Digital Transformation of Marketing Strategies in Construction SMEs

This article deals with digital integration in marketing strategies for construction SMEs (small and medium enterprises) in a situation of instability. Nowadays small and medium-sized enterprises in the construction industry in Russia are under the influence of the modern turbulent environment, which especially affects consumer demand and communication of brands and their target audience. The aim of the research is to analyze the digital transformation features of marketing strategies in construction SMEs. The data of the research were collected by conducting in-depth interviews with 12 CEOs and CMOs of Russian construction SMEs. The obtained data were processed by the method of thematic analysis. In accordance with the theory-driven coding, seven key topics were proposed, among them low awareness of representatives of Russian construction SMEs about digital technologies, unwillingness to invest in the digitalization of the company, shifting the focus to online communication, low level of digital literacy of the company’s employees and others. This research is the third step to the study in analyzing and evaluating the effectiveness of digital transformation of the marketing strategy for constriction SMEs. The next step is expected to get more empirical data and conduct a quantitative online survey among a wider representative sample. It is assumed that the final result of the research will be the creation of a guide on the digital transformation of construction SMEs.