The impact of digital marketing on international trade of small and medium-sized enterprises: Case of Turkey

For connecting business with the concerned customers digital marketing uses the combination of direct responses as well as indirect marketing elements and a variety of modern day technology. It encompasses a wide range of activities that company perform using worldwide web like attracting new ventures, new marketing, identification and making of relationship with customers, operating the present business and brand promotion. This research looks at how small and medium-sized companies in Turkey use digital media resources to promote their businesses and products. It explores the use of different marketing methods and how these businesses use available tools in terms of company size, annual revenue and other important parameters. A survey was conducted in which executives and business owners were asked how their companies were represented online. While digital marketing strategies have already been implemented in some business areas, more traditional companies still haven't caught up with the trend and technology. Therefore, it is important to point out how these gaps can be resolved and how entrepreneurs can understand and confront these issues in order to remain competitive in both the local and global market. The subject of the study is The effects of the use of digital marketing tools on the sales of SMEs engaged in international trade in Turkey. The data obtained to determine the uses and effects were obtained as a result of the structured intervıew form applied to 28 business owners or managers who fall under the definition of SME in Turkey. This study consists of three chapters in total. The first and second chapters consist of a literature review to give the conceptual framework. In these two sections, digital marketing, and overview of small busıness in turkey are discussed. The collected data were analyzed and it has been determined that there is a significant relationship between the use of digital marketing tools and their effects on sales. From the results of the study, it was found that the lack of suitable digital marketing techniques for SMEs is the biggest problem that prevents SMEs from adopting digital marketing techniques. Also it has been determined that the use of digital marketing tools does not differ significantly according to the availability of a marketing department.