Exploring the digital marketing potential and needs for digital marketing capabilities of service sector MSMEs in Thailand
Abstract
The research objectives are to assess the digital marketing capabilities of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Thailand’s service sector, as well as to develop persona profiles for each enterprise size. The survey of 400 digital marketing personnel was conducted alongside comprehensive interviews with 10 marketing executives. The result suggests that MSMEs have moderate digital marketing skills but need to improve their knowledge in creative thinking, online consumer interaction, affiliate marketing, and change management. An executive interview emphasized issues unique to micro-enterprises, like mismatched advertising and inadequate online marketing expertise. Medium-sized enterprises have difficulties achieving online target engagement due to their inadequate SEO capabilities, whereas small enterprises struggle to effectively manage customer inquiries. The study introduces persona cards that reveal distinct competency levels and areas for improvement for each enterprise size. The research provides actionable insights for MSMEs seeking to refine their digital marketing strategies and contributes to the academic literature with understanding. Persona cards serve as a novel tool for visualizing digital marketing competencies and needs within the MSME sector.
Keyword : micro small and medium enterprises, potential, digital marketing, capabilities, digital society, digital Thailand
How to Cite
Cuijten, N., Wongpun, S., Buaprommee, N., Suwannahong, R., & Inmor, S. (2024). Exploring the digital marketing potential and needs for digital marketing capabilities of service sector MSMEs in Thailand. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 25(5), 1052–1074. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2024.22470
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Alexander, L. (2016). What is Digital Marketing: Everything You Need to Know. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-digital-marketing#why-digital-marketing-is-important
Alghizzawi, M., Habes, M., Al Assuli, A., & Ezmigna, A. A. R. (2024). Digital marketing and sustainable businesses: As Mobile apps in tourism. In A. Hamdan & E. S. Aldhaen (Eds.), Artificial intelligence and transforming digital marketing (pp. 3–13). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35828-9_1
Behera, R. K., Gunasekaran, A., Gupta, S., Kamboj, S., & Bala, P. K. (2020). Personalized digital marketing recommender engine. Journal of Retailing Consumer Services, 53, Article 101799. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.03.026
Camilleri, M. A. (2020). The use of data-driven technologies for customer-centric marketing. International Journal of Big Data Management, 1(1), 50–63. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJBDM.2020.106876
Devitt, F. (2021). Creating personas from design ethnography and grounded theory. Journal of Usability Studies, 13(3). https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/17505/1/FrankDevittPersonas2021.pdf
Dion, D., & Arnould, E. (2016). Persona-fied brands: managing branded persons through persona. Journal of Marketing Management, 32(1–2), 121–148. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2015.1096818
Djakasaputra, A., Wijaya, O., Utama, A., Yohana, C., Romadhoni, B., & Fahlevi, M. (2021). Empirical study of Indonesian SMEs sales performance in digital era: The role of quality service and digital marketing. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 5(3), 303–310. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2021.6.003
Egbu, V. N., & Azih, N. (2023). Marketing skills required by start-up operators for effective management of small and medium scale enterprises. British Journal of Marketing Studies, 11(3), 90–99. https://doi.org/10.37745/bjms.2013/vol11n39099
Eze, S. C., Awa, H. O., Chinedu-Eze, V. C., & Bello, A. O. (2021). Demographic determinants of mobile marketing technology adoption by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Humanities Social Sciences Communications, 8(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00762-5
Ghorbani, M., Karampela, M., & Tonner, A. (2022). Consumers’ brand personality perceptions in a digital world: A systematic literature review and research agenda. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 46(5), 1960–1991. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12791
Graham, A. K., Neubert, S. W., Chang, A., Liu, J., Fu, E., Green, E. A., Kornfield, R., & Nicholas, J. (2021). Applying user-centered design methods to understand users’ day-to-day experiences can inform a mobile intervention for binge eating and weight management. Frontiers in Digital Health, 3, Article 651749. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2021.651749
Grewal, D., Hulland, J., Kopalle, P. K., & Karahanna, E. (2020). The future of technology and marketing: A multidisciplinary perspective. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00711-4
Hasanat, M. W., Hoqueb, A., Hassanc, M. M., & Hamide, A. B. A. J. X. A. J. K. D. X. (2020). The lack of digital marketing skills: developing a digital marketer model for the retail industries. Journal of Xi’an University of Architecture Technology, 12(3), 2673–2680.
Israel, G. D. (1992). Sampling the evidence of extension program impact: Citeseer.
Jansen, B. J., Salminen, J. O., & Jung, S. (2020). Data-driven personas for enhanced user understanding: combining empathy with rationality for better insights to analytics. Data and Information Management, 4(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.2478/dim-2020-0005
Kingsnorth, S. (2022). Digital marketing strategy: An integrated approach to online marketing. Kogan Page Publishers.
Kovács, I. (2021). Digital marketing soft skills and university students’ perceptions of employability. GiLE Journal of Skills Development, 1(1), 25–36. https://doi.org/10.52398/gjsd.2021.v1.i1.pp25-36
Märtin, C., Bissinger, B. C., & Asta, P. (2023). Optimizing the digital customer journey – Improving user experience by exploiting emotions, personas and situations for individualized user interface adaptations. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 22(5), 1050–1061. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.1964
Melović, B., Jocović, M., Dabić, M., Vulić, T. B., & Dudic, B. (2020). The impact of digital transformation and digital marketing on the brand promotion, positioning and electronic business in Montenegro. Technology in Society, 63, Article 101425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101425
Miles, C. (2020). Intermediaries and personas: A radical rhetorical reading of marketing work. Persona Studies, 6(1), 72–82. https://doi.org/10.21153/psj2020vol6no1art947
Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion. (2020). Dashboard SME Big Data. https://www.smebigdata.com/msme/dashboard-a
Peter, M. K., & Dalla Vecchia, M. (2021). The digital marketing toolkit: a literature review for the identification of digital marketing channels and platforms. In New trends in business information systems and technology (pp. 251–265). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48332-6_17
Polanco-Diges, L., & Debasa, F. (2020). The use of digital marketing strategies in the sharing economy: A literature review. Journal of Spatial Organizational Dynamics, 8(3), 217–229.
Rangaswamy, A., Moch, N., Felten, C., Van Bruggen, G., Wieringa, J. E., & Wirtz, J. (2020). The role of marketing in digital business platforms. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 51(1), 72–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2020.04.006
Sharma, A., Sharma, S., & Chaudhary, M. (2020). Are small travel agencies ready for digital marketing? Views of travel agency managers. Tourism Management, 79, Article 104078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2020.104078
Sima, V., Gheorghe, I. G., Subić, J., & Nancu, D. (2020). Influences of the industry 4.0 revolution on the human capital development and consumer behavior: A systematic review. Sustainability, 12(10), Article 4035. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104035
Siricharoen, W. V. (2021). Using empathy mapping in design thinking process for personas discovering. In P. C. Vinh, & A. Rakib (Eds.), Lecture notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering: Vol. 343. Context-aware systems and applications, and nature of computation and communication. ICCASA ICTCC 2020. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67101-3_15
Ten Klooster, I., Wentzel, J., Sieverink, F., Linssen, G., Wesselink, R., & van Gemert-Pijnen, L. (2022). Personas for better targeted eHealth technologies: User-centered design approach. JMIR Human Factors, 9(1), Article e24172. https://doi.org/10.2196/24172
Terho, H., Mero, J., Siutla, L., & Jaakkola, E. (2022). Digital content marketing in business markets: Activities, consequences, and contingencies along the customer journey. Industrial Marketing Management, 105, 294–310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2022.06.006
The Office of SMEs Promotion. (2021). Economic forecast for Thai MSMEs in 2021. https://new.sme.go.th/uploads/file/download-20210916133225.pdf
Wirtz, J., & Lovelock, C. (2021). Services marketing: People, technology, strategy. World Scientific. https://doi.org/10.1142/y0024