Identifying the consequences of the holistic strategic marketing plan model in online businesses: A qualitative approach

The process of changes in societies and companies shows that it is currently inevitable to pay attention to online activities from the points of view of both suppliers and customers. Many companies active in the field of online business have realized the severity of the changes, especially in the field of competition and technology. However, due to the lack of a suitable written plan and strategy, they have not been able to solve their problems, especially in market management. So, in order to solve the problems of companies, the use of holistic strategic marketing plan models seems necessary. These models are of special importance with regard to the online space, which is a dynamic space, the output of the general stages of the holistic strategic marketing plan models (compilation, implementation and evaluation), and the general results of the actions taken. From this point of view, to continue the life of the organization and its survival, it is necessary to identify the other components and consequences of holistic strategic marketing plan models which have not been considered in the previous models. Therefore, our goal in this research is to identify the results of using a holistic strategic marketing plan model in online businesses. The qualitative question of the research is ‘What are the outcomes of the holistic strategic marketing plan model in online businesses?’
The current research was conducted with the aim of identifying the outcomes of using holistic strategic marketing plan models in online businesses. It is a type of qualitative research. Examining the existing literature and the inconsistency of the findings to solve the problems of our society necessitated the use of the grounded theory. This research also seeks to generate and expand the theory from qualitative data. To do the research, an in-depth interview method was used to collect information, and an almost unstructured interview was conducted with each person selected from the target audience. The statistical population of this research consisted of university professors and consultants in the field of strategic marketing planning and the managers specializing in online businesses who were also active in this field. The purposeful sampling strategy was used to explore the phenomenon under study. The data collection in this research continued until theoretical saturation, and a total of ten in-depth interviews were conducted. The interviews lasted from about one hour to three hours. They were fully recorded and immediately implemented without changes. The data analysis was based on the principles related to the contextual theory (open, axial and selective coding), and the concepts and categories were created through a content analysis with the MAXQDA software version 2020.
The data analysis led to the identification of 55 concepts. Finally, one main category was classified as the core category, and the other six main categories were classified as the consequences of an online holistic strategic marketing plan model. The data coding was done in the three stages of open, axial and selective coding. Regarding the open coding in this research, after implementing each interview in the software, open coding was started, and each line or paragraph containing a point related to the research question was assigned a tag of words that indicated that point. Then, the codes obtained from the interviews were compared, and the similar codes were placed next to each other. At this stage, after removing similar codes, finally, 55 concepts were identified. In the axial coding stage, the concepts obtained in the open coding stage were compared, combined and reduced, and the codes containing similar meanings were placed next to each other and under the sub-categories or directly under the main categories. Finally, the identified concepts were classified under seven main categories. As for selective coding, the core category was an online holistic strategic marketing plan, and the other main categories (namely brand knowledge, attitude, customer journey online, customer experience online, evaluation and control and organization performance) were considered as the outcomes of the online holistic strategic marketing plan model.
Considering the cultural, economic, social and political differences between our country and the other societies in which the related research has been conducted, the current research with a localization approach has presented the results of a holistic strategic marketing plan for online businesses. The insight provided by the present research can be used in academic circles to create and store knowledge as well as by the companies active in the field of online businesses and marketing managers.