Effect of Digital Marketing Proxies on Agricultural Product in Developing Economies

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of digital marketing proxies (social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization, and content marketing) on agricultural product marketing in developing economies. It intends to examine the influence of social media marketing on consumer awareness of agricultural products, and also to Investigate the role of email marketing in building customer relationships in agricultural marketing. A descriptive survey design was adopted, and data were collected from 250 agribusiness stakeholders in Nigeria. The analysis combined descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests, and multiple regression. The Chi-square results revealed significant associations between digital marketing proxies and agricultural marketing outcomes (χ² = 24.6, p < 0.05). Regression analysis further showed that social media marketing (β = 0.32, p < 0.01), email marketing (β = 0.28, p < 0.01), SEO (β = 0.35, p < 0.001), and content marketing (β = 0.30, p < 0.01) jointly explained 64% of the variance in agricultural marketing effectiveness (R² = 0.64, F = 35.6, p < 0.05). These findings demonstrate that digital marketing proxies significantly enhance product visibility, consumer engagement, and sales growth. The study concludes that digital marketing is a viable panacea for agricultural marketing challenges in developing economies and recommends policy support and farmer capacity building to foster wider adoption.