Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Digital marketing has become increasingly important to the competitiveness and sustainability of small-scale businesses in Nigeria. However, the existing literature remains fragmented, with many studies treating the adoption of social media or other digital tools as evidence of effective digital marketing without adequately explaining how digital activities are converted into measurable business outcomes. This article presents an integrative review of theoretical and empirical literature on the relationship between digital marketing and the performance of small-scale businesses in Nigeria. The review draws primarily on studies published between 2021 and July 2026, while incorporating relevant foundational literature on digital marketing, technology adoption and organisational capabilities. The evidence indicates that social media marketing, e-commerce, online advertising, mobile marketing, email marketing and digital customer engagement can improve market visibility, customer acquisition, customer relationships, sales growth, competitiveness and organisational resilience. Nevertheless, these benefits are conditional on digital literacy, content quality, customer trust, analytical capability, infrastructure reliability, payment systems and order-fulfilment capacity. The article identifies significant methodological limitations in the literature, including reliance on cross-sectional surveys, self-reported performance measures, single-state samples and limited attention to the mechanisms linking digital adoption with financial outcomes. To address these limitations, the article develops the Digital Marketing Performance Conversion Framework, which explains business performance as the outcome of a sequential process involving digital access, strategic adoption, marketing conversion capability, customer response and value realisation. The framework advances the literature by distinguishing digital presence from performance-generating digital capability and by introducing conversion friction as a major explanation for variations in outcomes among Nigerian small businesses. The article concludes with implications for business owners, policymakers and future research.
DOI: 10.46654/fcsqwy56
Institutions: Kogi State Polytechnic, Teesside University
Language: English
Subfield: Business and International Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7171158024