The Development and Current Trends of Digital Marketing and Relationship Marketing Research

Abstract

New information and communication technologies have transformed the ways businesses communicate and maintain relationships with their customers. In this chapter, we review the main topics in academic research pertaining to digital marketing and relationship perspectives. The discussion involves email and website marketing, search engine marketing, user-generated content, co-creation marketing, social media marketing, prosumption marketing in the sharing economy, immersive marketing and AI-based marketing. On this basis, the chapter proposes some future research directions including influencer marketing, live streaming, social service enhancement and the dark side of social media marketing, consumer-to-consumer interactions on two-sided platforms, psychological mechanisms related to the use of mixed realities, and the experience of AI-enabled service automation and relevant ethical issues. Furthermore, emerging technologies such as the Internet of things (IoT) and blockchain are expected to be the next breakthrough in marketing, which warrant further research to examine their impact on the customer-firm relationship. It is suggested the researchers could focus on the adoption and application of blockchain technology, participative marketing via IoT, as well as the privacy and data protection issues related to these technologies. This chapter provides a comprehensive picture of the connection between digital marketing and relationship marketing in academic research.

Citation

Le, D., Nguyen, T.-M., Quach, S., Thaichon, P. and Ratten, V. (2021), "The Development and Current Trends of Digital Marketing and Relationship Marketing Research", Thaichon, P. and Ratten, V. (Ed.) Developing Digital Marketing, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-348-220211001