Internet-Marketing And Electronic Commerce - Case Study Example

Name: Professor: Course: Date: INTERNET MARKETING PLAN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This is a fully researched report on the intended marketing plan of SDT Securities limited. This is a security company that has been operational in the United Kingdom since 1983. This report covers various approaches that are crucial to the implementation and adoption of internet marketing. The plan has analyzed the current market practices of the company. This report also covers the situational analysis of the company. This has been successful with the aid of both STEEPLE analysis and SWOT analysis. Under the STEEPLE Analysis various factors ranging from Technological, social to Economical state of the plan has been covered in details. Under the SWOT Analysis various issues such has treats and strengths has also been given wider consideration and explanation. The report finally gives appropriate recommendations to be adopted in order to achieve a successful approach into internet marketing (Jagpal, 2008 p.475). COMPANY OVERVIEW SDT Securities Limited is a Private Limited Company with Share Capital. It has a registered address of 32 Burrell Avenue Lancing Sussex BN158QB in the United Kingdom. The company was incorporated in 16th November 1983. This is a total of 31 years of operation. SDT Securities has several customers around the globe. This is due to the fact that majority of the customers feel reliable and satisfied with their services. The company through its various advertisements has indicated that the systems they use are friendly. The company also is basically up to the standards in provision of services to the customers. The thirty years of operation is a clear indication that the company has gained experience in all aspects of business. They have therefore adopted series of technologies in order to boost their relevance in the market. CURRENT MARKETING PRACTICE SDT Securities has several customers which in turn translates a lot accounts. The marketing practice revolves around several services that the company offers. This include efficiency in installation, faster service delivery, minimization of alarming the public in the course of duty, user friendly systems, adoption of technology and holding of key. The company through this service delivery approaches have been able to attract several customers (Shaw, 2003 p.53). The current marketing practice therefore use adverts on the media as an attraction of customers. The company tries to also appeal and be presentable to the near public by not disturbing them. This is because they are customers or potential customers for the company. The company therefore needs to broaden its services by first getting a lot of customers. The use of internet will be very crucial here. The company currently is using the internet to disseminate information to customers and various stakeholders. There is therefore great need for the use e-business as an added advantage to remain competitive in the market. In order to ensure efficient and effective e-business approach they also need to increase the number of employees and the equipment used (Ryan, 2001 p. 87). SITIUATIONAL ANALYSIS To successfully analyze the situational analysis of SDT Securities limited, there are various elements to be considered. This includes the customers, the market, the core competencies and the market. The customers of the company are people who require security concerns. This includes installation of security alarms and burglary systems. Majority of the customers are basically internet users. This means that they spend most of their time surfing on the internet. Others pass most of their leisure time on social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. If the company adopts this internet marketing approach they will therefore be a good position to attract a lot of them. The key competitors revolve around the security industry. Other companies that offer security services are potential competitors to the company. The most advance ones have adopted internet marketing though they are few (Shaw, 2003 p.54). STEEPLE ANALYSIS This analysis majors on the external factors that influence the operations of the company. These are the factors that the company has little or no control over them. SOCIAL There exist numerous social factors that affect the market. These include the way the ages are distributed, the variety and employment levels, the size of the population and also cultural conventions. TECHNOLOGICAL Several technological factors greatly affect the company. This basically due to the dimension the world is taking toward digital operations. These factors include automation, use of incentives, the use of quality and digital equipment. Research reveals that technological factors are categorized into two major types. The first is under infrastructure and the second is under manufacturing (McKie, 2001 p. 75). ECONOMIC Economic factors influencing the operations of the company include taxes and duties, the situation of inflation, the cost of living, the exchange rates and also financial and credit situation of the company. Globalization is another key factor to be considered at SDT Securities limited. LEGAL AND ETHICAL Legal and ethical factors affecting the market of SDT Securities Limited include health and safety, employment policies, advertising, compliance and also competition. POLITICAL There exist numerous political factors that affect SDT Securities Limited in one way or another. These factors include Government leadership and stability, operational and employment laws, tax rules and regulations, trade restrictions and policies and issues of corruption (McKie, 2001 p. 75). SWOT STRENGTHS SDT Securities Limited has several strengths. The first strength is the fact that the company has experience in its operations. This is due to the fact that the company has been operational for almost thirty years now. The company also has substantial financial reserves and returns. Over the years of operation, the company also has acquired good number of equipment and various assets, skilled and experienced employees. The company has also been accredited and certified by various government agencies in the UK and world organizations for impressive service delivery. The systems that the company uses are user oriented and friendly for both novice and the experienced (Laudon and Traver, 2012 p. 58). WEAKNESSES There are loopholes in the capability of the company to serve globally. The company also cannot exhaustive withhold the market of competition without its internet marketing presence. Competitors have already adopted e-business in order to remain at the top in the market. The company cannot operate fully and act with deadlines. This is because most of its operations are emergencies. OPPORTUNITIES There are numerous opportunities that are available for SDT Securities limited. The first opportunity is technological advancement and innovation. The company can easily adopt technology in order to remain competitive in the market. The company can also adopt globalization for their advantage. Internet marketing will be a big boost for the company. The company can also partner with various agencies to improve its operations. There are also great opportunities during this era where the world is becoming more and more insecure. TREATS The first major treat to SDT Securities Limited is the competitors. Most of the competitors have adopted technological advancements for them to gain competitive advantage. Many of them have adopted internet marketing which has greatly boosted their operations. Political and political impacts are also cause of treats to the company. Environmental effects also such as causing of alarms and noise pollution to the public are a treat to the business (Laudon and Traver, 2012 p. 59). RECOMMENDATIONS The PEESTLE analysis and SWOT analysis research has revealed various aspects that effect the company. It has also gone ahead to analyze how this factors can be resolved for the success of the business. It is conclusive that for the company to remain in the market and survive the competition changes are paramount. The company must adopted technology advancement. I recommend that the company adopt the internet marketing to achieve the best. This will boost its customer awareness and acceptance. This will translated to best performance in service delivery and financial performance of the company. BENEFITS AND COSTS There are several benefits associated with the use of internet as compared to the conventional methods of marketing. The user of internet is cheaper and cost effective. Conventional marketing requires a lot of funds to run it. Marketers are supposed to be employed to create awareness of the products and services. In the other hand internet marketing is very cheap. It only needs an online presence and the company is good to go. All that is needed is connection to the internet. Advertisements and other marketing stuffs are posted online for the customers. The barriers that could exist to the company include lack of skilled and experienced online marketers. The company could also lack funds to implement the online requirements fully. However, the benefits of the online marketing greatly outweigh the challenges. Online marketing is a platform to source a lot of customers. These customers will boost the financial performance of the company. OBJECTIVES (SMART) SDT Securities Limited has several objectives leading to its adoption of internet marketing. The main objective is to improve its service delivery. This will in turn translate to huge financial performance. Online presence will be purposely to increase the market for the company. The goals and objectives of the company will therefore be achieved this way. STRATEGY The strategies involved in the marketing all serve some ideal purpose. This purpose mainly revolves around achieving the set goals and objectives. Basically revolves around creating customer awareness, increasing sales, improving reliability and service delivery. INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGY AND TACTICS PLAN A mix of internet marketing and tactics needs adoption here to achieve the best of them. Email marketing is a tactic that has gained popularity in the internet marketing sector. Email marketing is a cheaper, efficient and fast method of communication. The company creates accounts. The email account will be used to communicate with the customers and all the stakeholders of the company. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is another famous tactic in the field of online marketing or e-commerce. The company should consider using this approach since its benefits are numerous. Pay per Click Advertising is another tactic that various companies in the online sector are using. The customer or user is charged for the links that he accesses. The higher the number of clicks made, the more the income to the income from the advert. Blogging is the next tactic that is greatly being adopted by many internet marketers. The company has to pay the blogger. They just supply them with the relevant information to be blogged. Use of a website is also a pillar to internet marketing. The website will be an interface between the company and the stakeholders. The stakeholders could include customers, suppliers, management, partners etc. This website will be used for various functions. These include advertising, making orders, communication and other purposes. Use of Videos is another very common and applicable tactic now days. The company takes videos maybe of adverts and posts them online for internet users. All these techniques will reach various target market so long as they can access the internet (Altobelli, 2013 p.795). CONTROL AND MEASUREMENT The company has to analyze the market segmentation using the internet in order to be precise on where to join. This is ideally done through division of the market into segments basing on the customer distribution. The company the specifically targets on one segment and positions itself on that market segment. This could be achieved through demographic and geographical categories of segmentation. LEGAL ASPECTS There are several aspects that compose online marketing. The main aspect is ethical and security issues. The company must protect the privacy and confidentiality of the user or customer information. The company must there comply with the internet security laws. This includes laws governing sharing of information, confidentiality and privacy. Security treats are addressed with the aid of numerous technologies available. Data and information encryption is the most common. SDT Securities Limited should therefore adopt this method. It is only the authorized user that will understand what the information means (Fritz, 2009 p. 41). RECCOMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION This report has exhaustively been researched on with the main aim of adopting internet marketing venture for SDT Securities Limited. STEEPLE Analysis and SWOT Analysis carried out reveal various aspects of the company. The report has given appropriate recommendations to be adopted for the success of the company. The adoption and implementation of this internet marketing plan will be a great boost to the company. It will increase customer loyalty, increase sales, improve communication and feedback and furthermore improve follow up functions of the company. All these with the strategies and internet marketing tactics recommended will contribute to the success of SDT Securities Limited worldwide. REFERENCES Laudon, K., & Traver, C. 2012. SWOT Analysis. InE-commerce: Business, technology, society(Ninth ed., Vol. III, pp. 56-66). Oxford University Press. Jagpal, S. 2008. Internet Marketing. Fusion for Profit, I, 474-504. Fritz, W. 2009. Internet-Marketing und Electronic Commerce.E-commerce,IV, 34-56. Altobelli, C. 2013. Internet-Marketing.Branchenspezifisches Marketing, III, 793-814. Ryan, P. 2001. Internet marketing standards: Institutional coherence issues.International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 4, 85-90. Shaw, M. 2003.E-business management integration of Web technologies with business models(3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 45-78). Boston: Kluwer Academic. McKie, S. 2001. Peestle Analysis. InE-business best practices leveraging technology for business advantage(5th ed., Vol. IV, pp. 66-89). New York: Wiley. Read More