Academic Paper from the year 2023 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: A, , course: DOCTOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, language: English, abstract: This essay evaluates investment in online marketing, its impact on influencing consumer decisions and suggests ways in which a start – up company can exploit social media to market their products or services. The outline of paragraphs in this essay starts with an overview of the topic, definition of key terms, evaluation of investment in online marketing, the impact of online marketing, social media benefits and choices, risks of social media marketing and conclusion.The revolution of online marketing and the innovation of faster communication channels continue to present opportunities for start-ups to quickly reach out, attract and retain customers. This essay evaluates investment in online marketing, its impact on influencing consumer decisions and suggests ways in which a start – up company can exploit social media to market their products or services. As the business World is becoming more and more digitized, capacities to adapt to new advancements has become a challenging reality to businesses.For a business to develop and grow, it must be able to mobilize reasonable customers. Mobilizing customers using online marketing and social media channels requires investment in operating systems. Further, Li emphasized the need for investment in order to enhance the business capacity to utilize social media. Often, businesses get challenged when additional investment is required, especially start ups. Improved business performance is highly desirable.