participation within the
social networking. Here the posts can be shared on several social media platforms in order to
enhance the visibility of the organization. It is regarded as the most powerful channel of
marketing that is a game changer for the organization. Search engine marketing is regarded as
the practice of marketing a business through use of paid advertisements that appears on the
search engine result pages. Advertisers makes bidding on the keywords which the users of
services that includes Goggle as well as Bing can enter when viewing for some products and
services that offers opportunity to the advertisers for ads to come alongside the outcomes for the
search queries.
There are several research methods that are being used in the present investigation. A
inductive approach have been used here for addressing the content of research as a vital mean of
heading towards generalization of new theory. The method of data collection in this research
have been referred to a secondary approach as well as primary. A qualitative method of data
analysis have been used in this research with different formation of themes. The technique of
sampling used is probability under which selection of respondents is done on random basis. In
the present research the sample size is 25 which includes customers of Dorothy Perkins.
It is concluded that social media marketing plays great role in advertising and
development of products at large scale. It impacts to create awareness of society and community
regarding clothing and branded cosmetics of Dorothy Perkins. Further various recommendation
are offered to the business in terms of offering detail information regarding the product so that
customer are able to build trust in the business.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER -1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................6
1.1 Background............................................................................................................................6
1.2 Rationale for the study ..........................................................................................................7
1.3 Research Aims and Objectives..............................................................................................8
1.4 Research questions.................................................................................................................8
1.5 Analysis and framework .......................................................................................................8
1.6 Significance of study.............................................................................................................9
1.7 Chapter structure....................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER- 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .....................................................................................11
2.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................11
2.2 Concept of search engine and social media marketing........................................................11
2.3 Effective ways of promoting products in the modern era within fashion industry..............13
2.4 Effectiveness of social media marketing in enhancing business performance....................16
2.5 Key challenges faced by Dorothy Perkins while adopting social-media tools....................17
2.6 Factors affecting brand image of the business ....................................................................20
CHAPTER- 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................22
3.1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................22
3.2 Research philosophy............................................................................................................22
3.3 Research approach ..............................................................................................................23
3.4 Data collection.....................................................................................................................23
3.5 Sampling .............................................................................................................................24
3.6 Data analysis .......................................................................................................................24
3.7 Validity and reliability.........................................................................................................25
3.8 Ethical consideration............................................................................................................26
3.9 Research limitation .............................................................................................................27
CHAPTER -4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ...........................................................................28
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................28
4.2 Qualitative analysis .............................................................................................................28
CHAPTER- 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ....................................................40
5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................40
5.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................42
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REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................45
Appendix........................................................................................................................................48
QUESTIONNAIRE ......................................................................................................................48
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CHAPTER -1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Business in present era as well age is dominated by the customers as well as their
demands. The individual have preference to view referrals, reviews over the Google search
results or website before making purchase of the product. The role of social media marketing is
gaining greater significance importance in managing the reputation of the firm online (Wollan,
Smith and Zhou, 2010). Social media marketing is effective in targeting wider base of customers
and expand the business. Social media marketing is regarded as the platform that assist in
participation within the social networking. Here the posts can be shared on several social media
platforms in order to enhance the visibility of the organization (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). At
present it is considered as the best source of attracting large mass in an effective manner. There
is greater effectiveness of social media marketing towards making direct interaction with the
customers. This leads to enhancing the brand image and loyalty of the customers to a greater
extend. Therefore, social media marketing is effective method that helps in promoting the
offerings of entity (Qualman, 2010). There are many sites that can be used by the organization
for promotion such as, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Youtube, Google Plus, Instagram and
LinkedIn etc.
The significance of social media is undebatable. It is regarded as the most powerful
channel of marketing that is a game changer for the organization. It is effective in providing the
flexibility to make communication at personal as well as business levels. The owner of the firm
can bring improvements in the search rankings, leads, sales as well as traffic by the use of search
media. This is being utilized with the aim to reduce the expenses related with marketing. With
the assistance of this technique, company can highlight the new products and services introduced
by it and pull customers to purchase them. This aspect further makes use of functions like, search
engine optimization, pay per click, cost per click and paid search ads etc (Safko, 2010). The
search engine marketing is effective method of improving the visibility of brand page which
further assist in boosting the sales of its offerings. The search and social media marketing are
effective tools that enable a corporation in increasing the customer base.
In the present thesis the research topic has been discussed in context of Dorothy Perkins.
The company is a multinational women fashion retailers of UK. It is leading company founded in
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1909 and it is operating in fashion and clothing industry. Dorothy Perkins is part of Arcadia
group which is regulated by Sir Philip Green. The main objective of the organization is to assure
that its customer feels confident when purchasing the products of the brand. At present, the
corporation operates nearly 600 inspirational stores in UK and over 120 stores across the globe.
The main target of the brand is to provide fashion apparels for females aged 25-35. The entity
have largest online store that renders shipping service to over 110 nations and reflects 6000 lines
which are regularly updated and gains around 1.2 million buyers every week.
1.2 Rationale for the study
What is the research issue?
The main research issue in marketing of the product to large customer mass. The main
aim behind carrying out this study will be “To assess the impact of search and social media
marketing on the business of Dorothy Perkins”. This will help the researcher in identify the fact
that whether the use of search and social media marketing has positive or negative impact on
companies. Furthermore, this researcher will also help in getting aware of the key strategies
which can be used by businesses such as Dorothy Perkins in order to enhance its existing social
media marketing practices.
Why it is an issue?
This is an issue because of increasing awareness among the customers regarding the use
of technology and increasing number of competitors who are making use of such tool for
marketing (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). A such it has greater importance in targeting greater
market within minimum time as well as cost.
Why it is an issue now?
In the current era, the technology is rapidly changing along with the customer preference.
Due to this, it becomes important for the organization to implement those changes and assure
effective communication with customers using technical means (Zarrella, 2009). In this respect,
search and social media marketing is essential tool that can be used by the brand for gaining
more customers. By using creative and technically efficient methods, company can get an edge
over its rivals.
What could this research shed light on?
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The study shows that how search and social media marketing can be used to gain
competitive advantage in the market place. The present research would shed light on the
effective ways of promoting products in the modern era within fashion industry. Further it
involves the effectiveness of social media marketing in enhancing business performance.
1.3 Research Aims and Objectives
Aim: To assess the impact of search and social media marketing on brand image of the business:
A study on Dorothy Perkins UK.
Objectives:
 To identify the effective ways of promoting products in the modern era within fashion
industry.
 To assess the effectiveness of social media marketing in enhancing business performance.
 To determine the key challenges faced by Dorothy Perkins while adopting social-media
tools
1.4 Research questions
 What are the effective ways of promoting products in modern era within the fashion
industry?
 How social media marketing can be used by the entity in fashion industry to improve
their business performance?
 What are the key challenges faced by Dorothy Perkins while adopting social-media tools?
 What are the effective ways through which Dorothy Perkins can enhance its social media
practices?
1.5 Analysis and framework
This is basically to articulate the research proposal with its enforced analytical tools
where it has clearly aimed at an exploratory design of the research. By this type of study, it will
be easy to detect the impact of search and social media marketing on brand image of the
business. A inductive approach have been used here for addressing the content of research as a
vital mean of heading towards generalization of new theory. The method of data collection in
this research have been referred to a secondary approach as well as primary. A qualitative
method of data analysis have been used in this research with different formation of themes. The
technique of sampling used is probability under which selection of respondents is done on
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random basis. In the present research the sample size is 25 which includes customers of Dorothy
Perkins.
1.6 Significance of study
The present thesis has huge effectiveness in carrying out detail investigation in relation to
determination of impact of search and social media marketing on brand image of the business: A
study on Dorothy Perkins UK. In addition to such it acts as an aid in attainment of knowledge
with respect to using social media marketing. The present thesis has greater importance that is
being demonstrated in the manner as such:
 It assist academicians in conducting PH.D. The present research is providing effective
knowledge in relation to the impact of search and social media marketing on brand image
of the business.
 The present investigation is important for the firm that is making use of social media
marketing. Such organization can gain information in relation to the outcomes of social
media marketing.
 The present investigation will act as an aid for the investigator who is engaged in
carrying out the research in same field. This will assist in providing adequate amount of
information with respect to impact of search and social media marketing on brand image
of the business.
 The present study is significant for the thinkers in highlighting the innovative knowledge
in relation to the tools that are being implemented in the research.
1.7 Chapter structure
The present thesis is comprised of several chapters that has significant role with respect
to achievement of the research targets in an effective manner. The chapter that will be discussed
in the particular section have been stated as under: Chapter- 1 Introduction: In this section the framework relating with the subject matter in
the research is offered. The chapter starts with the overview of the topic in the research.
This will reflect the detail analysis of study and its association with the business. It
involves the aims as well as objectives of the research as per the questions under
investigation. At the end it is comprised of methods which can be utilized and importance
for the present research.
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 Chapter- 2 Literature Review: In this specific section the view points of the several
authors is demonstrated with respect to the impact of search and social media marketing
on brand image of the business. It is comprised of effective ways of promoting products
in the modern era within fashion industry. Further it involves effectiveness of social
media marketing in enhancing business performance and key challenges faced by
company such as Dorothy Perkins while adopting social-media tools. Chapter- 3 Research methodology: This specific section is comprised of several tools
which can be utilized by the researcher in conducting investigation. It is comprised of
justification in relation to particular tool. Chapter- 4 Data analysis: This section would employ primary data in gathering the
information with the assistance of tool that is questionnaire. Further the data collection as
well as analysis will be carried out by the means of research tools. Under this the data
collected is being analysis through statistical tools such as bar chart, pie chart etc. Along
with this the section includes detail analysis of the data collected. Such would acts as an
aid for the researcher in attainment of specific goal.
 Chapter- 5 Conclusion and recommendation: The section demonstrates the findings from
the work which is being achieved through in-depth analysis of data gathered. The chapter
includes suitable recommendation which helps the business in addressing the issues
which are related with the investigation.
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CHAPTER- 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
The chapter of literature review is considered as one of most significant section of the
dissertation. The main aim for carrying out the specific chapter relates with developing
appropriate and reliable theoretical base on particular subject. The section involves wide range of
data which is related with varied aspects of the chosen topic through means of secondary
sources. In the present study researcher focuses on the inclusion as well as reflection of studies
or researches that are being conducted by various authors or investigators on same subject
matter. Considering the present topic in which researcher lay emphasis towards determination of
impact of search and social media marketing on brand image of the business. It is being
presented that literature review possess huge significance. In this researcher reflects the key
challenges faced by Dorothy Perkins while adopting social-media tools along with effective
ways of promoting products in modern era within the fashion industry.
2.2 Concept of search engine and social media marketing
Search engine marketing is regarded as one of the most effective way that assists in
growing the firm in the present competitive market place. As per the views of Tuten and
Solomon, (2014) it has been examined that the concept of search engine marketing is regarded as
form of internet marketing that is engaged in promotion of websites through enhancement of
visibility in the search engine results pages primarily by means of paid advertising. The aspect of
search engine marketing can includes search engine optimization that makes adjustments of
rewrite the content of website as well as site architecture in order to attain higher rank in search
engine. In accordance with the views of Hoffman and Fodor, (2010) it has been examined that
the search marketing is a method that can be adopted to acquire online presence and quality
traffic through paid and unpaid strategies on search engine portals like, Google etc. It is an
effective way of placing e-advertisement on web portals that reflect outcomes from the search
engine question. Search engine marketing is regarded as the practice of marketing a business
through use of paid advertisements that appears on the search engine result pages. Advertisers
makes bidding on the keywords which the users of services that includes Goggle as well as Bing
can enter when viewing for some products and services that offers opportunity to the advertisers
for ads to come alongside the outcomes for the search queries.
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