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Importance of Marketing Research through E-marketing for SMEs

Importance of Marketing Research in E-marketing
There are a number of success stories of marketing decisions taken on the basis of insights but it is always suggested that decisions based on market research and marketing research analysis are of huge importance for the overall success of the business. Market research is done to identify problems which already exist or which are likely to surface in the near future (Susan and Nikolas 1999), especially for the SMEs it has been found that there exists a positive relationship between environmental information and small firm financial performance. In general, marketing research in e-marketing accounts for an organization's competitive advantage since consumer interaction nowadays differs from how it used to be in the traditional marketing methods. Consumers are exposed to a wide range of brands and brand loyalty can be easily lost or e-viral marketing can be generated in case of customer dissatisfaction (Mossinson 2010). Hence marketing research plays a vital role in the success of the SME’s (Dolinger 1984).

Importance of E-marketing - SME's
E-marketing is defined by Chaffey as the application of digital technologies including web, e-mails, mobile and other digital media in order to meet the marketing objectives (2008).E-marketing gives business of any size the benefits of global reach, lower cost, trackable and measurable results, 24 hours marketing, personalization, one-to-one marketing, creation of interactive campaigns and ease of purchase, which adds value to the customer and therefore improves the organization’s marketing effectiveness (Business Link 2010). Hence it has given an aspiration for millions of SMEs to perform as efficiently as the large businesses in the global market (Mc Cue 1999 cited in Gilmore, Gallagher and Henry 2007).
One of the SMEs e-marketing adoption theories is Social Network Theory (SNT)(Parker and Castleman, 2009), which gives SMEs economic value in terms of competitive advantage, lowering marketing cost and an emotional support (BarNir and Smith 2002 cited in Parker and Castleman, 2009).

Success stories of the E-marketing implementation
Small or big, numerous companies have adopted e-marketing (Business dictionary 2010). Big companies such as Tesco, the world’s third largest food retailer (Howker 2009), enjoys majority share of online grocery shoppers, with 41% of UK supermarket online sales in 2009 (Utalkmarketing 2010). Easyjet (low budget airline) operates ticketless services (reinforcing environmental friendliness campaign) as it has successfully integrated its services into its e-marketing strategy (Easyjet 2006).
The SNT theory has been truly depicted in the real life success story of Pink Cake Box , a small business pancake shop in New Jersey, which adopted internet marketing through blogs, YouTube and Flicker videos in their business strategy gainning a massive online customer base and media attentions (searchengineland 2008).
Where as companies like Advance Track Outsourcing and Lasan Restaurant have been able to turn great ideas into reality through e-collaboration and mobile sms based ordering system to enhance their way of working (nb2bc 2008).
E-Marketing has a great influence on the sales of SME’S. For instance a French based SME Paysen Fr's case study has shown how an online Farmers Market predominantly used internet to sell their products and is now enjoying a customer base of 2000 (ebusiness watch 2005).
Internet marketing has proven as a successful lifeline tool for the AEC SMEs (architecture, construction and engineering sector) in UK to survive through recession heat (extranet evolution 2009).
Not only in the developed nations but e-marketing is essential for SMEs across the world today. Mr. Vaid, CEO of NGA Consultancy Service Ltd., India has asserted that SMEs in India must take the advantages of e-marketing (smetimes 2009). Also Taiwan’s SMEA (SME Administration, ministry of economic affairs) has realized the need and gained benefits of e-business for their SMEs through the e-Enabled Service Teams (YouTube 2008).

Therefore, with the growing need and importance of e-marketing in all the markets and sectors across the world, one should not be left behind to grab the opportunity.. Hence we strongly recommend you to implement e-marketing in your business.



References
Business dictionary (2010) Integrated marketing communications [online] available from< http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/integrated-marketing-communications-IMC.html> [22 February 2010]

Business Link (2010) Develop an e-marketing plan [online] available from [23 February 2010]

Chaffey, D. (2008) E-marketing and Internet marketing definition [online] available from < http://www.davechaffey.com/Internet-Marketing/C1-Introduction/E-marketing-Internet-markeitng-%20definition > [22 February 2010]

Dolinger, M.J, (1984), ‘Environmental Boundary Spanning and Information Processing Effects on Organizational Performance’. Academy of Management Review 21, 351-368

Easyjet (2006) Easyjet plc [online] available from [22 February 2010]

Ebusiness watch (2005) Case study: E-logistic and E-marketing for Paysen.Fr [online] available from [22 February 2010]

Extranet Evolution (2009) The Internet as a lifeline for AEC SMEs [online] available from < http://www.extranetevolution.com/extranet_evolution/2009/04/the-internet-as-a-lifeline-for-aec-smes.html > [22 February 2010]

Gilmore, A., Gallagher, D., and Henry, S. (2007) ‘E-marketing and SMEs: Operational lessons for the future’. European Business Review [online] 19 (3), 234-247. Available from < http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=Article&Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0540190303.pdf > [22 February 2010]

Howker, E. (2009) The Big Question: Is Tesco now too powerful in Britain, and can its growth ever be checked? [online] available from [22 February 2010]

Mossinson, O. (2010) E marketing vs traditional marketing - research results. [n.d.] available from [24 February 2010]

Parker, C.M., and Castleman, T. (2009) ‘Small firm e-business adoption: Critical analysis of theory’. Journal of Enterprise Information Management [online] 22 (1/2), 167-182. Available from [22 February 2010]

The National B2B Centre (2008) How can SMEs create future advantage [online] available from < http://www.nb2bc.co.uk/marketing_online/articles/?id=107 > [22 February 2010]

Search Engine Land (2008) A small business marketing success story [online] available from [23 February 2010]

Small and Medium-sized Business e-Enablement Service Teams (2008) [online] available from < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cOwvfeAiPA&feature=related > [23 February 2010]

SME Times (2009) SMEs must take the advantage of e-marketing [online] available from < http://smetimes.tradeindia.com/smetimes/face-to-face/2009/Nov/09/smes-must-take-advantages-of-e-marketing.html > [22 February 2010]

Susan, H and Nikolaos, T (1999), “The Impact of Marketing Research Activity on SME Export Performance: Evidence from the UK” Journal of Small Business Management 37 (3), 63-75.

utalkmarketing (2010) [online] available from [22 February 2010]

This topic takes us back to the early 1980’s when computers migrated into the corporate world and further migrated towards being a requisite amongst the general public (Goodman 2000). Technology has rapidly changed in the last decade such that from a functional standpoint, laptops are more compact, faster, as well as more economical (Ward 2009).

The internet has become an integral part of today’s society that it is growing to become the ‘3rd hand’ of every individual in the forth coming generations (Videojug 2010). Nowadays people carry internet with them in laptops, mobiles, notebooks and mp3 players (. The forecast could make someone think even broader as one can take it to such an extent of using internet in the pens and why not even in the nails. As the device gets smaller, the usage and the mobility become easier. But the question arises here. How about the efficiency and the performance?

Mobile phones can very well replace a landline phone since it has all the features of the landline phone, but can a mobile phone replace a laptop in the same way???
Firstly, the availability of Wi-Fi everywhere nowadays may enhance the utility of mobile phones. But this usage is restricted towards just surfing and very few added advantages. With many businesses happening online these days, video conferencing has become quite essential to working class professionals. As a matter of fact, laptops already act as a helping hand to all such applications and of course moving towards increased efficiency and performance.

Secondly, one should agree with the statement ‘size matters’. To enhance mobility, tiny versions are growing at a vast rate, but these have restricted usage. The mobile phones are limited towards surfing, maps and so on and so forth, but laptops serve a wider purpose. With the emerging new editions like smaller notebooks and very recently I-pads, the laptops have become much smaller with comparable performance.

Thirdly, there are many disadvantages with the features a mobile phone could hold. Multi tasking could always reduce the performance speed in a mobile and when it comes to viewing many websites at a stretch could be a predicament. As an added token, with the storage media migrating from CDs to DVDs and further towards Blue ray discs, at least a disc insertion space is necessitated. With networking in computers becoming highly essential in a business environment with facilities like LAN and system sharing, mobile phones which are literally restricted in a working atmosphere could not dole out many purposes. Moreover live streaming, gaming could not be satisfactory with its performance in a mobile phone. The storage space and public folder sharing has become highly essential and a mobile phone could think of a maximum of 100 GB storage space, where as only the RAM speed has increased to 1TB in Japan.

Fourthly, with a lot of new viruses and hacking happening these days, security issues will be a big question mark with mobile phones where it only has a security lock which could be enabled.

Fifthly, as the mobile phone usage has increased in the last decade, even mobile phone thefts and misplacements have increased simultaneously.

Finally, there are wide varieties of applications which have become a part of the routine work style such as presentations, working on documents, spread sheets, movies, webinars, educational episodes and many more. Readability is quite essential to perform these tasks. The technology could improve, the versions may become smaller and the weight may be reduced, but ultimately humans are going to use it. Even after ages, the human eye might not have a larger diameter with increased reading power. Ultimately clarity and performance is always expected in a human environment and WILL LAPTOPS BE REPLACED BY MOBILE PHONES?

References

Goodman, D.J. (2000) ‘The Wireless Internet: Promises and Challenges’. Computer-Los Alamitos 33 (7), 36-41.

Videojug (2010) The future of the internet [online] available from [15 february 2010]

Ward, M. (2009) 'Technology changes 'outstrip' netbooks'. BBC [online] 28 December. available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8421491.st> [15 February 2010]

We are a group of international postgraduate marketing students at Coventry University and we have only one thing in common which is 'marketing'. We are a multi-coloured group and we each have something creative or special which you will get to know as you keep in touch with us.

Maureen: I think life should be a fairytale but it's a shame theres a lot of sadness in this world. I still insist that we should all enjoy the simple things in life like laughing at the silliest things. That's why I enjoy doing all those little things that make me happy, like sports, dance, arts and experiencing new cultures.

Joli: I am a great worrier and I worry that every inch of our land we stand on is becoming a rubbish dump site and that the planet will explode one day. I worry that I will get shot one day on the streets for no reason although I don't have any enemies. So give me something positive.

Jamphel: I am a music and movie passionate person. My family is the most precious asset of my life. I follow peace and compassionate; the biggest dream is to return to my homeland ''Tibet'', which I have never been to till date.

Shreesh: I am a person who believes in the statement ‘take life as it comes’ and hence I don’t worry about many things in life. I am loveable and a debatable person and hence you can have a debate with me on any topic (I will know the topic if I don’t know… because I should win the debate).

Bharath: I am a happy go lucky and fun loving person. I live life to the fullest and this attitude of mine keeps me going. I have a lot of aspirations in life and I’m confident to achieve them.

As you see, we are a mix of a fairytale, a worrier, a music lover and an easy going personality. Hence let us get squeezed with debates, thoughts and of course fun through this blog. To put it in a nut shell….LET’S ROCK !!!