The role of GAP-analysis in reducing the uncertainty of online marketing results for SBEs

Abstract

Modern online marketing consists of a variety of interacting methods and tools. The consumer exists in the flows of marketing information. The consumer's value acquisition process is not linear. Financial constraints at the marketing budget level for small business enterprises require reducing the uncertainty of results from the applied online marketing methods. In this paper, we look into the properties of gap analysis to study the discrepancies between the current and planned results of online marketing activities of small business enterprises. The research methodology is based on the gap analysis method, which is complemented by the methods of content analysis, cvp analysis, graphical methods, and special methods of online marketing. The study examines the properties of gaps in the transformation of online marketing informational flows. A mathematical description and graphic interpretation of the gap in the transformation of the informational flow of online marketing is proposed. The results of the study show that the use of gap analysis methods makes it possible to detail the phenomenon of consumer proactivity, reduce the uncertainty from the use of online marketing methods and improve the quality of marketing information about the consumer for small business enterprises.