BINDING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES AND THE FAILURE OF SMEs. GUAYAQUIL CASE STUDY

Every day, SMEs face various challenges to operate, in which the use of digital marketing strategies has been crucial to ensure their success or failure. This study analyzed the perception of Ecuadorian entrepreneurs on the role of these strategies in the failure of their businesses. The research was exploratory-descriptive; through a survey applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 21 entrepreneurs. The results showed that the use of digital strategies as a means of advertising and promotion is almost null. The most used medium has been social networks (whatsapp and Facebook) and promotions were based on offers and free samples. E-commerce was not a widely used channel either, despite the fact that the benefit of web pages to achieve a greater reach and attract new customers is recognized. Correspondingly, investment in this type of strategy was almost nil, as was the use of metrics to track them. Finally, the entrepreneurs agreed that the limited use of digital marketing had no influence on the closure of their businesses, an opinion that contradicts the results of other research.