Learning From Others: Anticipating E-Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Abstract

This research is intended to identify successful organizational e-marketing strategies in order to assist small businesses in proactively formulating their marketing strategies. The use of a sequential explanatory research design is intended to accommodate the exploratory nature of the research and confirmatory for initial findings simultaneously. At the qualitative method, data is collected using semi-structured interviews to four owners of small fashion businesses at the success stage and already use e-marketing. The question outline has been prepared based on the marketing mix framework. The result of the qualitative data processing reveals 40 factors considered important in running a small business. A quantitative method to determine the level of importance of each factor is conducted using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The questionnaire is designed to collect the paired comparison data. Promotion strategy is placed at the highest priority, followed by product, place, and price.

Key Terms in this Chapter

Promotion: Communication with customers to provide information about product offerings.

Mixed-Method Research Design: Combining qualitative and quantitative data collection and processing.

Place: The distribution of products to customers.

Success Organizations: Organizations that have generate enough profit so they can develop their businesses and recruit more employees to carry out different functions.

Products: Anything that can be offered in a market that can meet customers’ needs and wants.

Price: The amount of money paid for a product or service for the benefits of using the product or service.

Proactive Strategy: A plan owned by an organization that is formulated using mechanisms to adapt to its environment.

Marketing Mix: An integrated combination of controlled tactical marketing tools offered by the company to achieve certain consumer responses.