Digital Strategy

Mark Connolly

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Published by Cambridge Marketing Press, 2015

© Cambridge Marketing Press, 2015.

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Introduction

i

Page

Introduction

About the Author (iii)

How to use this Guide (iv)

Additional Study Resources (v)

Section 1: Digital Disruption

Chapter 1: The Strategic Implications of the Disruptive Digital

Environment

1.1 Analysing the Macro-Environment 1

1.2 Analysing the Micro-Environment 11

1.3 The Strategic Implications of Disruption 25

Chapter 2: The Digital Marketing Environment

2.1 Macro and Micro Findings 35

2.2 The Relevance, Influence and Impact of Emerging Themes 42

2.3 Monitoring Emerging Trends 48

Section 2: Digital Planning

Chapter 3: Strategic Recommendations to Acquire, Convert

and Retain Customers

3.1 Digital Objectives 62

3.2 A Strategic Response to Acquire or Reach New Customers 72

3.3 A Strategic Response to Customer Conversion 85

3.4 A Strategic Response to Customer Retention 89

Chapter 4: An Agile Response to Changing Customer

Behaviour

4.1 The Current Marketing Mix 93

4.2 The Digital Marketing Mix to Acquire, Convert and Retain Customers 99

4.3 How the Digital Marketing Mix Delivers and Enhances Agility 101

Introduction

ii

Section 3: Delivering Success

Chapter 5: Managing and Optimising Key Channels and

Content

5.1 Integrating Digital into Wider Marketing Activities 109

5.2 Channel Management and Optimisation 119

5.3 Content Management and Optimisation 139

5.4 Resources and Scheduling of Key Tactics 143

Chapter 6: Key Digital Measures for Social, Sentiment, Search

and Site Behaviour

6.1 The Tools 149

6.2 Monitoring and Measuring Key Digital Channels 154

6.3 Measures to Assess Digital Behaviour 158

6.4 Applying the Key Measures 161

Index 169

Introduction

iii

About the Author

Mark Connolly Chartered Marketer

Mark Connolly is a Chartered and Inbound Marketer with over 12 years of business

experience, specialising in the technology sector. He is an international marketing

professional with a proven record of accomplishment in planning and leading

comprehensive marketing strategies in support of business goals and objectives.

Mark has been leading his own digital marketing agency, MarketingMavens, for the last 2

years. The work involves marketing strategy, digital communications, branding, SEO and

social media in both the design and marketing consulting area.

Mark is also a Brand Ambassador and experienced tutor for CIM courses at Cambridge

Marketing College where he teaches the Digital Strategy, Digital Marketing and Integrated

Media modules.

Introduction

iv

How to Use this Guide

This Guide has been written specifically to assist marketers who are studying or want to

improve their strategic digital marketing skills. It includes examples and activities to help

reinforce your learning, and recommended reading and website links for additional

information. We recommend that you work through the Guide from beginning to end

undertaking the exercises and supplementary reading included.

The Guide is part of a set, all written by professional marketers and tutors, designed to

provide clear and easy to read introductions to key marketing topics. The other Guides in this

set are: Strategy for Marketers, Metrics for Marketers and Innovation for Marketers.

Within the Guide you will find the following icons used:

This icon defines a key learning concept within the topic area.

This icon identifies additional reading resources that can be used to gather extra

information or to reinforce learning about a particular concept.

This icon identifies tasks that are useful in widening your knowledge and applying

the concepts to your own organisation.

This icon identifies real-life examples that illustrate the key issues discussed.

This icon identifies websites with further information on the key issues discussed.

This icon identifies videos available online to reinforce your learning.

Introduction

v

Additional Study Resources

This Guide has been designed to provide you with all the core knowledge and skills you need

for this topic. However, marketing is a constantly changing discipline and in order to be a first

class marketer you must keep up-to-date with what is going on around you. Consequently

we strongly recommend that you read widely around the subject for this (and every) topic.

CMC Tutor Blog, Scoop.it! and YouTube Channel

Tutor Blog: www.marketingcollege.com/blog

Scoop.it!: http://www.scoop.it/u/charles-nixon

YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UC0_uEMPBTxuUr8hH1Ikl70w

Magazines and Journals

We strongly recommend that you read around the subject from the daily and weekly press

and marketing journals and widen your studies by looking at key trade magazines that serve

the industry. These include:

Ad Age www.adage.com

Cambridge Marketing Review www.marketingcollege.com/blog/cambridge-

marketing-review/

Campaign www.campaignlive.co.uk

Marketing www.marketingmagazine.co.uk

Marketing Week www.marketingweek.co.uk

Media Week www.mediaweek.co.uk

Cambridge Marketing Handbooks

Cambridge Marketing Handbooks: Digital Marketing, Distribution for Marketers, Law for

Marketers, Marketing Communications, Marketing Philosophy, Marketing Planning, Pricing for

Marketers, Product Marketing, Research for Marketers, Services Marketing, and Stakeholder

Marketing, 2015, Cambridge Marketing Press

Introduction

vi

Recommended Books

Core

Chaffey D and Ellis-Chadwick F, (2012), Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and

Practice. 5th edition. Harlow, Pearson.

Supplementary

Chaffey D and Smith PR, (2012), Emarketing Excellence: Planning and Optimizing Your Digital

Marketing, 4th edition, Abingdon, Routledge

Flores L, (2014), How to Measure Digital Marketing: Metrics for Assessing Impact and

Designing Success, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan

Kaufman I and Horton C, (2014), Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategy and Tactics With

Values, Abingdon, Routledge

Richardson N, James J and Kelley N, (2015), Two Futures of Marketing: How to Plan for Growth

Using Sustainable and Digital Marketing, London, Kogan Page

Ryan D and Jones C, (2014), Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing Strategies for

Engaging the Digital Generation, 3rd edition, London, Kogan Page

Recommended Articles

The Moz Blog - http://moz.com/blog

CopyBlogger - http://www.copyblogger.com/blog/

Matt Cutts blog - http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/

HubSpot blog - http://blog.hubspot.com/

Recommended Case Study Links

AllTop - http://most-popular.alltop.com/

DotRising - http://www.dotrising.com/

Introduction

vii

Useful Websites

The Chartered Institute of Marketing

www.cim.co.uk CIM website with information and access to learning

support.

www.cim.co.uk/insight/tools-

and-templates/study-resources/

Direct access to information and support materials for all

levels of CIM qualification (available to CIM Members).

www.cim.co.uk/cuttingedge Weekly roundup of marketing news (available to CIM

members), awards and forthcoming marketing events.

www.cim.co.uk/insight/marketin

g-library-resources/

EBSCO, Emerald, iLibrary and more.

Publications on line

www.ft.com

Extensive research resources across all industry sectors,

with links to more specialist reports. (Charges may apply).

www.economist.com Useful links, and easily-searched archives of articles from

back issues of the magazine.

www.mad.co.uk Marketing Week magazine online.

www.brandrepublic.com Marketing magazine online.

Sources of useful information

www.esomar.org/

European Market Research Association.

www.asa.org.uk/asa/ Advertising Standards Association – useful for the Codes

of Practice.

www.marketresearch.org.uk The Market Research Society. Contains useful material on

the nature of research, choosing an agency, ethical

standards and codes of conduct for research practice.

www.statistics.gov.uk Detailed information on a variety of consumer

demographics from the Government Statistics Office.

www.data.gov.uk/publisher/ce

ntral-office-of-information

Government News.

www.quickmba.com/ Quick reference website for business models.

Introduction

viii

Exhibitions to Attend

Technology For Marketing www.t-f-m.co.uk/

Online Marketing Fair www.onlinemarketingshow.co.uk/

Social Marketing www.socialnetworking-forum.com/

Wikipedia – A note on its use

Wikipedia is a good place to start any research on a new subject. Whilst content now goes

through some review to remove obvious errors of fact, the encyclopaedia is not definitive

and can be incorrect. Always check any information with a second source. Wikipedia is a

good source for other sources.

Digital Strategy

SECTION 1

DIGITAL DISRUPTION

Chapter 1: The Strategic Implications of the Disruptive

Digital Environment

The expected learning outcomes for this chapter are that you will understand the

strategic implications of the disruptive digital environment including:

Analysing the macro-environment using a range of existing and emerging digital

analysis tools and frameworks

Analysing the micro-environment using a range of existing and emerging digital

analysis tools and frameworks

Identifying and assessing the strategic implications of findings in the context of

disruption from the digital environment

1.1 Analysing the Macro-Environment

What is digital?

Process definition

In short, digital is about finding the best way of achieving goals, normally promoting a brand

or service, through electronic connected media. This could be online on the web, through

specialist Internet applications, or through mobile phone applications (both network and

Bluetooth connections). Digital consultancy can also tie into traditional media outlets, either

as traditional first (bringing an audience into a digital campaign), or traditional last (by using

an existing digital audience as content generators).

Digital can also be used to extend the process into a company/brand’s inner workings;

improving the supply chain, gaining direct consumer or business insight through greater

transparency and movement of the underlying data.

Emotive definition

Digital is the great equaliser and relationship builder. Humans by their very nature are

communicative and inquisitive, and digital channels allow brands to interact with their

audience on both levels. The level of involvement required by the audience to engage with

a brand, in many cases a simple click of the mouse, shrinks the gulf between interaction and

offline brand perception.

The greatest benefit of digital lies in its ability to forge individual relationships with the

audience. Unlike any other broadcast medium, digital channels allow direct engagement

with each member of the audience.

Digital strategy

A digital strategy is a plan that defines how a company can benefit from the use of digital

technology. The strategy includes vision, goals, opportunities and initiatives and maximises

the benefits of the company going digital. A digital strategy also allows a business to

measure risks and can be used to improve an existing digital business. Developing a digital

strategy is completed using recognisable business analysis tools such as:

SWOT Analysis

PESTER Analysis

PORTER’S 5 Forces

Social Media Tools

Micro & Macro Scanning

Digital represents both a challenge and an opportunity

The challenge – digital disruptors are entering the market. Competitors, customers, and

partners are now digital or becoming digital.

The opportunity – transform the customer experience and operations to become a fully

effective digital business.

Businesses always knew digital was going to change things. In every industry, digital

competitors are taking advantage of new platforms, tools, and relationships to undercut

competitors, get closer to customers and disrupt the usual way of doing business. The only

way to compete is to evolve.

Tools are reducing the barriers to entry. Competitors can half the cost of competing with

another business. Technological advances are creating opportunities for more people than

ever before to meet more customer needs than ever before, at lower costs than ever before

– and that creates digital disruption. It Is time for marketers to move past the fear and

confront digital disruption head-on. After all, disruption is a forcing function; companies can

use it as the imperative to engage customers differently – and more effectively – across all

interaction touch points.

Five key factors

There are 5 key factors organisations need to consider about how digital disruption will

impact their customers:

Pace of innovation – technology disruptions now occur at increasingly faster intervals.

Does that mean consumers will be sceptical about anything ‘new and improved’ as

they anticipate an even better product on the not-so-distant horizon? Moreover, how

will companies’ R&D compete in this fast-paced marketplace? Is the future filled with

product launches to trumpet only incremental change?

Increased competition – digital disruption accelerates competing ideas even as it

facilitates the entry of a previously impossible number and magnitude of ideas. The

cumulative effect is devastating to any company operating under the rules of the

prior century.

Personalisation of interactions – big data analytics enable marketers to send

customer communications that are more relevant, personalised and targeted than

ever before. Research shows that consumers welcome personalised offers, such as

price-matching and loyalty points. Soon, they will not only welcome it, they will

expect it. By using data-driving marketing, marketers can learn how to optimise their

appeal to individual customers.

Speed of interactions – for many, digital communication equates with speed. Just as

consumers increasingly expect personalisation, they also increasingly expect real-

time interaction with brands.

Speed of Interactions

Remember how a handful of brands proved they could re-invent the customer experience

within minutes during the Super Bowl black-out? Oreo was just one:

Integration – without integration, you will never be able to unleash the full potential of

digital technologies. First, you need integration to create cohesion across all

marketing channels and platforms. Remember – consistent messaging builds

consumer trust. Second, integrated internal marketing functions help you better

understand data patterns and customer interactions, while providing the visibility

necessary to prove ROI across today’s multi-channel campaigns.

Why do businesses choose digital disruption?

Digital disruption may be messy, unpredictable and at times, overwhelming.

However, it is also inescapable, powerful and incredibly motivating.

Disruption is happening everywhere and it is happening fast. Technology innovations, new

media, and volatile economic conditions are driving changes in consumer behaviours and

attitudes, leading to a transformation of the competitive playing field. Disruptors will be

dominant players in the new marketing ecosystem. They are the most advanced in terms of

technology integration, diversified skills and talent versatility. Disruptors are always pushing to

evolve and they have the most aggressive growth goals. Unlike their traditional marketing

brethren, disruptors are risk takers that fight to remain nimble (Roetzer, 2012).

Digital disruptor skills

Digital disruptors need to be able to build fully integrated marketing campaigns that adhere

to the principles of selective consumption (becoming more selective about where brands

choose to be exposed). This includes content publishing, social-media, SEO, online

advertising, mobile marketing, website development, email marketing, lead nurturing and

analytics, as well as evolved forms of PR and brand marketing. Core capabilities will centre

on digital, with a mix of traditional activities as needed.

Digital disruptor results

Leading marketing professionals consistently produce more measurable outcomes, including

inbound links, website traffic, leads, and sales; quickly shifting away from arbitrary metrics

such as media impressions, reach, advertising equivalency and PR value.

Technology

Fully immersed in the technology industry. Will breed a new generation of tech-savvy,

entrepreneurial-minded professionals. Cloud platforms play a key role in their growth and

adaptability as this will enable them to be versatile on price and product/services.

Market focus

The industry leaders will have a mass-market focus and international appeal (the Internet has

no borders), but, like any emerging industry, there will be plenty of room for smaller

companies to prosper by concentrating on niche market segments and/or services.

1.1.1 PESTER

Writing a business strategy is an essential aspect of starting and running a business. Without a

clear strategy, it is difficult to set meaningful goals and objectives. In determining your

business strategy, a logical analysis of the environment in which you operate will both inform

and influence the outcome. This analysis – commonly called PESTER, for political, economic,

sociological, technological, environmental and legal issues – paves the way for identifying

opportunities and threats, and effective business planning.

1.1.2 The impact and influence of macro factors

Issue Impact and influence on business

Political

Political factors include how regulations and

policies imposed by your national or local

government might affect the way you

conduct your business. These factors decide

the extent to which a government might

affect the economy or a certain industry.

For a digital business this may include:

Copyright laws

Tax policies

Increased pressure on pricing

Google search engines penalise for

duplicate content and will affect

your rankings if you copy

Government restrictions on use of

social media for example,

Facebook in China

Economic

The strength and performance of the local,

national and international economy can all

impact a business, presenting both

opportunities and threats. These factors are

elements of an economy’s performance

that directly impact a company. The

economic factors which could affect a

digital business include:

Inflation rates

Interest rates

Reluctance of consumers to spend

Increased pressure from

shareholders

Issue Impact and influence on business

Sociological

Sociological attitudes and profiles are

constantly changing. Developing a

demographic profile of your consumer base

will help you understand what motivates

them. This step examines the social

environment of the market. The elements

measured which can affect a digital

business are:

Cultural trends

Demographics

Population

Better intelligence gathering

Market growth/decline

Learn different buyer profiles e.g.

baby boomers, millennials

As media became digital it also

changed the marketing channels

and became more fragmented

now they will become atomised

How we are using technology

affects our behaviours e.g. how

adults and teens are using mobile

What people are doing on the

internet and how they are now

searching for information, services,

social interaction

How we are buying technology

much of which is based on the

battle of our attention around the

TV

Some predicted ends to

technologies we now know

The change in the consumption of

media and the changes in

advertising

Issue Impact and influence on business

Technological

The only thing permanent about

technology is change. With advances in

technology developing at a seemingly

unstoppable rate, keeping up-to-date with

changes could help you develop a market

advantage in the face of competition.

Technological change is most evident in

how we communicate, with smartphones

and tablet computers becoming

commonplace. As a strategic marketer,

you should look at ways to harness

technological potential to identify and

service new and emerging markets; and

determine whether new technologies will

have an impact on the specific industry

and market positively or critically. This

involves:

Research and development

The technological awareness of a

market

New digital opportunities including

mobile apps

New communication models e.g.

live chat, Facetime

Mobile – technology advances

have converged on the mobile

and it will be the most significant

change in marketing:

o Social media on the go

o Search now becomes local

search

o Apps will continue to grow

o Location based services will

continue to grow and gain

traction in mainstream

marketing. The main players

will evolve new ways to

monetise the check-in. We

become ‘glocal’

consumers continuing to

check-in

o Augmented reality – will

grow from a small base on

mobile

Environmental

Environmental concerns have become

important in recent years, with the wider

impact of doing business increasingly

recognised by consumers as a factor in their

buyer behaviour. Responsible organisations

should look for ways to minimise the

environmental impact of their operations.

Environmental analysis involves issues that

determine or influence the surrounding of

an environment. This may include factors

such as:

Climate

Geographical location

Global climate changes

Environmental counterbalances

Identify eco-opportunities to

market

The environmental cost of the

internet

The positive effect of a responsible

environmental attitude i.e. that it

may attract new customers who

prefer to purchase more ethically

derived products

Issue Impact and influence on business

Regulatory (inc. Legal)

Businesses across the world operate in a

web of legal obligations and restrictions.

Legal factors refer to both internal and

external issues. For example:

Consumer laws

Safety standards

Labour laws

Need to focus on learning laws and

educate staff

Quality and safety become key

Table 1.1 PESTER analysis

1.1.3 Disruptive elements of the digital environment

Why do good technology companies fail to see new markets? – This is because disruptive

innovations usually provide the same value proposition as your business but in a different

way. Either overall, and/or with a different business model. This, in terms of Competitive

Strategy by Michael Porter, would be referred to as a market ‘substitute’ (Porter, 1980.)

Most good companies are very bad at seeing their substitutes early on. One

company that is not is Facebook. Facebook offered a lot of money, around $3 billion, to buy

Snapchat. Snapchat is a platform that lets you send pictures or videos to other users that are

only viewable for a few seconds then the file disappears. It has between 50 million to 300

million current users. Facebook recognised that Snapchat could disrupt their lead market

share of the social networking market.

The market adoption for disruptive technologies follows a pattern. Disruptive technologies

are usually initially less functional then the needs of the main market. This is not usually a

problem because most companies that sell technology over-deliver the basic market

requirements. This is called performance oversupply.

These companies focus on premium features. This is called upwards market migration. These

companies are focusing on clients that will pay a premium for a solid brand relationship they

can trust. This is a good way to grow your company profits. The downside for them is that

their cost structure rises to deliver these premium features. Then when a new technology

gains enough functionality it can eventually offer the same service at a much lower cost. It

eventually enters the market and replaces it.

For example, Netflix revolutionised the video rental industry and led to the downfall of

Blockbuster.

Those people who want to pay very little for their service are the least satisfied with the

current provider. This is the underbelly of the market and this is where you enter with a

disruptive technology. Your goal is to find evangelists to help establish initial market traction.

Another example is that, while franchises like The Biggest Loser have succeeded in entering

the health business recently, they have done so at great cost.

Meanwhile, a single app that helps dieters keep track of the calories they consume on their

smartphones has gone from 0 to 7 million downloads in just a few years. FitNow, the

company behind the app, pulled this off with four employees, establishing a previously

unheard of customer-per-employee metric of 1.75 million.

This is digital disruption at its finest: better, stronger, faster. The app got to market quickly,

partly because as a digital disruptor, FitNow could afford to launch something that did not try

to solve all the problems in the weight-loss world.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality lets users mash up real-world actions with digital information. The

Nintendo Wii gaming system and Microsoft Kinect are good examples of augmented reality,

with users moving their bodies to make digital characters act accordingly. Also, Microsoft's

Surface is a Vista-powered tabletop computer that lets users manipulate digital content with

natural motions, such as hand gestures. This sort of real-world-meets-virtual-reality mashup is

becoming more common.

1.1.4 Key technological organisational players

Apple

One of the things Apple has demonstrated over its lifetime is that it has become the great

disruptor. In the early 2000s, Apple upended the music market with the introduction of the

iPod and an easy way to access, buy and play music on the go. Then in 2007, Apple

disrupted the cell-phone market with the iPhone. While Apple did not invent the smart

phone, the company reinvented it in ways that completely disrupted the wireless carriers’

way of controlling their own programmes and added the element of a truly intelligent

operating system and apps to the smart-phone landscape.

The iPhone has literally redefined what a smart phone is and has dramatically disrupted the

entire telecommunications world. In 2010, Apple introduced the iPad. The company did not

invent the tablet. It reinvented the tablet and in the process reinvented the personal

computer. The iPad has become a major disruptive force in changing the dynamics and

fortunes of the traditional PC industry. Now the iPad accounts for over 80 percent of all tablet

computer sales, and software developers are creating apps at warp speed for these new

devices. The biggest physical difference between the iPad and a laptop computer is that,

with the tablet, Apple lopped off the keyboard in favour of an all-multitouch interface.

Has Apple peaked?

With recent news it does not look likely (McGregor, 2014). Apple is getting ready to launch its

much talked about ‘Smart Home’ software. The software turns the iPhone into a one-stop

remote control for everything in your house: lights, appliances, and security systems.

Apple’s coming move follows Google’s $3.2bn acquisition in January of Nest Labs, makers of

internet-connected thermostats and smoke alarms, and Samsung’s recent debut of its Smart

Home range of refrigerators, washing machines and TVs that can be controlled from its

smartphones and watches. Apple’s integrated system will make it easier to set up and

control new ‘SmartHome’ devices. For example, a home’s lights might automatically come

on when the owner enters the house, using their iPhone to wirelessly signal their arrival.

Google

The way individuals interact online is constantly changing — especially with the release of the

Google Glass. Glass is a wearable computer that is worn like glasses, but has advanced

digital features, including an optical head display, voice command interaction, as well as a

bone conduction audio transducer that allows users to hear audio.

Google Glass is the most visible example of augmented reality, but a business case for the

emerging technology is building. According to Gartner research analyst Tuong Huy Nguyen,

the technology could be most valuable where workers do not have immediate access to

information, such as remote sites or in jobs that require one or both hands (Nguyen, 2013).

While it is still early days, manufacturers are already using augmented reality for factory

planning and equipment repair. Applications are also being developed for use in distribution

centres for more efficient order-picking and delivery.

Google Glass has the potential to provide them with facilities to stream all this data and

make it really useful to them in a way that would be acceptable as they would be able

capture data in real time.

By 2020 we could see many companies being very successful with the apps they have

developed to work with Google Glass. As the internet created many dotcom businesses, this

technology will help software companies grow and urge people to create the next best

software app developer to work with Google Glass.

Third-party applications

If you think about how third-party applications are already used today to help businesses

market to smartphone and tablet owners you can probably see how Google Glass could be

utilised as well. There are already major players in this game, such as Groupon.com, which

has developed applications for mobile devices where consumers can look up coupon deals

within their local area. This is a foreseeable application for users of Google Glass in the near

future.

Also, with a digital camera integrated into Google Glass, third-party applications could

emerge where owners of Google Glass could scan barcodes and find price comparisons

that businesses could use for giving the lowest discount possible. These are just a couple of

features used by smartphones and tablets today that could be extended to Google Glass.

Sharing through social media marketing

This feature would be something that businesses could utilise with Google Glass. The device

already has features that allow users to interact on social networks such as Facebook and

Twitter. Therefore, businesses could use Google Glass to share and market to their social

networks.

Live video sharing

Another way businesses could use Google Glass is through live video sharing. Businesses

could potentially use it to interact with their customers by streaming live events that are easily

recorded through Google Glass. This would allow one person to both record and talk at the

same time by using the hands-free features of Google Glass.

Google Glass future

The above are just a few conceptual ideas of how Google Glass could impact the digital

marketing world. Because the cost of Google Glass will probably go down considerably in

the future, along with the technological advances this device will foresee, there is a strong

chance that this new compact digital computer will have an even bigger impact on how

we interact in the online digital marketing world.

In summary, these key technology players have a significant role and impact on many other

technological organisations. It is important that organisations constantly audit these main

players and find out if there are further opportunities for new product development or threats

to your business or software through not being compatible with their new technology.

1.2 Analysing the Micro-Environment

1.2.1 The digital micro-environment

The micro-environment consists of all the people and organisations that are involved closely

with the company and directly impact the customer experience. They all have direct interest

in the activities of the organisation and are clearly affected by its actions. Micro-environment

examples include:

Stakeholders

Suppliers

Markets and industry structure

Rival companies

Customers

A company’s competitors are considered to be a part of the micro-environment as they are

influenced by the business and have interest in it. The micro-environment is moderately

manageable (unlike the macro external environment) as the actions of the company can

influence these stakeholders.

Stakeholders – stakeholders are those members of the micro-environment that have a direct

influence on your business although they are not generally paying customers. Employees are

stakeholders in your business. The government or governments of countries in which you

trade are all stakeholders. Your local community or neighbours are stakeholders, for example

think of the local community’s influence when a car firm wants to build a new factory, or

when an airport wants to build a new runway.

Suppliers – suppliers are those companies that supply your business with goods and services

to which you add value through transformation. From a manufacturing point of view

suppliers would supply raw materials and components which are transformed into finished

goods. From a retail perspective suppliers would deliver produce which is broken down from

bulk, packaged and merchandised in stores to attract customers and consumers. Today

suppliers are a vital part of the supply chain, which sees valued added at all stages, from

conception to consumption (and post-purchase evaluation).

Customers – customers are vital to an organisation because without customers you have no

business. When we define marketing we often talk about customer needs, how we identify

needs, satisfy them and anticipate them into the future. Today we tend to focus less on

products and services and more on customer i.e. customer orientation. We think less of the

Product Life Cycle (PLC) and more about the Customer Life Cycle (CLC) whereby we

attempt to recruit and retain customers and then extend products and services to them

throughout their lives. It is paramount to understand and supply what customers need. We

need to know what they want, why they want it and how they buy. There are many ways to

identify buyer behaviour, but a good place to start is to look at what customers do online

and measure their digital footprint.

Additionally, digital tools can help with customer loyalty. For example, an online survey for

customers, or feedback tools such as Trustpilot or Customersure, can help with the

measurement of customer loyalty. Another way is to reward customers for loyalty by getting

them to use a loyalty card online or logging into their account to purchase numerous times.

With people who frequently purchase, this can be recorded and the business can send them

a gift on their birthday or at Christmas by way of reward.

Employees – are your human resources, and they are vitally important, especially in getting

the best use out of digital marketing tools. Employing staff with relevant skills and experience

is essential. Digital marketing employees require the capability to learn, think and act fast as

new technologies are introduced regularly. Having great employees can help create

competitive edge for a company. Training and development play a critical role in achieving

a competitive edge. If a business employs staff without motivation, skills or experience it will

affect customer service, and ultimately sales.

Competitors – the name of the game in marketing is differentiation. Keep an eye on

competition. Competitors may influence your actions. If a competitor launches a great

digital marketing campaign this will push you to review your own marketing plan.

Competitor analysis and monitoring is crucial if a company is to maintain or improve its

position within the market. If a business is unaware of their competitor's activities they will find

it very difficult to get an advantage over their competitors. The market can move very

quickly, for example, through a change in trading conditions, consumer behaviour or

technological developments. As a business, it is important to examine competitors' responses

to these changes so that you can maximise the impact of your response.

On some occasions you might collaborate with a competitor. There are examples of

alliances and joint ventures in the mobile industry such as those between Sony-Ericsson.

1.2.2 Digital customer behaviour

The relationship between the buyer and the seller exists through a market exchange. The

exchange process allows the parties to assess the relative trade-offs they must make to satisfy

their respective needs and wants. For the buyer they are looking for ease of access to more

information about the company, brand and products and services it offers. Digital buyers are

impatient and want ease of use in websites, they expect them to be fast, easy to navigate

and interactive.

The key role of digital companies is to sell, educate or inform buyers about their products and

services. However, these companies need to provide buyers with ways of communicating

with them, be clear on price and have clarity on terms and conditions to minimise cart

abandonment.

The digital marketplace provides wider opportunities for both consumers and businesses. The

digital environment has changed the way consumers and businesses interact and also

provided new ways of interacting by facilitating access to information with lower cost.

The web provides consumers with much better access to information and to sellers than

other sales channels. This improved access to information about products, services and

prices has been shown to have positive benefits for consumers. Likewise, the internet has

opened new opportunities for organisations to reach consumers through new advertising

and sales channels and made it easier for them to bring their products to market, reach new

customers and build long term relationships with existing offline customers. Access to content

and digital services creates numerous advantages due to low marginal costs of distribution.

Growing internet penetration opening access to information and content has led to

increased creativity and innovation on the digital horizon.

Consumer buying behaviour has been always a popular marketing topic. Traditional

economic theory predicts that consumers are rational consumers who systematically search

for and analyse information in the market before making a purchase and seek redress in the

event of problems with the purchase. However obtaining and analysing information may be

costly and as a result rational consumers may not search the entire market before making a

decision. They are also less likely to do so for relatively frequent, low-cost, low-risk purchases.

Now, supplier and manufacturer websites, comparison websites, discussion forums and

advertisements all make it easier for consumers to research and identify relevant products

and services. Search engines play a central role in filtering the immense volume of

information and the great majority of consumers use search engines as part of their online

purchasing process. For many consumers the internet is almost equivalent to Google but it is

also known that consumers do not utilise online search and filtering tools fully and only

consider websites that appear among the top search results.

E-commerce is central to the development of the digital market but at the same time may

involve additional risks. So it is very important to understand the consumer psyche in the

digital environment.

Smartphone user experience

Mobile phone reading is fast-paced, half-present and usually done while doing something

else. Contrast that with reading on a tablet. Most tablet reading is slower-paced, deliberate

and done in the home. Desktop use is also different. For marketers, it is worth thinking about

how people are consuming your content and what that might change for your approach to

content creation.

Mobile browsing is more action orientated

Andy Ching, Director of Mobile for Bing, stated that 70% of mobile searches are followed up

by a consumer action within an hour. In other words, if you are searching for car parts on

mobile, you are probably going to end up buying those car parts that day. Browsing on a

desktop computer or laptop, however, tends to be more leisurely and general-research-

driven in nature (Anderson, 2013).

Think for a moment about the last time you pulled your mobile phone out from your pocket.

You probably had a specific purpose for doing so. Because mobile phones go with us, their

users tend to be more action driven. This is probably most true in cases of consumer products

and B2C companies, but can extend into the B2B or non-profit worlds, as well.

In your marketing strategy, think about what you can do to make those action-oriented

searches easier. Keep your landing pages and home page simple. Optimise your site for

mobile viewing using responsive design and make phone numbers clickable.

Most Common Mobile Activities

According to research, email is the most common activity that adults perform on their

smartphones, with reading news/content and using social networking as a close second and

third, respectively. Each of these activities has been on the rise. Twice a year, Knotice, a Data

Management Platform, releases data on email opened by device. During the second half of

2012, 41% of all emails opened were done so on a mobile device, which is a full 50% increase

over the same time the previous year.

Knowing that emails, content consumption, and social networking are increasingly

happening through mobile devices, here are a few tips to add to your checklist:

Make sure your emails and content are easy to read on mobile. Litmus, an email

testing service, advises: "To avoid illegible fonts, strive for a body copy minimum of

14px."

Do not forget that mobile viewers are often hopping between these three activities. If

you are sharing a webpage out on social media or email, remember that the end

recipient (or the person he forwards it to, or the person that person forwards it to)

could very well be on a mobile device. Make sure that your website, blog, and any

other content you share is just as optimised for mobile.

Make sure your calls-to-action are big and visible. Litmus advises to include a call-to-

action that's at least 44px wide.

Being more aware of how your audience consumes your content can give you an

advantage when it comes to conversions from this very action-oriented crowd.

Mobile behaviour and ads

There are mixed reports about the effectiveness of ads on mobile devices. According to

data from three of Facebook’s biggest ad API partners (who help companies purchase ads)

mobile Sponsored Stories are generating more than 13 times the clickthrough rates of all

Facebook desktop ads. (API, an abbreviation of application program interface, is a set of

routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. For example, Google Maps

APIs lets developers embed Google Maps on webpages using a JavaScript or Flash

interface. The Google Maps API is designed to work on mobile devices and desktop

browsers.) A study by Hipcricket, suggests that 64% of people who have viewed an ad on

mobile have made at least one purchase as a result.

However, for a few reasons, it can be difficult to effectively measure purchase intent of

mobile users who click through on ads. Some clickthroughs are accidental and others get

misattributed. The best way to understand the behaviour of your mobile audience with ads is

to test it with a few campaigns.

Device hopping

According to research from Google, a full 90% of viewers hop from one device to another to

complete a task. You are watching TV, maybe scrolling through your Twitter feed absent-

mindedly. You come across a tweet that could be of interest. Not in the right mindset to read

it then and there, you forward it to yourself for later reading. Later on, you check your email

on a desktop and click through to read the whole thing but it is not readable on this device.

The best way to conquer this? Build your content using responsive design. Responsive design

reshuffles your webpages to fit whatever device is viewing them. So your page will look good

on phones, tablets, and desktops.

Mobile users and search

As digital marketers know, search is one of the biggest driving factors for how today's

companies get found online. So it makes sense to think about the experience of mobile users

at the search box. Mobile user behaviour at the search engine box is more focused and

time-sparing.

Consumers do not search the same way on mobile devices as they do on desktops. Search

queries on mobile devices are typically shorter, containing fewer characters, and more

dependent on autocomplete suggestions. Therefore, when determining what keyword

phrases to perform mobile searches around, focus on the theme of the page to see what

autocomplete suggestions are most common.

The majority of mobile users click on one of the top three organic results on a search engine

results page. Since these searches are on the rise, you should focus in on the SEO tactics that

will help you get to the top spot on your 2-5 most important keyword phrases. Google rolled

out additional algorithmic changes that prioritise search listings of sites that are optimised for

mobile over those that are not when a mobile user is searching. So optimising for search on

mobile is of the utmost importance.

What is the difference between mobile and responsive design?

There are two major methods for creating a mobile website’s responsive design and mobile

templates. Responsive design requires only that you have one website that is coded to

adapt to all screen size, no matter what device it is being displayed on.

By contrast, a mobile template is a completely separate entity requiring you to have a

second mobile-only website or sub-domain. Mobile templates are also built for each specific,

not per screen size.

Responsive Web Design

Responsive web design offers a great solution for future-proofing, but may not always be the

best solution. In some cases, mobile-specific websites and native apps can offer rich

experiences that are not always ideally suited to responsive styles.

An important first step in dealing with the mobile landscape is taking the time to choose an

approach, whether responsive or mobile-specific, that best suits users’ needs. A great way to

determine if a responsive design is the best solution for a particular site is to identify users’ top

tasks.

User experience

According to Google’s ‘Think Insights on Mobile’, if a user lands on your mobile website and is

frustrated or does not see what they are looking for, there is a 61% chance they will leave

immediately and go to another website (most likely a competitor). It is also said that if they

have a positive experience with your mobile website, a user is 67% more likely to buy a

product or use a service.

Also, if you are sharing out content links or links to your website and do not have a mobile

friendly website, you are not only going to experience high bounce rates and low conversion

rates but also a frustrated audience.

Responsive adapts to future devices

One of the big benefits of responsive design is that the size of the template is designed based

on screen size not device. This means that no matter what size screen someone is viewing

your website on, it will display properly for that screen size. So in the future as new devices

(TVs, watches, glasses, etc.) are being used for web browsing, your responsive site will still look

beautiful.

Moving forward, it will be extremely critical that your website provides mobile users with an

easy-to-use experience. Having a mobile website is no longer a simply a nice feature, rather

it is a necessity and literally impacts the growth of your business.

Tools to measure digital footprint

There are many tools to measure your digital footprint, some paid and some using the

freemium model:

Google Analytics is a great free tool that will give you real time stats on visitors to your

website and you can also create dashboards for your needs.

SEOquake is a popular and handy analytic seo-tool for Firefox, Chrome and Opera

browsers. SEOquake helps to obtain an information about any site for a wide range of

parameters such as page rank, Google index, Alexa and many others. Keyword

Density tool serves to demonstrate the number of times a keyword or phrase appears

on a web page. SEOquake has a parameter that highlights nofollow links.

Followerwonk helps you explore and grow your social graph. Dig deeper into Twitter

analytics: Who are your followers? Where are they located? When do they tweet?

Find and connect with new influencers in your niche. Use super-actionable

visualisations to compare your social graph to others and easily share your reports

with the world.

These are just some of the tools available to give you a feel for what is out there. It obviously

depends on what you want to get across and who the audience of the report is, but the

core types of report you will be building will cover: social media monthly reports, digital

benchmarking, competitor analysis, or brand/people profiling, etc.

1.2.3 Impact on the competitive environment

The competitive environment, also known as the market structure, is the dynamic system in

which your business competes. For businesses to understand adequately the nature of the

competition they face, they must define their market accurately. This involves recognising a

broad base of competitors.

With the impact of digital, many small businesses can compete with larger businesses. The

tools and channels available give marketers the power, and with good content marketing

they can compete on the same level.

Barriers to entry

Internet gurus said the web would give us a flat, level playing field where anyone could be

king or queen. That is not what happened. The web has disrupted plenty of industries, largely

because it has overcome the inherent friction in many business processes. However, not

many of these new players have carved out a niche and become the new Amazon.

Barriers to entry still loom large. The myth that somehow it is easy to enter a market may be

false. But perhaps the barriers changed. Perhaps our perception that they went away was

simply a brief, beautiful period during the disruption when old barriers crumbled but new

ones had not yet been erected: when Google, Amazon, and Facebook had not yet risen to

power.

There are three big barriers to entry that online companies can erect:

Attention – simply, if you have people’s attention, you can direct it at things. Attention

is a scarce resource. Google has your attention and they are an effective

middleman, for instance kickstarter projects and YouTube channels compete for your

attention.

Permission – the right to interrupt a consumer – to send them messages – is a strong

advantage. Facebook can tell you when you have been tagged; Amazon can let

you know when a friend recommends something.

Math – the ability to crunch data and make optimised decisions is an advantage.

Access to data, and tools to mine it (including proprietary algorithms) are key.

Google knows enough about you to present a genuinely better offer at the time

when you want it.

Price is a top driver of global online retail competition. However, customers are indicating

that they are willing to pay more for fast and reliable delivery, innovative products,

innovative marketing, exclusive access to products, the fact that the website stores their

information, and if they can return items to the store.

1.2.4 Impact on internal resources

Today's disruptors are people and companies using digital capabilities to remove traditional

barriers to entry, produce better products and services, and build great digital relationships

with their customers. They do so better, faster, and stronger than you can today by taking

advantage of your legacy. And they have your executives rethinking competitive strategy,

and your product strategists scrambling for ideas on how to use digital and software

capabilities to deliver new products, or complement existing ones.

This in turn forces organisations to look at their internal resources and staff’s abilities to keep

up with and carry out the new digital functionality.

In addition, product strategists, the people charged with coming up with the firm's own

disruptive response, view IT leadership as too tied up in policy and procedure, being the

centre of "no," rather than the centre of "let's try that." In many cases, IT leaders find out

months after the fact, that product strategists have been working with small, unvetted app

shops that promised quick development times and a lower-friction operating model than

working with internal resources would impose.

1.2.5 Internal digital capabilities and limitations

The internal analysis of strengths and weaknesses focuses on internal factors that give an

organisation certain advantages and disadvantages in meeting the needs of its target

market.

Strengths refer to core competencies that give the firm an advantage in meeting the needs

of its target markets. Any analysis of company strengths should be market oriented/customer

focused because strengths are only meaningful when they assist the firm in meeting

customer needs.

Weaknesses refer to any limitations a company faces in developing or implementing a

strategy. Weaknesses should also be examined from a customer perspective because

customers often perceive weaknesses that a company cannot see. Being market focused

when analysing strengths and weaknesses does not mean that non-market oriented

strengths and weaknesses should be forgotten. Rather, it suggests that all firms should tie their

strengths and weaknesses to customer requirements. Only those strengths that relate to

satisfying a customer need should be considered true core competencies.

The following area analyses are used to look at all internal factors affecting a company:

Resources – profitability, sales, product quality, brand associations, existing overall brand,

relative cost of this new product, employee capability, product portfolio analysis

Capabilities – the goal is to identify internal strategic strengths, weaknesses, problems,

constraints and uncertainties.

1.2.6 Supporting acquisition, conversion and retention

Acquisition technology

This includes:

Paid search – paid search marketing is an inexpensive and scalable form of web marketing

and can be a great way to draw qualified visitors to your website. Paid search marketing

campaigns involve bidding for ad placement in a search engine's sponsored links for

keywords related to your business offering; you pay the search engine a small fee for each

click on your paid ad (hence the name pay per click marketing). Tools you can use include

Google Keyword planner, Google AdWords, LinkedIn Ads, Facebook ads and Bing Ads.

SEO – few people go beyond the first page of search results. Your website needs to rank well

on the most popular search engines to be found by potential customers. Search engine

optimisation (SEO) is all about making that happen. You need to identify the search terms

that will give your web pages the highest rankings and most importantly, website traffic that

will ultimately become business.

SEO link analysis – use OpenSite Explorer to research and compare backlinks with

competitors for intelligent, targeted link building. Identify top pages, view social activity data,

and analyse anchor text.

Keywords – reveal high performing keywords with Wordtracker or Google Keyword Planner.

SEO Spider tool – the Screaming Frog SEO Spider allows you to quickly analyse, audit and

review a site from an onsite SEO perspective. It is particularly good for analysing medium to

large sites where manually checking every page would be extremely labour intensive (or

impossible!) and where you can easily miss a redirect, meta refresh or duplicate page issue.

Affiliates – for a publisher, affiliate marketing offers some significant benefits. Firstly, there is

the opportunity to generate additional revenue. For some organisations affiliate marketing

represents their entire business (for example, price comparison websites); for others it is a

useful way of making some money alongside their core business activity. Secondly, carefully

selected ads can bring some big brand names onto your website and boost your association

with them. This can have a beneficial impact on your own brand reputation.

For an advertiser, affiliate marketing is a great way to get other people or businesses to

promote your products and services and you reward them – usually with a commission

payment – for each referral or sale. It extends your 'reach' in terms of audience and, if well

targeted, can provide a highly cost-effective, scalable and influential additional sales

channel. Tools to help include:

Commission Junction – helps advertisers acquire new customers and sell more to

previous buyers, while helping publishers generate advertising revenue

LinkShare – offers a wide range of solutions for establishing and growing successful

affiliate marketing programmes

Blogging – by creating a blog on your website and using a content management

system such as WordPress or Joomla you can create content that will get picked up

by search engines

Social media – after creating content on your website, etc. you will need to share this

with your network to get engagement

HootSuite – HootSuite is a social media management system for businesses and

organisations to execute campaigns collaboratively across multiple social networks

from one secure, web-based dashboard. Key social network integrations include

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ Pages

If you really want your content to reach significant audiences, you need to be working

harder to engage with influencers in your particular niche – i.e. those who are

communicating with your target audience, not your existing one. Influencers will have an

interest in your particular niche and might even write a blog about it. Also, their engagement

is good. Any good influencer should be communicating with their followers just as you should.

Keep an eye on their Twitter timeline and see how often they are replying or mentioning

other Twitter users. On LinkedIn, see how many groups they have joined and how often they

engage with other people’s updates.

If you are looking to find influencers, here are several paid services out there like Traackr that

will provide in depth analytics and draw out the crucial influencers for you. However, if you

do not have the budget for this, there are a few free tools and tactics to help you out:

Followerwonk – this Moz tool is a particular favourite. The key feature recommended

is ‘Search Twitter bios’ which lets you type in keywords and it will list Twitter users with

these phrases in their bio. The list is ranked by the number of followers and social

authority but also gives you some interesting stats about the number of tweets, how

many people they are following, and how many days old the account is. The

individuals you want to be focusing on are those with the highest social authority.

Klout – Klout is a great resource for finding influencers with a simple search. Type in

your keyword in the search bar and for most search terms, a list of top influencers will

be generated. This can take some trial and error when picking the right terms. The

number beside each profile image is their Klout score – the higher the number, the

more influential they are. Although this is not a perfect metric, it is helpful for getting a

rough idea.

Alltop – Alltop is essentially a blog search engine that covers a variety of industries.

You can either search for a keyword, or look at the Hot Topics. Be wary that Alltop will

generate a mix of blogs of differing quality, so take a good look at its

recommendations. If it is an industry recognised blog with a good following, then

track down the details of writers that cover topics specific to your industry. Most blogs

will have social details for their authors, or you can just search the social networks

once you know their name. Alternatively, Technorati is another blog search engine

that can dig up some good sites.

Google+ Communities and LinkedIn Groups – once again, with both of these

networks a simple search will do. Find Communities and Groups relevant to your field

and do a little research into the members – who are they and what do they do? How

many connections do they have? Do they update and share content other than their

own?

Twitter lists – within Twitter, where you can create lists based on a keyword or

hashtag.

Twubs – has a Twitter chat directory for each day of the week which is well worth

having a look at.

Key deliverables/metrics:

number of visitors

cost /visit

Conversion technology

This includes:

Market and customer insight – driving value through understanding and predicting consumer

behaviour. Market and customer insight is an oft-used buzz-phrase covering the process of

using internal or external data to describe and predict customer or market behaviour. In

practice, organisations often stop at the describing stage and do not move on to action.

Harnessing the full potential of customer insight can transform how you set your strategic

objectives, define your future commercial plans and even how you take specific decisions

with individual customers. Effective customer insight can help your organisation drive growth

and plan for change.

There are many tools to monitor market trends such as Business Monitor, Gleanster Research,

etc. Also, by using a social media management dashboard such as Hootsuite you can

create lists based on market trends and customer trends.

Another tool for customer/visitor insight on your website is ClickTale. ClickTale takes the guess

work out of website optimisation, conversion analysis and usability research. Knowing how

visitors use your website will enable you to target specific audiences, improve customer

satisfaction and increase conversion.

IA (Information Architecture) – focuses on organising, structuring, and labelling content in an

effective and sustainable way. The goal is to help users find information and complete tasks.

To do this, you need to understand how the pieces fit together to create the larger picture,

and how items relate to each other within the system.

Information Architecture is more of a mental job than one based on output. For this reason it

has always received more than its fair share of scrutiny. Information architects leverage

experience, research and user polling to provide sound advice as to how a website should

be architected. This is the nature of their work. To convey their suggestions, however,

Information Architects normally create site wireframes. These help all project stakeholders

comprehend the breadth and depth of a website’s architecture, including all interactions

with the user.

Wireframe tools include – PowerMockUp, Briefs, Xiffe and NinjaMock.

Site analytics – website analysis is an element in site planning and design as well as on going

monitoring. Google Analytics shows you the full customer picture across ads and videos,

websites and social tools, tablets and smartphones. This makes it easier to serve your current

customers and win new ones. There are also other tools that help you understand who the

unknown visitors/visitors who do not fill in a contact form are. LeadForensics is software that

gives you complete access to who is visiting your site, what exactly they looked at while

there and how to make contact with them.

Content management systems/Conversion tools – there are a number of tools that can help

you update content, add call-to-actions and landing pages so you can convert visitors to

your website. Paid tools such as HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, etc. are all-in-one tools that will

help you with SEO, social media, email and changing content on your website. WordPress is

a free content management system you can use to build and create websites. Also, many

developers build plugins to turn it into a very powerful content management system that can

help you convert visitors.

Once you have contacts that you need to convert, there are free email tools such as

MailChimp, CampaignMonitor and paid ones, such as Getresponse and OptimisePress that

can help you nurture your contacts and leads to turn them into paying customers.

Key deliverables/metrics:

% conversion visitors to sales

average basket /order size £

Retention technology

Customer retention is a complex beast and understanding ways you can use email to

increase your customer retention will lead to a direct increase in the amount of money you

make from your customers. Your business’ retention refers to the percentage of customers

that stay with you and purchase again. It is directly related to terms like ‘churn’ – i.e. the

percentage of customers that do not repeatedly buy from your business or leave you.

Email marketing – as above with lead nurturing you also need to nurture current customers

and keep them up-to-date with developments and news. There are many software systems

and tools to help you do this. Here are some examples of customer retention:

Amazon spends a massive amount of time optimising user email flows and driving

customers back to Amazon.com. Getting customers back on your site is a golden

opportunity to get them to interact with new features or buy products.

Every time you buy a book on your Kindle, Amazon sends you an email to thank you for the

purchase and asking you to review/rate the book.

For Dropbox, no install = no business. You are never going to become a paying customer

year-in, year-out if you do not install Dropbox in the first place so they spend time focusing on

getting you to install.

Dropbox send an email a few days after a new customer signs up to Dropbox and has not

yet installed the email client. This is the sort of activation email you should send your

customers if they have not taken your core activation action.

Increasing your retention rate means you see a better ROI from each and every customer

you sign up. This gives you a better business, optimises your cash flow and gives you a better

machine to work with! Spend as much time optimising for customer retention and lifetime

value as you do on customer acquisition and you will be amazed at the growth.

Support – managing customer support can be half the problem. An effective help desk tool

will allow you to manage incoming emails and calls effectively. There is nothing that looks

worse (from a customer’s perspective) than when you lose track of one of their requests. A

helpful tool such as HelpScout can be used to handle incoming support emails. It is a straight-

forward tool that will help you get the average response time down and means you no

longer lose track of your customers’ requests.

CRM – CRM applications offer numerous service functions that can be used to help you

retain your best customers and protect future revenue. You can stay in touch by setting

reminders to follow up and it keeps a history of all communication. It helps you understand

your customers better by tracking their demographics or what they have ordered. There are

a number of CRM tools including Sage CRM, Salesforce, NetSuite, Zoho and Insightly.

Key deliverables /metrics:

% repeat visitors

% repeat purchasers

Customer lifetime value: (Average value of a sale) x (Number of repeat transactions)

x (Average retention time in months or years) e.g. a gym member who spends

£20/month for their membership for 3 years – £20 x 12 months x 3 years = £720 in total

revenue (or £240/year)

1.2.7 Appraising current digital activity

One of the most important parts of digital campaigns is the conversion rate of a website as a

measurement of its success. A conversion rate is measured by the number of potential visitors

performing the desired action, whether the action is buying a product, filling out a form, or

some other goal of the web page. For example, if there are 100 visitors to a particular web

page via a pay per click ad, and one of those 100 buys the product the website sells, then

the conversion rate for that particular ad is one percent. The larger the conversion rate of a

web page, the more successful the website will be, which in turn dictates how successful the

paid inclusion campaign is.

There are many different ways to raise conversion rates, most of which have to do with being

everything a potential customer wants. Of course, improving conversion rates may just have

something to do with recognising the potential of the website. Some of the other ways to

maximise the chances of a conversion include:

Knowing the unique selling point of the web page

Being memorable with unique information

Offering several payment options

Having a clear returns policy

Having clear policies on information protection

Being clear and concise with information

There are many software tools that will help you measure your conversion rate. The most

popular is Google Analytics. By setting up goals you can find out which are the most

successful marketing channels on your website.

Whilst the website is the hub, you also need to appraise your other digital activities such as:

SEO – rankings on search engines, on-page SEO and number of organic links to

website

Social media – number of fans and followers and engagement

Content – what content do they use – video, infographic, podcast, blogs and does

this get shared or encourage engagement

1.3 The Strategic Implications of Disruption

1.3.1 The key drivers of digital disruption

There are a number of key drivers for digital disruption including threats of new entrants,

suppliers, customers, buyers and change in the operating environment. Businesses need to

be strategic and consistently monitor and measure the drivers to see if it affects their

business.

What is Porter’s 5 Forces model?

Porter’s 5 Forces evaluates profitability in an industry and measures market stability.

Figure 1.1 Porter’s five forces

Understanding the Tools

Force 1 – The threat of new entry:

New competitors can enter the

market easily if they can make good

profits resulting in decreasing other

competitor’s prices

How easy is it for a business to set up

in your sector?

Threats of businesses starting in your

sector?

Specialist knowledge

Time and cost of entry

Force 2 – Buyer power:

Powers of customers to decrease

your prices

Amount of customers?

Are customers powerful enough to

drive prices down?

Costs of changing

Force 3 – The threat of substitution:

The diverse levels various businesses

offer to replace others

Is there an alternate business offering

similar products or services you are

providing

Cost of change

Is there a different product or service

altogether that customers may switch

to buy?

Force 4 – Supplier power:

Power of suppliers increases the price

of inputs

How many suppliers are there in your

business sector?

Are the suppliers unique?

Do the suppliers have the power or

are there alternate options?

Force 5 – Competitive rivalry:

Strengths of competition of other

businesses

How many competitors are there in

your target business sector?

Are there quality differences between

rivals?

Customer loyalty

Porter’s 5 Forces model example:

Figure 1.2 Porter’s five forces example

Findings:

Threats of new entry – this is high, which means it is easy for competition to enter this business

sector. Therefore if the business seems to be making a profit, competitors can easily enter the

industry to reduce profits.

Competitive rivalry – this is very high, meaning that if one business raises the price of their

products they will be undercut by competition.

Buyer power – strong buyer power. They can dictate terms to suppliers because of volumes

ordered.

Threats of substitution – there are very little substitution opportunities available.

Smaller businesses have the opportunity to compete with larger companies in a full scale

level as previously mentioned. For instance they can:

Make a low price mobile app and secure lots of downloads

PPC advertising gives you the opportunity to be in front of a large audience if you

have the budget as you can use specific targeting methods such as keywords,

geography and job roles

Social media engagement is open to any business with a solid strategy. When

conducting social media there needs to be a reason why you are doing it, there

needs to be a writing style, who writes (MD, company view, employee view). Most

importantly, your target audience needs to engage through social media

For more on Porter’s Five Forces read: ‘The Five Competitive Forces that Shape

Strategy’ by Michael E Porter, Harvard Business Review, January 2008, p 86 – 104.

For more on Porter’s Five Forces watch this interview with Michael Porter on

YouTube.

1.3.2 Change in the operating environment

Digital marketing is a new playing field for a lot of businesses it can be a risky but rewarding

channel to operate in. This is because the operating environment is rapidly changing and

organisations need to have the resources and capabilities to react to this change.

New entrants – It is not only incumbent rivals that pose a threat to firms in an industry; the

possibility that new firms may enter the industry also affects competition. In theory, any firm

should be able to enter and exit a market, and if free entry and exit exists, then profits always

should be nominal. In reality, however, industries possess characteristics that protect the high

profit levels of firms in the market and inhibit additional rivals from entering the market. These

are barriers to entry.

Emerging markets – digital channels are more important for marketers than traditional media

when it comes to connecting with consumers in emerging markets. The Brand Discovery

Index, from GlobalWebIndex found, for example, that social media is six times more

important for brands in markets such as Indonesia and Thailand than it is in Japan or the UK.

To emphasise the difference in attitudes, consumers in the Netherlands are seven times more

likely to find out about new brands and products from advertisements than social media.

Another significant digital channel is mobile, and campaigns in countries such as Thailand

and Vietnam are around four times more effective than in developed markets like the UK

and the Netherlands.

Cost pressure – marketers are under more pressure than ever to control costs. After the

recession, many marketing budgets were cut and marketers were forced to get the same

results at a lower price. Fortunately, digital marketing can be achieved at a lower cost.

Businesses have been looking at flexible payment models and more frequently SaaS

(software as a service). With SaaS businesses can essentially rent the software. People do not

need to pay a lump sum and maintenance costs. They pay what is usually an affordable

monthly payment.

Market growth – market growth can be slow if consumers do not adopt a high demand, or

rapid if consumers find the product or service useful for the price level. For example, a new

technology might only be marketable to a small set of consumers, but as the price of the

technology decreases and its usefulness in everyday life increases, more consumers could

increase demand.

1.3.3 Impacts on strategy and the strategic landscape

Organisations have many strategic options and it is about selecting one that fits the needs of

the company. Porter’s generic strategies is a good model for working out the strategy and

strategic landscape.

Figure 1.3 Porter’s generic strategies

Cost leadership – Porter's generic strategies are ways of gaining competitive advantage – in

other words, developing the ‘edge’ that gets you the sale and takes it away from your

competitors. There are two main ways of achieving this within a cost leadership strategy:

Increasing profits by reducing costs, while charging industry-average prices

Increasing market share through charging lower prices, while still making a

reasonable profit on each sale because you have reduced costs

Cost leadership is about minimising the cost, to the organisation, of delivering products and

services. It involves being the leader in terms of cost in your industry or market. Simply being

amongst the lowest-cost producers is not good enough, as this leaves you wide open to

attack by other low cost producers who may undercut your prices and therefore block your

attempts to increase market share.

Cost focus – companies that use cost focus strategies concentrate on particular niche

markets and, by understanding the dynamics of that market and the unique needs of

customers within it, develop uniquely low cost or well-specified products for the market.

Because they serve customers in their market uniquely well, they tend to build strong brand

loyalty amongst their customers. This makes their particular market segment less attractive to

competitors.

Differentiation – differentiation involves making your products or services different from and

more attractive than those of your competitors. How you do this depends on the exact

nature of your industry and the products and services themselves, but will typically involve

features, functionality, durability, support and also the brand image that your customers

value.

To make a success of a differentiation strategy, organisations need:

Good research, development and innovation

The ability to deliver high-quality products or services

Effective sales and marketing, so that the market understands the benefits offered by

the differentiated offerings

Large organisations pursuing a differentiation strategy need to stay agile with their new

product development processes. Otherwise, they risk attack on several fronts by competitors

pursuing focus differentiation strategies in different market segments. (Differentiation focus

means pursuing strategic differentiation within a focused market.)

1.3.4 Strategic opportunities to adopt digital capabilities

Look at virtually any consumer industry and you will see how changes in digital technology

are fundamentally altering the way that consumers engage with brands before, during, and

after a purchase. Consumers today expect to browse, research, solicit feedback, evaluate

and push the ‘buy’ button at their own pace and at the time and place – and via the

platform – of their choosing.

Consumers also continue to engage with brands online after a purchase and to share

experiences with one another. Much of this consumer journey is beyond the direct control of

companies and marketing organisations are sprinting merely to keep pace.

The good news is that digital marketing can offer detailed data on and analysis of consumer

behaviour, as well as precise results about a marketing programme’s effectiveness, with a

degree of detail and precision that previous generations of marketers could hardly fathom.

The challenge is that these new technologies and consumer behaviours are raising the

requirements for what will succeed in the market. Building powerful consumer experiences

requires brands to operate outside their comfort zone; for example, they must work with

much shorter cycle times, with more rapid and frequent iterations, and through a broader

vendor ecosystem than the traditional marketing process.

Four New Digital Marketing Models

Digital branders are most often consumer product companies or other marketers that focus

on building and renewing brand equity and deeper consumer engagement. These

companies are shifting their investment from traditional linear advertising toward more

immersive digital multimedia experiences that can connect consumers to the brand in new

ways. They are reimagining how they engage consumers with the primary goal of recruiting

new consumers to the brand and driving loyalty through multiple experiences with the brand.

Customer experience designers use customer data and insights to create a superior end-to-

end brand experience for their customers. Typically, these companies (such as financial-

services companies, airlines, hotels, and retailers) build their business models around

customer service. By reinventing how they interact with customers and wowing them at

multiple touch points, these companies hope to create an ongoing dialogue and build a

loyal customer base.

Demand generators (typically retailers) focus on driving online traffic and converting as many

sales as possible across channels to maximise marketing efficiency and grow their share of

the wallet. All elements of the digital marketing strategy — website design, search engine

optimisation, mobile connected apps and engagement in social communities — are tailored

to boost sales and increase loyalty. Although demand generators also need to leverage

content to drive engagement, they are more focused on driving volume and efficiency than

on curating the deep, emotional branded experiences that digital branders pursue.

Product innovators use digital marketing to help the organisation identify, develop, and roll

out new digital products and services. These companies employ digital interactions with

consumers primarily to rapidly gather insights that can help shape the innovation pipeline. By

helping nurture new sources of revenue, the marketing group directly increases the value of

the company.

1.3.5 Changes in the direction of strategy

It has been said so much that it has become a cliché: “we live in a world of constant and

rapid change”.

This is not something new. We have been bombarded with rapid innovation and change

since the dawn of the industrial revolution. In fact, companies are so aware of the changes

in the world around us that they have change management processes for dealing with

them.

Unfortunately it would appear that although these processes have served well, they are not

adapting to the change brought about by the emergence of the web and mobile. The

problem is that the very nature of change is changing.

Change is changing – if you look at the 20th Century you will see a huge amount of change.

The rise and fall of manufacturing, the birth of the digital economy – there was no shortage

of change.

However, if you look closely, it was fairly predictable and the economic environment was

fairly stable. Change was evolutionary and it did not take huge insight to see what was

coming over the horizon.

Today things are different. Change is much more volatile. It is harder to predict what will

emerge and what you should invest in. Take for example the rise and fall of Adobe Flash.

Many organisations had to spend considerable amounts moving away from that technology,

not to mention the career impact for the thousands of Flash developers.

Change can no longer be controlled (scenario plan) – most companies’ change

management approach attempts to control change. They attempt to manage risk, resist

change or (if all else fails) control the direction of the change.

This stood them in good stead for a long while. Before the web, they could shape markets,

define style and taste and tell consumers what to like. They had the budgets and reach to

speak to consumers in a way nobody else could.

The web has changed all of that. Everybody has a voice and this means change cannot be

controlled and it cannot be resisted.

Take for example the way in which the music industry responded to Napster. Napster showed

consumers that they did not have to go to stores to buy their music or buy entire albums for

the sake of one song they liked.

Of course the music industry resisted this change. It threatened their business model and so

they went after, and eventually closed down, Napster.

The problem was that consumers had seen an alternative. While the industry may have

closed Napster they had not stopped the tide of change. Because they failed to adapt,

ultimately Apple could step in and launch iTunes. The result was that retail brands like HMV

and Tower Records went into receivership.

Change can no longer be managed, resisted or controlled, but it can be ridden.

Riding the wave of change – when it comes to the rapid and often unpredictable nature of

change in the digital realm, a new approach to change management is required.

Take for example Google algorithm updates such as Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird.

These were all major changes to Google’s search algorithm that affected website rankings

on Google. When Google releases updates, digital marketers are not aware of what is

coming and what they will need to change on their website until the update is live.

Instead of trying to ‘manage’ change we need to start riding it. Marketers need to help their

organisations stop trying to control their environment and help them establish a culture that

can quickly adapt to it.

Modern change ‘leadership’ needs to be constantly on the outlook for change and ready to

adapt quickly when it comes. It needs to be willing to take risks, accept that mistakes will be

made and be quick to recover when they do. Modern change leadership needs to

embrace the chaos and iterate its way through it, experimenting as it goes. To achieve this

you need a certain type of leader.

A change leader – companies no longer need change management processes. They need

change leaders; people comfortable with the new, and happy operating in an environment

of uncertainty and chaos. Marketers are ideally suited to this role.

Marketers are used to having an eye constantly fixed on the horizon and adapting to new

innovations as they become relevant. They are comfortable with identifying what will

succeed and fail, but equally happy to adapt quickly when they get it wrong.

Change leaders know that the world has changed and that what was once safe ground, no

longer is.

DIGITAL STRATEGY

INDEX

Index

Digital Strategy 169

24*7 access ................................................... 37

7Ps of digital marketing ......................... 89, 90

—A—

4Cs ......................................................... 100, 101

4Ps ................................................................... 93

70/20/10 rule ............................................... 146

7Ps .................................................. 93, 100, 101

8Ps ............................................ 93, 94, 100, 101

Acquisition technology ............................... 19

Acquisition strategy7 ...................... 4, 79, 109

Adoption lifecycle ........................................ 43

Affiliates/affiliate marketing .......... 19-20, 82,

90-92

Agile marketing/response .......... 93-107, 148

Ansoff’s matrix .......................................... 65-67

Apple ............................. 9-10, 32, 55, 139, 165

Attribution .................................................... 120

Augmented reality ............................. 9-10, 99

—B—

Balanced scorecard ................................. 165

Banner advertisements ...................... 86, 123,

128-130. 144

BANT .............................................................. 113

Barriers to adoption ..................................... 44

Barriers to entry ..................... 2, 17-18, 28, 152

Big data ........................................ 3, 48-49, 102

Blogs/blogging .............. 20, 24, 44-45, 54, 79,

84, 94, 110-111, 113, 115, 139-142, 149-

150, 155-160

Bounce rate .............. 16, 62-69, 121, 156, 161

Budgeting ................................... 103, 145, 147

—C—

Campaign (s) ...................................... 116, 123

Campaign tags .......................................... 125

Capabilities .............................................. 19, 35

Centralised structure ......................... 137-138

Change .............................................. 28, 31-33

Channel management ............................. 119

Channel performance .............................. 119

Channel(s) .................. 109, 119, 123, 141, 156

Clickthrough rate (CTR) .................... 121, 136

Communications strategy .................... 45, 72

Competitive environment .................. 17, 146

Competitor(s) ....................... 2, 12, 59, 74, 100

Contact strategy .................................... 39, 42

Content management .................. 20, 22, 53,

139-140, 164

Content marketing .......... 17, 42, 47, 72, 103,

105, 110, 117, 139-140, 155-156, 160

Contingency planning ....................... 146-147

Conversion rate ...................... 16, 24, 88, 116,

134-136, 146, 160

Conversion technology .............................. 21

Cost focus ...................................................... 30

Cost leadership ............................................ 29

Cost per click (CPC) ........................... 82, 121,

CRM ...............................23,51-56, 96, 105, 135

Customer acquisition ..... 23, 40, 58, 109, 117

Customer behaviour ......... 12, 47, 66, 93-102

Customer conversion ............................ 69, 85

Customer experience ....... 2-3, 11, 31, 38-39,

45, 74, 137, 147, 163

Customer retention .................. 22-23, 87, 136

Customer support ................................ 23, 118

—D—

Dashboards ....................... 16, 50-51, 134-136,

141, 149, 152, 161-164

Decentralised structure............................. 138

Demand generators .................................... 31

Device hopping ........................................... 15

Differentiation ................................... 12, 30, 90

Digital dashboards ............... 50, 134-135, 162

Digital disruption ........................................ 2-57

Digital enablers ....................................... 44, 96

Digital environment ............................ 1-33, 47

Digital footprint ................................. 12, 16, 50

Digital marketing mix ................ 93-94, 99-101

Index

170 Digital Strategy

—E—

Email marketing ..................... 4, 22, 76, 87-88,

105, 142, 144-145

Emerging themes/trends ............... 35-36, 42,

46-47, 52

Employees(s) ............. 9, 11-12, 19, 28, 70, 73,

87-88, 137, 139, 144, 146, 147, 162, 165

Event marketing ........................................... 77

External marketing ..................................... 139

—F—

Facebook .................. 8, 10, 14, 17-20, 41, 44,

53-55, 70, 77, 81, 83, 118, 135, 140-141,

144-145, 149, 152, 154-155, 158, 160

Flexibility ................. 97,104, 137, 140, 147-148

Funnel approach ................................... 85-86

—G—

Google ............ 9-10,13, 15-19, 22, 32, 38, 47,

81, 83, 87, 102, 104, 111, 128, 131, 140-

141, 149-151, 156

Google+ ................................................... 20, 21

Google AdWords ......... 19, 81, 116, 128, 144,

156

Google Analytics ................ 16, 22, 24, 44, 50,

55, 122-123, 130, 133-135, 140, 147, 149-

152, 155-156, 161

Google Glass ......................... 10-11, 38, 42, 47

Google optimiser .......................................... 86

—H—

Horizontal scanning ..................................... 38

HubSpot........................ 22, 53, 76, 85, 94, 152

—I—

Implementation plan(s) ............................ 136

Inbound marketing ............. 42, 53-54, 79, 85,

98, 107, 111, 113, 115, 118

Influences ............................................... 42, 101

Influencers........... 17, 20, 66, 83, 111-112, 155

Information architecture (IA) ............... 21, 26

Insight ...................................................... 16, 155

Integration ............. 3-4, 20 ,45, 54-56, 67, 71,

109, 113, 117, 135, 140, 161

Internal marketing .................................. 3, 138

Internal resources ................................. 18, 163

Internet ....... 1, 4, 17, 45, 47-49, 106, 109, 118,

142, 152-153

Internet of things .......................................... 53

—K—

Keywords ............................................... 19, 151

KPIs .................................................................. 91

—L—

Lead (s) .......................... 87, 114-115, 151, 160

Lead nurturing .............................. 88, 113-114

LinkedIn ............................................... 20-21, 84

—M—

Macro-environment ................................ 1, 38

Marketing automation ........................... 53-54

Marketo ............................................... 22, 54-55

Measuring .............................. 98, 133-134, 159

Metrics ................................... 120-121, 160-164

Micro-environment ............................ 1, 11, 38

Mobile .................... 13-16, 42-43, 46, 145, 160

Mobile browsing ........................................... 13

Monitoring .................... 21, 45, 47, 51, 56, 91,

140-142, 154, 163

Multi-channel marketing ................ 3, 45, 161

—N—

Networking .................................................... 77

—O—

Objectives ........................61, 67-68, 70-71, 79

Online PR .................................................. 83-84

Outsourcing ................................................. 105

—P—

Paid search ...................... 19, 79, 87, 122-123,

145-146, 154

Pardot .................................................. 22, 55-56

Pay Per Click (PPC) ............ 19, 24, 27, 45, 78,

81-82, 87, 94,105-106, 121, 133-134, 151

Performance oversupply .............................. 8

Personas(s) .......... 45, 72-74, 78-79, 90-91, 112

Index

Digital Strategy 171

PESTER ....................................................... 2, 5, 8

Porter’s 5 forces ................................ 25, 27-28

Porter’s generic strategies .......................... 29

Positioning .......................................... 73-74, 80

Positioning map ............................................ 75

Pricing ............................................................. 89

Primary data ............................................. 49-50

Product innovators ....................................... 31

Project planning ......................................... 143

—Q—

QR codes ..................................... 42, 45, 76-77

—R—

RACE Framework .......................................... 68

Regulatory and legal frameworks ........... 141

Resourcing ................................................... 102

Response-attribution .................................. 119

Responsive web design .............................. 16

Retention technology ................................. 22

Risk ......................................................... 143, 146

—S—

Scheduling ........................................... 103, 143

Search behaviour ..................... 152, 156, 160

Search marketing ............ 19, 54, 79, 110, 150

154, 158

Secondary data ...................................... 49-50

Segmentation ....................... 56, 73-74, 87, 90

Sentiment ............................. 149, 155, 159-160

SEO .................. 4, 15, 19, 22, 24, 45, 79-81, 83,

87, 90-91, 94, 101, 106, 111, 115, 118,

136, 139-140, 154, 156

Site behaviour ..................... 149-153, 156, 160

Skills and capabilities ......................... 104 ,105

SMART objectives .................. 67, 79, 156, 157

Social behaviour ................................. 149, 154

Social media ........... 20, 24, 28, 44, 76, 83-85,

90, 110-112, 139-140, 159, 161

SOSTAC ™ ................................................. 59-61

Stakeholder(s) ........................ 11, 63, 119-120,

138, 164-166

STP............................................................... 73-75

SWOT ..................................................... 2, 35-36

Synergy ........................................................... 76

—T—

Tagging ................................................. 128-131

Targeting .................................................. 73-74

Testing...................................... 54, 87, 120, 154

TOWS analysis........................................... 36-37

Tracking ...... 119, 122, 128, 131, 136, 150, 163

Twitter ............ 10, 15, 17, 20-21, 41, 45, 54-55,

57, 80, 83-84, 118, 123, 125, 130-131, 134-

135, 140, 141, 149-150, 152, 154, 158, 160

—U—

Upwards market migration........................... 8

URL builder tool .................... 123-126, 131-132

User experience ...................... 13, 16, 38, 116

USP .................................................................. 78

—V—

Value ................................................ 39-40, 136

Viral marketing ............................................. 84

Volume ................................................ 39-40, 50

Index

172 Digital Strategy

Digital Strategy 173