UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION LAHORE
MULTAN CAMPUS
TOPIC
Research Proposal
SUBJECT
Business Research Methods
SUBMITTED TO
Mam Sara Omair
SUBMITTED BY
Muhammad Usama Aslam (4525)
Nabeel Asghar (4463)
Hasseb Jabbar (4342)
Aamish javed (4229)
Aziz UR Rehman (4585)
CLASS
BBA-5th SEMESTER (Evening B)
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Contents
Title of Research Proposal.....................................................................................................................3
Purpose of the study.............................................................................................................................3
Research question.................................................................................................................................3
Scope of study.......................................................................................................................................3
Relevance of study................................................................................................................................3
Impact on Pricing Strategy.................................................................................................................5
Impact on Promotion Strategy..........................................................................................................5
Impact on Distribution Strategy.........................................................................................................5
Elements of digital marketing............................................................................................................6
Research design.....................................................................................................................................8
Time frame............................................................................................................................................8
Budget...................................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography...........................................................................................................................................9
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Title of Research Proposal
Digital Marketing Impact on Business
Purpose of the study
Digital Marketing helps by using of proven strategies and techniques that get not necessarily
more traffic but also highly targeted traffic that delivers results. So the purpose of this
research is to study the effect of digital marketing and the changes of business strategies.
Research question
How digital marketing effects a business’s nourishment?
Scope of study
Digital marketing is a thing that can be applied to every business whatever the size (small,
medium and large) and type of business like restaurants, book centers, Boutique and almost
every type of business.
Relevance of study
Digital marketing first appeared as a term in the 1990s but, as mentioned above, it was a very
different world then. Web 1.0 was primarily static content with very little interaction and no
real communities. The fist banner advertising started in 1993 and the fist web crawler (called
Webcrawler) was created in 1994 – this was the beginning of search engine optimization
(SEO) as we know it. This may not seem a deep and distant past but when we consider that
this was four years before Google launched, over 10 years before YouTube, and that social
media was not even a dream at this point, it shows just how far we have come in a short time.
Once Google started to grow at pace and Blogger was launched in 1999 the modern internet
age began. Blackberry, a brand not connected with innovation any more, launched mobile e-
mail and MySpace appeared(Kingsnorth 2019) .
Digital marketing is a type of marketing in which we use Internet, mobile devices, Facebook,
WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Blogs, Vlogs, search engines, and other channels to grab a
large number of customers. Some marketing experts consider digital marketing to be a
completely new try that requires a new methods to get customers and new ways of
understanding how customers react to digital marketing as compared to traditional marketing.
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Today, digital marketing become phenomenon that brings together customization and mass
distribution to accomplish marketing goals rather than traditional types of marketing.
Technological advancement and the increase of devices have led to an opening up of the
ways in which we thinking about marketing in Internet and have pushed the boundaries
towards a new concept of digital marketing more measurable and interactive.(Piñeiro-Otero
and Martínez-Rolán 2016)
The development digital marketing strategies offer much potential for brands and
organizations. Digital marketing helps to build brands. With the help of digital marketing a
business can target a segment of people where it is physically located but also business can
sell its products all over the province, country and also around the globe.
In the developed world, companies have realized the importance of digital marketing. In
order for businesses to be successful they will have to merge online with traditional methods
for meeting the needs of customers more precise(Parsons, Zeisser et al. 1996). Introduction of
new technologies has creating new business opportunities for marketers to manage their
websites and achieve their business objectives(Reza Kiani 1998).
Social media with an extra ordinary example Facebook has opened the door for businesses to
communicate with millions of people about products and services and has opened new
marketing opportunities in the market. This is possible only if the managers are fully aware of
using the communication strategies to engage the customers and enhancing their
experience(Mangold and Faulds 2009). The Internet is the most powerful tool for
businesses(Yannopoulos 2011). Marketing managers who fail to utilize the importance of the
Internet in their business marketing strategy will be at disadvantage because the Internet is
changing the brand, pricing, distribution and promotion strategy.
Internet-based technologies have significantly reduced the marginal cost of producing and
distributing digital goods such as software, news stories, music, photographs, stock quotes,
horoscopes, sports scores, and health tips. Some firms such as America Online are selling
large aggregations of such digital goods for a low flat monthly fee. Such aggregation of so
many products would be extremely expensive using traditional distribution media. Such
bundling offers economies of aggregation that favors large distributors of such bundles and
makes it difficult for smaller companies that sell unbundled products to compete effectively.
The Internet has helped create digital goods such as music, software, videos, and
pictures(Bakos and Brynjolfsson 2000). It also enables customization of digital and non-
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digital products. For example, online customers can purchase personal computers on the
Internet in a variety of combinations by choosing the appropriate features or music retailers
can create CDs containing songs ordered by customers.
Impact on Pricing Strategy
Among the marketing areas that have been affected the most by the Internet is pricing. The
Internet influences a firm’s pricing strategy in multiple ways, including providing consumers
with more information, increasing competition, increasing the number of suppliers, the
establishment of various auction houses, and pricing research.
Impact on Promotion Strategy
The Internet has become an important component of a firm’s promotion strategy as it
provides a new way to reach people and deliver the company’s message. What is the role of
the Internet in a firm’s promotion strategy? Marketers who use the Internet as part of an
integrated marketing communications mix must assess its role as an advertising medium and
its position in a firm’s marketing communication mix(Berthon, Pitt et al. 1996) . Firms must
ensure that their online messages and employee emails convey an image that is consistent
with all other communication efforts.
Impact on Distribution Strategy
Electronic channels are any channels that involve the use of the Internet as a means of
reaching end users(Pitt, Berthon et al. 1999) . The Internet is changing distribution like no
other environmental force since the industrial revolution because it breaks many of the
assumptions on which channels are based, transforming or even obliterating channels
themselves in many cases, while giving rise to new forms of channels of distribution (Pitt,
Berthon, and Berthon, 1999). The Internet is in many respects both a retail store and a
delivery medium. The customer first locates a product such as computer software or airline
ticket and then makes a purchase online. Once credit card information is entered, the
customer proceeds to download the software. For non-digital products, the seller must
arrange with a shipping company to have them delivered to the customer’s address. Online
distribution has a number of characteristics which differentiate it from offline distribution.
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Elements of digital marketing
There are various elements by which digital marketing is formed. All forms operate through
electronic devices. The most important elements of digital marketing are given
below(Yasmin, Tasneem et al. 2015):
Online advertising
Online advertising is a very important part of digital marketing. It is also called internet
advertising through company can deliver the message about the products or services.
Internet-based advertising provides the content and ads that best matches to consumer
interests. Publishers put about their products or services on their websites so that consumers
or users get free information. Advertisers should place more effective and relevant ads online.
Through online advertising, company well controls its budget and it has full control on time.
Email Marketing
When message about the products or services is sent through email to the existing or potential
consumer, it is defined as email marketing. Direct digital marketing is used to send ads, to
build brand and customer loyalty, to build customer trust and to make brand awareness.
Company can promote its products and services by using this element of digital marketing
easily. It is relatively low cost comparing to advertising or other forms of media exposure.
Company can bring complete attention of the customer by creating attractive mix of graphics,
text and links on the products and services.
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Pay-per-click marketing is a way of using search engine advertising to generate clicks to your
website rather than earning those clicks organically. Pay per click is good for searchers and
advertisers. It is the best way for company’s ads since it brings low cost and greater
engagement with the products and services.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a
web page in a search engine’s natural or unpaid (organic) search results. In general, the
earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a website appears in
the search result list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine users. SEO may
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target different kinds of search including image search, local search, video search, academic
search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.
Digital Marketing using different plans as per the change in requirement and marketing trend.
It allows big or small kind companies, to advertise on the cheaper cost at the same level. The
both small and big enterprises have access on the same marketing tools in the same criteria. It
increases the opportunities for jobs and also made applying easier. It provides a platform to
customers and enterprise to interact directly and instantly to promote their products, services,
moreover their ideas.
Most of the Enterprises used Digital Marketing to improve their services to get the feedback
directly from the users through websites. The feedback form section, comments on the posts,
reviews from the users through business supporting platforms such as Uber cabs.
Eatables and goods delivery services, and many more. It provides wide space for the content
of an advertisement where traditional methods have limited space to envision the content.
Enterprise can collect data such as all important for company success and for customer
channels that pay off. They should have analytic trained employees to process data those who
can create personalized content.
It permits the companies to keep transparency between the customers and brand which helps
the customers to know about the brand from which they are interacting and purchasing. This
brings loyalty between the customers for the company and helps in building company’s
personality and ethos online.
It forced brands to be innovative and initiative in bringing something new into the market to
engage with the customers with a new concept, services, products, technology and many
other things to survive in this competitive universe.
Most of the enterprises have adopted this new mode of marketing and have replaced their
strategies for marketing over the internet. Enterprises accepted Digital Marketing as a root for
the expansion of their brand and using this vast marketing technology as a time and money
saver, digital strategies and tools that provides to compete on a high level and survive for a
long time. It offers versatility, comfort, ease and instant approach. It admit the marketer to
reach the targeted audience effectively and provide advantages for the consumers as well.
Negative Impact of Digital Marketing
Whereas the benefits are easy to consider, another important factor when going digital with
your marketing plan is the obstructive impact of digital marketing. It’s easy to think, what
could possibly go wrong with online advertising? Well, when more people are watching
marketing content, there’s a constant fear or there should be that the wrong message could be
observed. If marketers aren’t aware of what’s going on around them, it’s easy to put out a
message that can be misinterpreted.
If a marketer was unaware of the movement perhaps they’ve been hiding under a rock and
ran a banner ad on Facebook with some humor about something that could even slightly, in
some far-off universe, be considered sexist, it could be the death of that company. While that
might sound severe, consider the line, once it’s been on the internet, it’s out there forever.
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Once an ad has run that can be affiliated with a company and is interpreted in an offensive
manner, it’s out there, never to be retracted. It’s often death by digital suicide for the
company behind the message.
There are always offset factors with any marketing strategy, the influence of digital
marketing on businesses has, overall, been a beneficial one. With more access to a wide-
range audience, digital marketing illuminates businesses in ways that were once out of
question, saving businesses time, money, and bringing in new potential customers like never
before.
Impact of Digital Marketing on Businesses
More budget-friendly methods of reaching a large-scale audience. Advertising online is
reasonable than print advertising, and has a wide range of potential clients to watch it. It’s
that simple. Hundreds, or even thousands, of people can be outreach via sponsored blogs and
posts on various social media sites for a few dollars a pop. It can take several hundred dollars
to run a single print ad in a newspaper, and then consideration must be given to whether or
not the target demographic is even seeing the ad.
More of a variety of easily approachable marketing outlets. Digital marketing opens a whole
new world of opportunities. There are social media, email campaigns, content marketing,
Search Engine Optimization, banner ads, blogs, websites and so much more. All of these
operations can easily be taken care of online as well, making the process effortlessly.
Everyone’s online, so a large number of audience are watching your ads. Again, it’s that
simple. These days, people get everything from their news, their weather, and the gossip on
Bessie’s latest affair, and even their groceries, all with a few clicks of a mouse or swipes of a
finger.
Research design
The method will be used to collect data to check the impacts of digital marketing on business
is interview method. In first phase we will interview the small business entrepreneur and ask
them about digital marketing then we will move towards the brands.
Time frame
Time required to complete this research will ranges from one to two months.
Budget
The budget needed to perform this research is about Rs.5000
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Bibliography
Bakos, Y. and E. Brynjolfsson (2000). "Bundling and Competition on the Internet." Marketing science
19(1): 63-8
Berthon, P., et al. (1996). "The World Wide Web as an advertising medium." Journal of advertising
research 36(1): 43-54.
Kingsnorth, S. (2019). Digital marketing strategy: an integrated approach to online marketing, Kogan
Page Publishers.
Mangold, W. G. and D. J. Faulds (2009). "Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion
mix." Business horizons 52(4): 357-365.
Parsons, A. J., et al. (1996). "Organizing for digital marketing." The McKinsey Quarterly(4): 185.
Piñeiro-Otero, T. and X. Martínez-Rolán (2016). Understanding digital marketing—basics and actions.
MBA, Springer: 37-74.
Pitt, L., et al. (1999). "Changing channels: the impact of the Internet on distribution strategy."
Business horizons 42(2): 19-28.
Reza Kiani, G. (1998). "Marketing opportunities in the digital world." Internet Research 8(2): 185-
194.
Yannopoulos, P. (2011). "Impact of the Internet on marketing strategy formulation." International
Journal of Business and Social Science 2(18).
Yasmin, A., et al. (2015). "Effectiveness of digital marketing in the challenging age: An empirical
study." International Journal of Management Science and Business Administration 1(5): 69-80.
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