Online Marketing as a Part of the Marketing Mix - Case Study Example

Online Brand Marketing Introduction Depending on the perception of an individual, internet marketing refers to a variety of things. Traditionally, internet marketing was attributed to owning a website or placing banner ads to other websites. Today, the idea of internet marketing is evolving at a tremendous pace, and a company can use a mix of components to allow it boost its sales (Duermyer, 2013). This is regardless of whether the operations of the company are offline, partly online or completely online. In this case, the decision of the company to adopt internet marketing strategy heavily depends on its overall marketing strategy. Today, online marketing is being regarded a part of the marketing mix by every company, and it is the only form of marketing for online businesses (Alton, 2013). This paper will evaluate the online marketing plan for Outwordly Insurance Ltd to determine whether it will impact on the marketability of the company, and help it to boost the sale of its insurance products and services. Marketing Environment Outwordly Insurance Ltd is an insurance company that is situated in Huddersfield whose business goals revolve around the provision of car and home insurance products. In the past few years, Outwordly Insurance has struggled in the competitive insurance market, and has identified a need to diversify its market and range of products. The company is currently selling car insurance, contents insurance and buildings insurance, though these products do not compete effectively in the market. As a result, the firm shows that an online presence would be appropriate in terms of allowing it to realize a broad market as well as engage and retain its current and past customers in an effective way. Outwordly Insurance Ltd can be able to meet the insurance needs of its customers in their homes or place of business. However, the company feels that an online presence will allow it to increase the range of products that it offers to its customers. By incorporating the latest technology available to it, the company feels that its customers will be able to take note of the various insurance products that it offers, utilize the latest apps to set up reminders, view policies and make payments (Piscopo, 2012). The owners of Outwordly Insurance Ltd are Certified Financial Planners (CFPs). Since this is a professional certification mark for financial planners, the company sets itself apart from its competitors as well as its people. CFP candidates are supposed to meet education, examination, ethics requirements and experience. At Outwordly Insurance Ltd, all the customers are supposed to take a needs-based test in order to determine the insurance products that they need. As a result, clients are assured that they can only purchase those products that address their needs effectively, and which are legitimately warranted (Piscopo, 2012). Company Objectives Outwordly Insurance Ltd believes that in for it order to provide its clients with the broadest and best selection of insurance services, it should continue to grow and diversify the products that it offers to its customers. In order to grow, Outwordly Insurance Company should realize the following objectives Boost its revenue by 10 percent annually in order to capture a sufficient market share Attain direct appointments by the end of the fourth year in order to facilitate for increased cash flow within the company (E-Marketing, 2006). Strategy Implementation Target Market Strategy The first target for Outwordly Insurance Ltd will be the young and ambitious families. Most families have diverse insurance needs that vary from homeowners/renters insurance, insurance policies and car insurance. As a result, all prospects at Outwordly Insurance Ltd will be required to complete a complimentary questionnaire that will be based on needs in order to ascertain what insurance needs will be warranted to them (Chaffey, 2009). The young and the restless also serve as a target market for Outwordly Insurance Ltd. The company will target this group by taking advantage of its competitive car insurance rates, technology insurance and renters insurance (Ferrell & Hartline, 2012). In the case of exurbanites, Outwordly Insurance Ltd will target this market to allow it evaluate its life insurance and long-term care products. In this case, the company will target those groups that have children in college or aging people to take care of. This group can also benefit from Medicare supplemental insurance as well as auto insurance in the case of students (Chaffey, 2009). With regard to local businesses, Outwordly Insurance Ltd will focus on the myriad of insurance needs for small businesses such as umbrella policies, safe harbor accounts, life insurance policies, retirement and defined benefit plans for their employees. Outwordly Insurance Ltd plans to meet every business owner, and individually determine the insurance needs that are convenient to them (Ferrell & Hartline, 2012). Based on market needs, Outwordly Insurance Ltd will regard local target market as being rife with insurance needs. This is because people at different states of life will always have insurance needs that will remain unmet. In the case of market trends, especially those industries that are across the board, the insurance business is being noted to head to an environment that is more technologically efficient with the help of internet sites and apps that are designed to foster for faster approval and turnaround times (Flood, 2000). In terms of market growth, Outwordly Insurance Ltd plans to grow its revenues at a yearly rate of 10 percent. This estimate is the line while compared to the 9.6 percent growth that is being realized in the population (Piscopo, 2012). Positioning Outwordly Insurance Ltd has strong business ethics and a desire to ensure that it selects its insurance products on a need basis, as well as offer diverse products that address different insurance needs of its customers. Outwordly Insurance Ltd will hold itself to serve as the premium insurance issuer in Huddersfield and surrounding regions (Economic Times, 2014). Differentiation Strategy Unlike its competitors, Outwordly Insurance Ltd will embark on the Unique Selling Preposition (USP) strategy, which will allow it to be a low pressure insurance company of choice. Though most insurance companies award their agents with commissions to make a living, Outwordly Insurance Ltd will ensure that the agencies adopt their personal views in order to facilitate for honesty in the insurance practice (Flood, 2000). The owners of Outwordly Insurance Ltd are taking the needs of their clients to the next level, whereby they require the clients to take an exam that is based on needs in order to identify which requirements are being met and which ones are not (Bondarouk & Olivas-Lujan, 2013). In case Outwordly Insurance Ltd does not emphasize on evaluation, then the company would be providing invaluable services to its clients. With the adoption of the product differentiation strategy, Outwordly Insurance will be able to distinguish itself from its peers by selecting its products and services broadly, and ensure that they are delivered through professional means by the Certified Financial Analysts. The agents that are affiliated with the company will sell services that are based on needs. This will play a crucial role in terms of eliminating wasteful products as well as those insurance products that the customers deem to be expensive (Ang, 2014). This will make the customers comfortable when they know that their choice to purchase insurance products is worth the effort. Unlike its competitors, Outwordly Insurance will avoid the “scare tactics”, which most companies use to frighten their customers to purchase expensive, excessive and wasteful insurance products. This is especially the case when some aggressive agents may need to meet policy requirements for the monthly quota. Positioning Statement Outwordly Insurance Ltd is an independent, full service insurance company that provides its customers with a broad range of products and services to choose from, especially those that are tailored to meet the needs of its clients. All the services that the firm suggests are based on the unique need of the clients, and the Certified Financial Partners are the ones who deliver them to the clients. They services are offered in a professional, low pressure and confidential environment (Huber, 2011). Pricing Strategy Outwordly Insurance will utilize a pricing strategy that is competition-based. This means that the company will set the prices for its products and services based on the prices that the competitors set, which serve as the standard for the insurance industry (Huber, 2011). Promotion and Advertising Outwordly Insurance will rely on various marketing blitz in order to get the word out to the clients. The owners of the company are also members of the chamber of commerce and will thus participate in the grand opening of the chamber. The other promotional strategies that the company will embark on are as follows Improving the overall ranking of the company at Google by making use of various media and marketing firms. This will make it possible to get Outwordly Insurance’s name on top when searched using major search engines (Hubbard, 2001). The company will use marketing agency, which will facilitate in the telemarketing campaigns. Make purchases for lead lists from existing local lenders (Jameel & Hershenson, 2010). Utilize websites that rank customers such as merchantcircle.com or Yelp.com Word of mouth will be efficient since Outwordly insurance prefers referrals, and it will always request for referrals. Engage in onsite promotions (Jameel & Hershenson, 2010). Outwordly Insurance will sponsor etching events that are affiliated with windshield, whereby the VIN number belonging to a particular vehicle will be etched to the glass on a car in order to minimize incidences of theft (Knop, Salʹnikov, & I︠A︡shchenko, 2007). The company will link with various local Safety Institutes to allow it to offer inspections that are attributed to child safety. In the case of renters insurance, the company will drop off bagels to managers of apartments (Parkin, 2009). The corporation will engage in free seminars whose focus will aim at needs of health insurance, financial goals and retirement needs. Domain Name and Costs The domain name for Outwordly Insurance Limited will be http://www.outwordlyinsurance.com, and the estimated costs for the website will be as follows: Web Planning design and development time (96 hours) - $2,800 Domain name - $15 per year Hosting - $100 per year Continued maintenance of the website - $500 per year Marketing of the website - $800 (Herman, 2013). For the website to be fully functioning, it will encompass 5 pages, and its outline will entail the following: Home – This will entail the events that the company is hosting or other updates that the company wishes to inform its clients about About Us - This will provide information of the background of Outwordly Insurance and the way in which it undertakes its operations. Products & Solutions – This will entail the various insurance products and services that the company offers its clients. In this case, the clients can choose the option that addresses their needs effectively. Customer Relations – This will entail insurance user guides and tools, downloads that are available to clients, and online help in case customers wish to communicate with the customer service department for further clarification. Contact Us – This option will provide the clients with an option to get into contact with the company in case they have any questions, comments or complaints to raise regarding the mode of operation of the company. Social Media and SEO Awareness Strategy Being the owner of a small business enterprise, you should take time to know the products and services that you want to deliver to your clients. In order for Outwordly Insurance to be successful in terms on implementing its online marketing platform, it should understand what Social Media and SEO mean, and the effect that they can have in terms of boosting the marketability of the company (Boudreau, 2013). The company will focus on its goals, the audience and all the resources that are part of investment (Dunphy, 2012). Getting social is one of the major ways in which Outwordly Insurance can manage to raise awareness of the products and services that it offers to its clients. In this case, the company should be active in terms of making its online presence through major social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook (Dunphy, 2012). The best strategies that Outwordly Insurance can adopt with respect to implementation of social media are as follows. Community building is one of the vital factors that the company should embark on in order to be successful in social media. It should encourage people to like its Facebook page and to follow its Twitter page. In this case, those people who join the company’s social media platform would be provided with information regarding the products that the company is offering and the rates being charged (Boudreau, 2013). Moreover, the company can host contests and seminars that advise the clients on the appropriate products that can address their insurance needs effectively. Also, the company can form partnerships with other firms for promotion purposes (Li, 2013). After Outwordly Insurance becomes active on social media, the company would realize that it is increasingly difficult to distinguish itself from other companies. This is because everyone else is embarking on a similar strategy with the aim of promoting their products and services (Li, 2013). The people who take charge of algorithms and networks have adopted a strategy that aims at making the platforms as fulfilling as possible. Therefore, in order for Outwordly Insurance to stay relevant on social media, it should adopt a strategy that supports social media and SEO (Usher, Roy, & Parsaei, 1998). Though social networking sites search for ways in which a business can remain relevant in the clients’ minds, the same case applies in the case of Outwordly Insurance. This is where the company should take the next step by bringing in more pieces to the puzzle with the use of SEO (Tuten, 2008). Search Engine Optimization refers to the way in which a company optimizes its content in order for it to realize high rankings in search engines, such as Google. It is crucial for Outwordly insurance to understand that social media sites operate in the same way like search engines, and their algorithms are also complex (Taboola, 2014). Therefore, it is appropriate for Outwordly Insurance to link its SEO strategy with its social media strategy to attain higher rankings in social media. In this case, Outwordly Insurance should coordinate the content regarding the services that it offers with the social media strategy. The keywords that drive content to the website of the company should relate to the insurance industry, and the diverse products and services that the company offers (Tuten, 2008). In order for Outwordly Insurance Ltd to implement its future content, it should use various tools that can help it to undertake a keyword research as well as create a strategy that can allow it to integrate most of the popular search terms that can drive traffic to its website. The company should then use the topics that it obtains from keyword tools to post content that is relevant to consumers on social media sites (Smallbiz, n.d). Outwordly Insurance should identify the sites that people look for content, such as news or entertainment. This is crucial in terms of creating relevant content that the company can share with its clients on social networking sites. Additionally, it is crucial for Outwordly Insurance to maintain its social presence (Smallbiz, n.d). This means that the company should constantly post engaging and relevant content to its social media site, since it is about engaging clients on both ends (Schnaars, 2000). Moreover, the company should post in other local community accounts in order to make its presence known, and allow more people to pay significant attention to its operations. In this case, the most vital thing for Outwordly Insurance to do is to pay significant attention to the ways in which the algorithms that are used in social media sites impact on the company’s newsfeed. For instance, images are highly valued in the case of news feed, thereby indicating that the company should consider adopting a social media strategy that utilizes the post of heavy images (Schnaars, 2000). In this perspective therefore, it is true that in order for Outwordly Insurance to remain relevant in the market, it should focus on two major goals. These include creating effective content that is capable of integrating with social media and leveraging its influence by getting involved in them. Information and Process Developments E-marketing refers to a form of marketing that uses the internet, and targets the use of emails and the World Wide Web. Adopting effective e-marketing activities ensures that a website realizes long-term exposure across the internet. By creating and publishing a website on the web, regardless of how appealing it is, this does not guarantee that Outwordly Insurance’s clients can find it (Rose, 2004). The website of the company would become valuable if it gets found by the appropriate clients. Since there are millions of websites that are demanding for the same attention just like Outwordly Insurance, the company should market its website in order to be visible (E-Marketing, 2006). The best ways in which Outwordly Insurance can get noticed is by integrating both its offline and online marketing techniques and strategies. For instance, the company should make use of traditional marketing to notify is customers about its website. It can do this by including its web address on its flyers, brochures, letterheads, print ads, business cards, signage and packaging, as well as other essential forms of traditional marketing (Rose, 2004). The company should also incorporate its direct marketing and public relations to its overall marketing campaigns. This would make the website visible over the internet over a long duration, and thus allow the company to multiply the benefits that it realizes from its website (Prakash, Rolland, & Pernici, 2002). The various e-marketing activities that Outwordly Insurance should embark on consist of banner advertising, search engine marketing, email marketing, viral marketing, e-zine marketing, online press releases, affiliate marketing, mailing list postings, newsgroup list postings and online promotions among others. Though the effects of all these techniques and strategies differ, Outwordly Insurance would realize long-term benefits by combining most of them (Chaffey, 2009). For instance, though the direct effectiveness of banner ads is significantly low, the company should not overlook them. Even though e-marketing is one of the most powerful tool for undertaking marketing online, it is the most heavily abused, and the company should therefore use it exclusively on an opt-in basis (Taboola, 2014). In the current commercial environment, the relevance of successful marketing of a product is dependent on its quality. Therefore, before marketing its products and services, it is appropriate for Outwordly Insurance to ensure that they are remarkable, and that its website is state-of-the-art. However, if it is not possible to find the website while using major search engines, then the sales that the company makes would be similar to those on a company that does not have a website (Ang, 2014). References Alton, L. (2013). The Basics of Online Marketing Strategy in 2013. Retrieved from http://www.searchenginejournal.com/the-basics-of-online-marketing-strategy-in-2013/66623/ Ang, L. (2014). Integrated Marketing Communications: A focus on new technologies and advanced theories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bondarouk, T., & Olivas-Lujan, M. R. (2013). Social Media in Strategic Management. New York: Emerald Group Publishing. Boudreau, J. (2013). How to Integrate Social Media abd SEO to Drive Brand Awareness. 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Integrated Product and Process Development: Methods, Tools, and Technologies. New York: John Wiley & Son. Read More