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Elijah Clark 817-760-6647 Dallas, Texas

http://ElijahClark.com

MED SUPPLY DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY BY ELIJAH CLARK

23 September 2015

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVESUMMARY 6MissionStatement 6BusinessGoal 6KeystoSuccess 6

PRODUCTSANDSERVICES 8ProductsandServices 8BrandIdentity 8Sourcing 8CompetitorComparison 8

S.W.O.T.ANALYSIS 11Strengths 11Weaknesses 11Opportunities 12Threats 12

TARGETMARKETING 14MarketNeeds 14MarketTrends 14MarketGrowth 15UniqueValueProposition 15KeyCustomerAnalysis 15

STRATEGYIMPLEMENTATION 19Advertising 19PricingStrategy 19

TargetedCustomers’Budgets 19CompetitiveFacts 19DiscountedOfferings 19LocationsandFacilities 20DistributionChannels 20

DIGITALMARKETINGSTRATEGY 22WebsiteAnalysis 22PaidAdvertisment 23PPCandSearchEngineOptimization 24Blogging 27EmailMarketing 28SocialNetworking 30MilestoneTracking 32E-Commerce 32

FINANCIALPLAN 34SalesPlan 34CashFlowAssumptions 34Budget 35Benchmarks 35

MARKETINGMESSAGE 37

CONCLUSION 39

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INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS A DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

It doesn’t matter who you are marketing to—businesses or customers—today’s buyers are interacting with your brand across multiple channels and devices. Plus, they have more expectations than any other buyer generation in history.

Your buyer expects a conversation to take place seamlessly from your website, to their cellphone, on social media, and on all of the other websites that they visit in any given day, week, or month. Your buyer expects a continuous experience.

While this is certainly a challenge for marketers and advertisers, new ad technology and innovations continue to advance at break-neck speeds. New ad technology platforms, types of ads, methods of tracking, dynamic ad content, and advances such as the Internet of Things, now provide endless opportunities for marketers

What a marketing strategy answers:

• How to advertise and succeed online.

• How to create a digital advertising campaign?

• Who are your competitors and how are they succeeding?

• What price and budgets can you expect?

• How to target the right customers?

• How to design your digital advertisement?

• What types of ad technology are available?

• How to test and measure your campaigns?

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INTRODUCTION

GOAL OF THIS STRATEGY

The goal of this marketing strategy is to develop a guide that will help generate the online brand awareness and reputation of MED Supply. The results of this strategy will help MED Supply make projections that take into account facts and data as opposed to assumptions. By using the knowledge provided within the marketing strategy, MED Supply can develop a clear understanding of what's next for the business. This marketing strategy will help analyze MED Supply, identify potential customers, identify key roles, and devise a plan of action that generates profits along with awareness.

You made the right decision

Having a well built marketing strategy is the professional approach that will help you achieve business success and outshine your competition.

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PART I:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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PART I:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

MED Supply operates within the medical supply business, offering supplies for chiropractors, physical therapists, plastic surgeons, dermatologists, medical offices, and emergency clinics. The types of products that the company offers include electrodes, gel packs, personalized items, tens units, and cervical pillows. The company also offers products by vendors such as Cando exercise products, Sombra professional therapy products, and Chiroflow.

The company was established in 1998 by owner Brian Henry and the company was initially located in Austin, Texas offering the products of electrodes and tens units. Since the birth of the company, additional products were added to compete within the industry.

MED Supply offers its products and services remotely to customers via phone, fax, and email. The company is headquartered at 11837 Harbor Ct, Ste. 106 F, Austin, TX 78703. Outside influences that could affect the growth of the business include a lack of office or warehouse space, and employees to effectively handle the additional workload.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission statement is a simple internal message for the business leaders and representatives. It examines the core value and purpose of the business. In regards to the objective of MED Supply, the company is seeking to generate profits by implementing an online presence, which offers its customers and potential customers with a system and process that is competitive within the medical supply industry.

BUSINESS GOAL

The short-term goals of the company are: (a) to fix website related issues; (c) implement email marketing strategies; and (b) link website products to e-commerce platforms using feeds. The

long-term goals of the company are to: (a) improve online reputation; and (b) develop a new brand under a different name. To meet these goals, the company will task the above items to a project manager who will oversee the implementation and success of the goals.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

According to the company’s owner, the keys to success are in developing an efficient process that competes alongside competitors. Particularly, the owner believes that increasing brand awareness and creating an online presence are a matter of implementing an email marketing strategy and pay per click campaign.

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PART II:

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

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PART II:

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

The sections below provide an in-depth description of the fundamental elements of the products or services associated with MED Supply. PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

This marketing strategy focuses on developing a plan to increase the growth and sales of all products offered by the company. Based on online sales records, the company’s best selling products are:

Best Selling Products

• Electrodes (Various Sizes)

• Tens 3000

• Hot and Cold (Normal and Personalized)

• Cervical Pillow

• Lumber Seat Back Cushion

BRAND IDENTITY

The identity of MED Supply is essential to how the company presents its products and services to customers. It's the vision and essence for the business and it’s how the business's brand will showcase itself; everything from the business's attitude to

logo. According to the owner of the company, the company’s brand name, colors, design, and logo have no official theme or historical identity.

SOURCING

Strategic sourcing is an approach to supply chain management that formalizes the way information is gathered and used so that a business can leverage its consolidated purchasing power to find the best possible values in the marketplace. MED Supply currently sources a majority of its products directly from vendors to offer to its customers. The company additionally offers services and products in-house through its warehouse.

COMPETITOR COMPARISON

Competitor comparison lists the business's main competitors. What they do well, what they do better, and what is unique and different about their product/service. The comparison showcases what makes MED Supply stand out from its competition.

The largest and most relevant competitors to MED Supply,

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according to the company’s goals, include ScripHessco, ProMedXpress, and LGMedSupply. Table 1 showcases how MED

Supply ranks next to its competitors.

Table 1

Competitive Edge for MED Supply

MED Supply ScripHessco ProMedXpress LGMedSupply

Product Value Excellent Good Good Poor

Social Engagement Good Poor Poor Poor

Brand Awareness Poor Excellent Excellent Good

Website Traffic Poor Excellent Good Good

Brand & Web Des. Poor Excellent Good Excellent

Marketing Efforts Poor Excellent Excellent Good

Brand Reputation Poor Excellent Excellent Good

ScripHessco: Currently the largest competitor and a division of Scrip Companies. Scriphessco generates the largest amount of website traffic; mostly contributed to its large paid campaigns and brand awareness efforts.

ProMed Products Xpress: Currently the smallest of the top competitors, similar to ScripHessco, ProMedXpress is also a division of Scrip Companies. Of the Scrip Companies, ProMedXpress generates a large amount of its sales through its e-commerce platform and by offering a large selection of its products on Amazon.com.

LGMedSupply: This company is high within the competitor list because of its large sum of website traffic and possible sales. The company receives its success and traffic due to its SEO and marketing efforts which consist of a very successful backlink building campaign that has helped the company develop a high domain authority rate.

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PART III:

S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS

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PART III:

S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS

A SWOT analysis is an investigation of the business's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT). In a Strategic Plan, a SWOT analysis helps determine the best opportunities to pursue in order to achieve the growth goals. It focuses on identifying which strengths must be developed in the near future to improve the business. STRENGTHS

Product Value:

o The company boasts its low prices and based on the wants of the customers, its prices are what makes the company stand out from its competitors. By offering low product values, the company offers an attractive option for potential customers that currently use the competitors of MED Supply to fulfill their supply needs.

WEAKNESSES

Brand Reputation:

o The company has a poor brand reputation and when compared to its competitors, MED Supply offers the least in overall customer experience and

satisfaction.

Reliability:

o While the company does offer competitive prices, it grades poor in reliability, as a general complaint amongst customers is a lack of products shipping/arriving as scheduled. Additionally, the company fails to properly inform customers of order statuses and stock levels. Consequently, customers are receiving half of their total order, and purchasing out-of-stock items.

Insufficient Processes:

o The company currently offers no way for customers to properly track the status of orders. Because of this, customers often have to call the company’s support line, which results in customer

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service having to explain that either the order is out of stock or shipping later than expected.

OPPORTUNITIES

Brand Development:

o The competitors of MED Supply are not tremendously as successful as they could be if they were to focus on developing their brand as the go-to brand for all medical supplies within the industry. Considering this, MED Supply has an opportunity to compete alongside its competitors if the company focuses on correcting its poorly rated areas. Successfully developing its brand will give the company the competitive edge needed to achieve its goals.

THREATS

Customer Support:

o Poor customer service negatively threatens the

company more than any other outside influence, and is limiting the company’s growth potential. MED Supply should find a resolution to prevent the problem in the future. If the problem is left unresolved, increasing marketing efforts and customers will create further damage.

Customer Reviews:

o On average MED Supply receives a new negative review weekly based on poor customer service. In evaluating the impact of customer generated feedback and reviews, a study found that 88% of United States (U.S.) customers read online reviews, with 72% of participants stating that positive reviews influence their purchasing decision. A discovered trend is that MED Supply apologizes for customer service and states that they have corrected the issue only to have it continue for years. This method is unethical and makes the company seem untrustworthy by customers who read reviews relating to the company

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PART IV:

TARGET MARKETING

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PART IV:

TARGET MARKETING

This section of the strategic plan identifies the wants and needs of each of the target customer groups. It examines the types of potential customers, the primary market, and which other markets are worth pursuing. This section helps to understand the target market so that the marketing strategy can be used to speak directly to the customer. MED Supply believes its target market to be chiropractors, physical therapists, plastic surgeons, dermatologists, medical offices, and emergency clinics. MARKET NEEDS

Comprehending the needs of the market helps to compare MED Supply and its products or services with the competition in regards to customer experience. Allowing the business to strategically cater to the customers’ market needs.

From the customers' perspective, MED Supply does not offer any products or services that are needed and can only be purchased from the company. The company does offer unique versions of products, but does not offer exclusive products.

MARKET TRENDS

It is important to be able to recognize when a change can or

will affect a business. Market trends is a discussion of trends that have an affect on industry sales figures, or change the ways customers are solving the problem that the business products address. Trends to think about include: demographic, political/regulatory, economic, socio-cultural, and technological.

Trends within the market include the growth of the Internet, innovative technology, and developing a website and processes that satisfy customers. Additional trends include social networks, which have allowed customers to easily voice their opinions and potentially build or damage the reputation of brands. Considering these needs, trends require that organizations such as MED Supply generate a positive experience and high quality customer support.

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• According to the owner of MED Supply, and based on benchmarked sales results, there is no current trend within the market where customers are purchasing products more or less throughout the year.

• The growth in innovative technology has and will continue to affect the company through its online presence, and based on the development of its competitors, some of which have adopted social media marketing and brand awareness better than MED Supply.

MARKET GROWTH

Confirmed market growth can enhance the implied value of a business. Market growth examines where the market for a business is going and whether it is moving in a different direction from where it has been. It also defines how the business can use its strengths to take advantage of this growth.

Changes anticipated within the market include customers becoming a paramount factor in the success of organizations like MED Supply. The company began by focusing its products and services on traditional sales through phone and fax services to chiropractors, physical therapists, plastic surgeons, dermatologists, medical offices, and emergency clinics, which then offered portions of those products to customers at a retail value. Trends have shown that the Internet and social customers are seeking to purchase medical supplies without having to go through their doctor’s medical office. This trend suggests that

businesses similar to MED Supply need to target consumers as customers.

UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION

Having a strong unique value proposition (UVP) is of critical importance as it distinguishes MED Supply from its competitors. Unique products and services that MED Supply offers its customers include:

• Lifetime warranty on portable units

• Electrodes that are made in Austin, TX (USA)

• In-house personalization

• In-house cervical pillows

• Lower bulk quantities

• No set-up fee for personalized templates

KEY CUSTOMER ANALYSIS

Of all the possible customers, MED Supply should focus on only a few types; these are the ones most likely to value the offerings of MED Supply at the price points that are set.

Considering the results in the below tables, MED Supply should focus its marketing strategies on customers within the age range of 30-45. Additionally, the company should target its campaigns slightly more toward female customers. Figures 1 and 2 below show customer trends based on a total of 1,194 website sessions for the dates of July 1 to Jul 31, 2015.

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Figure 1 Customer Age Trend

Figure 2 Customer Gender Trend

Table 2 outlines the location of customers based on a total of 2,176 website sessions for the dates of July 1 to Jul 31, 2015. Considering the company is located within the state of Texas and based on the percentage of new sessions, we can assume that the state results are mostly accumulated from the company and its contractors. Blacklisting I.P. addresses within Google Analytics should help clarify results for the state.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ Male Female

Why the Trend Matters

Not everyone will or should be your customer. By knowing your customer, you can narrow your dollars efficiently. Things to keep in mind when analyzing your customer personas and demographics:

Age and Gender

Household Income

Personality Type

Location

Education

Interest and Buying Habits

Why your business matters to them

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Table 2

Customer Location Trend

Sessions % New Sessions New Users Bounce Rate Pages / Session

Texas 481 30.98% 149 3.95% 10.39

California 241 61.00% 147 7.05% 12.95

New York 154 68.83% 106 12.99% 15.68

Florida 121 53.72% 65 4.96% 16.6

(not set) 69 63.77% 44 4.35% 15.32

Illinois 68 70.59% 48 11.76% 19.21

New Jersey 62 54.84% 34 4.84% 13.39

North Carolina 56 66.07% 37 8.93% 14.32

Virginia 56 87.50% 49 57.14% 6.11

Pennsylvania 54 51.85% 28 7.41% 14.78

2,176 56.11% 1,221 8.69% 14.1

• Customer Needs

o Considering the demographics of the customer, marketing campaigns should focus on creating messages that offer personal value to customers versus focusing too closely on price.

• Customer Perception

o The general view of the company from its customers is that it offers quality products at a competitive price. However, the company does not offer personal value to its customers in relationship to doing business with MED Supply over its competitors.

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PART V:

STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION

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PART V:

STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION

The strategy implementation section of the marketing plan is paramount to whether the marketing strategy is effective. The items below will help determine what is needed to implement the strategic plan.

ADVERTISING

Advertising and promotions is one of the most important aspects of marketing when seeking to reach new customers. Considering the goal of the company, it should seek to improve its online brand by purchasing advertising space relating to:

• Press releases

• Digital paid campaigns

• Niche advertising/banner placement

PRICING STRATEGY

This section outlines the price structure of the products or services. It explains the expenses necessary to produce the highest volume of sales.

TARGETED CUSTOMERS’ BUDGETS

In regards to price, the targeted business customer order should

be purchased in bulk and orders should total in revenue on an average of $200 - $300, while the average customer order total in revenue should be closer to the value of $65 - $100.

COMPETITIVE FACTS

Of its competitors, MED Supply offers the best price value because of its relationship with its vendors. Consequently, the company may often need to generate more sales to equal the profits of its competitors in regards to certain products. Promoting sales in bulk would benefit the company to balance its low prices.

DISCOUNTED OFFERINGS

To generate the desired revenue per order, the company should offer incentives for customers to make purchases over $100 and offer businesses incentives to make purchases over $300. Currently the company does offer incentives to businesses by providing them with coupons for a price or percentage off

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of total orders over a certain sum.

LOCATIONS AND FACILITIES

MED Supply is an e-commerce business, and the locations and facilities do not affect the customers and local competitors. The location is also not manipulative to its customers or contradictory to the brand.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

The types of distribution channels MED Supply should use for promoting its products include:

• Local Retail

• Direct (mail order, Internet, catalog)

• Wholesale

• Sales Force

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PART VI:

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY

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PART VI:

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY

This digital marketing plan broadly outlines three things: (a) how to differentiate MED Supply from its competitors; (b) how to communicate that difference; and (c) how to target the message to the right audience. The point of this marketing plan is to generate qualified leads.

WEBSITE ANALYSIS

The website audit is used to help uncover all possible ways a well developed website can improve and convert more visitorsto customers, increase revenue, or simply motivatewebsite visitors to take action. The analysis provides quantitative and qualitative changes to help attract more qualified visitors and increase conversion rates.

The general goal of MEDsupply.com is to create a method for generating revenue in response to growing technology and customer trends. The website address was developed based on the company name and services offered by the company. The company URL is brand appropriate and easy to remember by customers.

Based on an analysis of the current website, the site should:

• Promote free shipping

• Be mobile/tablet optimized

o Mobile sales (phone and tablet) accounted for 8% of online sales.

o Email marketing and mobile optimization should increase mobile view rate.

• Correct in site search 404 errors.

• Implement search engine optimization efforts to rank for keywords

• Implement security /admin to prevent hacking and spam attacks

• Increase backlinks to site.

Additionally, MEDsupply.com should focus on on-site sales promotions. For example, if a user purchases a tens unit, the site should recommend or offer a discount on electrodes. Hot and cold packs should promote personalization for an up sell.

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Figure 3 below shows the amount of visitors that visit

MEDsupply.com versus its competitors.

Figure 3

Website traffic for MED Supply and competitors for the month of August 2015

MED Supply generated over 2,000 website visits in the month of August, 2015, with an online revenue of $15,250. Based on the quality of MED Supply’s website and that of its closest competitors (ProMedXpress) website and brand; It would be logical to say that ProMed Xpress could generate between $25,000 and $35,000 with the same 2,000 website visits.

PAID ADVERTISMENT

Paid advertisement, or PPC strategies focus on creating search engine visibility through the use of paid search engine listings, banner promotions, and search results. MED Supply does not currently implement paid campaigns or advertisement methods. Based on the industry, competitors, target customers, and popular products, MED Supply should focus its campaign on the subject titles:

Potential Paid Campaigns Titles

• Chiropractic Supplies

• Tens Units For Sale - $15.49

• Shop {Keyword}

• {Keyword} For Sale

• {Keyword} Products For Sale

Based on the budget of the competitors and the revenue goal of MED Supply, the company can compare its potential budget goals to the current monthly budgets of its competitors. Figure 4 shows the monthly PPC budget of MED Supply and its competitors.

MED Supply, 2,000

ScripHessco, 50,000

ProMed Xpress, 15,000

LGMedSupply, 25,000

MED Supply

ScripHessco

ProMed Xpress

LGMedSupply

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Figure 4

Competitor Monthly PPC Budget and Clicks

PPC AND SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques should be implemented to help improve the website rank of MED Supply in search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

According to the owner of MED Supply, the company would like to focus its keywords on products related to various vendors that can offer the company the best prices when purchased in bulk. Table 3 shows the keywords that the company owner believes would be most effective.

$898

$14,500

$5,000

$12,100

1,300

17,900

8,600

11,900

$0

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

$10,000

$12,000

$14,000

$16,000

$18,000

$20,000

MEDSupply ScripHessco ProMedXpress LGMedSupply

PPCBudget PPCClicks

What is PPC?

Pay Per Click (PPC) is an Internet marketing model used within search engines, ad networks, and content sites like blogs, where marketers and advertisers pay only when their ad is clicked.

Although there are many PPC providers that exist, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Google AdWords, and Microsoft adCenter are the top three major network operators

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Table 3

Company Suggested Keywords for SEO and Campaigns

Keyword Avg. Monthly Searches

(exact match only) Competition Suggested bid memory foam pillow 27100 1 1.36 back support 14800 1 1.48 foam rollers 12100 1 1.08 electrodes 9900 0.32 0.94 cervical pillow 8100 1 0.64 tens 3000 2400 1 1.78 sombra warm therapy 1600 0.96 1.07 intensity 10 590 0.97 0.87 hot cold packs 480 1 2.45 us pro 2000 480 0.68 0.81

Based on the keyword effectiveness index (KEI), which is determined by global searches and bid competition, the suggested most effective keywords to market a PPC campaign for MED Supply are shown in Table 4.

Selecting the right keywords

SEO is about optimizing your website to increase traffic by improving internal and external aspects. This method will ultimately increase site traffic to your website.

When selecting the right keywords for your website you should:

Think like your customer

Select goal focused keywords

Group keywords into themes Use Google tools as a resource

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Table 4

Suggested Business Keywords for SEO and Campaigns

Suggested Keyword Avg. Monthly Searches

(exact match only) Competition Suggested bid tens unit 74000 1 $2.40 tens machine 49500 1 $1.25 medical supply store 49500 0.51 $2.25 electrodes 9900 0.32 0.94 cervical pillow 8100 1 0.64 chiropractic care 3600 0.43 $5.24 cold packs 3600 1 $2.34 tens unit pads 2900 1 $1.63 tens 3000 2400 1 $1.78 pro therapy supplies 1900 0.19 $0.17

Know what to pay

Determining what to pay for a paid campaign depends on your marketing goal and product value.

If the cost of your campaign bid is $10 per click and your are only seeking to sell a $5 product, then obviously you are paying too much.

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Domain Authority is a score (on a 100-point scale) that predicts how well a website ranks on search engines. Domain Authority helps to compare one site to another by tracking the “strength” of a website over time. The metrics are calculated by combining link metrics (linking root domains, number of total links, rank, trust, etc) into a single score. Within the below Table 6, MED Supply is compared to its competitors in regards to the authority of its website.

Table 6

Competitive Website Authority

MED Supply ScripHessco ProMedXpress LGMedSupply

Google Page Rank - 3 3 2

Total Backlinks 42 2078 1965 8642

Linking Domains 4 354 247 714

Linking Pages 42 1694 1411 6698

Backlinks from .gov - 4 - 2

Backlinks from .edu - 50 15 172

Image Links 35 257 62 218

Domain Authority 17.58 36.78 34.83 37.43

BLOGGING

A blog, or weblog covers a mixture of what is happening in the daily life of MED Supply, its members, and what is happening in the industry. A blog strategy should be used by MED Supply to help determine how to engage with online users and generate potential

customers and web traffic.

MED Supply offers its blog at https://www.MEDsupply.com/The-MED-Supply-Blog/. The blog has been updated a total of 10 times since the website was published in September, 2013. Blogs were posted to the site starting in September, 2014, and

stopped posting after the date before beginning again in March, 2015. Since March, the company has posted a blog nearly every four weeks.

Google uses indexed pages of websites to help determine the value of a website. New blog entries on a website create new pages that can be indexed

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by Google and add page authority to the company’s website. Considering this, the company should seek to blog more often. Blogs should include more images and bullet points, with less paragraph formatted content.

Additionally:

• Blog posts should arrive to subscriber’s email for subscribed users

• Blog headlines should not aim at sales (e.g. 5 things every patient looks for in a chiropractor)

EMAIL MARKETING

According to Atmail.com, there are 196.3 billion emails sent everyday, and 64 percent of those are spam. According to Salesforce, 95 percent of customers use email and 61 percent of emails are opened on smart devices. Email marketing helps to directly market messages to customers and potential customers using email related images, keywords, links, and text. MED Supply will need to develop unique email campaigns targeted toward customers and potential customers to solicit sales

and build brand loyalty and awareness.

The company has harvested its email addresses using paid services, asking customers, and by adding customers to the list without permission. The purchased email marketing list was of 12,000+ chiropractors. The asked list was of subscribers who have given their email address to outgoing sales representatives. The emails collected for marketing without permission to solicit, includes online purchasers and customers who purchase by phone with the expectation that the email will be used for sending order receipts only.

In developing email campaigns, the company should focus on creating campaigns that personally grab the attention of customers versus promote sales, which can be easily interpreted as spam.

Potential Email Campaign Titles

• Five essential products for chiropractors

• How to keep your patients thinking of you

• Time to change your chiropractic supplier?

• Personalized hot/cold packs for your patients

• Need more electrodes?

Previous email marketing reports show that of a purchased Mailchimp list of 12,000 subscribers, the average open rate was 10%. The campaign also showed that the best open rate for the campaigns were 9:00am, 11:00am, and 1:00pm central standard time. The best click rates were at 9:00am, 2:00pm, and 9:00pm central standard time. The top five locations of the users that opened were (in order) California, Georgia, New York, Washington, and Texas.

The industry average open rate is 19% and the industry average click rate is 2.2%. The max click rate that MED Supply has received is 1.16% (chiropractic supply sale w/ free shipping: Click Dimensions list) and minimum of .07% (same title Mailchimp list of 5,425) with an average open rate of 13% and a click rate of .09%.

Considering the current goal is to get subscribers to click on a link and go to the website for more information, the website needs to be optimized and

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structured to complete that funnel and influence the subscriber to make a purchase.

Possible setbacks associated with low open rate are:

• Subject line is not attractive

• Email addresses are being sent to inactive subscribers.

• Email’s are going directly to subscriber’s spam.

• Email list is inappropriate for usage.

o MEDsupply.com has 1,383 registered users. 43% (594) of those users have not placed an order online within the past year. Considering the website host 1,383 registered users, it’s logical to assume that of the 5,425 Click Dimensions email subscribers, a very small percentage of the users have ever placed an order online. Consequently, it would be wise to assume that sales and promotional email marketing campaigns sent to the list of 5,425 would have a low open rate, and those that do get opened should focus on influencing a phone call

versus a website purchase or both equally.

o Users who place an order online should be segmented into their own email list using a service such as Mailchimp or various Virtuemart extensions, which have the ability to integrate with the website and auto add new users once they have registered/purchased from the website.

o Based on MEDsupply.com, the company has 789 (=1,383 - 594) potential customers who would be interested in email marketing campaigns that promote a website purchase.

An email campaign should exist that reminds customers that they haven’t purchased in a while. A campaign should also suggest new items or new uses for previously purchased items.

An additional campaign on the website should be directed toward potential customers signing up by email to get a free sample of electrodes (only good for segmented chiropractors).

There should also be a general email message regarding samples, company changes, etc. Each segment of subscribers should be placed into a different marketing list so that when users unsubscribe they are not unsubscribing from all future email contact.

The previous campaigns were sent based only on mimicking newsletters of the competitors, with the exception of one campaign (you should change your chiropractic supplier) which produced the highest number of opens and clicks of the Mailchimp segmented list for the week. The Mailchimp campaign also provided details that suggested the best days of the week are Tuesdays and Thursdays (considering chiropractors generally do not work Thursday’s, according to the CEO, Tuesday should be best). Additional A/B testing focusing on subject titles, day of week, and time of day will help to determine which campaigns, products, and approach is most attractive to subscribers.

To effectively test whether an email account is active, MED Supply should

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create a campaign using the subject, “we have a question about your previous order with MED Supply,” or “Important notice regarding your previous order.” My suggestion for content within that email is to write an apology letter to the customer about poor customer service. It should be an open letter from the CEO addressing all concerns of the customer and provides details as to the new commitment of the company, which is to listen, value, and prioritize their needs and concerns.

This message will influence a high open rate, help the company develop a better relationship with its customers, and influence previous customers, that have left the company because of poor customer service, to return to MED Supply.

Email marketing campaign guidelines:

• Should be sent between 9:00am and 3:00pm in subscriber’s time zone.

• Need to make email subscribers feel that they are receiving exclusive offers.

• Early access emails (e.g. first 100

people to respond will receive...)

• Early access to new products

• Phone calls and online sales should be followed-up with an email/phone survey to prevent users from posting negative experiences online.

• Email survey should include incentive.

• Ask subscribers the type of emails they want to receive. May only get a few responses, but could help with future campaigns.

• Email should ask users for feedback and promote that the feedback would help the company make certain it is providing the best experience possible. Should then include a link to a survey or visual buttons from 0-10 that the user can click based on a question directly in the email.

• Segmenting users will allow for advertising targeted products to those users and decrease unsubscribe and spam rates. This will involve having the ability to segment phone and online sales

into segmented email list upon purchase of certain items.

• Based on data from kissmetrics, 70% of customers in the United States look at product reviews and 63% of customers are more likely to purchase if the website has product reviews. Considering this, MED supply should include product reviews directly within the product description on its website.

• Website should promote email signup for immediate discount in confirmation email.

As sales and traffic increase, so should the email subscription list. If the website traffic can increase to that of its competitors, monthly emails collected and sent should increase drastically and contribute to higher website traffic and sales conversions.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

MED Supply should achieve/communicate its brand by using social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumbler,

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and others. Social networking may also benefit MED Supply by helping promote the brand, build active followers, and communicate effectively with social customers. The company currently has a social presence on Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter.

To better develop social campaigns, the company should remain engaged with news outlets and potential customers. The current campaigns/social focus too heavily on the products and not enough on the

customers' needs or current events. Example: Sep 9, 2015 a drone, for the first time, delivered medical supplies to a clinic in Virginia. MED should respond socially, "hopefully the drone that delivered the medical supplies purchased them from MED Supply." – The biggest social concern is that MED Supply is not engaging outside of its own social pages. Instead of posting and reacting to responses to those post, MED Supply should focus on reading the post of others on their page and responding to the post of potential

buyers (Business pages on Facebook/ Personal and Business on Twitter). For example, MED Supply should connect with its customers directly on their business page. That business page needs to be added to the customers’ profile in the CRM. If customer XYZ Chiropractic has an FB page or Twitter account, MED Supply should reach out to them using this method as it will likely generate a more active response than an email campaign.

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MILESTONE TRACKING

Table 7 identifies the milestone events that are strategically important for the business, and provides an outline of dates as to when the events should take place.

Table 7

Monthly Milestones for MED Supply

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4

Web Design ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Brand Dev. ✔ ✔ ✔

Email Marketing ✔ ✔ ✔

Social Media ✔ ✔

Paid Adv. ✔

Blog Dev.

E-COMMERCE

The electronic commerce or e-commerce section details methods of producing sales and operating a product driven, online retail store. The strategy looks at the structure of the e-commerce platform for MED Supply and analyzes the customer experience from start to the final sales transaction. In regards to the MED Supply’s e-commerce:

• Customer should be able to track the status of orders online, including preparing to ship, shipped, and delivered. UPS tracking number should also be included with status updates. Currently, users are often calling in to check an order status even when purchased online.

• The company should also monitor the experience of the customers on the website using services and tools such as Google Tag Manager, ClickTale, and Google Analytics to track the visitor funnel and cart abandonment.

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PART VII:

FINANCIAL PLAN

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PART VII:

FINANCIAL PLAN

SALES PLAN

The forecasting information below is based on historical sales and identifies the differences between past and projected sales.

• For the dates of Jan 1, 2015 to Aug 31, 2015, the online sales total 1,342 orders, 15,991 total items sold, and $121,783.65 in total revenue for the 8 months. Considering these numbers, the average orders per month amounted to 168; the total items sold per month averaged 1,999; and the average monthly sales revenue were $15,223 in gross online sales.

• Dividing the total sales revenue by the average number of orders, we can estimate that the current transaction averages $90.

CASH FLOW ASSUMPTIONS

• To increase this revenue number, the website and company should commit more efforts toward promoting other products and sales to customers. For example, the company currently offers $30 off on purchases of more than $175. However, this and other incentives to spend more are not on

the website or offered to all call-in customers. Adding an incentive of $10 off orders over $100 could increase the per transaction rate by $10 - $30. Other incentives such as: You may also be interested in… will increase sales even further. Using these various techniques should increase the per transaction value from $90 to $120.

• Transactions per month should increase from 168 to 835 to reach a goal of $100,000 in revenue ($120 x 835 = $100,200). Dividing the traffic by the order totals suggest that 11.9 (8.4%) customers generated from traffic are likely to place an order on the website.

o Based on factors preventing the company’s success, if corrected and compared to its lowest traffic generating competitor (LGMedSupply), which generates 15,000 visitors in web traffic per month; if MED Supply could generate 15,000 visitors per month with a per transaction rate of $120, and convert 8.4% (1,260) of the 15,000 visitors, the company should see revenue of $151,200 per month. Consequently, we can assume that increasing the website traffic from 2,000 to 10,000 website visitors per month would generate 840 (8.4%) transactions at a value of $120 per transaction, and total $100,800 in revenue.

o With changes to other poorly graded areas of the

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company, the website visitor number could be decreased.

BUDGET

This section includes estimated expenses for the creation, development, and distribution of materials.

Web Development: • Design Template & Tools - $100 - $200

Digital Marketing Campaigns:

• Pay Per Click – $10,000 monthly / 10,000 clicks.

• Banner / Social Advertisement – $2,000 - $3,000 per month.

• Backlink Building – Employee or Company at $3,000 to $5,000 for directory submissions, Article/Press release writing and submission, blog reviews, and social bookmarking.

Total Campaign Budget: $15,000 - $18,000 monthly

• Outsourcing, hosting, re-occurring agency fee(s):

o Outsourcing – Extensive programming, graphics - $300 monthly

o Re-occurring Programs

The budgets above should improve website visitors from 2,000 per month to 13,500 - 17,000 per month.

• PPC – 8,000 to 10,000

• Organic Search – 1,000

• Direct – 1,000

• Email Marketing – 1,500 to 2,000

• Banner Advertisements – 2,000 to 3,000

BENCHMARKS

Having a benchmark will help to guide MED Supply by comparing various aspects of the business in relation to objectives or external standard measures.

Step 1. Work to implement customer service representatives into the company that can help positively develop the company’s brand reputation and user experience.

Step 2. Develop landing page for top products and direct marketing campaign of list of 5,000 with a call-to-action of a phone call.

Step 3. Create email marketing campaigns and website advertisement.

Step 4. Revise main website and implement marketing strategies and a responsive design that influences customer purchases.

Step 5. Implement backlink building techniques, social engagement ideas, and blog to positively promote the brand and company as an expert in the industry.

Step 6. Use strategies from email marketing and social campaigns, and implement successful strategies into a Pay Per Click campaign.

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PART VIII:

MARKETING MESSAGE

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PART VIII:

MARKETING MESSAGE

This section is the heart of the marketing plan. It details the company's marketing message, a plan for the market materials, how the company plans to achieve its marketing goals, and the tactics that will be used to meet them. The marketing message determines how the company wants to communicate its message to the customer. To effectively grow the company and continue to sell its products to a socially savvy audience that desires a personal relationship, MED Supply should focus on better comprehending the needs and concerns of their customers. Based on the target customer and goal of the organization, repeat and referred customers have a tremendous area of improvement for generating sales for the company.

While the company does offer competitive prices, it is not enough to help the company grow the business to achieve its desired goal of reaching

over 10,000 visitors per month and generating $100,000 in revenue. To reach these goals, the company will need to focus on building brand loyalty from its customers. Brand loyalty, as researched by LinkedIn, includes being exceptional in all areas of:

• Product Price

• Customer Service

• Reliability

• Quality

• Ease of Doing Business.

The company grades poorly in the areas

of: customer service (negative complaints), reliability (missed shipping), and ease of doing business (lacks in tracking and ordering processes). Selling products to businesses and customers requires a positive overall experience, which relates to each of the five areas above in addition to product presentation and business to customer relationship. Overall, the marketing message should focus on MED Supply developing a commitment to care about its customers, which include listening to their needs and valuing their concerns.

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PART IX:

CONCLUSION

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PART IX:

CONCLUSION

MED Supply has many areas of opportunities, but its biggest setback in trying to accomplish its goals is going to be whether the company will work to satisfy and connect with customers emotionally. Based on conversation with the company owner and employees, the company believes customers to have only one care and purpose of doing business, which are prices. The company has not shown evidence that customer relationship or satisfaction is a priority of the organization.

A concern is that the company will not correct its customer service issues within the timeframe used to implement a marketing strategy, which could negatively affect the results of a marketing strategy. Because of the lack of professional customer service representatives, for every $3,000 spent on marketing efforts, nearly $1,000 would be lost/wasted. Considering the goal of increasing website traffic to 10,000 visits per month and the threat of

poor customer service, by not correcting the customer service issue before the campaigns and strategy begin, what is currently a few hundred bad reviews will turn into a few thousand bad reviews which would damage the company tremendously and cost the company tens of thousands of dollar’s in wasted marketing efforts.

MED Supply reviews and MED Supply complaints are within the top five search terms used by customers when researching the company on Google. Working toward fixing the MED Supply brand is only worth the investment if the business prioritizes its customer relationships, or the business should remain as a traditional sales company soliciting users to purchase by phone.

Based on research and analysis of over 100 customer reviews, more customers would do business with MED Supply if the company would offer a better

overall experience and focus on building better relationships.

Producing an email and paid campaign to a landing page with a few main items will be the best short term option if it includes a call to action that promotes the customers to contact via phone. While the customer support has very low ratings, the website traffic to conversions is even lower because of the poor website design and features. Consequently, by correcting the customer service concerns and developing campaigns that promote a phone call, it will achieve a higher short-term success rate for the company.

Currently, the company has the online presence of a website that has only been in business for 1 year.

In total, the company has 789 potential email participants. Converting nearly 5,000 traditional phone sales customers to online customers is highly unlikely based on the average age, trends,

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expectations, website purchase history, industry of those customers, and results of data collected showing previous campaigns and statistics. Consequently, it would be better for the company to invest its time and efforts toward marketing to the customers where they

are. Traditional phone sales customers should be marketed to using a phone call call-to-action email campaign, while users who were collected via online purchases should be marketed to using online purchase call-to-action.

In conclusion, the company can be successful if it uses the suggestions and methods mentioned within this strategy.

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ABOUT ELIJAH CLARK

Elijah is a marketing consultant, speaker, developer, and author with over a decade of digital marketing experience working with clients like Baylor Medical, Children’s Hospital, and AAMCO.

He has spent most of his career in the online marketing industry, currently as a marketing consultant helping small to large businesses build solid marketing strategies by analyzing websites, SEO, PPC campaigns, budgets, brand identity, and social media status.

Elijah is a self-taught web developer, a U.S. Air Force veteran, and holds a B.S. in Digital Art & Design, and a M.S. in Internet Marketing. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Business Administration in Marketing.

If you are interested in having me help to implement the ideas of this strategy, or if you would like me to speak at one of your events, you may contact me by using the phone number below or by submitting your request through my website at http://www.ElijahClark.com.

817-760-6647

To your success,

Elijah Clark

@ElijahClark

@ElijahGClark

@ElijahClark1

@ElijahGClark