Development of Digital Marketing Strategy and Plan For an Organisation Using Specific Digital - Case Study Example

Introduction Digital marketing is a contemporary way marketing that most of the organizations in the 21st century have admired to incorporate into their strategy. According to Jones and Ryan (2012: 4), successful digital marketing strategy incorporates much of social networks particularly on the advanced technological environment in the current world. In order to reach diverse customers in the world of business, an organization has an obligatory function especially in the current business environment to develop an effective digital marketing strategy that focus on various avenues that includes website intelligence, E-mail marketing, social media (like facebook youtube and twitter), online customer engagement, online public relations, strategic partnership as well as online reputation management (Chaffey and Chadwick, 2012). These avenues apparently foster digital marketing strategy by representing a positive image to the customers around the world. This business report develops a digital marketing strategy and plan for Sport Ghornatah Company in Saudi Arabia. The company is currently regarded as the best sport goods producer to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia since the prices of these goods are affordable. However, the following challenges hinders the Section 1. Challenges and objectives 1a. Marketing Communication Challenges It is important to understand that organization marketing, market itself, customers’ channel and customers themselves are different at the moment than they were 50 year ago (Chaffey and Chadwick, 2012). Therefore, has suffered from the following challenges in the 21st century; Industry challenges The changing nature of the market Market research shows that the industry structure as well as the buyer needs on sportswear has changed (Blake 1990: 8). According to Simth and Taylor (2004: 4), marketing communication are changing as well. New information as well as tools are derived to cope with the changing needs. More than 400 million customers of Sport Ghornata have become hardly accessible without an effective integrated marketing communication. In that regard Chaffey and Chadwick (2012) points out that initiating digital marketing as a way of reaching customers in the contemporary business market intercepts the challenge. Apparently, United Kingdom sport retail market is currently strong than before. It has a wide and active portfolio that content with the economic downturn. Sport Ghornatah unlike Adidas and Nike offers extensive products ranges with recognized brands. However, company’s (Sport Ghornatah) message to customers not only in Saudi Arabia but also in UK market differ from how Nike and Adidas among others in the UK market. The promotion offers has not been advertised through social networking sites like facebook, you tube or twitter and thus the sales in the market remains as low. Therefore, Sport Ghornatah needs to consider the mode of promotion particularly through social networking sites like facebook and twitter in order to increase its sales both in Saudi Arabia market and United Kingdom. Business challenges Saudi Arabia Economy Saudi Arabia is an oil-based nation and the government has a tough control especially on business activities. The seventh plan of 2000-2004 focused on diversification of economy. Private sector was to play a major role in advancing the average GDP to 3.16% per year. The target of the government as well is to ensure that more than 800, 000 job opportunities in Saudi are created for the people. All this depends on the private sector. Sport Ghornatah is among the private business in Saudi Arabia and most of them has 2.5% tax impact increase from the government for the nation achieve set strategies. Apparently, this is inevitable and it has a significant impact on Sport Ghornatah retail business especially at this time when companies are battling with recession. The government controls the policy of price reduction thus customer purchase perhaps may be reduced (Chaffey and Chadwick,2012). The growing knowledgeable consumers According to United States Trade Commission Report (2011) consumers in the current contemporary business world are getting batter day after day in terms of interpreting marketing communication information particularly those on social networks. Saudi Arabians can easily see advertising campaign information of most of the competitors in the industry therefore they can find easy offers at the favorable prices. Perhaps this would change the profit margin of the Sport Ghornatah negatively since the customers are knowledgable enough to look for good offers at best prices from major competitors (Adidas and Nike). Organization challenges Technology Mobile internet is increasingly used in the current contemporary world (Chaffey and Chadwick, 2012: 28). It seems Sport Ghornatah is reluctant to develop a content managed website that would have determined company’s future growth. Although the company has developed more than 31 stores, Saudi Arabia market which is quite similar to United Kingdom market has embraced online shopping. Saudi Arabia customers may buy products online from either Adidas or Nike once several times over a month. Sport Ghornatah digital capabilities at the moment still lies below average and may be 4% of the company’s budget needs to be allocated for digital marketing. Section 1b. Marketing Communication Objectives It is important to incorporate marketing mix (4P’s) model to the plan in order to define the main objectives of every component in the business. 4C’s as well consider perspective especially on cost of price and communication (promotion). The following objectives are derived; Objective 1: To provide a reliable online marketing scheme (promotions) that will improve purchase perception over the next 1 year through online customer interview and survey. The potential impact of the above objective would increase the conversion rate by 5% thus achieving target average annual revenue of 7%. Inaction risk is that every competitor exists in the world of advanced technology so it’s upon each one of them to exercise online intelligence. Objective 2: To increase followers on social media sites by creating and updating ads blog and developing You Tube ad videos every month for the first year of implementation. Upload of videos on You Tube have to be done at least once after fortnight. The objective is expected to guide percentage increase in sales revenue of the company by 9% with a profit gross margin of 25 %. Though there will be low market response from the consumers at least the company will exploit digital marketing opportunities for further improvement. Objective 3: To acquire 100, 000 different online customers by the end of this financial year with £20 acquisition cost and £5 expected profitability. This will guide the company towards building a strong capital structure by the end of the financial year thus making it more competitive in the regional market (Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom). The level of website intelligence may be costly during first 3 months of implementation but returns at the end of the financial year would be relatively high. Objective 4: To increase Saudi Arabia market share by 7% and United Kingdom market share by 3% by the end of 2014. Increasing United Kingdom share by 3% would reduce the cost of company by 5% since the government has weak control over foreign investment. Significant resources for implementation especially on product promotion towards new customers would be used by the company for the purpose of building strong reputation. Section 2. Techniques and Requirements Section 2a. Critique of the Existing Digital Communication Website Sport Ghornatah website is well maintained in terms of upgrading and updating. However, though it contain comprehensive catalogue it does little to support the for mention objectives. The following explanations justify the above statement; The company’s website does not have customer database integration system. This means that the first objective perhaps may not be achieved with this kind of a website since customers who purchases products cannot be trucked and their perception on the product obtained realized whatsoever. It is very shocking to realize that Sport Ghornatah has only 474 followers in titter account while less than 5000 facebook likes. This represents misplaced opportunity since facebook, twitter and you tube are the major social networking sites to promote company’s products (Chaffey and Chadwick, 2012). Though sales visit staff has derived an effort of counting negative perception of the customers, this may not apply to customers who purchase higher volume items. The site does not guarantee return policy when the product has a defect unless a customer contacts the staff for more clarification on this. Analysis shows that 40% of the visits to Sport Ghornatah website were new customers in 2012 and it represents a 5.5 % increase compared to 2011. 12% of these customers represented a conversion rate of 4.9%. The returns are relatively low unlike when site traffic is high. Apparently, this would be the best way to increase conversion as well as sales. Mobile Sport Ghornatah has not optimized its website such that customers can access the products even with the ‘simple’ accessing internet. The website is only viewable on tables or smart-phone and is not easily navigable though. Market research shows that mobile traffic is as low as 2% and contributes only 1.7% of the total revenue. The conversion rate in 2012 to the mobile visits was as low as at 0.5 in 2012. This implies that though the company has embraced the new technology, an emphasis still lies on to venture into the opportunity created and increase the market share by 7% as stated by the main objective. Adidas is the only competitor with optimized website that can allow mobile access. Therefore, Sport Ghornatah has an opportunity to work on website optimization at least to raise the conversion rate and thus widening market share. Also, texting through mobile numbers of the customers is an advanced way of reaching the customers in the market. However, Sport Ghornatah has not utilized this communication measure in reaching Saudi Arabia customers. Perhaps the company may use this mode of communication as a typical reminder of the future promotions of the company. An advance of it is to integrate internet based tool for SMS and email services. Email marketing The email marketing campaign of Sport Ghornatah have had mixing results because of the changing needs and structure of Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom market. 20% of all the recipients open their emails to check on the promotions of the company. On the other side, 7% of the total customers click email link on the company’s website. This is a create opportunity for the company to realize its potential customers and offer them with the needs they want at the moment. However, the company site staff has not categorized its customers such the sales team knows the appropriate offers for the customers. Testing on the choice of persuasive wording has not been taken care of by the website management team and thus limited responses have been received. The company has been spending approximately 16 to 19 dollars every month on email communication. Therefore, for appropriate usage of resources, the company needs to understand the kind of customers in the 21st century and use deploy appropriate email communication that would increase revenues at the end of the day. Section 2b. Digital Communication Proposal Sport Ghornnata should increase its brand awareness in order to meet its targets in the market. Actually, the company has been using digital marketing communication. However, the extent of usage has not been fully incorporated into the business strategy as a vital element of revenues growth. Therefore, the company should focus on fully maximizing the use of digital marketing communication in order to achieve the objectives mentioned above. The proposal will focus on how Sport Ghornatah Company will optimize its digital communications to accomplish the goals; Proposal on website It is advisable for the website management team to record all information pertaining customer login location, the choice of online purchases as well as delivery spot of various items. This would help the company determine the potential customers as well as segmenting the market for easy and effective access. In order to support the above objectives, the company should work with web agencies particularly to monitor and moderate time of access by customers at various parts. Facebook, you tube and twitter handles should be feasible to the customers so that it is easy for a customer whenever he/she want to share a promotion posted on the site. Setting up social campaigns to increase traffic perhaps is essential for engaging customers in to the digital arena. Mobile The company anticipates that the mobile media would have a continued growth in more than three years to come. Actually this will flourish since the technology keeps on andvancing day to day. For instance the introduction of ipad and iphones by Apple and Google Android has extensively increased the site visits over the last one year. The WIFI hotspots in various retail outlets of the company has attracted a lot of customers in the market. The expanding platform of Sport Ghornatah at the moment, if mobile is embraced, may not depend on carrying market research but engaging customers directly through mobile media. This can help also in reaching the targeted mass audience of the company. Embracing digital marketing would be a revolution growth by Sport Ghornatah. Communication Proposal- Email Marketing This is an effective tool of digital marketing since it enhances direct engagement of the company with the customers. The information pertain company’s products can be passed directly to the customer in different forms like; Monthly news latters, Different offers depending on modes of buying, Reward of top performers, Breaking news of the company. Direct engagement through the above modes would lead a customer respond immediately if he/she has a concern. Unfortunately, this has been partially achieved by Sport Ghornatah and if this is well initiated, then the acquisition of 100, 000 new customers will be achieved as anticipated by the company though its objectives and goals. Section 2c. Critical Success Factors The following factors needs to be considered for the success of implementation and achievement of the mentioned objectives. Sports Ghornatah Main Objectives Critical Success Factors To provide a reliable online marketing scheme (promotions) that will improve purchase perception over the next 1 year through online customer interview and survey. The potential impact of the above objective would increase the conversion rate by 5% thus achieving target average annual revenue of 7%. Formation of a decent market design for the products. This will involve integration of all products into the company’s website plus all the offers of different products. Online market monitoring and mitigation of risks involved during online access and purchase. Giving attentive and precise regulations to the customers. Regular training of online marketing team To increase followers on social media sites by creating and updating ads blog and developing You Tube ad videos every month for the first year of implementation. Upload of videos on You Tube have to be done at least once after fortnight. The objective is expected to guide percentage increase in sales revenue of the company by 9% with a profit gross margin of 25 %. Good management of social media optimization Ensuring data safety especially the log ins for social media. Ensuring that staff in social media team regularly updates every activity that is supposed to be conveyed to the customers. Tag photos and videos of the company’s products with key words Creation of referral links in the social network sites and monitoring the performance of these links To acquire 100, 000 different online customers by the end of this financial year with £20 acquisition cost and £5 expected profitability. This will guide the company towards building a strong capital structure by the end of the financial year thus making it more competitive in the regional market (Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom). Creation of customer incentive and loyalty schemes- electronic vouchers. Training and education of staff in order to exercise diverse market knowledge on the changing nature of customer needs in the market. Giving attention to both online and in-store purchases To increase Saudi Arabia market share by 7% and United Kingdom market share by 3% by the end of 2014. Increasing United Kingdom share by 3% would reduce the cost of company by 5% since the government has weak control over foreign investment. Getting customer attention through regular engagement (emails and SMS). Increasing customer confidence through clear messages of the new products brands. Increase integration with social media both in mobile applications and online. 2d. Key Performance Indicators Proposed digital marketing communication Key performance Indicators Website Increased number of facebook likes and twitter followers by 20% (new followers inclusive) Increase in the market share by 3% during the first three months of implementation and by 7% at the end of company’s financial year (short terms goals achieved). Increased number of website visits by 100% at the end of 2013 Increased number of log ins by 100% that translates to 90% new subscriptions in one year. Increased customer retention and engagement. Mobile Increased number of SMS sent to the customers Increased number of access to WIFI hotspots particularly in retail outlets of the company Increased sales conversion rate through online mobile orders. Increased total visits from mobile facebooks and twitter. Wide presence of mobile users within the digital channels of the company. Email marketing Increased number of targets reached through email campaign. A significant increased growth of the company’s sales that result from email users Increased email clicks by a significant 20% on sales. Reduction of email responds dropouts by 50%. Increased of customer engagement and loyalty Improved customer experience through email marketing by 35%. Section 3. Communications Planning As mentioned earlier, needs to be considered in order to achieve the mentioned objectives of Sport Ghornatah. The effect of the marketing mix is to bring together marketing communication and show the mutual supportive aspect. As a result, this model (marketing mix) explains offline marketing strategy and this need to be integrated with respective digital strategy. At the end of the day the integration of the offline communication will maximize the opportunities of the company. The following offline marketing tools will help Sport Ghornatah achieve this strategy. 3a. Integration Television commercials This is a perfect offline media that reaches many of the customers within and outside Saudi Arabian market. Apparently, the company is selling sport products and sports are normally aired through televisions. Therefore, television has the ability to deliver multiple information pertaining company’s product since customers in UK and Saudi Arabia likes sports. Company’s website, newsletters offers and promotions can be displayed through super sport channels just before the game commence. This perhaps may need endorsement from TV commercial in which later the integration of offline and online will take effect. Social website Facebook, twitter and You Tube are the particular digital activities that the company has to concentrate on in order to enhance successful integration. The promotion of these digital elements of marketing would be via magazines, posters or leaflets. In this regard, promotion will raise product awareness of the customers. Training will enhance familiarization of the product. This is essential since the interaction of digital and offline activities is through word of mouth. Therefore, the increase in offline campaigns definitely will create online opportunity since the two move towards one goal of the company. Online Public Relation The company should raise the number of online posts so as to attract the attention of the customers in the Saudi Arabia market. Offline activities needed to be integrated with these ideas will include comments posted by the company about the product. The mode of integration will be raising online (digital) profile so as to enhance easy access by the infrequent users. The posts needed for customer engagement may be produced as hard copies in order for them to comprehend E-version of the communication. Feedback on the information provided may be encouraged to be via social so as to get them integrated to the online activities of the company. 3b. Media Planning Approach 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Website Installation of recommended menus, website campaign, survey tool Sharing of the campaign, Implementation of search engine optimization (SEO) so as to enable mobile access, small online inspection Operationalization of SEO and launching of mobile application; online inspection 2 Upgrading of search engine optimization elements; Online Inspection 3 Facebook Facebook campaign, diverse language preference set up (Arabic, English and French-recommendable) Integration of Facebook ads, implementing campaign, focus on the excellence. Facebook ads linkages Evaluation of facebook linkages on various websites. Twitter Campaign creation based on corporate values Setting of twitter evaluator and inspector account Creating blogs on most accessed sides Promotion of company twitter followers You Tube Creation of corporate campaign, set up access for customer upload Sharing of campaign Public launch package for the customers Performance monitoring and evaluation Email Email training program for all local competitors Promotion of online services and access by the customers Email campaign, training monitoring and evaluation Email campaign and inspection Mobile texting Installation of mobile application and optimization Integration of payments mobile application (Pay pal) Evaluation of response from the mobile users Vouchers set-up Online public Relation Development of trade journals, promotion of trade journals. Email campaigns, provision of company magazines Inspection program Online store inspection and content analysis Search Engine Optimization Setting up of keywords Linking the key words and referral of traffics Optimization of keywords Upgrading of referral links 3c. ROI The objectives mentioned above are most vital activities to enhance the success of Sport Ghornatah Company in terms of investment. Increase engagement and customer understanding would improve the performance of every sector of investment. It is recommended therefore that returns of Sport Ghornatah should be measured by assessing the activities especially during pre-implementation of the digital marketing plan. The measures will be taken monthly and changes noted for evaluation process. The following chart evaluates the key events/activities with respective period that need to be executed to enhance the achievement of the proposed digital strategy and plan. The approaches will measure the performance at every stage of implementation. Key variable that will be evaluated will include the following; Individual involvement will be registered and their performance monitored Website visitors; period of stay on the company’s website, Clicks on the website blogs; Facebook and twitter clicks, Comments and inquiries about the product by the customers Media remarks (online and offline) Graph of Value Evaluation using Key Variable The above graph uses the four imply that; A right direction move by website visitors increases returns on investment through website efficiency use. The awareness has been raised and customers are comfortable getting products both online and offline. The progress towards efficiency is evaluated using these four variables where, ROI is positive for any element analyzed. The positive figure of ROI shows that there is high rate of customer engagement as well as improved understanding on the digital marketing. Corporate performance as well would be managed accordingly since the variables ensure that investment on every activity is monitored and evaluated at all dimensions. Reference Blake, D. (1990). Financial market analysis. London: McGraw-Hill. Print. Chaffey, D., & Chadwick, E. F. (2012). Digital marketing: strategy, implementation and practice (5th ed.). Harlow: Pearson. Ryan, D. & Jones, C. (2012). Undersstanding Digital Marketing: Strategies for Engaging the Digital Generation. London: Kugan Publishers Smith, P. R. & Taylor, J. (2004). Marketing Communications; An Integrated Approach. London: Kogan Publishers. Read More