E-Marketing Strategy for Two Cities Manufacturing Limited - Essay Example

The paper suggests an e-marketing strategy for Two Cities Manufacturing Limited, which is primarily based in UK. The report provides an insight into the techniques that is found best for the company to launch its e-marketing ventures. There are significant reports about Search Engine Optimisation, Designing search phrase etc. A considerable part of the report takes into consideration the tools of communicating with the customers on a virtual platform. The report concludes with some important aspects that the company must monitor in its effort to tread the domain of online marketing. Table Of Contents Introduction 3 Online Marketing 4 Register a domain name 4 Search Engine 6 Key Words and Choice of Search Engine 6 Website Development 7 Online Advertising 9 Objectives of Online Advertising 9 Where to Advertise Online 10 E-Mail Marketing 11 Commercial Blogs 11 Expand Values on Offline Marketing 12 Issues that need attention 12 Introduction The advent of the internet and the increasing familiarity of the same among people have opened up a new window of marketing. Today, manufacturers and companies are increasingly using the online mode of communication to connect to the customers. This has led to a new field of marketing which is defined as the e-marketing. E-marketing is different from the traditional models of marketing in quite a number of ways. In simple terms, this mode of marketing uses the internet as the basic platform to reach the target customers. The inherent advantages of e-marketing lies in the fact that the marketing team can directly interact with the end user. This empowers them to modify and improve the changes needed that might be instrumental in providing the customer with desires satisfaction. The most appealing attribute of the e-marketing techniques lies in the ability to utilise a limited amount of space in the most optimum way. A physical advertisement can be used only to inform the customer about the product and the offering. In the virtual domain, an advertisement can be used to inform a customer as well as entice him to purchase the product if he so desires by providing an option to click on the icon of the advertisement. The internet is also potentially equipped to provide a single point contact between marketers and the customers. The distribution costs come down drastically by using this medium. A company can monitor the buying behaviour of the customers. This is particularly helpful while analysing the consumer behaviour of the customers. From the customer's point of view, they are facilitated as far as convenience of contact is concerned. The marketers and sellers are just a click away. There is a significant reduction in travelling costs of the customers. E-marketing is a field of revolution that has brought the entire market into a small screen in front of the customer. Online Marketing In the competitive world of today, the most crucial factor which plays the deciding role for a consumer is the availability of the required information at the right time. The traditional methods of communication for a business seem to be not enough. The advertisements through newspapers, magazines or journals and other traditional forms lack the personal touch. There are number of newspapers being published and it is not possible for every one to go through all the newspaper or other form of print media. Therefore, there is every possibility that the intended customer might not view the advertisement. Also, this form of advertisement suffers from the very important consideration of market reach. As print media or other forms of traditional media is able to cater only a few handful of customers. Advertisement through television is also confined to a customer base of certain geography. So, to overcome all these hindrances the online marketing is believed to be the appropriate source. With online marketing in place, any interested person might satisfy his query just with a click. There are a few proven way to market online. At the very outset, the company requires to have a domain name. Register a domain name In simple words, a domain name makes up the address of a website which generally ends up with .com, .net, .info, .uk, etc. To select a domain name for a website of any medium sized company, it is preferred that the company has certain key words of its product into it. While a prospective customer makes search through a search engine, he generally types in the keyword and not name of any company (unless it has relatively big market share or market reputation). The Two Cities Manufacturing Ltd, which is into the business of manufacturing lawn mowers for commercial as well as private purposes, should keep consider the fact before selecting the domain name. If it goes with the words like 'Two Cities', it will hardly initiate any impact as the words two cities is not directly related lawn mowers. Rather the company should consider such terms which has a relation with the type of business it is into. Key terms like 'lawn mowers' or 'garden' might suffice the objective of Two Cities Manufacturing Limited. Though one can have a domain name of more than 60 letters but it should not be long if that can be helped. Domain names are preferred short because it helps the prospective customer to remember it, which would help him to directly visit the website. The other consideration that the company should lay stress upon is that the end part of the domain name. The company should carefully select the end part based upon its objective. If the company decides only to cater to the United Kingdom market, it can go with '.uk' If the purpose is to provide information, Two Cities Manufacturing Ltd can opt for '.info'. If the domain is to be used for purely commercial purpose and to be viewed globally, the company can use '.com'. Also, the company should take proper steps to ensure it gets the domain name registered with other endings also (though it might not be used). This is required to prevent competitors using the same domain which might confuse the viewers. It must be remembered that the domain name will be an important tool to enhance the identity of the company among the target audience. It must have that attractiveness as well be catchy enough so as to promoter two cities in the internet space. Search Engine Key Words and Choice of Search Engine Having a domain name with key words might not serve the purpose if it cannot be accessed through the search engines. As Two Cities Manufacturing Limited is a middle-sized manufacturing company, it is most likely that search engine will have a major role in its online marketing. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) as it is often known as, have a few requisites: To ensure easy accessibility by the customers, the company should register its domain name with popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc. The search engine in which it is to be registered should be selected after a thorough market research. To have a prominent place among the links that the search engine displays after a key word is searched, the website should have the repetition of the particular key word with in the website. If the website can have the keywords in every page of it, it is expected that the search engine will come up with the link of the website, when the keywords are searched. Two Cities Manufacturing Limited can really benefit from the search engine if it has the repeated usage of words and phrases (related to the business they are into) in its website. This activity will require company officials to devote sufficient efforts in designing the entire web content. Phrases must be chosen with utmost care. The language must portray the utility of the lawn mower as well. In order to be available to the residents of other countries as well, the company can prefer to have different webpages for different countries. The sales of spare parts generate considerable part of the revenues for the company; hence this aspect must be mentioned within the website. The local names of the spare parts, in addition to the technical names will make it easy for visitors to track the offerings. Website Development As the company has registered with a domain name and also has support from the popular search engines, the next and the most crucial step is to develop a website for the company. Website can be defined as the contemporary medium through which a company can reach to the entire world with just a click and can inform the viewer with all the aspects of its business. The website should essentially satisfy the queries of the customer (or the viewer as the case may be). This point is crucial because it's a non-personal medium. The website also should have a decent outlook and easy to navigate. A website development has certain steps like: Website Design - The design of the website should be innovative and decent. It must not contain whole lot of advertisements which might discourage the viewer. The website should have the professional logo of Two Cities Manufacturing Ltd. Among other facilities, it is must that the website contains e-mail capture of the prospective customers. They may be requested to fill up an enquiry form and a separate section should be dedicated for the purpose. Also, the website should state clear privacy policy. Designing of website is never complete without 'About Us' section. This section should all relevant information regarding the company. To encourage the viewers, the company might also contain testimonials from persons or organisations of repute. Web hosting and management - To tap the customers world wide, it is must that the company has an active web hosting service. Web hosting service ensures that the website is viewed through world wide web. For the purpose, the company has to contact web hosts. Web host will in turn provide space on the server (which the web hosts might own or might have taken lease) to the company on the internet. Partners for the website link - To ensure aggressive marketing strategy, a mid-sized company like Two Cities Manufacturing Limited cannot solely depend upon the search engines or the key words (in case customers do not remember the domain name). To overcome the limitation, the company should have online partners. The online partners would provide the link of the domain of the company on their website. This can be based on mutual advertisement or be fee-based. The partners for website link should be selected cautiously. The product of those companies which are complimentary to that of Two Cities Manufacturing Limited should be approached. For this purpose, the company might also have its advertisements displayed on popular sites e.g. the mail sites. Another method which can be quite helpful in generating sales on the internet is the link sharing aspect. In the initial stages of marketing, Two Cities can take the help of other familiar websites. It can have a business agreement with companies who provide cleaning services or housekeeping services etc. The lawn mower is sure to get noticed by customers who visit those websites. Online Advertising There is absolutely no doubt that online advertising is the need of the generation. The major advantage of advertising online is the extensive market reach. People from home, where ever he is based and whenever he wants, might view the advertisement and thereby get to know about the product. There can be several forms of online advertising which generally includes wall paper advertisement, pop-ups, floating advertisements, etc. Objectives of Online Advertising Online advertising has numerous advantages which has made it such a popular medium today. The objectives of online advertising include: The scope of internet marketing is huge. As it has been mentioned earlier that advertising online helps the customer to stay informed beyond the considerations of geography and time. Company can keep a track on the customers, those who are showing interest on the products through the means of online advertising. This can be done by having a database of e-mail ids on the website. Also, the customers can put subscribe to the newsletters of the company by which the company can inform them about the recent major developments. The online or the internet advertising has a very low entry charge. There are certain provision of getting the website financed which is often used by the smaller companies to enter into the arena of online marketing. The company has to pay the financing company on the basis of the numbers of clicks. Online advertising is much cheaper than the traditional mediums of advertising. Once the advertisement is uploaded on the internet, it reaches to a huge number of customers irrespective of country or colour. This saves the cost which would have incurred to advertise on different newspapers, magazines or television on the basis of region or country. Another objective of online advertising is to keep the customer informed. If there is any change in any policy of the company or any related information to the company, the customers can be informed at prompt through online medium of advertising. Where to Advertise Online After having a detailed framework of how to advertise and what to advertise, the next big question is where to advertise. To decide the locations of the advertisement, the Two Cities Manufacturing Limited should have a proper framework of its target customers. As a manufacturer of lawn-moaners for both commercial and private purpose, it should try to advertise on the websites on those companies which are to be visited by the garden owners. To attract the private users, the company may think of advertising on the websites of reputed banks which has a high chance of being visited by the wealthy customers owning gardens. The company can also advertise on the websites of the manufacturers of gardening instruments, which are surely to be viewed by the lawn-owners. It has also been observed that most of the posh hotels are outsourcing the service of gardening. If the Two Cities Company Limited advertises on the websites of reputed hotel chains (always with big lawns), it is most likely the hotel chain will view the advertisement and might switch over to using lawn moaners of Two Cities Manufacturing Limited instead of outsourcing it. The customers who are visiting the website of the hotel chain might get a feeling that the hotel uses the lawn moaner of this company. It may open up a new array of customers for the company who would long to have a well decorated lawn like that of hotel. E-Mail Marketing A major advantage over all other means of advertising is that of being personal in nature. The most appropriate way to make an advertisement personal in nature, keeping the cost low, is to circulate it through electronic mail. The Two Cities Manufacturing Limited can send personally addressed e-mails to all the databases it has stating the benefits of their lawn-moaners. When an electronic mail reaches the inbox of a person, he is bound to give a look to the mail, even if he is not in need of the product. In the way, the information about the company and its product gets spread which will be highly beneficial for a mid-sized company like Two Cities Manufacturing Limited. As the company is also involved into the business of manufacturing spare-parts (which it sale directly to the customers), e-mail marketing can be very advantageous. The old customers can be informed about the latest available updates of the spare-parts and in the way, the customers would stay satisfied and could be retained. Commercial Blogs It would be a great idea for Two Tales Manufacturing Limited to nurture with the most online happening thing of the era, the blog. The blog is a type of online diary where a person can record his version and interpretation of things. Two Cities Manufacturing Limited can encourage its customers to share their experience over the use of lawn-mowers, its advantages and its problems online through blogs. The other persons (the readers of the blog) can put up his comment on the write up. In the way, major chunk of queries can be sorted out without any direct involvement of the company as the customers (bloggers in the case) would mutually assist each other. For other cases, company executives can answer the queries Also, blogs would initiate a sense of belongingness among the customers and they could be managed in a more integrated way. Expand Values on Offline Marketing Though online marketing has number of advantageous over the traditional ways of marketing, still the offline marketing also deserves due importance. The prime reason of the need of offline marketing is that till today usage of internet is highly concentrated and the entire target market may not have the access to internet. Apart from that, estate managements or the municipal or the amenity councils might not take decisions just on the basis of online marketing. They might like to have a trial run of the product as they are the bulk purchasers. So, the company should employ well-trained sales person who could personally visit those target groups and convince them about the product. The advertisements of the products should be more based on the magazines concerned with gardening and the like. The company can also employ sales promotion techniques like. Issues that need attention The company should keep certain pertinent facts in mind while designing the way to e-marketing. The most important among these is the optimum balance between traditional methods and the online ways of marketing. Online marketing would require a sufficient amount of fund during the initial period; the flow of funds has to come from revenues which can only be guaranteed only through the way the company has been marketing. The company must pay attention towards comfort of the customers when they shift to e-marketing techniques. The website of the company will take it to the global arena. It must have proper legal procedures in place so that there is no scope of problem in future. Read More