A strategy indicates the most advantageous direction for an organisation to take over a defined period of time. It also outlines which tactics and means should be used to execute this direction. Originating as a military term, strategy is about using your strengths, as well as the context in which you are operating, to your advantage. In marketing, strategy starts with understanding what the business wants to achieve, or what problem it wants to solve.
It then considers the context in which the business and its competitors operates, and outlines key ways in which the business and brand can gain advantage and add value. In this chapter, you will learn: How to define and distinguish business strategy, marketing strategy and digital strategy The key building-block concepts that are essential to any strategy The questions that need to be asked when assembling a digital marketing strategy
2 Key terms and concepts
3 What is marketing?
A simple definition for marketing is that it is the creation and satisfaction of demand for your product or service. If all goes well, this demand should translate into sales and, ultimately, revenue. In 2012. Dr Philip Kotler defined marketing as "the science and art of exploring. creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. Marketing identifies unfulfilled needs and desires. It defines, measures and quantifies the size of the identified market and the profit potential"
In order to motivate people to pay for your product or service, or to consider your organisation superior to your competitors, you need to create meaningful benefits and value for the consumer.
The value that a marketer should seek to create should be equal to or even greater than the cost of the product to the consumer Doing this often and consistently enough will grow trust in and loyalty towards the brand.
4 What is digital marketing?
If marketing creates and satisfies demand, digital marketing drives the creation demand using the power of the Internet, and satisfies this demand in new and innovative ways. The Internet is an interactive medium. It allows for exchange currency, but more than that, it allows for the exchange of value. Abusiness on the Internet can gain value in the form oftime, attention and advocacy from the consumer For the user, value can be added in the form of entertainment enlightenment and utility; content marketing is one powerful way to create value.
The reciprocity of the transaction is what's important here in other words, the exchange is a two-way street that provides benefit to both parties simultaneously The Internet has changed the world in which we sell. It not a new marketing channel; instead, it creates a new paradigm for the way in which consumers connect with brands and with each other. The complete scope of marketing i practised on the Internet products and services are positioned promoted, purchased, distributed and serviced.
The web provides consumers with more choice, more influence and more power. Brands have new ways of selling, new products and services to sell, and new markets to which they can sell The roles played by marketing agencies are shifting too. So-called 'traditional agencies are getting better at digital marketing, while agencies that started out as digital shops are starting to play in the traditional advertising space. More than ever, integrated strategies that speak to an overall brand identity are vital to achieving an organisation's goals. Consumers are increasingly more fluent in their movement across channels and in their use of multiple of channels at once.
They expect the same from the brands with which they connect, Anyone still thinking in the old traditional versus digital dichotomy is sorely out of date. However, marketing on the Internet does not mean throwing out the rule book on marketing and business principles Instead, the Internet provides a new environment in which to build on these. Profit is still revenue less cost.
The ernet does not change that Brands build loyalty among users who love their products or services. Users fall in love with products and services when their experience is tailored to their need and not the needs of the brand. More than any other type of marketing, digital is This gives the opportunity to build tailored, optimised brand experiences for consumers.
2.5 Understanding marketing strategy
Business and brand strategy Before you can delve into marketing strategy, take a step back and consider the business and brand with which you are working The end-goal of any business is to make money, in one way or another Business strategy asks the questions:
What is the business challenge we are facing that prevents us from making more revenue?
For, what business objective should we strive for in order to increase the money in the bank? The brand is the vessel of value in this equation. The brand justifies why the business matters, and what value its adds to people's lives. The value of the brand is measured in terms of its equity how aware are people of the brand? Does it hold positive associations and perceived value? How loyal are people to the brand? When you have the answer to this question, you can formulate a marketing strategy to address the challenge or objective you've discovered 2.5.2 Marketing strategy
The purpose of a marketing strategy is to address a business or brand challenge or objective that has been revealed. An effective strategy involves making a series of well-informed decisions about how the brand, product or service should be promoted; the brand that attempts to be all things to all people risks becoming unfocused or losing the clarity of its value proposition.
For example, a new airline would need to consider how it is going to add value to the category and differentiate itself from competitors; whether product is a domestic or international service: whether its target market would be budget travellers or international and business travellers; and whether the channel would be through primary airports or smaller, more cost-effective airports. Each of these choices will result in a vastly different strategic direction, make these decisions, a strategist must understand the in which the brand operates: what are the factors that affect business? This means conducting a situational analysis that looks at four pillars:
1. The environment
2. The business
3. The customers
4. The competitors.
Here are some considerations and tools for conducting your brand's situational analysis, Understanding the environment The environment is the overall context or outside world in which the business functions. It can involve anything from global economics (how well is the local currency performing these days? to developments in your industry. Every brand will have a specific environment needs to consider, based on the type of product or service it produces.
An analysis the business and brand environment will typically consider political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental PESTLE influences to identify a clear set of considerations or issues pertinent to the marketing strategy. Understanding the business
There are several marketing models that can be used to understand the business and brand you are working with.
Since it's essential for all marketing messages encapsulate the brand's identity and objectives, this is a very important step. crucial consideration is the brand itself what does it stand for?
What does it mean?
What associations, ideas, emotions and benefits do people associate with it?
What makes it unique?
There are several levels of branding to investigate:
out of this, you can determine what the brand or product's unique selling point lUSPl is. A USP is the one characteristic that makes your product or service better than the competition's what unique value does it have? Does it solve a problem that no other does? Understanding customers In order truly to understand your customers, you need to conduct market research (discussed in much more detail in the next chapterl. Try not to make assumptions about why people like and transact with your brand you may find their values and motives are quite different from what you thought.
Ongoing research will help you build a picture of what particular benefit or feature your business provides your customers, allowing you to capitalise on this in your marketing content. One important area on which to focus here is the consumer journey the series of steps and decisions a customer takes before buying from your business notl. Luckily, online data analytics good picture of how people behave on your website before converting to customers; other forms of market research will also help you establish this for your offline On the internet, a consumer journey is not linear. consumers may engage with your brand in a variety of ways for example, across devices or marketing channels before making a purchase.
The goal to reach customers with the right marketing message at the right stage of their journey. For example, you may want to use aspirational messages for someone in the exploration phase, but focus an more direct teatures and benefits usuch as lower pricel when they re almost ready to buy.
Understanding competitors Finally, it's important to know who else is marketing to your potential customers. what they offer, how can challenge or learn from them. On the Internet, your competitors are not just those who are aiming earn your customers' money; are also those who are capturing your customers attention.
With more digital content being created in day than most people could consume a year for example, over 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute (YouTube, 2013 he scarcest resources these days are time, focus when considering competition, it's also worthwhile looking potential replacements for your product.
The Internet is disrupting and accelerating the pace of disintermediation a number of industries, meaning that people can now directly to the business instead ot transacting through a middleman (look the travel industry as an example]. To stay ahead, you should be looking at potential disruptors of your industry as well as the existing players. 2.5.3 Digital marketing strategy Once you have a clear sense of what the business challenge or objective is, you have defined how your marketing strategy will work towards fulfilling it, can start thinking about your digital marketing strategy. Consider that the early days of TV, when new medium was not yet entirely understood, there were separate planners created "TV strategy tor the brand.
Over time, this was incorporated into the overall marketing strategy las it should bel. The same is going to happen with digital tncreasingly, digital thinking is being incorporated into marketing strategy from day one. This section considers strategy separately in order to highlight some differences in approach but this change in practice over time Digital marketing strategy builds on and adapts the principles of traditional marketing, using the opportunities and challenges offered by the digital medium. digital marketing strategy should be constantly iterating and evolving. Since Internet allows for near instantaneous feedback and data gathering, digital marketers should constantly be aptimising and improving their online marketing user-centric thinking, which involves placing the user at the core at all decisions, vital when looking at building a successful digital marketing strategy.
The is not only a plethora of new tactical digital marketing strategist of today is offered possibilities. but also unprecedented waysofmeasuring the effectiveness of chosen strategies and tactics Digital also allows greater opportunities for interaction and consumer engagement than were possible in the past, so itis important to consider the ways in which the brand can create interactive experiences for consumers. not just broadcast messages The tact that digital marketing is highly empirical is one of its key strengths. Almost rything can be measured from behaviours, to actions and action paths, to results. This means that the digital marketing strategist should start thinking with return on investment IRoll in mind, Built into any strategy should be a testing framework and the ability to remain flexible and dynamic in a medium that shifts and changes as user behaviours do. it we defined strategy as a plan of action designed ta achieve a particular outcome the desired outcome of a digital marketing strategy would be aligned with your organisation's overall business and brand-building abjectives or challenges.
For example, it one of the overall objectives were acquisition of new clients, a possible digital marketing objective might be building brand awareness online. 2.6 The building blocks of marketing strategy The following building-block techniques will help you structure a marketing strategy both online and offline-that addresses your core business challenges, These strategy models are just starting points and ways to help you think through problems as you grow in experience and insight, you could find yourself relying on them less or adapting them. 2.6.1 Porter's Five Forces analysis Porter's Five Forces analysisis a business tool that helps determine the competitive intensity and attractiveness of a market. The Internets low barrier to entry means that many new businesses are appearing online, providing near-infinite choices for customers. This makes it important to consider new factors when devising a marketing strategy.
Figure 3. Porter's Five Forces. The Four Ps The Four Ps of marketing help you structure the components that make up brand's offering, differentiators and marketing. They have been fundamentally changed by the Internet and need to be looked at in the context offered by digitally connected media of the consumer. How your brand positioned in the mind of your consumer will ultimately determine your success.
1. Products (and services] Products and services are what a company sells. The Internet enables business to sell a huge range of products, from fast-moving consumer goods and digital products such as software, to services such as consultancy. Online, the experience the user has in discovering and purchasing can be considered part of the product the brand provides. The Internet has enabled mass customisation. For example, Nike (nikeid nike com) and Converse [www.converse.com) allow customers to customise the own trainers. The Internet as a distribution medium also makes it possible for products such as software and music to be sold digitally.
2. Price The prevalence and of shopping comparison websites, such as www.pricerunner coiuk, www.price check cezal and www.nexagecom. makes it easy for customers to compare product prices across a number of retailers; this makes the Internet a market of near-perfect competition lPorter, 2008l.
These stories then go on to build connections between people, ideas, brands and products, Communities of people tollow truly great brands becauon they want be part with a dedicated tribal following People want their products; they want the world to know that they hav an iPhone or a Macbook. This kind of tribal lollowing spells success for any brand With price differentiation becoming a challenge, especially for smaller players in the market, businesses need to consider differentiating on value Value is combination of service, perceived benefits and price, where customerw may willing pay a higher price for a better experience, or they feel they are getting something more than just the product
3, Placement for distribution] Product distribution and markets no longer have to be dictated by location, Simpty by making their products visible online or example, on a website or Facebook pagel brands can reach a global market. The key is to reach and engage customers on the channels they are using this is why choosing your digital tactics is vital. u to engage customers on their terms, not yours Technology as APIs, SOAP services, RSS and XML allow information and services to distributed throughout the world. For example, the API for hotel reservations database allows a diverse range of websites offer instant online bookings for hotels in the inventory
4, Promotion The Internet, as an information and entertainment medium, naturally lends itself to promoting products. The Dnline promotional mix an extension the offline, but with some significant differences. For online promotion be tracked measured and targeted in a far more sophisticated way But promotion doesn't just mean advertising and talking at customers on the Internet, it's crucial to engage, collaborate and conversations, too. Interacting with customers helps build relationships, the web makes this sort communication easy That's why a good portion this book is devoted to engagement tactics and tools.
5, A new P: People addition to the existing Four Ps, the Internet requires you to consider a new People. This element speaks to examining the powerful human element that the digitally connected world permits: personalisation, peer-to-peer sharing communities, and consumer-centric organisations that allow people to participate the brand story.
The Cluetrain Manifesto 1999] describes markets as 'conversations Humans are storytellers: brands create stories, myths and legends around their products and services. Ultimately, what people say about your product or service is a story and helping to craft the stories that define Organisations. 2.6.3 SWOT analysis A swoT (strengths. Weaknesses, opportunities, Threatsl analysis is an ideal way to understand your business and your market. Figure 4. SWOTanalysis.
Always have a purpose in mind when conducting a swoT analysis. For example, dy the external threats to your business, and see how learning from these can help you overcome internal weaknesses. busine and marketing should opportunities should objectives strengths should be promoted, be sought out, while threats and weaknesses should be minimised as much as possible.
A swoT analysis is part of a situational analysis and identifies the key issues that direct the marketing strategy.
In digital marketing, however, there is no single definitive approach each business must create its own roadmap. However, there are questions use to guide the process A strategy needs are offering and to whom, as well as why and how you are doing so, The steps and questions below cover what an organisatian should be aware of when creating and implementing strategy that will meet its marketing objectives and solve its challenges,
1. Context The first step in crafting a successful strategy is examine the context of the organisation and various stakeholders. We've covered this under marketing strategy earlier in chapter, but it bears repeating: What is the context in which you are operating (PESTLE factors] and how this likely to change in the future? Who are you, why does your brand matter and what makes your brand useful and valuable? who are your customers, and what needs, wants and desires do they have? who are your competitors? These may extend beyond organisations that compete with you on the basis of price and product and could also be competition in the form of abstracts such as time and mindshare. Thorough market research will reveal the answers to these questions
2. Value exchange Once you have examined the market situation, the second step is an examination of your value proposition or promise in other words, what unique value your organisation can add to that market. It is important to identify the supporting value-adds to the brand promise that are unique to the digital landscape. What extras, beyond the basic product or service, do offer to customers? The Internet offers many channels for value creation. However, the definition of what is valuable' depends largely on the target audience, so it is crucial to research your users and gather insights into what they want and need. Content marketing is the process of conceptualising and creating this sort content examples of gardening video for a hardware brand, a research paper for a business analyst. or a funny infographic a marketing company.
3, objectives When setting your digital marketing goals, there are four key aspects to consider objectives, tactics. key performance indicators (KPIsl and targets. Let's look at each one in turn Objectives objectives are essential to any marketing endeavour without them, your strategy would have no direction and no end goal r win conditions. It's important to able to take step back and ask, 'Why are we doing any of this? What goal, purpose or outcome are we looking for? What are you trying to achieve? How will you know if you are successful? objectives need to be SMART: specific the objective must be clear and detailed, rather than vague and general. Measurable the objective must be measurable so that you can gauge whether you are attaining the desired outcome. Attainable the objective must be something that is possible for your brand to achieve, based on available resources. Realistic the objective must also be sensible and based data and trends; don't exaggerate or overestimate what can be achieved. Time-bound-finally, the objective must be linked to aspecific timeframe. Tactics objectives are not the same as tactics Tactics are the specific tools or approaches you will use to meet your objectives for example, a retention-based ema newsletter, a Facebook page, or a CRM implementation. As a strategy becomes more complex, may have multiple tactics working together to try to achieve the same objective. Tactics may change land often should], but the objective should remain your focus. section.
Key performance indicators IKPIsl KPIs are the specific metrics or pieces of data that you will look at to determine whether your tactics are meeting your objectives Far example, a gardener may look at the growth rate, colour and general appearance of a plant to evaluate whether it is healthy In the sarme way, a marketer will look at a range of data points to determine whether a chosen tactie delivering. KPIs are determined per tactic. with an eye on the overall objective. Targets Finauy, targets are the specific values that are set for your KPIs to within a specific time period. Sportspeople need to reach targets to advance careers for example, come in the top ten to qualify far the final, ar run 10km in under 27 minutes. If you meet or exceed a target, you are succeeding ifyou reach it. you're falling behind on your objectives and you need to reconsider your approach lor your target Here example SMART objective: Increase sales through the eCommerce platform by 10% within next six months Tactics Search advertising Facebook brand page KPIs per tactic Search advertising-number of search referrals, cost per click un the ads Facebook brand page number of comments and shares on campaign specific posts Targets per tactica Search adeertising 1000 search referrals alter thn first month, a 10 month-on-month increase after that Fac book brand paga 50 comments and 10 shares on campaign specific posti per week.
No comments:
Post a Comment