Ekonomska Misao i Praksa (Jan 2018)
PRELIMINARY STUDY OF PERSONAL MARKETING IN THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT: ATTRIBUTES AND PERCEPTION OF INTERNET USERS IN CROATIA
Abstract
The paper focuses on the rapidly changing digital technologies and their influence on the development of personal marketing and personal branding. Digital technologies have fundamentally changed various personal and professional communication systems, as well as communication habits and attitudes of their users. Consequently, personal marketing has been strongly influenced by the development of information and communication technologies, especially internet and mobile availability. Personal web-sites, social networks, mobile applications and various other tools allow individuals to create their personal digital identities and allow self-positioning. The current usage of internet-based tools for personal branding and related preferences and attitudes of Croatian internet users were the main sections of the conducted research. Data was collected through an online survey. The preliminary research analysis is provided, which shows respondents’ views on the impact of digital technologies on privacy and online presence. Collected data shows extensive internet use, especially on a daily basis, empowered by omnipresence of mobile devices, smart phones and even wearables. In addition, users rely heavily on various social networks and mobile applications mostly for limited communication groups (friends and family). However, respondents are in general not familiar with online personal marketing and most of them don’t have personal websites or other tools for personal branding.
