Executive Summary

This report provides the digital marketing communication strategy for a real-life

medium-sized enterprise (SME). The strategic plan in marketing explores the options that an

SME business has due to the available opportunities. The report provides a tactical business

marketing strategy through digital channels. The paper explains the use of digital channels to

promote brand awareness through advertising and web content updates. The plan involves the

use of websites, search engine optimization, and social media sites to communicate to

customers for increased sales. The report also describes a strategy in which the use of web

analytics can help the SME business to know customer preferences and needs. Brand

awareness can be created through digital and search engine marketing. According to this

paper, SMEs are firms that have less than 500 workers. The paper evaluates strategic digital

communication planning for grocers in Sheffield.

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Table of Contents

List of Frequently Used Terms and Acronyms..........................................................................2

Executive Summary...................................................................................................................3

Introduction................................................................................................................................5

Details of Proposed Digital Marketing Strategy........................................................................5

Digital Marketing Strategy Development..............................................................................5

Building Buyer Personas....................................................................................................5

Digital Marketing Channels Strategy.....................................................................................6

Web Pages...........................................................................................................................7

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)....................................................................................9

E-mail Marketing................................................................................................................9

Social Media Marketing....................................................................................................10

Social bookmarking..........................................................................................................11

Media sharing...................................................................................................................11

Social forums and discussion sites....................................................................................11

Social media submission...................................................................................................11

Social networks.................................................................................................................12

Social blogs.......................................................................................................................12

Podcasts............................................................................................................................12

Micro-blogging.................................................................................................................12

Measuring Digital Marketing Communication (DMC)........................................................12

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Customer Engagement......................................................................................................13

Digital Marketing Strategy Analysis, Actions, and Control.................................................14

Situation Analysis.............................................................................................................15

Objectives.........................................................................................................................16

Actions..............................................................................................................................16

Control..............................................................................................................................16

Conclusion................................................................................................................................17

References................................................................................................................................18
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Introduction

The contemporary economic activity is highly dependent on the adequate marketing.

Firms invest a lot in the marketing of their products as well as the launching of new products.

Digital marketing efficiently gives a business advantage since many people use digital media.

The Internet provides an impetus for companies to rethink and use technology. The

interconnectivity provided by the web allows information to be conveyed smoothly. The

major trends of the technology and access to the Internet have enabled the SMEs businesses

to rethink and prioritize the use of technology to promote business success. SMEs are

innovative sectors and critical drivers of employment, output growth, and the economy as a

whole.

Digital communication has become a vital transformational tool in the modern

marketing. The media landscape has been changed by the advancement of technology and the

application of digital advertising. Firms capitalize on the available opportunities presented by

the digital platforms including social media platforms. Examples of SMEs include bakeries,

greengrocers, car dealership, restaurants, health stores, coffee shops, newsagents,

hairdressers, barbers, local convenience stores, and more (Arens 2011, p. 36).

Details of Proposed Digital Marketing Strategy

Digital Marketing Strategy Development

A Digital Marketing Strategy refers to a plan of action designed to accomplish desired

goals. An efficient digital marketing plan of a firm is driven by the intentions of the business

to increase revenues. Companies apply series of actions to achieve the intended marketing

goals. The building blocks of the digital marketing plan are the marketing campaigns that are

geared towards meeting the intended purposes. For instance, using Twitter to showcase one

of the products in a company may generate more leads.

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Building Buyer Personas

Identify the ideal customer for a beauty shop. Research, survey, and conduct business

interviews with the target audience. Study and collect data on the targeted customers to

obtain real data that can help interpret the customer preferences and spending patterns.

Assumptions in data collection may lead to the wrong direction and wrong decisions.

Incorporate a sample of people who are likely to purchase the products and service. Include a

mixture of customers and prospects in the market research and marketing plan to align the

target audience. Gather customers’ details to enable the firm to give the customers

customized products according to their preferences.

The marketing strategy includes the below quantitative and qualitative information

about the target customers.

Quantitative Information: This refers to the demographic details of the target customers.

 Location: Use Google Analytics to identify the location of the potential customer

traffic.

 Age: Gather information about the trends of the potential customers about their

buying patterns in the existing database.

 Income: Use information about income levels of the target customers and their ability

to buy the products and services.

Qualitative Information: This refers to the psychographic details of the consumers.

 Goals: Consider the goals of the consumers when buying the services and products.

The goals guide the planner to use the right information when advertising. A clear

understanding of the goals that the consumers are looking to achieve works well in the

strategy. Cement the assumptions and findings by speaking to customers.

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 Challenges: Know the consumer difficulties through interviews, and engaging

customer service representatives. Understanding customer challenges are key to

coming up with solutions and better focus on the marketing strategy.

 Interests and hobbies: Talk to customers who align with the target consumers. For

instance, one may speak to customers who are interested in a new fashion, and this

can assist in the creation of advertisements.

 Priorities: Speaking to the target audience at random help find out their preferences

and the most important products or services. For instance, speaking to target

customers may reveal that most of them are value quality and customer support over

competitive price.

Digital Marketing Channels Strategy

Choose marketing channels selectively for better results. Use the main website to

display the mission, vision, and the objectives of a company. Put all the product descriptions

on the main website to allow the target consumers get all the information they require to

make decisions about the purchases and firm loyalty. The beauty shop’s site will be one of

the most important channels for communication and advertising. Invest in website

construction and management to ensure excellent information transmission and display of

information. Hire professionals to design the layout as well as to control the sites for

effectiveness. Make the website the main channel while other channels such as social media

(Shimp 2007).

Figure 1

Digital Marketing Media. Source: Digital Strategy 2016.

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Web Pages

Design a well-organized and attractive website with a customer friendly layout. Put

appealing features and visuals that will attract customers and let them read the intended

content. Align the website content with the firm’s goals and objectives. Manage modify, and

change in the website content regularly to avail the most up-to-date information. Ensure that

the web content communicates effectively with the clients. Ensure effective communication

through correct use of the following;

 Headers and titles

 Text content

 Appropriate colors

 Appealing layout

Ensure two-sided communication by use of the following;

 Comments sections

 Contact details section

 Link to social media platforms

 Enabling social media sharing

 Rating section and references

Allowing two-way discussion will help the firm to continue improving the delivery and

branding, reduce bounce rates, and get more sales, leads, and subscribers. Articulate digital
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advertising by combining a firm’s organizational culture, goals, and visions with the

consumers’ needs. According to Ryan 2014, the steps of building a website include:

 Planning: defining the target market, analyzing competitors, setting goals, making a

schedule, and trying to see the page through customers’ eyes.

 Design: setting the page outlook.

 Development: working on the actual pages, making sure that they align with the firm’s

goals, setting design and planned content.

 Testing: making sure that the website works as it should.

 Deployment: publishing the content (“Tactical and Operational Planning” 2013).

A well-designed web page will promote access to information. Availing data to

customers will enlighten them on the products the firm is offering, the advantages of

choosing the business as well as the competitive prices. Consideration of the target market

when designing a website promotes customer satisfaction because people will not have to

find substitutes. When customers’ expectations are met, they become consumers of the

goods. Online content assists the buyers in comparing prices and quality of products.

Customers are also able to order commodities online, which is convenient. A web page

should also be made accessible and usable (“Customer Engagement vs. Customer

Satisfaction: Which Should You Follow?” 2010).

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Use SEO to improve the volume of traffic to the site pages so that the content can be

more visible (Kotler et al. 2009, p. 131). Note that, creating a website in itself does not

guarantee visitors (Ryan, 2014, p. 87). Using the SEO enhances the webpage visibility in the

search engines. Ensure continuity for efficiency and achievement of the set goals. Advantages

of search engine optimization include timely, high-quality, and relevant search results. The
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choice of useful keywords and the competitor analysis ensure a competitive advantage over

the rivals (Ryan, 2014, pp. 87).

The intended use of a website is to convey information to customers, both existing

and potential ones. Business interacts with the customers mainly through the main site.

Creating a website in itself does not guarantee visitors (Ryan, 2014, pp. 87). An optimization

technique is used to increase the chances of the website appearing in search engines. It is

done to improve the volume of traffic to the website pages so that the content can be more

visible (Kotler et al. 2009, p. 131). It enhances the webpage visibility in the search engines.

The optimization and the web developing are always continuing to ensure efficiency and

achievement of the set goals. Advantages of search engine optimization include timely, high-

quality, and relevant search results. The choice of effective keywords and the competitor

analysis ensure a competitive advantage over the rivals (Ryan, 2014, pp. 87).

E-mail Marketing

Create email accounts for the business. Ensure the email accounts take the company’s

primary domain for credibility. Also, categorize the email addresses with departments such as

customer care, administration, online support, billing, jobs, and more. Ensure that the email

accounts are manned to serve the customers better. Communicate with customers to convey

promotional, personal, and customized messages. Send promotional and new products via

emails. Strategically emails to communicate about new products aiming at maintaining the

relevance of the products while introducing the new arrivals. Maintain customer engagement

to strengthen the firm-customer relationship and to give the clients the reason to own the

brand. Besides, the communication adds credibility to the business (Ryan, 2014, pp. 87). Use

various tools to manage email marketing. Examples of tools to use should include lists,

campaigns, and crafts. Specific employees manage the customer lists, track, follow-up on the

marketing campaigns, and design the crafts. Use customer relationship management which is
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an integral part of the digital marketing requires process. Delegate duties to specific officials

who will keep a record of customers and how they react towards products and business as a

whole. Track customers to know their preferences as well as spot potential buyers (Ryan,

2014, pp. 87). Email marketing cannot be replaced by the social media one because each has

a unique role in the strategic digital marketing. Email sphere is stable, reliable and valid

because it communicates to individuals directly (Ryan, 2014, pp. 87).

Social Media Marketing

Create web-based services that join customers online. Aim to get the attention of the

online users to ensure that they share the advertisement content. Like a website, ensure a brief

but satisfactory description of the firm and its products. Also provide interactive sections

where clients and potential customers can be able to ask questions, share their views,

compliment the firm, as well as discuss the products. Social media enables sharing of

different marketing materials including videos, pictures, texts, and audio. Examples of these

online sharing platforms are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and MySpace among

others (“Social Networking Websites” 2017).

Many users unite and view content together through linked platforms. Consumers can

be able to see, participate in, comment, and discuss the information posted by a firm. The

social platforms allow the consumers to know the products more in social interaction.

The different forms that exist among the social media sites include social forums,

social discussions, social bookmarking, social review and rating, social media submission,

social media sharing sites, blogging sites, and wikis. The examples are explained below.

Social bookmarking

Use online bookmarking for broader sharing. Online users save bookmarks of their

favorite web resources. Tag web pages on the web by the use of web-based tools. The online
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tagging enables easy access to the tagged content. Social bookmarking promotes exposure,

relevance, and traffic in the advertising sites.

Media sharing

Share information in websites to reach many people. Users can be able to

communicate through discussions, comments, and sharing and can also choose to publicize or

not. The benefit of sharing includes the ability to know what customers in a particular region

like or dislike.

Social forums and discussion sites

Create social forums so that customers can enter different social media sites and

choose to discuss any topic of their interest. The use of social panels and discussions enables

the company to become closer to their customers. Companies collect data through clients’

contribution and debate that assist in planning.

Social media submission

Submit advertisements and product content online for the online users to review,

comment and discuss specific products online. The provided information can be a text, a

video, audio, or a photo. Engage the online users in a discussion where they comment,

approve, or disapprove, like or dislike the content. The customer feedback is essential to

making progress. The benefits of social submission sites include the following: it reveals the

trending items and people’s interests, increases online reputation, and also boosts the traffic

to the posted material (Shimp 2007, p. 243).

Social networks

Create social network accounts where people can connect and network and share

business content widely. For instance, use YouTube channel to share videos, photo

animation, advertisements and more content. Share information in different forms like

photos, videos, audio, texts and more. The ability of the sites to link many people gives it an
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advantage of reaching customers from the same locality of the geographical location. The use

of social networks improves online reputations while offering advertising options (Arens

2011, p. 36).

Social blogs

Create a social blog and choose topics of their interest and post them on the Internet.

Establish the hot issues of the day depending on what is trending online. Users can then give

their thoughts and ideas about the blogs. Investigate and evaluate the workability of blogs for

better results. Ensure putting to task an experienced blogger who will contribute to

maintaining the face of the company.

Podcasts

Use podcasts to share audio and video clips reach many customers. The type of media

is also put on a website of a company to give customers a better understanding of the

products as well as a chance to comment on it or the idea posted. Podcasts create efficient

channels to reach customers.

Micro-blogging

Use short messages that are not longer than 160 characters. The quick messaging

promotes product visibility and increases customer traffic on the websites. Besides, it is an

easy way to communicate with the customers (Karunakaran 2008).

Measuring Digital Marketing Communication (DMC)

Collect information about the progress of marketing communications. Evaluate the

effectiveness of the online marketing by looking at the return on investment (ROI).

Marketing is as crucial as well as other investments. However, its importance is not well-

understood by many organizations, which make them fail in marketing strategies.

According to Tikkanen and Vassinen (2016, p. 78), marketing is not only an expense

but also an investment because it leads to increased sales and higher revenues in the long run.
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Calculation of the rate of return helps the firm effectively compare investment decisions and

choices and allocate the budget coherently (Tikkanen 2016, p. 79).

Ensure precise goals of the firm to get a precise definition and realization of the return

on investment. Calculate the ROI by dividing the net profit by the net investment. The

calculated gain excludes the cost of investment. The return on investment of digital marketing

is always set higher than other investments because they have higher risks (Tikkanen and

Vassinen 2016, pp. 79-80).

Customer Engagement

Use the new technology to engage the modern customer who can be able to view the

company profiles and products. Focus advertising on finding new customers as well as

maintaining meaningful relationships with the existing clients. Position the firm’s online

profiles such that it will support new customer acquisition and, thus, promote more sales.

Customer relationship management is crucial to maintaining growth in business. Customers

need to feel important and valued to identify themselves with the brands they like.

Figure 2

Satisfaction and Engagement. Source: “Customer Engagement vs. Customer Satisfaction:

Which Should You Follow?” 2010

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Maintain long-lasting customer relationships through meaningful communication and

customer management. Clients will love the fact that they can quickly access the company’s

managers and directors.

Digital Marketing Strategy Analysis, Actions, and Control

Elaborate the plan, decide the tactics, plan the actions of the strategic development.

Also analyze the situation and how to implement the tactics, set the objectives, and control

the results of the process. (“SOSTAC®-model” 2012).

Figure 3

Situation Analysis. Source: “SOSTAC®-model” 2012.

Situation Analysis

Obtain a clear picture of the external and internal business environment. The analysis

includes the report of the business market, competitors, products, customer base,

environment, and opportunities available for the business (About.com, 2013). SWOT analysis
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can be done to analyze the marketplace. Examine the internal weaknesses and strengths, as

well as internal and external opportunities (Morris 2009, p. 385).

Table 1

SWOT Analysis. Source: Morris 2009, pp. 386.

The Organization Strengths – S Weaknesses – W

 Brand  Brand Perception

 Customer Base  Intermediary use

 Distribution  Technology and skills

 Channel Support

Opportunities – O SO Strategies WO Strategies

 Cross-selling Strengths to maximize Counter weaknesses through

 Virgin Markets opportunities = Attacking exploiting opportunities =

 New options and services strategy Build strengths for attacking

 Alliances and Co- strategy

branding

Threats – T ST Strategies WT Strategies

 Customer choice Strengths to minimize threats Counter weaknesses and

 New players = Defensive strategy threats = Build strengths for

 New competition defensive strategy

 Channel conflicts

Objectives

Set targets for a digital marketing strategy to enable the company to forecast the

future business growth. Monitor digital communication usage. Aim to create a perfect image

of the company in marketing. Include ways of maintaining existing customer relationships as

well as acquiring new customers.

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Actions

Plan for digital marketing strategy implementation and make clear guidelines on its

implementation of the digital marketing strategy for effective communication. Enhance the

usability and the control of the web pages by modifying and monitoring regularly. Ensure

clear digital interface for the success of the marketing strategy (Lea 2015).

Control

Use different methods to control and monitor the results of the digital channels. For

instance, use Google analytics to analyze and monitor the activities in the marketing

channels. Use the information collected to develop and modify the digital marketing

platforms. Utilize online surveys to obtain customer preferences and views. The frequent

analysis improves the communication and promotes efficient development of the marketing

strategy (Smart Insights 2012).

Conclusion

The progress in digital marketing will enable an SME firm to build a brand and

achieve its goals and objectives. The use of web pages, search engine optimization, and social

media is recommended in the industry to increase revenues. A digital marketing strategy is an

essential tool in marketing. A well-designed marketing strategy should accord the customer

value and recognition. Marketing is all about customer engagement and businesses need

customers. The marketing strategy is one way of preparing a firm to meet customer

expectations (Greenberg 2014). Digital marketing revolves around social interaction channels

such as online platforms and media. Strategic marketing in the contemporary world is

essential to business excellence and continuity.

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