INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES ON PERFORMANCE OF CUTFLOWERS EXPORTING FIRMS IN KENYA

Abstract

Digital marketing is one of the strategies used by firms for marketing communication and products promotion. Digital marketing contributes to the marketing mix by connecting with clients and creating leads to new business opportunities. Digital marketing creates prospects for firms to interconnect and engage their target clients in a more efficient and effective way. Nevertheless, the prospects of this tool have remained unexploited to the full. The purpose of this research was to determine the extent of adoption of digital marketing and its influence on the performance of cut flowers exporting firms in Kenya. A qualitative and quantitative research was conducted using semi-structured interviews targeting 30 cut flowers exporting firms in Kenya. The outcomes show that Digital Marketing has an incredible impact across all elements of firms’ performance. It’s noted that digital marketing significantly improved revenue, improved market share, and increased profitability. Firms using digital marketing have shown better performance than their counter parts using conventional marketing strategies. Its major benefit emanates in its exceptional capability to provide information in a personalized and interactive way without the restriction of time and place. Digital marketing is a genuine strategy for marketing communication. Companies that invested to harness the power of Digital Marketing claim better returns, more customers and more sales. E-mail marketing, digital displays, websites and online advertising are the most commonly used digital strategies in cut flowers exporting firms in Kenya. For cut flower firms to remain competitive and maintain their position in the market, they should use digital marketing strategies. The study findings concludes that there is a strong correlation between digital marketing and performance of flower firms and therefore recommends that cut flower firms that have not been using digital marketing should to a large extent adopt digital marketing to be competitive and enhance organizational performance. The study recommends that further research to be done on why specific countries are more receptive to specific digital marketing strategies and on what need to be done to improve on digital marketing at the firm leve