Interactive marketing assignment tutors india sample paper by Tutors India

Interactive Marketing

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ÂŠ 2017-2018 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

Executive summary The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be associated with the qualities of masculine gender and hence is mostly neglected or has poor readership within the feminine population. Such as problem is the premise of the present report wherein the objective of the research report is to increase female The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be A digital strategy which could include the objectives of the digital marketing plan, and acquisition methodologies including segmentation, positioning and targeting -

Digital communication through paid and own media

Measurement of performance metrics through KPIs

Hence, the present report is segregated into four sections- Firstly the introduction section will address in detail the business problem the objectives of the report and the The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be and the final section will be conclusion of the report.

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Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................10 1.1 Business problem .....................................................................................................10 1.2 Objective of the report .............................................................................................11 1.3 Steps for preparation of Digital Marketing plan ......................................................11 2.0 Digital Marketing Planning framework- SOSTAC .....................................................13 3.0 The case of “The Economist” ......................................................................................16 3.1 Situation analysis .....................................................................................................16 3.1.1 Identification of customers ...............................................................................16 3.1.2 Analysis of the Industry....................................................................................17 3.1.3 SWOT analysis .................................................................................................18 3.2 Setting Objectives ....................................................................................................20 3.3 Realising strategies ..................................................................................................21 3.4 Tactics ......................................................................................................................23 3.5 Actions .....................................................................................................................24 3.6 Control .....................................................................................................................24 4.0 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................25 References .........................................................................................................................26 Appendix ...........................................................................................................................28

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© 2017-2018 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

1.0 Introduction The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be which is stated in different words but are ought to deliver the same meaning. According to Chaffey and Smith (2008), digital marketing is simply marketing online with the aid of websites especially social media sites, online advertisements, mails, newsletters, and through mobile-phones. Keywords such as electronic marketing, Internet marketing and e-marketing are all related to Digital marketing. The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be (http://www.economist.com/), a leading English magazine which offers opinions on international affairs such as politics, finance, business, and science and technology. The online facility enables readers to acquire previously published information from 1997 (The Economist, 2016a). 1.1 The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be senses. However, with unique content and writing, it gained immense attention and transformed into an entity that could enhance readersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; world. However, one major issue with The Economist was revealed; the number of new male subscribers is increasing whereas the balance is not achieved with the new female subscribers. It is generally perceived that The Economist shares vital news information catering the needs of the masculine population whereas the female masses are most often Page 10 of 25 -

The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be need to carefully examine the ways of increasing female subscribership for The Economist. Targeting women population through digital advertisement (simply digital marketing) is hence hypothesised to create a level playing field. In this regard, the following objectives are set: 1.2 The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be subscriber base of The Economist 1.3 Steps for preparation of Digital Marketing plan There are five crucial steps involved in the preparation of a digital marketing plan. With the objective identified, the following steps of e-planning should be performed:

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Figure 1: SOSTAC framework

Situation Analysis- Porter’s five forces and SWOT analysis

Objectives- a) increase female traffic b) Acquire new female users c) Increase female subscription

Strategy- Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

Tactics- SEO, Online PR, Interactive ads, Online partnership, Social media marketing

Actions- SEO optimization, Paid search, Email marketing

Control- Examination of performance metrics through KPIs

Source: Adopted from Author (2016) Hence the forthcoming sections of the report shall address the aforementioned steps of devising the digital marketing plan (SOSTAC framework) for the selected company based on the objectives set.

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2.0 The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be relevance with the context of the present business report based on SOSTAC planning model:

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Stage 1: Situation analysis The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be female subscribers which is uneven in the overall number of subscribers of the news giant. Situation analysis imparts the following procedure: identification of customers, the description of the market, competitors of The Economist, and influencers of the company (stakeholders), Furthermore, a SWOT analysis should be performed to understand the internal strengths and weaknesses, and external threats and opportunities. Stage 2: Objectives Objective setting has a prime position in the SOSTAC framework. To recap, the objective of the present report is: “To increase the UK subscriber base while increasing the number of female subscribers thereby balancing the scales”. Stage 3: Strategies Segmentation based on target customers, positioning, proposition and the marketing mix, brand strategy, Online representation using own website, Content and engagement strategy, Digital channel acquisition communications strategy, Digital channel conversion strategy, Digital channel retention communications strategy, Data strategy, Multichannel integration strategy, Social media marketing strategy, and Digital marketing governance strategy (Chaffey & Bosomworth, 2013). Stage 4: Tactics 

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)



Google Adwords



Email marketing



Google Analytics



Social media marketing Page 14 of 25 -

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Stage 5 & 6: Action plans and Control KPIs are measured in these stages on periodical basis to ensure meeting the objectives and measure the success of the digital marketing campaign.

3.0 The case of “The Economist” 3.1 Situation analysis 3.1.1 Identification of customers The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be cent) and least number of subscribers in the 16-20 years age group (0.50 per cent) (Refer Appendix). Identifying the number of new subscribers in the year 2015 in monthly basis revealed the total number of new subscribers all over the year to be around 140,104 wherein the proportion of male and female new subscribers is 98,825 and 41,279 respectively which shows imbalance within the gender. This gender imbalance is derived from the business context that The Economist is considered to be a magazine that is dedicated for the male society and lacks attraction within the female audience. However, this is not the truth. The Economist is for everyone and there is a need to increase the number of female subscribers so as to increase subscribership as well as balance the scales.

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30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000

NEW WOMEN SUBSCRIBERS (2015)

10,000

NEW MEN SUBSCRIBERS (2015)

5,000 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Source: Adopted from Refer appendix 3.1.2 Analysis of the Industry An analysis of the industry (Newspaper/ magazine) in which The Economist operates is necessary in order to identify the market factors affecting the subscription. Industry analysis is performed using Porter’s five force model which is as follows: Company overview a) The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be Threat of new entrants Relatively low threat for new entrants to enter and compete with The Economist. b) Threat of Substitutes With other competitors in the market, alternative news magazines are found prevalent and hence there exists high threat of substitutes. A number of magazines targeting the female population is high in the UK (Magazine, 2016). c) Bargaining power of suppliers Page 17 of 25 -

With the era of new technological innovations, suppliers may have high power to influence The Economist. However, supplier power may have least influence on the subscribing behaviour. d) Bargaining power of Buyers e) The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be Rivalry with existing competitors For The Economist, there are a number of powerful market rivals. The top competitors include- Financial Times, The telegraph, TimeInc, NewsUK, Forbes and so on (The Economist Group, 2016). On the basis of the Porter five forces analysis, the influence of these factors on the subscribing behaviour of customers is stated in the following table: Factor Threat of new entrants Threat of Substitutes

Rating Low High

Bargaining power of suppliers

High

Bargaining power of Buyers

High

Rivalry with existing competitors High In addition to the five force analysis, the SWOT analysis is conducted which acts as a company based analysis. 3.1.3 SWOT analysis a) Strengths The strengths of The Economist in the newspaper and magazine industry include:

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Broad readership

Renowned brand name

b) Weaknesses -

Business Cost control strategies

Disinvestments in print advertising

c) Opportunities The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be d) Threats -

Increase of free online news sites

Increase in market competition

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Strengths- S Broad readership Renowned brand name

ORGANISATION

Opportunities- O New acquisitions and mergers with other organisations Growing market for online advertising, digital marketing could be profitable Threats- T Increase of free online news sites Increase in market competition

SO strategies Increase the strengths of the organisation by maximising the opportunities ST strategies Improving strengths thereby reducing threats

Weaknesses- W Business Cost control strategies Disinvestments in print advertising WO strategies Utilising opportunities thereby countering weaknesses

WT strategies Counter weaknesses and threats by improving strengths and utilising opportunities

3.2 Setting Objectives The Economist is a leading news magazine in the world which does not necessarily adhere only to economic affairs as its name suggests. The Economist is a pioneer in delivering news from all over the world covering the aspects of business, finance, science and technology. However, the name of the brand is often mistaken to be approach is hence built- Bring more female traffic to the official site, acquire new female users and increase female subscription of the magazine.

1. INCREASE FEMALE TRAFFIC

2. ACQUIRE NEW FEMALE USERS

3. INCREASE NO. OF FEMALE SUBSCRIPTION

Source: Adopted from Author (2016)

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In addition, the SMART objectives are set to increase the number of female subscribers to The Economist. A SMART objective (SMART- Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) should clearly specify what is to be achieved, whether quantitative or qualitative measures are required to achieve the objective, whether the objective is realistic and achievable, relevant to the context of marketing and has a specified timeframe to getting achieved. Though the objective of the current business problem was very abstract, the objective is now converted into a smart objective.

Previously: To increase the UK subscriber base while increasing the number of female subscribers thereby balancing the scales.

Now: To increase the UK subscriber base while increasing the number of female subscribers from 29 per cent to 40 per cent using the Reach, Act, Convert and Engage (RACE) framework

3.3 Realising strategies a) Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning An effective marketing plan is activated with the use of the Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP) model which aids companies towards targeting buyers in a more appropriate manner. Segmentation aids with the identification of customers/ buyers/ subscribers in a market (Newspaper and Magazine industry here) in which the target segments are selected and market positioning is performed. In this regard, demographic and psychographic information are examined. The case of “The Economist” revealed various demographics wherein Audience segments were categorised based on age, income, and industrial sector (Refer Appendix 1).

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Sectors Educational Financial Manufacturingg Government Institutional/Trade Mining Agriculture Private Individuals Professions Services Utilities

Percentage of subscribers 16.60 23.60 9.50 7.40 1.40 2.70 2.90 16.10 16.50 3.30

It is estimated that more than 23 per cent of the overall subscribers belonged to the financial sector wherein the next highest percentage share is owned by the educational sector. It is however known that there is high necessity to know international affairs in daily basis for both the sectors (Financial and Educational). In this regard, the process of developing demographic and psychographic information is known as persona development. Targeting variable Demographic segments Psychographic segments Behaviour

Common attributes Age, sector, income Brand responses of women through social media campaign Topic of interests, Use of keywords,

In this regard, four major personas have been created with respect to female subscribers wherein the following table will illustrate the different personas created: Finance expert

Education

Professions

Age: 30-65 years Income: 60000 to 225000 Topics of interest: Development, Research, Number, Change, World, Business, Government, State,

Age: 21-49 years Income: 0 to 149000 Topics of interest: Research, Book, Making, Social, Change, Education, World, Years

Age: 21-65 years Income: 0 to 149000 Topics of interest: Family, Book, Social, Work, Business

Service

Age: 21-40 years Income: 60000 to 149000 Topics of interest: Development, Help, Social. Change, World, Government, People, State, Business Page 22 of 25 ÂŠ 2017-2018 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors Indiaâ&#x201E;˘ Your trusted mentor since 2001 I www.tutorindia.com UK: The Portergate, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8NX I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com

People, Policy, Year It is deemed that with more number of subscribers in the financial and educational sector with more number of subscribers in the age group of 25-50, these segments should be targeted. Attracting feminine population from the financial industry may be trickier since the sector is known to have differences in the number of male and female finance experts (Ftadviser, 2016). It would be more viable to target the educational sector since education may necessitate women to actively subscribe to “The Economist”. In this context of the business problem, the following strategies are recommended to increase the number of female subscribers in the UK. 1) Setting a Goal- The goal is the same as that of the SMART objective. 2) Reach target audience- Female subscribers can be reached by placing articles on the basis of topics of interests in press release sites which will increase female users to visit the website of The Economist and subscribe for editions; Social media marketing strategies may aid better results by placing articles on the basis of topics of interests. These strategies may increase female subscriber count. 3.4 Tactics Following are the several digital marketing techniques used in general which include the following: 1. Search marketing- SEO, Pay Per Click 2. Online PR- Brand protection, Community participation 3. Interactive ads- Sponsorship, targeting of behaviour 4. Online partnership- Affiliate marketing 5. Social media marketing- Customer feedback, Managing social presence (Chaffey & Smith, 2008) In the present context, affiliate marketing and social media marketing are identified to provide better results to increase female subscribership in the UK. Affiliate marketing is deemed to offer a relatively cost effective option for marketing using online Page 23 of 25 -

environment. Conventional marketing techniques do not reach a wide audience and hence affiliate programs are run which will reach markets and people that are unreachable by traditional marketing strategies (Jurišová, 2013). With affiliate marketing, articles based on feminine topics of interest could be posted. Affiliate marketing in this scenario is most effective when the selected sites to affiliate marketing should have more female traffic. Social media marketing is always deemed to be a successful marketing scenario. With campaigns based on feminine topics of interest targeting the created personas, female users may tend to look into the website of The Economist and may subscribe. 3.5 Actions The action plan with respect to the adopted strategies should implement the following: -

Optimisation of SEO such as keyword analysis

Paid search- Optimise using Google AdWords

Optimisation of social media marketing

Email marketing (Chaffey, n.d.)

3.6 Control The final stage of the SOSTAC framework aids in understanding the performance metrics of the action plan. KPIs are examined in this regard wherein based on the objectives, the following KPIs will be used1. Sales revenue- To track the revenue of the company based on the digital marketing campaign conducted. With this KPI, The Economist can track the sales revenue whether increasing or decreasing thereby monitoring the growth projections. Increasing female subscribers tend to increase the sales revenue of the organisation. 2. Inbound Marketing ROI- This KPI is crucial to business success as the improvements in female subscribership could also be attributed to examining the ROI

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3. Traffic to lead ratio- This KPI lets the company understand the number of visitors that have been converted as leads. Traffic targeting will be tracked with the number of female visitors converted into leads. 4. Lead to customer ratio- Figuring out how many leads were converted into customers is important. This further defines the sales revenue. 5. Organic traffic- The amount of organic traffic received reveals the increase in trust towards the brand. 6. Social media traffic- enables identification and control whether qualified people are reached, engaged, and how many actually convert into customers. Furthermore, the RACE framework aids planning and management of the digital marketing activities which will steer improvements in the organisation. Reach (R) SEO Pay Per Click Affiliate marketing Online advertisements Online PR

Act (A) and Convert (C) Conversion Rate optimisation Lead generation Home page optimisation Landing page optimisation

Engage (E) Promotional emails

Mobile marketing Content marketing

Social media marketing

4.0 Conclusion Digital marketing has become one of the most common techniques to achieve competitive advantage wherein the present report attempted to assess the business issue at The Economist and the need to increase their female subscribership. The SOSTAC framework is used to examine complexities in the selected organisation and the solution to increase number of female subscribers in the UK region is also devised. It is deemed that the finance and education sector have increased the number of subscribers and hence these sectors are targeted. Tactics such as Search marketing, Social media marketing and email marketing can bring better results which could be examined using KPI metrics.

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References Chaffey, D. (n.d.). Digital marketing strategy Planning Template. [Online]. Available from: http://www.charleswarner.us/articles/RACE-digital-marketing-plan-templatesmart-insights.pdf. Chaffey, D. & Bosomworth, D. (2013). Digital marketing strategy Planning Template. [Online].

Available

from:

http://www.enterprisebucks.co.uk/wp-

content/uploads/2014/09/digital-marketing-plan-template-smart-insights1.pdf. Chaffey, D. & Smith, P.R. (2008). E-Marketing Excellence: Planning and Optimising Your DigitalMarketing. 3rd Ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Egan, J. (2004). Relationship Marketing: Exploring relational strategies in marketing. 2nd Ed. Essex: Prentice Hall. Ftadviser (2016). Major financial services firms step up to tackle gender gap. [Online]. 2016.

Ftadviser.

Available

from:

https://www.ftadviser.com/investments/2016/10/11/major-financial-services-firmsstep-up-to-tackle-gender-gap/. [Accessed: 10 November 2016]. Jurišová, V. (2013). Affiliate marketing in the context of online marketing. Review of Applied Socio- Economic Research. [Online]. 5 (1). pp. 106–111. Available from: ftp://ftp.repec.org/opt/ReDIF/RePEc/rse/wpaper/R5_12_Jurisova_p106_p111.pdf. Magazine (2016). Magazine Subscriptions for Women. [Online]. 2016. Magazine.Co. Available

from:

http://www.magazine.co.uk/magazine-subscriptions-for-women.

[Accessed: 10 November 2016]. The Economist (2016a). About us. [Online]. 2016. Economist. Available from: http://www.economist.com/help/about-us#About_Economistcom.

[Accessed:

November 2016]. The Economist (2016b). The GRT Brief 2016: The Economist Female Subscribers. [Online]. 2016. Available from: https://dma.org.uk/uploads/misc/577235377b223prx-projoo6750_grtcompetitionbriefs_v3-00_577235377b170.pdf. [Accessed: 14 Page 26 of 25 -

December 2016]. The Economist Group (2016). The Economist Group Company Profile. [Online]. 2016. Owler.

Available

from:

https://www.owler.com/iaApp/189626/the-economist-

group-company-profile. [Accessed: 10 November 2016].

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Appendix Table 1: Acquisition targets Sub start month 2015

New subs New subs Female Men

Total

% Female of total subs excl unknown

Jan

3,937

11,226

15,163

26%

Feb

2,245

5,675

7,920

28%

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

1,845 1,747 1,822 1,766 1,669 2,468 3,117 11,049 7,844 1,770

4,296 4,248 4,747 4,199 3,989 6,400 7,310 25,278 17,892 3,565

6,141 5,995 6,569 5,965 5,658 8,868 10,427 36,327 25,736 5,335

30% 29% 28% 30% 29% 28% 30% 30% 30% 33%

TOTAL

41,279

98,825

140,104

29%

Target 2017

75,000

113,650

188,650

40%

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Table 2: Customer Value 

Life Time Value (LTV): assume a LTV of £600 per customer (indicative due to confidentiality)



Cost Per Acquisition (CPA):

CPA £

Channel

£ 100 £ 95 £ 160 £ 160 £ 450 £ 170 £ 160 £ 110 £ 180 £ 140 £ 50 £ 105 £ 280

Affilliate marketing Direct Mail lapsed subscribers Direct Mail Prospecting Display – Conversion Display – Development Email Prospecting Experiential Inserts – in Economist Inserts – Prospecting Partnerships Search Paid Social – Fans & Followers Social – Prospecting

Figure 1: Audience Profiles Age (yrs) 16-20 21-29 30-39 40-49 50-64 65+

Econ Subscriber (%) 0.50 7.20 17.40 20.90 29.10 24.90

Household Income ($) 0-59,999 60,000-89,999 90,000-149,000 150,000-224,999 225,000-349,999 350,000+

Econ Subscriber (%) 12.30 17.00 29.30 19.90 9.70 11.80

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Table 3: Audience Profiles continued Industry sectors

Econ subscriber (%)

Educational Financial Manufacturing Government Institutional/Trade Mining Agriculture Private Individuals Professions Services Ultitilies

16.60 23.60 9.50 7.40 1.40 2.70 2.90 16.10 16.50 3.30

Table 4: Topics of interest by gender – Female vs Male vs Shared Female Topics

Shared Topics

Male Topics

Development Help Family Research Making Future Book Social Change Number

Year World Years Education Work People Government State Business Policy

Economy China Risk Crisis Major Europe Course Debt End Beginning

Source: Proximity analysis of The Economist topics engaged with on social media topics by gender

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Table 5: Facebook brand response campaign results by gender Gender

Sum of Clicks

Female

96810

Male

Row Labels

10311

Big Mac Index

15362

If you’re so busy, then how come you’re reading this?

6372

Black America: The fire and the fuel

43301

Europe’s boat people (migrants)

7645

I must teach harder in class

1941

Dealing With Rogue Drones

1022

Is it global warming or just the weather?

259735

356545

73303

Big Mac Index

18456

Black America: The fire and the fuel

43633

Dealing With Rogue Drones

81967

Europe’s boat people (migrants)

7106

If you’re so busy, then how come you’re reading this?

4420

I must teach harder in class

4359

I must teach harder in class Grand total

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