LEVERAGING DIGITAL MARKETING ANALYTICS TO ENHANCE RETURN ON MARKETING INVESTMENT: A STUDY OF STARTUPS IN VIJAYAWADA

Author

P. Venkata Pavan Kumar, Dr. Mazharunnisa


Abstract

 Digital marketing has become an important tool for startups to promote their products and services, reach target customers, and improve business performance. Startups in Vijayawada are increasingly using digital marketing platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Google Ads, websites, and email marketing to attract customers and increase sales. However, spending money on digital marketing does not always guarantee the expected results. Marketing analytics therefore plays an important role in measuring campaign performance and understanding whether marketing investments are generating positive returns.

This study examines how digital marketing analytics may help startups in Vijayawada improve their Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI). An important note on the data: the empirical analysis uses 83 simulated questionnaire responses, not data collected from real startups. The study should therefore be read as an illustrative, simulation-based application of the research design, and its results do not describe real startups. The responses were analysed using frequencies, means, one-sample Wilcoxon tests, Spearman correlation, multiple regression, and Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney tests.

In the simulated dataset, social media marketing (79.5%), content marketing (53.0%), and email marketing (44.6%) are the most used channels. Analytics use is moderate (mean 3.20 out of 5), and perceived improvement in ROMI is moderately positive (mean 3.33; 49.4% agree). Use of analytics is strongly and positively related to ROI measurement (ρ = .74), marketing performance (ρ = .73), budget efficiency (ρ = .62), improved ROMI (ρ = .55), and staff analytical capability (ρ = .50). Analytics use is the strongest predictor of ROMI improvement in regression (β = .47), and staff capability and channel insight add to the explanation of overall outcomes. Reported challenges, firm age, firm size, role, and number of channels are not significantly related to analytics use. Intention to increase analytics use is high (mean 4.05) and is unrelated to current use. The paper discusses what such a pattern would imply for startups if it were confirmed with real data, and recommends that the same instrument be administered to real startups in Vijayawada.



Keywords

Digital Marketing Analytics, Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI), Startups, Marketing Performance, Data-Driven Decision-Making, Customer Engagement, Digital Marketing Strategies, Vijayawada.



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