Background

Advent of web 2.0 and the internet has transformed many aspects of business and organizational dynamics, especially when it comes to performance. One of the areas where informational technology and information systems have had immense impact on business activities is the marketing department within enterprises. Digital marketing tools such as social media marketing and internet marketing have transformative impact on the operations of businesses in modern times. Today, many organizations are adopting digital market platform in belief that technology will help to improve their business performance through efficiency, reduced costs, and improve customer relations leading more revenue.

In order to evaluate and understand the real impact of digital marking on enterprise fiscal and financial performance, this paper conducted a literature reviewed on the selected topic for critical appraisal. The literature review on the critically appraised topic targeted evidence-based or empirical research articles from a range of scholarly journals. In the literature review exercise, the paper aimed to answer the questions below.

What is the impact of digital marketing on business financial performance? What is the impact of digital marketing on overall costs? What is the impact of digital marketing on production efficiency?

During the search for credible source of information for the exercise, I tried to avoid biased selection by reading the abstract of the various articles before selecting them to final use. This helped to find the most reliable sources with the needed information to use for the critical appraisal activities.

Subject
Marketing

Topic
Digital Marketing

Comparison
Business performance

Outcome
Identify the influence of digital marketing on company performance

Context
Marketing to modern consumers

Inclusion Criteria

This CAT used the following inclusion criteria

Date of publication: 2010-2019
Journal ranking: Q1 and Q2
Language: English
Study types: Peer-reviewed article, empirical studies, qualitative, and quantitative studies
Study design: meta-analysis, and mixed research design
Measurement: Studies where the impact of digital marketing has been discussed
Outcome: good or bad effects on business performance
Context: Marketing practices to modern consumers

Search Strategy

For this exercise, I used the ProQuest Central database to access articles by using a set of different keywords and keyword combinations. To ensure that the articles met the required academic standards, is also used additional search criteria that included the following aspects.

Scholarly business and marketing journals with peer viewed articles
The article used were published between 2010 and 2019
Articles had to be in English
They had to have ranking of either Q1 or Q2 based on ISJ article rankings

The keyword search criteria used was as follows (‘’digital marketing ‘’ AND business performance ‘’) AND peer (yes) and (‘’Empirical studies’’ AND marketing’’) AND peer (yes).

Search Strategy

Set #
Searched for
Database
Outcome

S1
(‘’digital marketing ‘’ AND business performance ‘’) AND peer (yes)
the ProQuest Central database
1230

S1
(‘’Empirical studies’’ AND marketing’’) AND peer (yes)
the ProQuest Central database
1460

 

Study Selection

Every search process came out with different options or outcomes. The first random search  used the entire CAT ‘’ Impact of Digital Marketing on Business Performance’’ which gave 1237 outcomes. This could not be used because it was too wide for speedy review of the abstracts and summaries. The second search option was narrowed down to specific keywords, (‘’digital marketing ‘’ AND business performance ‘’) AND peer (yes), which came out with 1412 outcomes. I reviewed the first 16 articles and select those that met the needs of the current exercise. The third search option that used (‘’Empirical studies’’ AND marketing’’) AND peer (yes), as the keyword and produced 1224 results. In the third output, I reviewed the first 20 articles selected those that met the criteria for assessment.

Data Extraction

All the articles that met the selection criteria for the CAT were considered and 15 out of them were used for the exercise. The results were summarized as shown in the table below.

Author/year
Title
MAIN Findings
Journal
ISJ Rank

GbolagadeAdewale, A., & Oyewale, I. O. (2013)
Effectiveness of Online Digital Media Advertising as A Strategic Tool for Building Brand Sustainability: Evidence from FMCGs and Services Sectors of Pakistan
Online digital media improves advertising outcome and brand sustainability
Journal of Business and Management
Q1

H.30

Ahmed, R. R., Streimikiene, D., Berchtold, G., Vveinhardt, J., Channar, Z. A., & Soomro, R. H. (2019)
Impact of Marketing Strategy on Business Performance A Study of Selected Small and Medium Enterprises (Smes) In Oluyole Local Government, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Digital marketing strategies improve the performance of small and medium enterprises
Sustainability
Q1

H.53

De Pelsmacker, P., Van Tilburg, S., & Holthof, C. (2018)
Digital marketing strategies, online reviews and hotel performance
Business performance depend on the type of digital marketing strategy used
International Journal of Hospitality Management
Q2

H.93

Qu, R., & Zhang, Z. (2015)
Market orientation and business performance in MNC foreign subsidiaries— Moderating effects of integration and responsiveness
Integration of marketing strategies improves business performance
Journal of Business Research
Q2

H. 158

Wu, S. I., & Lin, S. R. (2016)
The effect of green marketing strategy on business performance:

a study of organic farms in Taiwan

Green marketing improves business performance
Total Quality Management & Business Excellence
Q1

H.69

Taken Smith, K. (2012)
Longitudinal study of digital marketing

strategies targeting Millennials

Digital marketing strategies are more effective on millennials
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Q1

H.84

Li, S., Li, J. Z., He, H., Ward, P., & Davies, B. J. (2011)
WebDigital: A Web-based hybrid intelligent knowledge automation system for developing digital marketing strategies
Automation system streamline marketing for companies
Expert Systems with Applications
Q1

H.162

Evens, T. (2014)
Co-opetition of TV broadcasters in online video markets: A winning strategies
Online marketing allows businesses access a large number of potential buyers
International Journal of Digital Television
Q1

H.4

Levin, R. P. (2017).
Online Reviews and Other Digital Marketing Strategies

Journal of Periodontology
Q2

H.142

Jose, S. (2018)
Strategic use of digital promotion strategies among Female emigrant entrepreneurs in UAE
Digital marketing strategies improved marketing outcomes
International Journal of Emerging Markets
Q1

H.22

Casadesus‐Masanell, R., & Hervas‐Drane, A. (2010)
Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods
Peer-to-peer file improves research outcome sharing for businesses
Journal of Economics & Management Strategy
Q1

H.61

Schivinski, B., & Dabrowski, D. (2016)
The effect of social media communication on consumer perceptions of brands
Social media communication help to improve consumer perceptions on brands
Journal of Marketing Communications
Q1

H. 39

Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015
Creative Strategies in Social Media Marketing: An Exploratory Study of Branded Social Content and Consumer Engagement
Social media marketing improve brad social content and engagement with the consumers
Psychology and Marketing
Q1

H.97

Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R., & Singh, R. (2016)
Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity and consumer behavior

Journal of Business Research
Q2

H.158

Hudson, S., & Thal, K. (2013).
The impact of social media on the consumer decision process: Implications for tourism marketing

Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing
Q1

H.58

Critical Appraisal

After critical examination of the 25 articles in the study, 15 articles were included in the CAT exercise. The included articles had information regarding the impact of various digital marketing strategies on business performance on different types of business. The articles that were selected for the research based on their relevance to the Critically Appraised Topic. Articles that were not relevant (10) were excluded from the exercise.

Results

Definitions 

In this context, digital marketing has been defined as all marketing strategies that use information systems and information technology platforms. Digital marketing strategies vary and come in many versions. One of the versions of digital marketing strategies is the use of social media, which was mainly covered in the articles that were reviewed in the CAT exercise. Social media refers to websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (De Pelsmacker et al., 2018). While there is no standing definition for social media, its general meaning is internet-based websites that facilitate communication among people in the current age. Arguably, the term social media must have been coined from the socialization role that websites play in the society today. The inception of World Wide Web (WWW), as well as web 2.0 had remarkable influence on many things including how people socialize and do business today (De Pelsmacker et al., 2018). Ideas such as social media were non-existent and people could only socialize physically and communicate through fax messages, telephone calls, and letters, but then came the internet. Web 2.0 opened the space for social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and SnapChat among others to crop up and the change the art of socializing in modern societies.

Web analytics involve  collection, measurement, analysis, preservation, and reporting of online data collected over the internet to help understand and optimize web usage. Every organization takes its marketing activities seriously. That is the reason marketers take responsibilities for all their actions in the field (De Pelsmacker et al., 2018). Today, organizations do not consider the monetary gains realized through intensive marketing practices as luxury; they see it as an obligation and a necessity. In the world today, where information and data are vital marketing tools, marketers often find themselves entangled in a difficult situation trying to figure the best strategies to spread their niche and make their brands visible in the market. The coming of web analytic tools, also web analytics is an added advantage to marketers, as they use the resources to manipulate big data to make precise decisions that improve sales and revenue for their respective organizations.

Causal Mechanism

One of the causal mechanisms of digital marketing and organizational performance is that it improves business market intelligence allowing organizations to make effective strategic marketing plans and policies. The platforms of digital marketing mostly use data as the primary marketing decision-making tool. Businesses using data analytics make informed decisions that are evidence-based (Levin, 2017). For this reason, they are able to understand the market needs, changes, and preferences better. Understanding the market needs helps organization to come up with product designs and services that are customer satisfactory (De Pelsmacker et al., 2018). Customer satisfaction is important improves business performance through increased sales and revenue collection. Increased sales and revenue translate into improved financial performance and growth by an organization using digital marketing.

Main findings

Digital market improves communication and interaction between consumers and businesses. Digital media marketing tools such as websites, social media, and search engine optimization (SEO) allow customers to have constant interaction with the business brand through periodic updates. Social media marketing help to improve consumer perceptions on brands and businesses. When business offer consumers with up to date information about their brands, the relations between the business and the consumers improve as they understand the brand better and can make informed decision about consumption of the product in question.

Digital marketing has influence on consumer buying patterns, organization use to increase sales and revenues. Digital marketing tools such as internet marketing allow consumer to information that they need to make informed decisions when looking to buy a product. For example, the use of websites as marketing tools shorten the consumer journey and decision-making process on many ways (De Pelsmacker et al., 2018). First, they can easily compare prices at a glance and avoid moving from one shop to another. They also have access to all product description, quality, and quantity that they need when making purchasing decisions. For this reasons, digital marketing is more efficient when it comes to influencing consumer buying or consumption patterns.

Access to big data and big data analytics makes organizational decision-making more effective. The web is a large playground for marketing managers to explore and harness different information and data resources the internet places before them. Depending on what one is comfortable with, companies may access users or customers through Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, emailing, among other known social sites. Companies have four main ways of accessing users, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and Twitter. All these sites have a large humanity of users who have the potential to become business customers.

Facebook and twitter are most likely places where businesses would meet and collect information about prospective customers (Levin, 2017). The two social media sites have interesting information that the firm could use to make marketing decisions. Facebook likes and twitter followers, retweets, and likes give marketers vital information about what people would want to purchase. Facebook and Twitter provide firms with an avenue for advertising their products, an opportunity that a marketer can fully capitalize to maximize profit (Levin, 2017). Facebook and twitter status updates by users are vital sources of marketing information for the organization to use when making key decisions.

Organizations could also collect information about users over Google+ and Instagram. Users of these two sites post ideas, photos, and give their personal details including likes and hobbies that could be helpful to managers when making marketing choices. Thirdly, the enterprise could also access user information and data through search engine optimization and increasing its website ranking on Google. With SEO, marketers would collect the details of various people who visit the site by analyzing its traffic, the number of visitors in a day. Lastly, the firm would also use previous user information to make marketing decisions or predict the future.

Digital marketing also comes with superior technologies that improve efficiency and accuracy in marketing at lower costs. For instance, Google analytic 360 comes with great services and integration options for the organization to harness. For instance, the organization would easily integrate different data collected from different sources to make informed decisions concerning the content is gives the users (Levin, 2017). This would include finding way maximize user experience by reducing or increasing the time they spend streaming content, come up with means of improving the quality of audio-visual properties, and making it relatively affordable for all interested parties to visit, subscribe, and enjoying watching movies, TV shows, documentaries, and original series on the site.

Web analytics, metrics, and visualization are vital practices in modern day marketing. They make it easier for organizations to have good insights regarding their customers and the market (De Pelsmacker et al., 2018). The major setback with when using web analytics is that some users might not be willing to give their honest opinions and personal information for fear of cyber-bullying, identity theft and other malevolent activities that re prevalent over the internet today. A marketer uses special algorithms to manipulate credits given on movies to predict what users would most likely want to watch next. This system might mislead the organization if users give false information (De Pelsmacker et al., 2018). Online payment systems may also cause problems given that some people cannot expose their credit card information over the internet for the fear of cyber-theft. Nonetheless, regardless the challenges, the organization could still leverage web analytics in myriad ways to improve corporate and customer experiences.

References

Ahmed, R. R., Streimikiene, D., Berchtold, G., Vveinhardt, J., Channar, Z. A., & Soomro, R. H. (2019). Effectiveness of Online Digital Media Advertising as A Strategic Tool for Building Brand Sustainability: Evidence from FMCGs and Services Sectors of Pakistan. Sustainability, 11(12), 3436. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 15-27. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Casadesus‐Masanell, R., & Hervas‐Drane, A. (2010). Peer‐to‐peer file sharing and the market for digital information goods. Journal of economics & management strategy, 19(2), 333-373. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

De Pelsmacker, P., Van Tilburg, S., & Holthof, C. (2018). Digital marketing strategies, online reviews and hotel performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 72, 47-55. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Evens, T. (2014). Co-opetition of TV broadcasters in online video markets: a winning strategy?. International Journal of Digital Television, 5(1), 61-74. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

GbolagadeAdewale, A., & Oyewale, I. O. (2013). Impact of Marketing Strategy on Business Performance A Study of Selected Small and Medium Enterprises (Smes) In Oluyole Local Government, Ibadan, Nigeria. Ibadan, Nigeria. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R., & Singh, R. (2016). Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity and consumer behavior. Journal of business research, 69(12), 5833-5841. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Hudson, S., & Thal, K. (2013). The impact of social media on the consumer decision process: Implications for tourism marketing. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1-2), 156-160. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Jose, S. (2018). Strategic use of digital promotion strategies among female emigrant entrepreneurs in UAE. International Journal of Emerging Markets, 13(6), 1699-1718. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Levin, R. P. (2017). Commentary: Online Reviews and Other Digital Marketing Strategies. Journal of periodontology, 88(2), 135-136. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Li, S., Li, J. Z., He, H., Ward, P., & Davies, B. J. (2011). WebDigital: A Web-based hybrid intelligent knowledge automation system for developing digital marketing strategies. Expert Systems with Applications, 38(8), 10606-10613. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Qu, R., & Zhang, Z. (2015). Market orientation and business performance in MNC foreign subsidiaries—Moderating effects of integration and responsiveness. Journal of Business Research, 68(5), 919-924. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Schivinski, B., & Dabrowski, D. (2016). The effect of social media communication on consumer perceptions of brands. Journal of Marketing Communications, 22(2), 189-214. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Taken Smith, K. (2012). Longitudinal study of digital marketing strategies targeting Millennials. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 29(2), 86-92. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.

Wu, S. I., & Lin, S. R. (2016). The effect of green marketing strategy on business performance: a study of organic farms in Taiwan. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 27(1-2), 141-156. ProQuest. Web. 7 Dec. 2019.