Internet Marketing: Factor of Improving SME Business in Serbia

Introduction

With the affirmation of marketing orientation as a business concept, market communication is gaining more and more importance for creating business success and competitive advantage. Through market communication, marketing-oriented organizations establish long-term and quality relationships with key stakeholders and strive to create a positive image in the public, and for this purpose use a large number of communication tools and instruments. In fact, when it comes to marketing communication, one cannot avoid the fact that it is an extremely dynamic instrument of the marketing mix, which is constantly changing and improving under the influence of numerous technological and market conditions (Lazarević-Moravčević, Domazet, Lazić, 2021).

One of the key factors that lead to drastic changes in the field of communications is the development of modern information technology, i.e. the emergence of interactive media, especially the Internet. Thanks to the Internet, communication becomes dynamic, interactive, targeted, and the effects are measurable. Increasingly intensive reliance on the Internet as a channel of communication has resulted in the emergence and development of a new form of marketing - Internet marketing. Internet marketing is a basic part of digital marketing that has seen impressive growth and development in recent years.

By moving to online business, modern companies are trying to adapt to new changes, which are reflected in the behavior and habits of consumers, and which are significantly intensified by the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic. The increasing use of the Internet as a communication channel by companies is certainly encouraged by the constant growth in the number of Internet users. According to estimates by Datareportal (2021), about 59.5% of the world's population uses the Internet. Additionally, such a situation required companies to find new ways to establish and maintain relationships with stakeholders, which meant accepting the Internet as the dominant channel of communication.

The pandemic that the world faced gave digitalization a completely new dimension and meaning. In the period of isolation, digital media become an integral part of every individual's life. There is a significant increase in the number of Internet and social network users, as well as digital customers. Mobile devices have taken on the role of the most important channel for internet access. These, as well as many other changes in consumer behavior have necessitated the abandonment of traditional forms of communication and the application of various tools and instruments of Internet marketing. In the period of isolation, digital, i.e. online communication is becoming the only possible form of communication between companies and consumers.

The Covid-19 pandemic has induced significant challenges to almost all of the aspects of business activities. In order to overcome the negative effects of the ongoing health crisis, the business sector has turned to digital technologies and application of advanced ICT solutions due to their potential to significantly improve competitiveness and business processes (Domazet et al., 2018). Along with the increased usage of digital technologies in everyday lives, the world population spend most of their time being connected. During a pandemic, digital marketing plays a vital role among different types of customers, regardless of their gender, age, income, qualifications (Kumari, 2021). According to official data (Statista, 2021), as of January 2021 the total number of active internet users on the global level accounts for 4.66 billion with 4.2 billion in social media alone. It is estimated that approximately every second person in the overall global population uses at least one social network. Also, due to the accelerated digitalization, there has been an expansion of e-commerce and a soar in content created for digital channels since social distancing measures have shifted all focus of communication and money transactions to the digital environment.