ONLINE ADVERTISING, EMAIL MARKETING, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION: STRATEGIES FOR SALES IMPROVEMENT BY SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined online advertising, email marketing, search engine optimization: strategies for sales improvement by small and medium Enterprises in Nigeria. Three research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The study used the descriptive Survey research design. 1630 SMES are in the study's area as the study's population. The taro Yamane formula was used to determine the sample size of the study which is 321 SMEs in Awka South, LGA, Anambra State. A proportionate sample was adopted in deriving the sample from different sectors of SMEs in Awka South. The technique was based on the industrial, service, commercial, and agricultural sectors of SMEs. In drawing the sample using proportionate sampling techniques, 98 SMEs were drawn from the industrial sector, 59 SMEs from the service sector, 85 SMEs from the commercial sector, and 79 SMEs from the agricultural sector. The instrument for collecting data was a structured questionnaire constructed and distributed by the researcher. The questionnaire contained two parts; part I containing items on demography of the respondent and part II containing items covering the research question that is guiding the study. The questions were structured on a 5-point rating scale of Very High extent (VHE), High Extent (HE), Moderate Extent (ME), Low Extent (LE), Very Low Extent (VLE). Three experts, two from the Department of Business Education and one from Measurement and Evaluation, validated the instrument. The instrument's consistency was evaluated using the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient, which had an average coefficient of 0.86.  Arithmetic mean and standard deviation were employed to examine the data, and a t-test was utilized to assess the hypotheses at a significance level of 0.05. The difference was considered significant when the p value was discovered to be equal to or less than 0.05 alpha levels, at which point the null hypothesis was rejected. The null hypothesis will be accepted if a p value larger than 0.05 indicates that the difference was not significant. The study result indicated that online advertising, email marketing, search engine optimizations are all utilized sales improvement by SMEs to a high extent and moderate extent respectively. The finding led to the conclusion that online advertising, email marketing, search engine optimizations are important to improve SMEs sales. The study recommended that SMEs should be SME should define your campaign objectives before starting any online advertising efforts. Whether it's driving website traffic, generating leads, increasing conversions, or boosting sales, having well-defined goals will help you develop targeted and effective advertising strategies. SME should choose the online advertising platforms that align with your target audience and campaign objectives. Consider platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and others, based on the demographics and interests of your target audience