The purpose of this study is to investigate how Swedish IoT companies use online marketing strategies and online communication to reach out to their prospects and customers.

This bachelor thesis researches the question of “How do Swedish interior design companies tailor their e-commerce marketing strategies to cope with the phenomenon of advertising blindness?” through a qualitative case study. In order to conduct this research, relevant aspects of the phenomenon have been analysed in relation to actual marketing strategies. By following the qualitative methods with a semi-structured interview and content analysis, a deeper understanding of the phenomenon and how Swedish interior design companies cope with it can be gathered. The thesis follows a deductive approach, due to that the research topic in the specified industry was considered rather unexplored, thus a better preunderstanding of the topic was deemed relevant. The existing knowledge and research have been compiled and resulted in a conceptual framework. The pre-existing studies on advertising blindness have been conducted in other industries; this thesis will thus be founding its analysis on previous studies but in a new industry with different types of consumers and marketing. The analysis of the empirical findings encompassed a discussion about how theoretical models and practical marketing methods are used by a Swedish interior design company. The conclusions drawn from the analysis present both implications, recommendations, and limitations. The empirical findings showed that advertising blindness is not a phenomenon actively planned against in the interior design case company that was researched for this thesis. The main theoretical implications derived from this thesis, was giving marketing students and marketing managers insight into the importance of understanding the advertising blindness phenomenon. The main practical implication was found to be that although certain KPI are used to monitor consumer behaviour and purchases, advertising blindness has not been prioritized in the measurements. Thus, as omni channels such as the case company have to increase their focus on e-commerce, the attention to advertising blindness has to be more present from managers. Furthermore, a continuation of this research would find value in conducting research from the consumer perspective in order to give marketing managers a second perspective that could show the importance of studying advertising blindness.

Tourists' information processing is a dynamic process in that their information use depends on the surrounding context. From tourists' personal characteristics (e.g., age, gender, and travel experience), nature of tourism products (e.g., intangibility and variability), to the development of information technology (e.g., the prevalent usage of mobile devices for information search), a variety of contextual factors are involved when tourists process information for decision-making. Given the importance of online reviews in the hospitality and tourism field as information sources, this dissertation aims to understand the contextual effects of online reviews on tourists' decision-making. By selecting several contextual factors, three independent and interrelated essays examine how tourists' cognitive or behavioral responses to online reviews are affected by those factors. Considering that local search (e.g., looking for nearby restaurants by using "restaurants near me" as a search query) becomes an important context for using online reviews, both Study 1 and 2 focus on the local search context. Study 1 investigates the role of online reviews in the local search context; specifically, how online reviews are used as ranking factors by local search platforms (LSPs), is examined with an analytical approach. Study 2 investigates tourists' processing of online reviews in the local search context; specifically, how online reviews are differently processed in the local search context (e.g., searching for a restaurant that can be visited immediately) compared with the non-local context (e.g., searching for a restaurant that can be visited in a month), is examined by conducting an experiment. Building on Study 2, Study 3 investigates how tourists' processing of online reviews is affected by another contextual factor, the nature of tourism products; specifically, how the variability of tourism products (i.e., their change in quality over time) influences the way tourists process online reviews, is examined through social media analytics. Results of the three essays provide empirical support for the underlying argument of this dissertation: understanding tourists' responses to online reviews depends on factors that transcend their information characteristics. As a whole, the findings of this dissertation suggest the need for considering the surrounding context to further understand how online reviews affect tourists' decision-making. As practical implications, this dissertation discusses the importance of leveraging various types of information about tourists' context (e.g., location accessed from smartphones, and physiological condition accessed through smartwatches). / Doctor of Philosophy / Tourists use online reviews within specific situations. The effects of such reviews on tourists' decision-making are difficult to explain without considering the surrounding contexts. Depending on when (e.g., before or during the trip), where (e.g., at home or destination), or for which products (e.g., restaurants, attractions, or hotels) they use online reviews, even the same online review can be differently perceived by tourists (e.g., how helpful it is). Therefore, the reviews have an increased or reduced influence on their product choices. This dissertation aims to understand the context-dependence of tourist's use of online reviews. The three essays in this dissertation examine how online reviews are used or processed by tourists under certain context: how online reviews affect tourist's decision-making in the local search context (e.g., searching for "restaurants near me" using smartphones during the trip) (Study 1); how tourists process online reviews while relying on reviews for immediately choosing places to visit (Study 2); and how tourists perceive online reviews when they are recently posted (Study 3). The findings confirm the dynamic nature of tourist's use of online reviews and offer several insights for tourism businesses to hone their strategies on marketing online reviews.

Esta monografía tuvo como propósito demostrar la importancia del marketing digital en el posicionamiento de marca de los productos y/o servicios en las empresas. Estudio investigativo de tipo monografico. Se recopiló información teórica de bases de datos científicas actualizadas, como Scopus, Cielo, Dialnet, Redalyc y Doaj; repositorios internacionales, nacionales y libros obtenidos física y digitalmente. Obteniéndose como resultado las siguientes conclusiones: El marketing digital ha cobrado relevancia, debido a que, viene siendo un intercambio en el proceso de planificación y ejecución para el desarrollo de actividades comerciales, en base a un grupo de instrumentos tecnológicos digitales, que fortalecen las acciones del marketing tradicional. Es decir, conservan la relación de las compañías con su target, mediante diversas plataformas virtuales, buscando conectar permanentemente con ellos para posicionar sus marcas. Asimismo, el alcance teórico del marketing digital comprende desde los elementos para ganar visibilidad en internet, para llegar a los clientes y para ser parte de la conversación. Y finalmente, el alcance teórico de posicionamiento de marca, definido como el resultado que se forma de las percepciones de los clientes, respecto a la recordación y asociación de marca, intención de recomendación y de fidelización. / The purpose of this monograph was to demonstrate the importance of digital marketing in the brand positioning of products and/or services in companies. Research study of monographic type. Theoretical information was collected from updated scientific databases, such as Scopus, Cielo, Dialnet, Redalyc and Doaj; international and national repositories and books obtained physically and digitally. The following conclusions were obtained as a result: Digital marketing has gained relevance, due to the fact that, it has been an exchange in the planning and execution process for the development of commercial activities, based on a group of digital technological instruments, which strengthen the actions of traditional marketing. That is, they maintain the relationship of companies with their target, through various virtual platforms, seeking to permanently connect with them to position their brands. Likewise, the theoretical scope of digital marketing includes elements to gain visibility on the Internet, to reach customers and to be part of the conversation. And finally, the theoretical scope of brand positioning, defined as the result that is formed from the perceptions of customers, regarding brand recall and association, recommendation and loyalty intention.