Research on the use of digital marketing in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

Digital marketing has been intensively developing in domestic business practice for the last 10-15 years and is keeping pace with the development of information technologies. Digitization of business has opened up a completely new business horizon for companies and has created unlimited opportunities for business development. In the sphere of electronic business, digital marketing has become so important that modern business cannot be imagined without it. The possibilities of applying digital marketing do not depend on the size of the company, so even small and medium-sized companies have the obligation to keep up with trends, to acquire digital literacy and to develop effective digital marketing strategies. The subject of research in this paper is the use of digital marketing in small and medium-sized enterprises in Serbia. The authors of the paper conducted empirical research in the period September-November 2020 on a sample of 87 SMEs operating in Serbia. For the purposes of the research, a Google questionnaire was used, which was distributed electronically to the respondents. The structure of respondents consists of entrepreneurs (business owners), managers and employees. The first part of the questionnaire contains formal questions, while the second part contains professional questions in the field of Internet marketing. This paper will present the results of the research with a discussion and analysis of the answers received, along with drawing conclusions and recommendations for future research.

Keywords

• small and medium enterprises
• digital marketing
• communication
• promotion