ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STARTUPS

PROJECT REPORT ON
“ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES
ADOPTED BY STARTUPS.”

SUBMITTED BY
TRUSHA SHARMA
518175
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
MR. AMEY DEVLE
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Department of Commerce and Business Management, Faculty of Commerce

Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement of the Subject in SSBBA-III,

BBA Programme

Submitted to,
BBA Programme,
Faculty of Commerce

The Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2021-2022

BBA MSU ACADEMIC YEAR 2021-22

 ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STARTUPS

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Digital marketing, also called online marketing, is the promotion of brands to connect with
potential customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication. This
includes not only email, social media, and web-based advertising, but also text and
multimedia messages as a marketing channel. Essentially, if a marketing campaign involves
digital communication, it's digital marketing. Digital Marketing is all about using data
to realize marketing objectives. It is the art of using consumer insights to
formulate marketing strategies targeted at particular groups of customers online.
Digital marketers leverage digital channels such as search engines, social media,
emails and websites to help their clients connect with existing and potential
customers. They then proceed to collect data gathered from these digital
channels (such as checking the number of impressions or likes on Instagram) and
Google Analytics to plan their marketing strategy. The advantage of using data
to sell online is that it allows companies to make calculated marketing decisions.
It is the process of creating and communicating the value of a product or service and making
it relevant to the customers so that they are complied to consider buying a product when they
encounter a brand online.

Marketing your products and services on the internet has become a requirement in the
digital age. Today, no one launches a business without a solid digital marketing strategy
in place. This is because, regardless of the size of the company, digital marketing must
now be at the core of any marketing strategy. If you're just starting out, you're probably
working with a limited budget and a small team of people. If you want your startup to
develop as quickly as it should, you'll need a solid plan. One of the most common reasons
for startup failure is a lack of a good digital marketing strategy. Even if you have a
fantastic product that everyone wants, if you don't have a strategy in place to get the word
out about it, only a small percentage of people will buy it. According to CB Insights, poor
marketing is responsible for up to 17 percent of business failures.

This project is for a better understanding of how this technique proved to be helpful and will
continue to be beneficial in future times.

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 ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STARTUPS

2.0 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Review of literature is a systematic survey of the facts and major findings of previous
researches on a particular topic. The results of the researches may guide to peruse the present
research, the literature reflects like a mirror of the research path to identify the growth of the
particular field and domain.

Marketing is a crucial activity for the survival and success of a business. Businesses today
have more marketing opportunities than ever(Bresciani & Eppler, 2010).
In the last several years social networking has received a great deal of attention and has
gained acceptance across numerous economic, demographic and geographic segments. Social
networks have become invasive as they touch us in our homes, while we travel and even in
our workplaces (Perlstein, 2010).

Kaplan and Haenlein (2010)describe social media as a group of internet based applications
that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the
creation and exchange of user-generated content. Web 2.0 technologies on the social web
permit two-way conversations with consumers enabling brands to listen to consumers and
respond (Fournier & Avery, 2011). Consumers and organizations alike are increasingly using
the web to discuss, share, and collaborate (Jones, 2010).

Social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online media which share most or
all of the following characteristics such as participation which encourages contributions and
feedback from the audience, an openness that allows voting, comments and sharing of
information, conversation that is seen as one to one, communities which can be formed
quickly to share common interest and connectedness that makes use of links to other sites,
resources and people(Mayfield, 2008).

Social media enables firms to engage consumers in a constant and direct manner at relatively
low cost and higher level of efficiency than with more traditional communication
tools.
Businesses want their message to reach as many people as possible. To maximize this
reach, a business must have a presence where customers are hanging out. Increasingly, they
are hanging out on social networking sites (Halligan, Shah, & Scott, 2009).This makes
social

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 ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STARTUPS

media not only appropriate for large organizations, but for start-ups as well (Kaplan
&
Haenlein, 2010).

Much of the growth of online social networks is facilitated by the growth of the internet. In
2012, worldwide internet users stood at 2.3 billion against a population of 7.2 billion.
Globally, by 2017, internet users will swell to 3.6 billion, which will be more than 48 per cent
of the world's projected population of 7.6 billion (Times, 2013).Social technologies continue
to grow, it is estimated that two-thirds of the world‟s internet population visits social
networks or blogging sites(Nielsen, 2009). This growth is likely to continue for the
foreseeable future since 67% of adults between the ages of 18 to 29 and 21% of those
between 30 and 39 already use social networks with the fastest growth coming from the 35 to
49 year old age group (Nielsen, 2009).

Social media has caused a significant change in the strategies and tools companies use for
communicating with customers. Mangold and Faulds (2009) argue that “social media
combines characteristics of traditional integrated marketing (IMC) tools (companies talking
to customers) with a highly magnified form of word-of-mouth (customers talking to one
another) whereby marketing managers cannot control the content and frequency of
such
information.”
Companies must be able to monitor and respond to conversation, both positive and negative,
surrounding the brand. There are ways however, that companies can influence discussions in
a way that is consistent with the organization‟s mission (Mangold & Faulds,
2009).Social
media marketing enables companies to achieve a better understanding of customer needs in
order to build effective relationships.

Researchers widely agree that marketing practiced in start-ups is different from that of large
organizations (Coviello et al., 2000; Gilmore et al., 2001; Hill, 2001; Reijonen, 2010). Firms
that are just starting up have been described as informal, unstructured, spontaneous, and
reactive (Gilmore et al., 2001; Reijonen, 2010). According to Stokes (2000) in start-ups,
marketing is used for immediate needs and little attention is paid to plans and strategies.
They direct their attention to sales in order to survive (Stokes, 2000). For all issues
outside of
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 ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STARTUPS

advertising, such as customer satisfaction measurement and improvement and design of

customer service and support, the sales function has a slightly greater influence (Walsh &
Lipinski, 2009; Harris et al., 2008).

Pink Cake Box a small bakery in New Jersey used almost all type of social media tool to
create awareness for its brand. The company maintains a blog operated by its employees in
which they post images and videos of their cakes and goodies. They post the photos on
Flickr and the videos to the company’s YouTube channel. Pink Cake Box has more
than 1,300
followers on Twitter, and more than 1,400 fans on Facebook (Zarrella, 2009).
HubSpot a software start-up has invested a lot of energy in social media marketing with some
success (Molander, 2013). The blog has more than 19,000 subscribers, Twitter account has
more than 16,000 followers, LinkedIn group has more than 34,000 members, and Facebook
page has more than 6,000 fans.

Pork Barrel BBQ, a barbecue restaurant and catering company based in Virginia, also found
a way to use social media for its benefit. The two co-founders created their own social media
network called Backyard BBQ where barbecue enthusiasts could post pictures, exchange
recipes, and share stories. In addition, they invited some well-known people from the
barbecue world to join their network and spread the word. The site has 4312 members since
its creation in February 2011 (Dye, 2013).

3.0 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH STUDY

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

- The first and the primary objective of the research is to identify and analyze the
appropriateness of social media in marketing for start-ups

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE

- This study will also aim at knowing how this marketing strategy was beneficial in the
growth of the start up.

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 ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STARTUPS

- To measure the effectiveness of social media tools for marketing

- Understand which tool is the most effective and can be further leveraged.

- To examine the various digital (social) media platforms that could influence consumer
behaviour and to identify the kind of products that consumers buy on digital media
platforms.

4.0 SCOPE AND COVERAGE OF THE RESEARCH STUDY

- The major variable to be considered in choosing respondents for the research is that
they must have an account on at least one of these social media platforms – Facebook,
Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Blog. All those
- These respondents can be located anywhere in the world, since the questionnaire will
be distributed online, there will be no respondent restricted to any geographical
location.

5.0 RESEARCH DESIGN

- The researcher would use descriptive research design to conduct the research study

6.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a way to solve the research problem systematically. It may be
understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. This research study
will be descriptive and analytical in nature which will help us analyze the impact of digital
marketing on startup businesses.

6.1 COLLECTION OF DATA

- Here, the data will be collected by both, primary and secondary sources.

 PRIMARY DATA: The information would be gathered using a non disguised

questionnaire

 SECONDARY DATA: Here, the required secondary data will be collected online via
reliable sources such as Google scholar, Economic Times, etc.

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 ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STARTUPS

6.2 SAMPLING DECISION

The factors mentioned below have been used for the analysis.

6.2.1 Sampling Design

 The sampling design is to be followed would be non-probability sampling based on
quota sampling and convenience sampling.
6.2.2 Representative Samples
 The data will be collected mainly from the age group of 17 to 50 years.

6.2.3 Sampling Frame

As the sampling frame directly suiting the chief objective of the research study was not
available and hence the researcher made informal interactions with the digital marketing
users to understand the extent of penetration. The published reports of the different
associations of the digital marketing industry were also reviewed for the research purpose
6.2.4 Sample Size
Adequate number of samples will be collected from the different sectors of the society
6.2.5 Research Instrument
Structured non-disguised questionnaire would be used to collect primary data

7.0 DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATIONS:

Data analysis and interpretation, Content Analysis, and Statistical Analysis would all be
applied to the information and data gathered. The primary data collected will be pre-
coded in order to build the Structured Non-Disguised Questionnaire.

The gathered primary data will be reviewed, edited, and validated before being presented in
the form of Tables, Charts, Graphs, and Diagrams, as appropriate. With the use of proper
significance tests, the chosen hypothesis will be put to the test. With the help of proper
statistical tools and methodologies, the acquired data will be examined. The analysed data
will be evaluated to establish a relevant research relationship.

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 ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STARTUPS

8.0 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH STUDY

We live in a world where things constantly need to evolve to stay in trend and as
marketers look for new ways to promote their business, products, and services they
need to know and understand the basic notion of Digital marketing. The importance of
this research lies in the fact that when completed, firstly, it will show how the start up
businesses have made an authoritative online presence and how it helped them reach
their customers. Secondly, The research's major goal is to investigate the importance
of online marketing for small businesses and startups in terms of a cost-effective and
strategic marketing strategy. It aids in the creation of a new innovative way of
approaching customers over the internet. While marketing goods and services in a
traditional manner helps to reach a limited group of people, small businesses find it
tough to compete in today's world. Because the number of individuals spending time
on the internet has increased in the last decade, businesses should consider using
online marketing as part of their marketing plan. Customers can quickly locate and
purchase products at their leisure, which helps businesses boost their value.

9.0 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH STUDY

- The aim of the research is the analysis of the online marketing strategies for the Small
businesses and startups .The research was limited to Startups and Small business
marketing techniques.
- The major disadvantage of secondary data being used in a research is that the
researcher has no control over what is contained in the data set. Often this can limit
the analysis or alter the original questions the researcher sought out to answer

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 ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STARTUPS

Chapter scheme

Chapter 1: Conceptual background about digital marketing

Chapter 2: Review of literature

Chapter 3: Research methodology

Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Interpretation

Chapter 5: Major Findings of the research

study Chapter 6 : Implications and

suggestions Chapter 7: Conclusion

Bibliography

REFERENCES
Books

Bresciani, S., & Eppler, M. J. (2010). Brand new ventures? Insights on start-ups. Journal of
Product & Brand Management, 19(5), 356-366.

Coviello, N., Brodie, R., & Munro, H. (2000). An investigation of marketing practice.
Journal of Business Venturing, 15(5), 523-54.

Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges. Business
Horizons, 53(1), 59–68.

Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of
the
promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52(4), 357-365.

Mayfield, A. (2008, January 8). What is Social Media?

Noor, K. B. (2008). Case Study: A Strategic Research Methodology American Journal of

Applied Sciences, 5 (11): 1602-1604.

Webliography

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https://www.ronsela.com/digital-marketing-articles/

https://hafizmuhammadali.com/blog/digital-marketing-for-startups/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328253026_A_Critical_Review_of_Digital_Market
ing

http://www.nextbigwhat.com/how-hokey-pokey-used-social-media-to-increase-sales-297/

http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/case-study-power-of-a-blog-comment/1573/

http://www.socialsamosa.com/2012/09/how-startups-can-use-social-media-to-launch-
themselves

BBA MSU ACADEMIC YEAR 2021-22

 ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STARTUPS

BBA MSU ACADEMIC YEAR 2021-22

 ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY STARTUPS

PROFORMA
Student – Guide Consent Letter

(TO BE SUBMITTED ALONG WITH PROJECT PROPOSAL)

I Trusha Surendra Sharma PRN 2019033800016184 undertaking a
project reportin the area of (Please put a ➹)

a) Marketing Management ➹
b) Human Resource Management
c) Business Economics
d) Banking and Insurance
e) Other (Specify)

Student’s Name :
Residential Address :
Vadodara

Contact No. : (R) (M) 9099104605

E-Mail ID :

Title of Project

Name of the Guide :Mr. Amey Devle

(Signature of the Student)

I hereby give my consent to guide the student for above mentioned

Mr. Amey Devle

(Signature of Project Guide)

(Sign. of Associate/Assistant Director) Date : 3-02-2022

Notes:
[1] Please retain one copy with you and hand over one copy to your Project Guide.
[2] It is mandatory to attach copy of this proforma along with proposal for the project
BBA MSU ACADEMIC YEAR 2021-22