Challenges of Implementing Digital Marketing from the Perspective of Small and Medium Enterprises Managers

EXTENDED ABSTRACT
 
Introduction
Digital marketing is vital for businesses to thrive in the digital age, enabling them to connect with their audience effectively, drive conversions, and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving marketplace. Digital marketing holds significant importance for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) due to its potential to level the playing field in the business world. Digital marketing comes with its fair share of challenges, despite its numerous advantages. Identifying digital marketing challenges is essential for small and medium-sized industry managers as it empowers them to make informed decisions, allocate resources efficiently, gain a competitive advantage, and develop strategies that address these challenges head-on. Ultimately, this proactive approach enhances overall business performance and contributes to sustained growth in the digital era. The aim of conducting this research is to identify the challenges of implementing digital marketing from the perspective of managers in small and medium-sized industries (SMEs).
Methodology
The present study is applied research and falls under the category of qualitative methods with an inductive approach. The research population consisted of all active managers in small and medium-sized industries in Isfahan, and research data were collected from 15 of them until theoretical saturation was reached. The sampling method was purposive, and the data collection tool was semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was conducted using the thematic analysis method. In this study, the thematic analysis method, using the network analysis approach proposed by Attride-Stirling (2001), was employed. According to this method, the interview texts were first implemented and deeply examined, resulting in foundational themes (key codes of the text). Then, organizing themes (themes derived from basic themes) were identified, followed by global themes (higher-level themes encompassing the governing principles of the text as a whole). Subsequently, these themes were visualized in a network diagram using Maxqda software, and the prominent themes at these three levels were illustrated along with the relationships between them.
Result and discussion
The results derived from the qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with managers of small and medium-sized industries led to the identification of seven main challenges in the implementation of digital marketing. These primary challenges include cultural challenges (related to building trust among virtual customers and challenges of digital marketing acceptance), macro and industry-related challenges (challenges related to international sanctions, legal issues, infrastructure challenges, challenges posed by competitors, and challenges related to the nature of the virtual space), expertise and capital procurement challenges (acquiring specialized human resources, utilizing advanced digital marketing tools, and challenges related to time and costs), intelligent marketing challenges (data quality challenges in marketing, data collection and analysis challenges), customer relationship management challenges (suitable communication channels, online support), virtual content production and presentation challenges (content production challenges, media selection challenges), and strategic marketing planning challenges (choosing appropriate marketing strategies, challenges related to strategy formulation). Considering that reducing the risk of failure in the adoption and implementation of any new approach, including digital marketing, primarily relies on the awareness of business managers about the challenges in the relevant domain, it becomes essential. Managers can assess the current state of their businesses for adapting to digital marketing and formulating a roadmap to achieve the desired state in this domain by knowing about existing challenges.
Conclusion
Considering that this research has, for the first time, focused on identifying the challenges of digital marketing from the perspective of SME managers, it offers recommendations for the relevant businesses. With reducing the risk of unsuccessful adoption and implementation of any new approach, including digital marketing, primarily hinges on the awareness of business managers about the challenges in the relevant domain, it becomes paramount. Therefore, managers, by being knowledgeable about these challenges, can assess the current state of their businesses for the adoption of digital marketing and formulate a roadmap to achieve the desired state in this domain. If the current state of a business demonstrates vulnerability to the acceptance and implementation of digital marketing, the foremost priority should be planning and formulating appropriate strategies to address weaknesses or reinforce them. Some of the challenges of digital marketing, including those related to the macro and industry environment, are tied to uncontrollable factors and necessitate comprehensive strategies and policies to overcome. Meanwhile, other identified challenges in this research are linked to actions taken by active businesses in the field of digital marketing. Since the challenges of digital marketing in this study were identified through qualitative methods, for result generalizability, future research is to investigate these findings using quantitative methods. Moreover, conducting similar studies in large industries and comparing their results with the findings of this research is suggested to further develop the knowledge in this field.