Online marketing campaign plan for Muggles Mugs
This assignment is being submitted on July 27, 2015
Introduction
Business model: Muggles Mugs 4
Customer identification and targeting.4
Competitive status of market and the marketing for its mitigation5
The e-commerce Marketing campaign plan
Intended result and target market segmentation5
Open sources in Online marketing plan elements
Social media publicity (ft. artists and brand page promotions)6
SEO based website development..7
‘Paid for’ sources of online marketing
Google adwords.7
Google display network.7
Remarketing (Using Google analytics and trends)8
Face book advertising and marketing using Google analytics..9
Affiliate marketing.9
Conclusion 10
Bibliography..10
Appendices.11
Report Summary
The undertaken business model for Muggles Mugs, an online web based service for delivering customized/personalized mugs as gift items. The distinctive feature for the business model is in its unique product service adopted of rendering hand painted mugs, with customer chosen pictures drawn on them as caricatures. As a core e-commerce based business model, the venture is in extreme paucity of a highly effective marketing plan, so as to entrench the image of the venture into the minds of customers, ensuring brand loyalty and brand recall. The marketing plan campaign is devised to include various elements of ecommerce online marketing, covering the free sources and paid for services.
Brand recall will be enabled by use of different forms of online marketing like social media marketing, online advertising, SEO based marketing and online communication platforms like blogging and other interactive platforms. These elements of online marketing are more specific in nature for creating awareness among the target market. To ensure more customized and personalized marketing pull being created, the analysis of customer preferences, impact of their buying behaviors, involved demographics and geographical locations is to be conducted. The use of prominent online buying analytics from Google is the key to success in this case to attract buyers and expand markets. The Intended impact over market development has to be gained via using Google adwords, Google display networks and inferences from Google analytics to implement social media marketing, remarketing and affiliate marketing.
The final marketing plan is tactically designed to include the above mentioned facets in the ultimate marketing campaign for the market and business development pursuits of Muggles Mugs.
Introduction
Online marketing for ecommerce is the easiest way to approach the target market segment for a business. If the marketing tactics are well channelized and well personalized to address the individual pull factors for the customers, a rise in market development, business expansion and consequent rise in revenues are imminent. The conventional online marketing campaigns focus more on unanimously followed tactics like social media page development and Search Engine optimization (SEO) based keywords incorporation in the portal contents (Olenski, 2014). However the current day online marketing requires a strategic mix of various marketing approaches, comprising of various deductions drawn from specialist service providers in field of consumer buyer behavior analytics and prevailing trends in online shopping practices of customer, varying in demographics, product preferences and across varying geographies (Spiegel, 2015).
The Business model, Muggles Mugs.
The business model is elementarily based on online shopping platform for display customized gift mugs. The offered personalization will be incorporating images chosen by customers and then they will be hand painted on the mugs by expert caricature artists and cartoonists. So, in addition to furnishing the already prevailing customized mugs to customers, the business model relies on its distinctiveness to have hand painted caricature images on the mugs, rather than digital images which do not seem to have an emotional connect due to lack of human interference. The founder’s dream behind the venture lies in also promulgating a respectable earning mode for those painting artists and cartoonists who lack a specific identity in their field. Hence the dual level of personalization comes into picture when the choice of artists (for their chosen image) is also open to the customers. So a customer can not only upload a picture to customize the mug of his choice, but also can choose among various artists (on the basis of their showcased art) for enabling their desired customization.
Customer identification and targeting
The customer identification for this form of ecommerce can be precisely conducted by administering the website traffic for majority of online shopping based websites. This can be done by monitoring the keyword searches and specific buying trends analysis, as far as online shopping practices or customized gift mugs are concerned. The online buyers normally begin with keyword searches from leading search engines like “customized gift mugs” or “ user chosen design painted mugs” or “ personalized gift mugs”. These search preferences and then consequent choice of chosen link for buying are monitored by efficient ecommerce tracking tools like Google analytics.
In addition to above way to identify target customers, a general approach can be used which can target all the intended communication in marketing activities towards the people from age group 20-40. But since gifts can be given and customized by different individuals for all together different individual. For example, a son may seek an online caricature of his parents on the eve of their 25th marriage anniversary, uploading an image of their first marriage anniversary. Hence, in order to maximize the precision of marketing tactics, enhanced identification measures have to be adopted, prior to implementing the actual marketing campaign.
Competitive status of market and the marketing for its mitigation
The ecommerce is currently flushed with majority of leading online retail giants diversifying themselves in customized online gifts retailers, by either partnering with them or acquiring over them. The major players prominent in the chosen business field are Archie’s Online, Amazon, Printvenue , Vistaprint , Zazzle etc. Hence in terms of competitive strength, the threat of from existing players is very high which may lead to increased negotiating power from buyers. The above two factors from the highly competitive industry can result in potential loss in business expansion and planned revenue generation , due to expected discounts and extraneous service quality from Muggles Mugs (Chaney, 2014).
An effective marketing campaign can cater to a dual impact, first by positioning the image of Muggles Mugs as a unique gift customization service using hard drawn caricatures and by creating the desired pull over target customer base via opening them a gallery of artists and their art piece, to be chosen over for hand drawing the desired image over the gifted mug. The integration of social media can be very relevant in this context as a link to the artist’s profile and a snapshot of some of his finest caricatures can result in desired positioning of Muggles Mugs, as an online seller with dual step customization level for the personalized gift mugs. Appropriate online marketing strategy to communicate this as a distinctive competitive advantage can result in mitigating the overpowering competition in the industry and further step down the buyer power.
The e-commerce Marketing campaign plan
Prior to developing a plan for devising the marketing campaign of Muggles Mugs, we need to evaluate the expectations from the campaign in terms of desired result and its composition and structure. Also, clarity over the target market segmentation will hike the precision in terms of including all possible forms of online marketing that may address the buying needs of the concerned segment and consequent integrated marketing communications, as a holistic marketing campaign.
3.1. Intended result and target market segmentation
The results which are expected from the marketing campaign, in context with the business model, industry competitiveness and distinctive features of the business are as follows:
Clear demarcation of the target customers and efficient brand positioning amidst prevailing players in the ecommerce industry with similar business model
Brand positioning in terms of distinctive identity of dual customization level
Deployment of social media in both, social based marketing communications and as a platform to enable caricature artist choice for the customers
Role of social media manager in assimilating inputs from trends and analytical tools to have ongoing changes in the adopted marketing communications.
Specific marketing strategy to be implemented over Social media, in terms of customer communications, branding, offered services and special offers and as a fame platform for anonymous artists who have worthy talent of hand drawing images to perfection (Chaney, 2014).
Integration of other prolific notions of digital marketing, affiliate marketing and repeat marketing to ensure enhanced customer loyalty and better business expansion prospects (Olenski, 2014).
3.2. Open sources in Online marketing plan elements
The entire marketing campaign plan can be divided into usage of open source of online marketing and paid sources. The use of free sources like Facebook and blogging can result in selectively conveying the planned integrated marketing communications in more of a generalized approach. However, use of specific shopping preferences analytical tools for identify potential customers in terms of demographics, geographical preferences and product feature oriented segmentations, can be useful in channelizing the content of marketing communications in online popup ads , digital flash ads and banner click advertisements towards customer preferences.
3.2.1. Social media publicity (ft. artists and brand page promotions)
Marketing plan : As discussed earlier, the social media marketing manager will be a prominent role player in deciding the marketing communications in form of customer attention seeking promotional activities, unique access to artwork showcase of caricature artists and driving in response and participation from customers based on event specific marketing activities like Father’s day, Valentine’s day, Friendship day etc. It has also been discussed in the earlier segments that social media pages and their mass media communication content can be changed in terms of their aesthetic appeal to demographic and geographical segmentation of customer segmentation (Chaney, 2014). For example if USA customer in Florida are found more inclined towards gifting personalized mugs to their partners, the Facebook page linked to the Florida shopper’s online community can specifically position the romantic hand drawn works of artists in this subject.
Result: The social media based personality marketing for the involved caricature artists can not only drive in more responses from their demographic origin towards their fame but also channel the followers towards their patronizing business. The Facebook page for Muggle Mugs should have a separate album for profile linked works of artists from different walks of the society and encourage the dominance of regionalism in creating the pull factor.
Limitations: “Social networking is different and online shopping is different”. The social media marketing communication will be more generalized in nature and the chances of social networking dominating over desired shopping influence are higher (Mills, 2014). The approach via social network marketing can be made more acute in terms of customizing the social media page updates over the regional buying preferences and demographic shifts, as explained in the example given earlier. Still, cumulative impact of social media marketing, in sync with other elements of the marketing campaign can be favorable for Muggles Mugs business development.
3.2.2. SEO based website development
Marketing plan: The search engine optimization tactics are most technically proven and universally sought after marketing tactic to gain better hit and page visit probabilities from customers, in the ecommerce industry. There are specifically designed websites which use the content used in search engine data entry by web browsers and these words are not only stored but their correlation to the directed websites is also monitored (Spiegel, 2015). Today a wide range of professional digital marketers are available in the industry who infuse keywords which pertain to the most searched words for a particular shopping preference, consequently generating their marketed brand in search results prior to other brands.
Result: As an initial step of pulling the customer towards the website of Muggles Mugs, this marketing plan can be very effective, followed by a branding already sustaining using the social media marketing gigs discussed above. It must be noted that instead of hiring an external digital marketing or SEO specialist agency, the social media marketing manager can efficiently vouch for SEO changes by carefully observing the keywords and resultant order of websites using them. A meticulous inclusion of most hitting keywords can solve the current requirement.
Limitations: All leading websites in ecommerce industry usually deploy ongoing SEO optimization tactics to ensure that their regular web traffic should not drift away to competitors. Hence, tackling competition in this regard will be rather unsteady and ad hoc in its impact.
3.3. ‘Paid for’ sources of online marketing
Apart from the open elements of the digital marketing campaign, there exist some very precise and actuarial marketing tools, which can be used to enhance the precision of communication focus and penetration to specific customers, rather than a generalized approach. The main paid for sources of online marketing are discussed in detail in coming segments.
3.3.1. Google adwords
Marketing plan: Adding on the SEO prospects discussed above, the Google Adwords is a precise tool that gives an exact impact of most prominent keywords, effective in case of a particular business model. Hence, keywords which have resulted in most channelized hit/click on the leading customized gift shopping websites will be easily segregated using adwords and then used in favorable context (Milo, 2014).
Result: Google adwords is also applicable in mapping the keywords in terms of hit and bounce over their impact in search engine optimization. Hence the digital marketing manager can selectively use the words with higher hit rates and ensure more traffic.
Limitations: The use of Google adwords is effective in getting clicks but not a prominent marketing tool to crate brand recall and retention effective. This issues is frequent with more of SEO based marketing tools as reliance on search engines causes a decline in retentive ability for the brand image in ecommerce industry (Milo, 2014).
3.3.2. Google display network
Marketing plan: The Google display network is spanned across Google group websites like Blogger, YouTube etc and present a communication platform for displaying the Google adwords ads. We have already seen how the Google adwords ads use the SEO tools and boost the website click frequency for the business concerned. Hence availing the access to this display network can result in wider access and visibility to a vast range of customers.
Result: The display network has a varied reach and can be used to project the marketing communication at any point of the buying cycle. Also, the form of advertisement can be visual, textual, graphic or audio-visual, thereby addressing the communication to all genres of customers online. The deployment of this marketing tool in the current marketing campaign will enhance the reach to customers by a significant level.
Limitations: The only limitation of this marketing tool is that it cannot suffice alone in terms of a holistic marketing communication plan and requires a conjoined effort from other brand pull crating factors.
3.3.3. Remarketing (using Google analytics and trends)
Marketing plan: The remarketing tool stands as an effective strategy to retain the customer loyalty by selectively communicating with earlier customers or revisiting customers using ‘personalized’ emails and telephonic calls (Spiegel, 2015). This sort of marketing communication uses Google analytics tool (in sync with Buffer and Visual media optimizer to segment traffic on basis of their shopping choices) with to address the customer requirements.
Result: Google analytics tool is very specific in segmenting the website traffic over purpose and intent of visitors and their relative buying preferences, based on demographics and geographical impact on shopping trends. Thus, a customer who has visited the webpage and not converted to a sale can be approached more personally and convinced to revisit the website under guidance.
Limitations: Although quite effective in creating the brand recall and top of mind priority, the only limitation of this marketing tool is that it cannot suffice alone in terms of a holistic marketing communication plan and requires a conjoined effort from other brand pull crating factors.
3.3.4. Face book advertising and marketing using Google analytics
Marketing plan: The Facebook advertising can be typically used to focus in terms of the various results gathered over customer buying preferences and shopping behavior, from Google analytics. The usage of words and text in the Facebook page for Muggles Mugs will be so positioned to cast a pull via its SEO and usage of those factors which lie prominent in customer search preferences, for example “personalized printed mugs as gift for special occasions”.
Result: Most of Google analytics reports show the channelized footfall of leading e-commerce players getting routed via clicks given on their Facebook promotional pages (Mills, 2014). Hence, the intervention of social media into shopping behavior can be utilized here to a greater extent.
Limitations: Although quite affecting in routing traffic, the social media strategy still remains less significant than those of direct marketing and personalized marketing, having specific attention and focus on target customers rather than a generalized approach.
3.3.5. Affiliate marketing
Marketing plan: Extending the reach beyond Google display network, the affiliate marketing gives an extended reach to regular visiting traffic of some other well known website. For example, if Muggles Mugs makes a strategic tie up with Fed Ex for their deliveries, the Fed Ex website (having regular traffic for article tracking, booking etc) can be pursued to have a affiliated banner advertisement for Muggles Mugs.
Result: The best possible way to grabble attention of most varied range of customer base, adding on the current exposure and publicity. Affiliate marketing is rather easy as most of the affiliate sources are not a direct competitor and rather facilitator for the business.
Limitations: The only limitation of this as a marketing tool is that it cannot suffice alone in terms of a holistic marketing communication plan and requires a conjoined effort from other brand pull crating factors.
4.0. Conclusion
The proposed online marketing plan has to be an amalgamation of open and paid for sources, as per the marketing and advertising budget for Muggles Mugs. It has to be kept into consideration that driving in more traffic is not as important as getting the conversion rate higher. Hence the most important result of direct marketing can be ratified only at the host website interface, where the display of distinctive competitiveness can result in driving a better conversion rate, thereby developing a sustainable marketing campaign for the brand image building (Spiegel, 2015). After initial quarter, the online marketing budget needs to be revised on a quarterly basis and inclusion of all above regimen should be executed, as an ongoing process.
5.0 Bibliography
Chaney, P., 2014. Using Social Media in 2015 for Ecommerce Marketing. Practical Ecommerce. [Online] available at http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/76650-Using-Social-Media-in-2015-for-Ecommerce-Marketing [Accessed July 2015].
Mills, I., 2014. 5 Social Media Marketing Tips for Your Ecommerce Website. Huffington post. [Online] available at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-mills/5-social-media-marketing-_b_5416086.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in [Accessed July 2015].
Milo, E.C., 2014, 4 Powerful Uses of Google AdWords for E-Commerce. Ecommerce milo. [Online] available at http://www.ecommercemilo.com/2014/03/4-powerful-use-of-google-adwords-for-ecommerce.html#.VbBSBrUwD-c [Accessed July 2015].
Olenski, S., 2014. Five Killer E-Commerce Marketing Tips For 2015. [Online] available at Forbes Leadership. http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2014/12/22/5-killer-e-commerce-marketing-tips-for-2015/ [Accessed July 2015].
Spiegel, J., 2015. The Google trends data Goldmine. Marketing Land. [Online] available at http://marketingland.com/google-trend-goldmine-117626 [ Accessed July 2015].
6.0 Appendices
6.1. Sample ecommerce marketing strategy (Source: practical ecommerce)
6.2. Sample Google analytics report
6.3. Affiliate marketing example
