Bachelor Thesis Digital Marketing in Start-Ups

Bachelor Thesis

Digital Marketing in Start-Ups:

The role of digital marketing in acquiring and maintaining business relationships

Authors: Sin Isa 950727 Dimitrova Polina 950912 Tutor: Anisimova Tatiana Examiner: Oghazi Pejvak Date: 2018-05-29 Program: International Sales & Marketing Level: Bachelor Course Code: 18VT ? 2FE172

Acknowledgements

This thesis would not succeed without the entire support, we received during the writing process. Firstly, we would like to thank our tutor Dr. Tatiana Anisimova who gave us great support and relevant feedback, which improved the entire writing process. We would also like to thank our examiner, Pejvak Oghazi, who has many years of experience with companies and with students. He gave us valuable insight to the quality of this paper throughout the writing process. Moreover, we want to thank our opponents from our class, which were four (4) other groups. They gave us useful opinions and feedback about the paper which we took into consideration when conducting the thesis. Furthermore, we appreciate the participation of all eight (8) respondents, who were willing to help and provide their insights on the topic. We are greatly thankful for the participants and for them helping us to conduct the thesis.

Sweden, May 29, 2018 Isa Sin & Polina Dimitrova

Abstract

This study aims to explore the usage of the digital marketing to acquire and maintain business relationships, or more specifically, digital marketing in B2B start-ups within the Swedish market. Digital marketing is essential for businesses nowadays and has become a significant factor for business companies for improving and implementing their marketing strategies. Furthermore, business relationships have always taken an essential role among companies especially today due to the heightened level of digitalization. This case study attempts to answer two main research questions which this paper investigates on. To provide an exhaustive answer to the research questions: "How digital marketing contributes to acquiring business customers in B2B start-up context?" and "How digital marketing contributes to maintaining business customers in B2B start-up context?", digital marketing approaches of eight respondents, theoretical implications and additional information will be examined in the upcoming chapters.

The study concludes, that it was found that digital marketing is understood as an innovative and effective method for attracting, maintaining and building business relationships. However, the lack of resources is one fundamental reason why start-ups have difficulties in acquiring and maintaining business customers in practicing through digital marketing. Additionally, it was found that digital platforms and tools such as websites, industry specific platforms, and blogs provide the highest advantage for start-ups. Moreover, social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook were in most use for presenting content that is informative, educational and honest.

Digital marketing strategies in acquiring and maintaining business relationships are indicated in the analyses which give sufficient details in answering the research questions. The paper will provide suggestions for doing further research in improving the current topic in digital marketing.

Keywords: Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Strategies, Digital Marketing Tools, Business Relationships, Acquiring Customers, Maintaining Customers, B2B start-ups.

2

Contents

1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 Problem Discussion ...................................................................................................... 7 1.3 Purpose........................................................................................................................ 10 1.4 Research Question ...................................................................................................... 11 1.5 Delimitations............................................................................................................... 11 1.6 Outline of Thesis......................................................................................................... 11

2. Theoretical framework .................................................................................................. 12 2.1 Business-to-Business Relationships ........................................................................... 12 2.1.1 Communication in Business-to-Business Relationships ...................................... 13 2.1.2 Trust in Business-to-Business Relationships ....................................................... 14 2.1.3 Loyalty in Business-to-Business Relationships ................................................... 15 2.1.4 Satisfaction in Business-to-Business Relationships ............................................. 15 2.2 Start-Ups ..................................................................................................................... 16 2.2.1 Business Networks in Start-ups ........................................................................... 16 2.3 Digital Marketing........................................................................................................ 17 2.3.1 Benefits and Challenges of Digital Marketing in Start-ups ................................. 18 2.4 Defining Strategy ........................................................................................................ 19 2.4.1 Five Ps of Strategies ............................................................................................. 19 Figure 1. ........................................................................................................................ 20 2.5 Digital Marketing Strategies ....................................................................................... 20 Figure 2. ........................................................................................................................ 22 2.5.1 Inbound Marketing ............................................................................................... 23 2.5.2 Content Marketing................................................................................................ 24 2.5.3 Search Engine Optimization................................................................................. 25 2.5.4 Social Media Marketing ....................................................................................... 26 2.5.5 Email Marketing................................................................................................... 27 2.6 Platforms and Tools .................................................................................................... 27 2.6.1 Facebook .............................................................................................................. 28 2.6.2 LinkedIn ............................................................................................................... 28 2.6.3 Instagram .............................................................................................................. 29

3

3. Conceptualization ........................................................................................................... 30 4. Methodology.................................................................................................................... 31

4.1 Research Approach ..................................................................................................... 31 4.1.1 Inductive and Deductive Approach...................................................................... 31 Figure 3. ........................................................................................................................ 32 4.1.2 Qualitative Versus Quantitative research ............................................................. 33 Table 1........................................................................................................................... 34

4.2 Research design .......................................................................................................... 34 4.2.1 Case Study............................................................................................................ 35 4.2.2 Exploratory Design .............................................................................................. 36

4.3 Data Collection Method.............................................................................................. 36 4.3.1 Primary Data: Interviews ..................................................................................... 37 4.3.2 Secondary Data .................................................................................................... 37

4.4 Sampling ..................................................................................................................... 38 4.4.1 Sample Selection .................................................................................................. 38 4.4.2 Sample Size .......................................................................................................... 39 4.4.3 Respondent Validation ......................................................................................... 39 Table 2........................................................................................................................... 40

4.5 Ethical considerations ................................................................................................. 41 4.6 Data Analysis .............................................................................................................. 42 4.7 Quality Criteria ........................................................................................................... 43

4.7.1 Credibility............................................................................................................. 43 4.7.2 Transferability ...................................................................................................... 43 4.7.3 Confirmability ...................................................................................................... 44 4.7.4 Dependability ....................................................................................................... 44 4.7.5 Reliability ............................................................................................................. 44 4.7.6 Validity................................................................................................................. 45 5. Empirical Findings ......................................................................................................... 46 5.1 Business Relationships in Start-ups ............................................................................ 46 5.1.1 Acquiring Business Customers ............................................................................ 47 5.1.2. Maintaining Business Customers ........................................................................ 48 5.1.3 Digital Marketing and Business Relationships in Start-ups................................. 49 5.2 Digital Marketing Strategies in Start-ups ................................................................... 50

4

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download