Research Topic and Objectives/Questions:
The contemporary business environment has been witnessing innovative practices that involve technology and the internet. Traditional business processes and practices have absorbed and integrated digital and innovative practices. Digital marketing is one such field that has been revolutionized by the internet and technology. Social media, email, and two-way conversation in digital marketing have equipped businesses to use useful practices. Organizations can reach customers interactively and efficiently, that provides the opportunity to be customer responsive. However, the impact of digital marketing on financial performance is yet to be noted. Research studies have considered these variables, and this proposed research is also going to work on it. The difference is that the relationship of variables is going to be studied in the Irish banking industry that is a service-based sector. The proposed research would look into the impact of digital marketing on performance from the banking industry perspective (Mbama, Ezepue, Alboul, & Beer, 2018).
The research is going to address the problem by studying digital marketing. Digital marketing is effective and profitable because it removes intermediaries and middlemen. It is worth studying for a service sector organization. The proposed research aims to study these variables for the banking sector of Ireland.
Objectives of the proposed research:
RO1: To explore the impact of digital marketing on performance in banking in Ireland
RO2: To draw practical implications of digital marketing for the banking industry
Literature Review
Traditional and Digital Marketing:
Researchers have noted the difference between traditional and digital marketing. Some of the salient differences between the two are worth reviewing as part of this literature review. Traditional marketing is static, and it does not make interactions with the audience. It employs traditional methods of marketing using direct print, broadcast, and telephone-based methods. Direct mail is also one of the traditional methods of marketing. It consumes lots of time and effort because of the expensive and time-consuming process. An organization has to run the traditional marketing campaign over a long time. It has lots of limitations as it cannot go viral, and the audience does not have direct interaction with the method (Khan & Siddiqui, 2013). Digital marketing is the answer to these limitations present in traditional marketing. It is more dynamic and flexible. Social media, text messaging, email marketing, affiliate marketing, and pay per click methods are prevalent in digital marketing. It is understandable that these methods are dynamic and live. The audience gets engaged through these methods that help an organization spread its message. Its two-way conversation makes it effective and worth following. Its attributes have attracted organizations to use it in their jurisdiction.
General Approach to Digital Marketing:
Marketing has been traditionally beneficial and effective for the survival and success of an organization. In the contemporary business environment, marketing has become an essential discipline and set of activities that promote business offerings and make their place in the minds of people. After manufacturing and operations, an organization brings products to the market for customers. Marketing functions at this stage and offers valuable services to draw demand from customers. It is an effective and proven method to reach the target customers because marketing allows identifying the most attractive segment in the market (Patrutiu-Baltes, 2016).
Traditional marketing and its effective utilization have served goals for a business, and digital marketing has increased its effectiveness. It is a modern and innovative approach to doing business because it has enabled businesses to use interactive and more engaging methods to reach the target market. It serves on two ends, and both forms of its applications are worth pursuing an organization. First, traditional marketing is still a source of competitive advantage because businesses have to engage in marketing activities to reach customers. Marketing over TV and print media is still in the business because of its effectiveness. Therefore, digital marketing makes these traditional forms of marketing more effective and useful. It adds an innovative element to these traditional methods of marketing. The second application of digital marketing is the result of its characteristics and methods to fulfil the marketing needs of a business. Digital channels of marketing have various classifications, and these classifications indicate the effective utilization of marketing activities and functions that are the requirement of a business (Bakhtieva, 2017).
One of the most effective reasons why businesses utilize digital marketing is that it enables marketers to measure and know the customer experience of customers. Interactive features and two-way conversation empower an organization to have consistent knowledge of customer preferences. The experience of brand equity and the level of involvement with brands is a great source, and digital marketing offers these business opportunities. Due to its dynamism and close contact with customers, digital marketing enables customers to be retained and connected with the business. As a result, a business remains sustainable and successful because customers make the real driving force to get things done. Due to these benefits, there is a strong and substantial force that advocates the use of digital marketing.
Impact of Digital Marketing on Financial Performance:
Digital marketing has been affecting businesses due to their ability to shape the environment. Therefore, in this section, the review notes the impact of digital marketing.
Digital marketing is about sending a message from the source to a receiver; the source is the company, and the receiver is the potential customer. It employs digital tools, platforms, and the internet to market the product. The evolution of digital marketing at the individual level is due to the growing and well-established use of the smartphone, internet, and online platforms. Customers can also make contact with the organization because of the tech-intensive products available to them. Technology has been increasing the number of opportunities that were not possible to exploit previously. Digital marketing is on the online platform, but it sells and markets physical products in the market. However, due to the use of digital marketing channels, customers can place an order while being at their home. They can connect with the product. In turn, businesses can serve orders directly to them. The impact of digital marketing has given rise to e-commerce and online shopping. The fight for data has also intensified because of the competitiveness is hidden in data and information. Digital marketing focuses on data to generate good financial performance for an organization (Mbama, Ezepue, Alboul, & Beer, 2018).
Researchers have studied the relationship between digital marketing and financial performance. Digital marketing has removed intermediaries and has connected customers and businesses directly (Mbama, Ezepue, Alboul, & Beer, 2018). As a result, it increases financial performance. In the service industry, the impact of digital marketing is more visible. Digital marketing creates a climate under which technology performs many tasks, and organizations do not need to employ resources to fulfil the responsibility. As a result, the performance of an organization improves (Smith, Blazovich, & Smith, 2015).
The proposed research is going to study the relationship in the service sector, i.e., the Irish banking industry. The following are the hypotheses as a result of the above literature review.
Proposed Research Methods:
Briefly describe how you plan to investigate the problem you have identified. Critically appraise why your selected research methods are the most effective approach to fulfilling your research objectives. Cite and summarise relevant methodology literature.
The proposed research philosophy is going to use qualitative research methods to study the impact of digital marketing on banking (Roberts, 2020). The Irish banking sector is an organized and established one that can employ digital marketing techniques. This research is going to address these requirements for the sector in Ireland. The qualitative research would use interpretation of responses gathered from participants of the study.
Sampling
The target of the research is the Irish banking sector, and the respondents are employees working in the Irish banking sector and three employees form the Irish banking industry would be the sample. Contacting with these people would be through online after getting the knowledge that they are working in a banking organization.
Data Collection
They would be part of the interview through Zoom. Interview would be the data collection method. For data collection, the researcher would record interviews and then transcribe them. It would bring detailed data about the problem being explored. The transcription would be used for analyzing data.
Data Analysis
The analysis of data is an important part of the research. It is qualitative research that would adopt qualitative data analysis methods. The gathered data would be coded for themes so that the researcher can reach at findings of this research.
Ethical considerations:
Responses would be kept confidential and safe in hands so that there is no misuse of information. Institutional and research ethics would guide the research process. The research would first communicate the research purpose to participants so that they can decide if they want to participate in the research. For this purpose, the research would use informed consent sheets that mean that participants would be informed about the research. They would agree to participate in this research after having information of the research. During the zoom recording, all participants would be asked to agree with the recording of their responses. It would be let them aware that their views words would be transcribed and published in a master’s dissertation. These actions would make this research ethical research.
References:
Bakhtieva, E. (2017). B2B digital marketing strategy: a framework for assessing digital touchpoints and increasing customer loyalty based on Austrian companies from heating, ventilation and air conditioning industry. Oeconomia Copernicana , 8 (3), 463-475.
Chen, F., Ngniatedema, T., & Li, S. (2018). A cross-country comparison of green initiatives, green performance, and financial performance. Management Decision, 56 (3), 652-676.
Gaitniece, E. (2018). Digital Marketing Performance Evaluation Methods. CBU International Conference Proceedings, 6, 135-140.
Khan, F., & Siddiqui, K. (2013). The Importance Of Digital Marketing. An Exploratory Study To Find The Perception And Effectiveness Of Digital Marketing Amongst The Marketing Professionals In Pakistan. Journal of Information Systems & Operations Management (Winter), 1-8.
Mbama, C. I., Ezepue, P., Alboul, L., & Beer, M. (2018). Digital banking, customer experience and financial performance. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 12 (4), 432-451.
Patrutiu-Baltes, L. (2016). Inbound Marketing – the most important digital marketing strategy. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov, 9 (2), 61-68.
Proches, S. (2016). Descriptive statistics in research and teaching: are we losing the middle ground? Quality and Quantity, 50 (5), 2165-2174.
Roberts, R. E. (2020). Qualitative Interview Questions: Guidance for Novice Researchers. The Qualitative Report, 25 (9), 3185-3203.
Smith, K. T., Blazovich, J. L., & Smith, L. M. (2015). Social Media Adoption By Corporations: An Examination By Platform, Industry, Size, And Financial Performance. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 19 (2), 127-143.
