College: UK College of Business and Computing
Unit code: D/601/1102
Purpose of this assignment:
The assignment will test learner’s understanding of, and skills in, the use of the complex interactive digital media which comprise the tools of internet marketing.
Case study: Smart Restorations Limited
Contact: Leslie Mann, Managing Director
Location: London
Industry: Office Furniture
Annual revenue: Confidential
Number of employees: Confidential
Smart Restorations Limited is a small firm that specializes in buying and selling used and refurbished office furniture systems. In August 2014, as the nation was recovering from a recession, the company knew that it had to act quickly to position itself on the leading edge of the recovery. Smart Restorations knew that it could use the Internet to get its name out to customers that would be ready to buy when the economy picked up again.
After exploring options, the company has decided to consult with your firm True Search Marketing to improve their websites and conversion rate. Smart Restorations Limited’s has an ambitious project to triple its sales figure over a two-year period and increase its exposure on the major search engines to among the highest in the industry.
With an ever-changing inventory, the company's marketing team recognized that print brochures would not have as much versatility as their web site, making internet marketing a major priority.
As the e–Marketing manager for True Search Marketing you have been given the brief and the Managing Director of Smart Restorations Limited has requested a meeting to discuss how your company can support its ambitions.
Part 1:
You are required to prepare briefing notes for the meeting to;
1.1 Explain the elements of internet marketing
1.2 Evaluate the internet marketing mix
1.3 Compare internet marketing tools, eTools that will be used
1.4 Examine how the interactive order processing will work
Part 2:
For your meeting with Leslie Mann the Managing Director of Smart Restorations Limited you will demonstrate how the internet can be used for promotion using digital marketing communications. For the demonstration you will;
2.1 Prepare a briefing on the mechanics of search engine marketing – Your explanation should cover all or most of the following: definition, search engine optimisation, paid search engine marketing, landing pages, long tail concept, geo-targeting e.g. Google AdWords; opt in email and email marketing.
2.2 Write the copy for a suitable opt-in email marketing newsletter
2.3 Identify guidelines for best practice in online public relations and show how you would follow it for digital marketing communications
2.4 Demonstrate how Smart Restorations Limited can use new digital media communities’ such as file-sharing sites, instant messaging (IM), chatrooms, discussion groups, blogs etc.
Part 3:
Having agreed to the project brief from Smart Restorations Limited you will lead the marketing team to deliver on the brief.
Introduction
Internet marketing can be termed as the inclusive marketing technique in businesses that uses online websites and portals in order to market its products and services. It plays an important role in businesses for smooth and effective running of the business. It covers various activities of a business and helps the business to aim for attracting new businesses, retention of the current business and developing the identity of the business. The assignment shows the various aspects of internet marketing used in a business like promotion of the products using digital marketing, supporting the customer relationship management, designing of the internet marketing plan for the company Smart Restorations Limited specializing in buying and selling of products that are used or refurbished office furniture systems.
Part 1
1.1 The elements of internet marketing
There are various elements of internet marketing which are used in order to conduct a systematic marketing of the products and services of a business. The first element is the digital marketing, which can be defined as the strategy of marketing the products with the help of digital channels that is used as a medium of communication with the consumers and other businesses. This marketing form does not require the use of internet for marketing. The second form of internet marketing is the use of e-commerce and e-business. This form deals with the selling and buying of goods and services of the businesses using internet as a medium to communicate by providing an online catalog. The internet marketing of the businesses is influenced by various micro and macro environmental factors of the organization. The micro environmental factors influence the market place, customer base, buying behavior of the customers via internet of the products as the buyers and sellers opt for the best options available over the internet. There is also a steep influence on the competition for the business as the use of internet marketing by the organization is increasing every day. There are certain macro environmental factors, which are affected like better scope of exposure for the business as internet usage is increasing. The companies are exposed to updated technologies to be included in the business, thus increasing the efficiency of the business procedures. Internet marketing enables businesses to reach itself in the global market, increases the scope of the business, and allows the business to be interactive with the customers and the clients (Mathews et al, 2016).
1.2 Internet marketing mix evaluation
Internet marketing mix can be evaluated with the help of 4P’s of marketing mix and 2P+2C+3S relational functions of the Internet marketing.
The 4P’s of Internet Marketing Mix are:
Product
For internet marketing, product of the marketing mix can be the internet, which is bought by the businesses to make use of internet marketing. The various elements those are included into the product selling and buying, by the businesses over websites and online applications can be termed as the product of the marketing mix.
Promotion
Promotion is the advertising of the products and services of the businesses which is based on various digital marketing techniques that includes email marketing, search marketing, using of various websites and online applications to promote the products and services of the business (Srinivasan et al, 2016).
Price
In internet marketing, pricing can be defined as the price information of the products that is being given to the clients or the customers in the respective business websites or applications. Price is the base for the customer’s need to buy the products from online application and websites.
Place
In the context of internet marketing, price can be defined as the positioning in the search engines. The clients and the customers should be able to reach the websites through any search engines that is available to the customers.
The 2P+2C+3S relational functions of the internet marketing mix are:
| Personalization | Identification of the customers at individual level is essential, so that proper information regarding the customer is gathered. It will allow the business to make the website available to the customer based on the customer’s comfort. |
| Privacy | Ensuring the privacy of the information that is being collected by the business from the customers and its other clients forms the base of internet marketing. |
| Customer service | Providing the customers of the business with appropriate support and service online defines customer service in terms of internet marketing. |
| Community | It can be defined as the relation that is built using such online websites allowing the customers to interact with each other in order to get further details regarding the websites. |
| Site | It involves the accessibility of the websites of the business from anywhere under any circumstances. The sites should be available so that the customers and the clients can easily interact with the business authorities whenever needed. |
| Security | Involves the development of online security system of the transactions that are performed online by the businesses. It also includes the measures to be taken to provide security for the various data collected, confidential information of the clients and the business from any third party intervention. |
| Sales promotion | It is the basic tool of marketing, which is considered as the creative strategies and possibilities that can be developed in order to promote the business with the help of definite online promotional plan (Strauss, 2016). |
1.3 Comparison of the internet marketing tools, e-Tools that are to be used
To conduct the process of internet marketing, the organizations should rely on marketing tools based on the internet. There are various categories of online marketing tool. Some of which are given below.
Interactive digital television
It can be defined as the medium of marketing that is used to sell product and services to the customer by allowing the customers to place order to the companies using digital television. It contains certain information system, which can be used by the clients as these system provides similar capabilities like that of the computer systems.
Word press blog
It is a software that is sued by many business to promote their products and allows the customers to get a link to the website of the business. It allows business to link its website with various other portals, thus word press blog acts as a platform for the business to market itself.
YouTube
It is a search engine, which is widely used in the recent times by many businesses, ranging from small-scale business to large-scale business. It is a platform that uses internet as medium to share videos of the business as a method of advertising to the customers and the viewers. This is done so that the population can get the idea of the products and services that is being provided by the businesses. It also allows the business to communicate with the clients by creating their own channel in the website.
Wireless application protocol
These are mobile devices that are used for the marketing of the business using various online applications. These applications are specially made for the wireless devices to support in their software mediums. This allows the customers to access the website at any point of time and from anywhere the customer is comfortable (Chaffey and Smith, 2017).
1.4 Working of the interactive order processing
Interactive order processing can be defined as the base of e-commerce, which helps in presenting the business to the customers. Interactive order processing involves various activities that can be termed as payments using credit cards, payment of the products online, net banking, MasterCard or visa payments. In this type of processing system, security is considered to the main factor in order to make the use of interactive order processing more beneficial for the clients and for the business. There is a series of activity, which is included in the interactive order processing. These processes are given below:
Part 2
2.1 A brief on the mechanics of search engine marketing
Search engine marketing can be defined as the strategy using which an organization will be able to modify its websites. This is done in such a way that the ranking of the business increases when the business is being searched in the website with the help of various search engines. These search engines can be Google.com, Yahoo.com, or any many others. This marketing technique uses paid advertisements so that minute details or branding of the company appears on the various websites when search from different search engines. In this technique, keywords are used that are presented in the websites. When a person clicks on those keywords, the advertisement of the company is showed up in the search engine or on various different portals. These keywords needs to be managed by identifying them first that will be able to separate the business from the other businesses that use the same techniques of marketing (Halavais, 2013).
2.2 Copy for a suitable opt-in email marketing newsletter
Opt-in email marketing can be defined as the strategy that is used by the companies in order to provide its customers with the benefits of signing in for the various updates from the company about the various business products and services and the recent deals that are available for the customers. It is an additional option for the customers to choose. The customers can easily opt out from this given service from the companies whenever they wish to (Mattila, 2016). A suitable copy for the company of opt-in email marketing is given below.
2.3 Identification of the guidelines for the best practice in online public relations and its use in digital marketing communication
Various guidelines are there which are to be followed in order to maintain the best public relation with the customers and the clients of the company or the organizations. Some of these guidelines are given below:
2.4 Demonstration of the use of new digital media communities by Smart Restoration Limited
Smart Restoration Limited uses various business communities that prove to be advantageous for the business. Digital media communities include websites like file sharing websites or review websites. It changes the way the business communicates with the clients of the organization. Some of the business communities that can be used are given below:
Blogging: it helps in creating the content for the information of the business and helps in building channels for the organization that will allow the business to communicate with the customers. Blogging can act as a source for the company to gain more money as blogging platform allows the customers to buy product from the company.
Social media websites: various social media websites will help the organization Smart Restoration Limited to communicate with the customers. These social media websites acts as a platform, which will allow the organization to get feedback from the customers (Carta, 2014).
Part 3
3.1 Secondary market research to gather data on customers’ behaviour for online shopping based on statistical data
Various characteristics define the customer’s behaviour on online shopping. Some of those characteristics are given below:
Personal characteristics:
Personal characteristics define the personal traits of a person that can be the age of the person, the gender of the person, the needs of the person and many others. All these characters influence the choice of the products that the customers want to buy. A research is done that shows the various aspects of customer’s personality that influences the product buying, hence allows the company to make changes in the internet marketing strategy whenever needed.
Psychological characteristics:
Various psychological characteristics like motivation, personality factors and emotion allows changes the views of the customers regarding the purchasing of the products based on the internet marketing that has been done by the company (Hair, 2015).
3.2 Designing of online surveys for data collection on ‘what encourages shoppers to buy online’
Various questionnaires have to be provided in order to gather knowledge on the factors that encourage the customer sot buy products online (Hsu et al, 2014). The questionnaire has been provided below:
3.3 Poster to demonstrate the use of electronic customer relationship marketing to manage and analyse customer interactions
Customer interaction can be managed with the help of electronic customer relationship marketing (Peck et al, 2013). A poster has been created below.
4.1 Outline for an internet marketing plan for Smart Restorations Limited
An outline for the internet-marketing plan for the company Smart Restoration Limited is given below:
| Steps | Activities | Definition |
| Step 1 | Content preparation | This step involves the preparation of the content of the internet-marketing plan that involves preparation of the management that will be taking care of the internet-marketing plan. |
| Step 2 | Defining the strategies and formulating the techniques | This stage formulating the strategies that is to be adapted in order to develop the strategies of internet marketing and then applying those strategies. |
| Step 3 | Setting the keywords and implementing them | Setting and implementing the keywords that will be used in the online portals, which will allow the company to advertise its products to the customers (Sołtysik-Piorunkiewicz, 2014). |
| Step 4 | Promotional strategies and implementation | It is the implementing of the promotional strategies that has to be adapted by the company in order to promote the company in the appropriate way so that the customers get attracted to the products and the services and avails them. |
4.2 Presentation on pay per click advertising
Slide 1
Definition
Slide 2
Need for Pay Per Click
Slide 3
Steps required
Slide 4
Conclusion
Conclusion
Thus, from the above report it can be concluded that internet-marketing plan has become the latest mode of marketing for the companies in different sector of the business market. It has been observed that with proper utilization of internet marketing plan the company Smart Restoration Limited can gather better customers and expands its business on a much wider market. The company will be able to expand globally. The use of internet marketing involves various criterions that include security of the details of the client and the company, maintaining a proper track of the transactions that are being made online, promoting the company in the most appropriate way possible.
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