Diploma Guide - Digital strategy sample chapter

Digital Strategy
Mark Connolly

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Introduction
i
Page
Introduction
About the Author (iii)
How to use this Guide (iv)
Additional Study Resources (v)
Section 1: Digital Disruption
Chapter 1: The Strategic Implications of the Disruptive Digital
Environment
1.1 Analysing the Macro-Environment 1
1.2 Analysing the Micro-Environment 11
1.3 The Strategic Implications of Disruption 25
Chapter 2: The Digital Marketing Environment
2.1 Macro and Micro Findings 35
2.2 The Relevance, Influence and Impact of Emerging Themes 42
2.3 Monitoring Emerging Trends 48
Section 2: Digital Planning
Chapter 3: Strategic Recommendations to Acquire, Convert
and Retain Customers
3.1 Digital Objectives 62
3.2 A Strategic Response to Acquire or Reach New Customers 72
3.3 A Strategic Response to Customer Conversion 85
3.4 A Strategic Response to Customer Retention 89
Chapter 4: An Agile Response to Changing Customer
Behaviour
4.1 The Current Marketing Mix 93
4.2 The Digital Marketing Mix to Acquire, Convert and Retain Customers 99
4.3 How the Digital Marketing Mix Delivers and Enhances Agility 101

Introduction
ii
Section 3: Delivering Success
Chapter 5: Managing and Optimising Key Channels and
Content
5.1 Integrating Digital into Wider Marketing Activities 109
5.2 Channel Management and Optimisation 119
5.3 Content Management and Optimisation 139
5.4 Resources and Scheduling of Key Tactics 143
Chapter 6: Key Digital Measures for Social, Sentiment, Search
and Site Behaviour
6.1 The Tools 149
6.2 Monitoring and Measuring Key Digital Channels 154
6.3 Measures to Assess Digital Behaviour 158
6.4 Applying the Key Measures 161
Index 169

Introduction
iii
About the Author
Mark Connolly Chartered Marketer
Mark Connolly is a Chartered and Inbound Marketer with over 12 years of business
experience, specialising in the technology sector. He is an international marketing
professional with a proven record of accomplishment in planning and leading
comprehensive marketing strategies in support of business goals and objectives.
Mark has been leading his own digital marketing agency, MarketingMavens, for the last 2
years. The work involves marketing strategy, digital communications, branding, SEO and
social media in both the design and marketing consulting area.
Mark is also a Brand Ambassador and experienced tutor for CIM courses at Cambridge
Marketing College where he teaches the Digital Strategy, Digital Marketing and Integrated
Media modules.

Introduction
iv
How to Use this Guide
This Guide has been written specifically to assist marketers who are studying or want to
improve their strategic digital marketing skills. It includes examples and activities to help
reinforce your learning, and recommended reading and website links for additional
information. We recommend that you work through the Guide from beginning to end
undertaking the exercises and supplementary reading included.
The Guide is part of a set, all written by professional marketers and tutors, designed to
provide clear and easy to read introductions to key marketing topics. The other Guides in this
set are: Strategy for Marketers, Metrics for Marketers and Innovation for Marketers.
Within the Guide you will find the following icons used:
This icon defines a key learning concept within the topic area.
This icon identifies additional reading resources that can be used to gather extra
information or to reinforce learning about a particular concept.
This icon identifies tasks that are useful in widening your knowledge and applying
the concepts to your own organisation.
This icon identifies real-life examples that illustrate the key issues discussed.
This icon identifies websites with further information on the key issues discussed.
This icon identifies videos available online to reinforce your learning.

Introduction
v
Additional Study Resources
This Guide has been designed to provide you with all the core knowledge and skills you need
for this topic. However, marketing is a constantly changing discipline and in order to be a first
class marketer you must keep up-to-date with what is going on around you. Consequently
we strongly recommend that you read widely around the subject for this (and every) topic.
CMC Tutor Blog, Scoop.it! and YouTube Channel
Tutor Blog: www.marketingcollege.com/blog
Scoop.it!: http://www.scoop.it/u/charles-nixon
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UC0_uEMPBTxuUr8hH1Ikl70w
Magazines and Journals
We strongly recommend that you read around the subject from the daily and weekly press
and marketing journals and widen your studies by looking at key trade magazines that serve
the industry. These include:
Ad Age www.adage.com
Cambridge Marketing Review www.marketingcollege.com/blog/cambridge-
marketing-review/
Campaign www.campaignlive.co.uk
Marketing www.marketingmagazine.co.uk
Marketing Week www.marketingweek.co.uk
Media Week www.mediaweek.co.uk
Cambridge Marketing Handbooks
Cambridge Marketing Handbooks: Digital Marketing, Distribution for Marketers, Law for
Marketers, Marketing Communications, Marketing Philosophy, Marketing Planning, Pricing for
Marketers, Product Marketing, Research for Marketers, Services Marketing, and Stakeholder
Marketing, 2015, Cambridge Marketing Press

Introduction
vi
Recommended Books
Core
Chaffey D and Ellis-Chadwick F, (2012), Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and
Practice. 5th edition. Harlow, Pearson.
Supplementary
Chaffey D and Smith PR, (2012), Emarketing Excellence: Planning and Optimizing Your Digital
Marketing, 4th edition, Abingdon, Routledge
Flores L, (2014), How to Measure Digital Marketing: Metrics for Assessing Impact and
Designing Success, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan
Kaufman I and Horton C, (2014), Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategy and Tactics With
Values, Abingdon, Routledge
Richardson N, James J and Kelley N, (2015), Two Futures of Marketing: How to Plan for Growth
Using Sustainable and Digital Marketing, London, Kogan Page
Ryan D and Jones C, (2014), Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing Strategies for
Engaging the Digital Generation, 3rd edition, London, Kogan Page
Recommended Articles
The Moz Blog - http://moz.com/blog
CopyBlogger - http://www.copyblogger.com/blog/
Matt Cutts blog - http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
HubSpot blog - http://blog.hubspot.com/
Recommended Case Study Links
AllTop - http://most-popular.alltop.com/
DotRising - http://www.dotrising.com/

Introduction
vii
Useful Websites
The Chartered Institute of Marketing
www.cim.co.uk CIM website with information and access to learning
support.
www.cim.co.uk/insight/tools-
and-templates/study-resources/
Direct access to information and support materials for all
levels of CIM qualification (available to CIM Members).
www.cim.co.uk/cuttingedge Weekly roundup of marketing news (available to CIM
members), awards and forthcoming marketing events.
www.cim.co.uk/insight/marketin
g-library-resources/
EBSCO, Emerald, iLibrary and more.
Publications on line
www.ft.com Extensive research resources across all industry sectors,
with links to more specialist reports. (Charges may apply).
www.economist.com Useful links, and easily-searched archives of articles from
back issues of the magazine.
www.mad.co.uk Marketing Week magazine online.
www.brandrepublic.com Marketing magazine online.
Sources of useful information
www.esomar.org/ European Market Research Association.
www.asa.org.uk/asa/ Advertising Standards Association – useful for the Codes
of Practice.
www.marketresearch.org.uk The Market Research Society. Contains useful material on
the nature of research, choosing an agency, ethical
standards and codes of conduct for research practice.
www.statistics.gov.uk Detailed information on a variety of consumer
demographics from the Government Statistics Office.
www.data.gov.uk/publisher/ce
ntral-office-of-information
Government News.
www.quickmba.com/ Quick reference website for business models.

Introduction
viii
Exhibitions to Attend
Technology For Marketing www.t-f-m.co.uk/
Online Marketing Fair www.onlinemarketingshow.co.uk/
Social Marketing www.socialnetworking-forum.com/
Wikipedia – A note on its use
Wikipedia is a good place to start any research on a new subject. Whilst content now goes
through some review to remove obvious errors of fact, the encyclopaedia is not definitive
and can be incorrect. Always check any information with a second source. Wikipedia is a
good source for other sources.

Digital Strategy
SECTION 1
DIGITAL DISRUPTION

Chapter 1: The Strategic Implications of the Disruptive
Digital Environment
The expected learning outcomes for this chapter are that you will understand the
strategic implications of the disruptive digital environment including:
 Analysing the macro-environment using a range of existing and emerging digital
analysis tools and frameworks
 Analysing the micro-environment using a range of existing and emerging digital
analysis tools and frameworks
 Identifying and assessing the strategic implications of findings in the context of
disruption from the digital environment
1.1 Analysing the Macro-Environment
What is digital?
Process definition
In short, digital is about finding the best way of achieving goals, normally promoting a brand
or service, through electronic connected media. This could be online on the web, through
specialist Internet applications, or through mobile phone applications (both network and
Bluetooth connections). Digital consultancy can also tie into traditional media outlets, either
as traditional first (bringing an audience into a digital campaign), or traditional last (by using
an existing digital audience as content generators).
Digital can also be used to extend the process into a company/brand’s inner workings;
improving the supply chain, gaining direct consumer or business insight through greater
transparency and movement of the underlying data.
Emotive definition
Digital is the great equaliser and relationship builder. Humans by their very nature are
communicative and inquisitive, and digital channels allow brands to interact with their
audience on both levels. The level of involvement required by the audience to engage with
a brand, in many cases a simple click of the mouse, shrinks the gulf between interaction and
offline brand perception.
The greatest benefit of digital lies in its ability to forge individual relationships with the
audience. Unlike any other broadcast medium, digital channels allow direct engagement
with each member of the audience.

Digital strategy
A digital strategy is a plan that defines how a company can benefit from the use of digital
technology. The strategy includes vision, goals, opportunities and initiatives and maximises
the benefits of the company going digital. A digital strategy also allows a business to
measure risks and can be used to improve an existing digital business. Developing a digital
strategy is completed using recognisable business analysis tools such as:
 SWOT Analysis
 PESTER Analysis
 PORTER’S 5 Forces
 Social Media Tools
 Micro & Macro Scanning
Digital represents both a challenge and an opportunity
The challenge – digital disruptors are entering the market. Competitors, customers, and
partners are now digital or becoming digital.
The opportunity – transform the customer experience and operations to become a fully
effective digital business.
Businesses always knew digital was going to change things. In every industry, digital
competitors are taking advantage of new platforms, tools, and relationships to undercut
competitors, get closer to customers and disrupt the usual way of doing business. The only
way to compete is to evolve.
Tools are reducing the barriers to entry. Competitors can half the cost of competing with
another business. Technological advances are creating opportunities for more people than
ever before to meet more customer needs than ever before, at lower costs than ever before
– and that creates digital disruption. It Is time for marketers to move past the fear and
confront digital disruption head-on. After all, disruption is a forcing function; companies can
use it as the imperative to engage customers differently – and more effectively – across all
interaction touch points.
Five key factors
There are 5 key factors organisations need to consider about how digital disruption will
impact their customers:
 Pace of innovation – technology disruptions now occur at increasingly faster intervals.
Does that mean consumers will be sceptical about anything ‘new and improved’ as
they anticipate an even better product on the not-so-distant horizon? Moreover, how
will companies’ R&D compete in this fast-paced marketplace? Is the future filled with
product launches to trumpet only incremental change?
 Increased competition – digital disruption accelerates competing ideas even as it
facilitates the entry of a previously impossible number and magnitude of ideas. The
cumulative effect is devastating to any company operating under the rules of the
prior century.

 Personalisation of interactions – big data analytics enable marketers to send
customer communications that are more relevant, personalised and targeted than
ever before. Research shows that consumers welcome personalised offers, such as
price-matching and loyalty points. Soon, they will not only welcome it, they will
expect it. By using data-driving marketing, marketers can learn how to optimise their
appeal to individual customers.
 Speed of interactions – for many, digital communication equates with speed. Just as
consumers increasingly expect personalisation, they also increasingly expect real-
time interaction with brands.
Speed of Interactions
Remember how a handful of brands proved they could re-invent the customer experience
within minutes during the Super Bowl black-out? Oreo was just one:
 Integration – without integration, you will never be able to unleash the full potential of
digital technologies. First, you need integration to create cohesion across all
marketing channels and platforms. Remember – consistent messaging builds
consumer trust. Second, integrated internal marketing functions help you better
understand data patterns and customer interactions, while providing the visibility
necessary to prove ROI across today’s multi-channel campaigns.

Why do businesses choose digital disruption?
Digital disruption may be messy, unpredictable and at times, overwhelming.
However, it is also inescapable, powerful and incredibly motivating.
Disruption is happening everywhere and it is happening fast. Technology innovations, new
media, and volatile economic conditions are driving changes in consumer behaviours and
attitudes, leading to a transformation of the competitive playing field. Disruptors will be
dominant players in the new marketing ecosystem. They are the most advanced in terms of
technology integration, diversified skills and talent versatility. Disruptors are always pushing to
evolve and they have the most aggressive growth goals. Unlike their traditional marketing
brethren, disruptors are risk takers that fight to remain nimble (Roetzer, 2012).
Digital disruptor skills
Digital disruptors need to be able to build fully integrated marketing campaigns that adhere
to the principles of selective consumption (becoming more selective about where brands
choose to be exposed). This includes content publishing, social-media, SEO, online
advertising, mobile marketing, website development, email marketing, lead nurturing and
analytics, as well as evolved forms of PR and brand marketing. Core capabilities will centre
on digital, with a mix of traditional activities as needed.
Digital disruptor results
Leading marketing professionals consistently produce more measurable outcomes, including
inbound links, website traffic, leads, and sales; quickly shifting away from arbitrary metrics
such as media impressions, reach, advertising equivalency and PR value.
Technology
Fully immersed in the technology industry. Will breed a new generation of tech-savvy,
entrepreneurial-minded professionals. Cloud platforms play a key role in their growth and
adaptability as this will enable them to be versatile on price and product/services.
Market focus
The industry leaders will have a mass-market focus and international appeal (the Internet has
no borders), but, like any emerging industry, there will be plenty of room for smaller
companies to prosper by concentrating on niche market segments and/or services.

1.1.1 PESTER
Writing a business strategy is an essential aspect of starting and running a business. Without a
clear strategy, it is difficult to set meaningful goals and objectives. In determining your
business strategy, a logical analysis of the environment in which you operate will both inform
and influence the outcome. This analysis – commonly called PESTER, for political, economic,
sociological, technological, environmental and legal issues – paves the way for identifying
opportunities and threats, and effective business planning.
1.1.2 The impact and influence of macro factors
Issue Impact and influence on business
Political
Political factors include how regulations and
policies imposed by your national or local
government might affect the way you
conduct your business. These factors decide
the extent to which a government might
affect the economy or a certain industry.
For a digital business this may include:
 Copyright laws
 Tax policies
 Increased pressure on pricing
 Google search engines penalise for
duplicate content and will affect
your rankings if you copy
 Government restrictions on use of
social media for example,
Facebook in China
Economic
The strength and performance of the local,
national and international economy can all
impact a business, presenting both
opportunities and threats. These factors are
elements of an economy’s performance
that directly impact a company. The
economic factors which could affect a
digital business include:
 Inflation rates
 Interest rates
 Reluctance of consumers to spend
 Increased pressure from
shareholders

Sociological
Sociological attitudes and profiles are
constantly changing. Developing a
demographic profile of your consumer base
will help you understand what motivates
them. This step examines the social
environment of the market. The elements
measured which can affect a digital
business are:
 Cultural trends
 Demographics
 Population
 Better intelligence gathering
 Market growth/decline
 Learn different buyer profiles e.g.
baby boomers, millennials
 As media became digital it also
changed the marketing channels
and became more fragmented
now they will become atomised
 How we are using technology
affects our behaviours e.g. how
adults and teens are using mobile
 What people are doing on the
internet and how they are now
searching for information, services,
social interaction
 How we are buying technology
much of which is based on the
battle of our attention around the
TV
 Some predicted ends to
technologies we now know
 The change in the consumption of
media and the changes in
advertising

Technological
The only thing permanent about
technology is change. With advances in
technology developing at a seemingly
unstoppable rate, keeping up-to-date with
changes could help you develop a market
advantage in the face of competition.
Technological change is most evident in
how we communicate, with smartphones
and tablet computers becoming
commonplace. As a strategic marketer,
you should look at ways to harness
technological potential to identify and
service new and emerging markets; and
determine whether new technologies will
have an impact on the specific industry
and market positively or critically. This
involves:
 Research and development
 The technological awareness of a
market
 New digital opportunities including
mobile apps
 New communication models e.g.
live chat, Facetime
 Mobile – technology advances
have converged on the mobile
and it will be the most significant
change in marketing:
o Social media on the go
o Search now becomes local
search
o Apps will continue to grow
o Location based services will
continue to grow and gain
traction in mainstream
marketing. The main players
will evolve new ways to
monetise the check-in. We
become ‘glocal’
consumers continuing to
check-in
o Augmented reality – will
grow from a small base on
mobile
Environmental
Environmental concerns have become
important in recent years, with the wider
impact of doing business increasingly
recognised by consumers as a factor in their
buyer behaviour. Responsible organisations
should look for ways to minimise the
environmental impact of their operations.
Environmental analysis involves issues that
determine or influence the surrounding of
an environment. This may include factors
such as:
 Climate
 Geographical location
 Global climate changes
 Environmental counterbalances
 Identify eco-opportunities to
market
 The environmental cost of the
internet
 The positive effect of a responsible
environmental attitude i.e. that it
may attract new customers who
prefer to purchase more ethically
derived products

Regulatory (inc. Legal)
Businesses across the world operate in a
web of legal obligations and restrictions.
Legal factors refer to both internal and
external issues. For example:
 Consumer laws
 Safety standards
 Labour laws
 Need to focus on learning laws and
educate staff
 Quality and safety become key
Table 1.1 PESTER analysis
1.1.3 Disruptive elements of the digital environment
Why do good technology companies fail to see new markets? – This is because disruptive
innovations usually provide the same value proposition as your business but in a different
way. Either overall, and/or with a different business model. This, in terms of Competitive
Strategy by Michael Porter, would be referred to as a market ‘substitute’ (Porter, 1980.)
Most good companies are very bad at seeing their substitutes early on. One
company that is not is Facebook. Facebook offered a lot of money, around $3 billion, to buy
Snapchat. Snapchat is a platform that lets you send pictures or videos to other users that are
only viewable for a few seconds then the file disappears. It has between 50 million to 300
million current users. Facebook recognised that Snapchat could disrupt their lead market
share of the social networking market.
The market adoption for disruptive technologies follows a pattern. Disruptive technologies
are usually initially less functional then the needs of the main market. This is not usually a
problem because most companies that sell technology over-deliver the basic market
requirements. This is called performance oversupply.
These companies focus on premium features. This is called upwards market migration. These
companies are focusing on clients that will pay a premium for a solid brand relationship they
can trust. This is a good way to grow your company profits. The downside for them is that
their cost structure rises to deliver these premium features. Then when a new technology
gains enough functionality it can eventually offer the same service at a much lower cost. It
eventually enters the market and replaces it.
For example, Netflix revolutionised the video rental industry and led to the downfall of
Blockbuster.

Those people who want to pay very little for their service are the least satisfied with the
current provider. This is the underbelly of the market and this is where you enter with a
disruptive technology. Your goal is to find evangelists to help establish initial market traction.
Another example is that, while franchises like The Biggest Loser have succeeded in entering
the health business recently, they have done so at great cost.
Meanwhile, a single app that helps dieters keep track of the calories they consume on their
smartphones has gone from 0 to 7 million downloads in just a few years. FitNow, the
company behind the app, pulled this off with four employees, establishing a previously
unheard of customer-per-employee metric of 1.75 million.
This is digital disruption at its finest: better, stronger, faster. The app got to market quickly,
partly because as a digital disruptor, FitNow could afford to launch something that did not try
to solve all the problems in the weight-loss world.
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality lets users mash up real-world actions with digital information. The
Nintendo Wii gaming system and Microsoft Kinect are good examples of augmented reality,
with users moving their bodies to make digital characters act accordingly. Also, Microsoft's
Surface is a Vista-powered tabletop computer that lets users manipulate digital content with
natural motions, such as hand gestures. This sort of real-world-meets-virtual-reality mashup is
becoming more common.
1.1.4 Key technological organisational players
Apple
One of the things Apple has demonstrated over its lifetime is that it has become the great
disruptor. In the early 2000s, Apple upended the music market with the introduction of the
iPod and an easy way to access, buy and play music on the go. Then in 2007, Apple
disrupted the cell-phone market with the iPhone. While Apple did not invent the smart
phone, the company reinvented it in ways that completely disrupted the wireless carriers’
way of controlling their own programmes and added the element of a truly intelligent
operating system and apps to the smart-phone landscape.
The iPhone has literally redefined what a smart phone is and has dramatically disrupted the
entire telecommunications world. In 2010, Apple introduced the iPad. The company did not
invent the tablet. It reinvented the tablet and in the process reinvented the personal
computer. The iPad has become a major disruptive force in changing the dynamics and
fortunes of the traditional PC industry. Now the iPad accounts for over 80 percent of all tablet
computer sales, and software developers are creating apps at warp speed for these new
devices. The biggest physical difference between the iPad and a laptop computer is that,
with the tablet, Apple lopped off the keyboard in favour of an all-multitouch interface.

Has Apple peaked?
With recent news it does not look likely (McGregor, 2014). Apple is getting ready to launch its
much talked about ‘Smart Home’ software. The software turns the iPhone into a one-stop
remote control for everything in your house: lights, appliances, and security systems.
Apple’s coming move follows Google’s $3.2bn acquisition in January of Nest Labs, makers of
internet-connected thermostats and smoke alarms, and Samsung’s recent debut of its Smart
Home range of refrigerators, washing machines and TVs that can be controlled from its
smartphones and watches. Apple’s integrated system will make it easier to set up and
control new ‘SmartHome’ devices. For example, a home’s lights might automatically come
on when the owner enters the house, using their iPhone to wirelessly signal their arrival.
Google
The way individuals interact online is constantly changing — especially with the release of the
Google Glass. Glass is a wearable computer that is worn like glasses, but has advanced
digital features, including an optical head display, voice command interaction, as well as a
bone conduction audio transducer that allows users to hear audio.
Google Glass is the most visible example of augmented reality, but a business case for the
emerging technology is building. According to Gartner research analyst Tuong Huy Nguyen,
the technology could be most valuable where workers do not have immediate access to
information, such as remote sites or in jobs that require one or both hands (Nguyen, 2013).
While it is still early days, manufacturers are already using augmented reality for factory
planning and equipment repair. Applications are also being developed for use in distribution
centres for more efficient order-picking and delivery.
Google Glass has the potential to provide them with facilities to stream all this data and
make it really useful to them in a way that would be acceptable as they would be able
capture data in real time.
By 2020 we could see many companies being very successful with the apps they have
developed to work with Google Glass. As the internet created many dotcom businesses, this
technology will help software companies grow and urge people to create the next best
software app developer to work with Google Glass.
Third-party applications
If you think about how third-party applications are already used today to help businesses
market to smartphone and tablet owners you can probably see how Google Glass could be
utilised as well. There are already major players in this game, such as Groupon.com, which
has developed applications for mobile devices where consumers can look up coupon deals
within their local area. This is a foreseeable application for users of Google Glass in the near
future.
Also, with a digital camera integrated into Google Glass, third-party applications could
emerge where owners of Google Glass could scan barcodes and find price comparisons
that businesses could use for giving the lowest discount possible. These are just a couple of
features used by smartphones and tablets today that could be extended to Google Glass.

Sharing through social media marketing
This feature would be something that businesses could utilise with Google Glass. The device
already has features that allow users to interact on social networks such as Facebook and
Twitter. Therefore, businesses could use Google Glass to share and market to their social
networks.
Live video sharing
Another way businesses could use Google Glass is through live video sharing. Businesses
could potentially use it to interact with their customers by streaming live events that are easily
recorded through Google Glass. This would allow one person to both record and talk at the
same time by using the hands-free features of Google Glass.
Google Glass future
The above are just a few conceptual ideas of how Google Glass could impact the digital
marketing world. Because the cost of Google Glass will probably go down considerably in
the future, along with the technological advances this device will foresee, there is a strong
chance that this new compact digital computer will have an even bigger impact on how
we interact in the online digital marketing world.
In summary, these key technology players have a significant role and impact on many other
technological organisations. It is important that organisations constantly audit these main
players and find out if there are further opportunities for new product development or threats
to your business or software through not being compatible with their new technology.
1.2 Analysing the Micro-Environment
1.2.1 The digital micro-environment
The micro-environment consists of all the people and organisations that are involved closely
with the company and directly impact the customer experience. They all have direct interest
in the activities of the organisation and are clearly affected by its actions. Micro-environment
examples include:
 Stakeholders
 Suppliers
 Markets and industry structure
 Rival companies
 Customers
A company’s competitors are considered to be a part of the micro-environment as they are
influenced by the business and have interest in it. The micro-environment is moderately
manageable (unlike the macro external environment) as the actions of the company can
influence these stakeholders.
Stakeholders – stakeholders are those members of the micro-environment that have a direct
influence on your business although they are not generally paying customers. Employees are
stakeholders in your business. The government or governments of countries in which you
trade are all stakeholders. Your local community or neighbours are stakeholders, for example

think of the local community’s influence when a car firm wants to build a new factory, or
when an airport wants to build a new runway.
Suppliers – suppliers are those companies that supply your business with goods and services
to which you add value through transformation. From a manufacturing point of view
suppliers would supply raw materials and components which are transformed into finished
goods. From a retail perspective suppliers would deliver produce which is broken down from
bulk, packaged and merchandised in stores to attract customers and consumers. Today
suppliers are a vital part of the supply chain, which sees valued added at all stages, from
conception to consumption (and post-purchase evaluation).
Customers – customers are vital to an organisation because without customers you have no
business. When we define marketing we often talk about customer needs, how we identify
needs, satisfy them and anticipate them into the future. Today we tend to focus less on
products and services and more on customer i.e. customer orientation. We think less of the
Product Life Cycle (PLC) and more about the Customer Life Cycle (CLC) whereby we
attempt to recruit and retain customers and then extend products and services to them
throughout their lives. It is paramount to understand and supply what customers need. We
need to know what they want, why they want it and how they buy. There are many ways to
identify buyer behaviour, but a good place to start is to look at what customers do online
and measure their digital footprint.
Additionally, digital tools can help with customer loyalty. For example, an online survey for
customers, or feedback tools such as Trustpilot or Customersure, can help with the
measurement of customer loyalty. Another way is to reward customers for loyalty by getting
them to use a loyalty card online or logging into their account to purchase numerous times.
With people who frequently purchase, this can be recorded and the business can send them
a gift on their birthday or at Christmas by way of reward.
Employees – are your human resources, and they are vitally important, especially in getting
the best use out of digital marketing tools. Employing staff with relevant skills and experience
is essential. Digital marketing employees require the capability to learn, think and act fast as
new technologies are introduced regularly. Having great employees can help create
competitive edge for a company. Training and development play a critical role in achieving
a competitive edge. If a business employs staff without motivation, skills or experience it will
affect customer service, and ultimately sales.
Competitors – the name of the game in marketing is differentiation. Keep an eye on
competition. Competitors may influence your actions. If a competitor launches a great
digital marketing campaign this will push you to review your own marketing plan.
Competitor analysis and monitoring is crucial if a company is to maintain or improve its
position within the market. If a business is unaware of their competitor's activities they will find
it very difficult to get an advantage over their competitors. The market can move very
quickly, for example, through a change in trading conditions, consumer behaviour or
technological developments. As a business, it is important to examine competitors' responses
to these changes so that you can maximise the impact of your response.
On some occasions you might collaborate with a competitor. There are examples of
alliances and joint ventures in the mobile industry such as those between Sony-Ericsson.

1.2.2 Digital customer behaviour
The relationship between the buyer and the seller exists through a market exchange. The
exchange process allows the parties to assess the relative trade-offs they must make to satisfy
their respective needs and wants. For the buyer they are looking for ease of access to more
information about the company, brand and products and services it offers. Digital buyers are
impatient and want ease of use in websites, they expect them to be fast, easy to navigate
and interactive.
The key role of digital companies is to sell, educate or inform buyers about their products and
services. However, these companies need to provide buyers with ways of communicating
with them, be clear on price and have clarity on terms and conditions to minimise cart
abandonment.
The digital marketplace provides wider opportunities for both consumers and businesses. The
digital environment has changed the way consumers and businesses interact and also
provided new ways of interacting by facilitating access to information with lower cost.
The web provides consumers with much better access to information and to sellers than
other sales channels. This improved access to information about products, services and
prices has been shown to have positive benefits for consumers. Likewise, the internet has
opened new opportunities for organisations to reach consumers through new advertising
and sales channels and made it easier for them to bring their products to market, reach new
customers and build long term relationships with existing offline customers. Access to content
and digital services creates numerous advantages due to low marginal costs of distribution.
Growing internet penetration opening access to information and content has led to
increased creativity and innovation on the digital horizon.
Consumer buying behaviour has been always a popular marketing topic. Traditional
economic theory predicts that consumers are rational consumers who systematically search
for and analyse information in the market before making a purchase and seek redress in the
event of problems with the purchase. However obtaining and analysing information may be
costly and as a result rational consumers may not search the entire market before making a
decision. They are also less likely to do so for relatively frequent, low-cost, low-risk purchases.
Now, supplier and manufacturer websites, comparison websites, discussion forums and
advertisements all make it easier for consumers to research and identify relevant products
and services. Search engines play a central role in filtering the immense volume of
information and the great majority of consumers use search engines as part of their online
purchasing process. For many consumers the internet is almost equivalent to Google but it is
also known that consumers do not utilise online search and filtering tools fully and only
consider websites that appear among the top search results.
E-commerce is central to the development of the digital market but at the same time may
involve additional risks. So it is very important to understand the consumer psyche in the
digital environment.

Smartphone user experience
Mobile phone reading is fast-paced, half-present and usually done while doing something
else. Contrast that with reading on a tablet. Most tablet reading is slower-paced, deliberate
and done in the home. Desktop use is also different. For marketers, it is worth thinking about
how people are consuming your content and what that might change for your approach to
content creation.
Mobile browsing is more action orientated
Andy Ching, Director of Mobile for Bing, stated that 70% of mobile searches are followed up
by a consumer action within an hour. In other words, if you are searching for car parts on
mobile, you are probably going to end up buying those car parts that day. Browsing on a
desktop computer or laptop, however, tends to be more leisurely and general-research-
driven in nature (Anderson, 2013).
Think for a moment about the last time you pulled your mobile phone out from your pocket.
You probably had a specific purpose for doing so. Because mobile phones go with us, their
users tend to be more action driven. This is probably most true in cases of consumer products
and B2C companies, but can extend into the B2B or non-profit worlds, as well.
In your marketing strategy, think about what you can do to make those action-oriented
searches easier. Keep your landing pages and home page simple. Optimise your site for
mobile viewing using responsive design and make phone numbers clickable.
Most Common Mobile Activities
According to research, email is the most common activity that adults perform on their
smartphones, with reading news/content and using social networking as a close second and
third, respectively. Each of these activities has been on the rise. Twice a year, Knotice, a Data
Management Platform, releases data on email opened by device. During the second half of
2012, 41% of all emails opened were done so on a mobile device, which is a full 50% increase
over the same time the previous year.
Knowing that emails, content consumption, and social networking are increasingly
happening through mobile devices, here are a few tips to add to your checklist:
 Make sure your emails and content are easy to read on mobile. Litmus, an email
testing service, advises: "To avoid illegible fonts, strive for a body copy minimum of
14px."
 Do not forget that mobile viewers are often hopping between these three activities. If
you are sharing a webpage out on social media or email, remember that the end
recipient (or the person he forwards it to, or the person that person forwards it to)
could very well be on a mobile device. Make sure that your website, blog, and any
other content you share is just as optimised for mobile.

 Make sure your calls-to-action are big and visible. Litmus advises to include a call-to-
action that's at least 44px wide.
Being more aware of how your audience consumes your content can give you an
advantage when it comes to conversions from this very action-oriented crowd.
Mobile behaviour and ads
There are mixed reports about the effectiveness of ads on mobile devices. According to
data from three of Facebook’s biggest ad API partners (who help companies purchase ads)
mobile Sponsored Stories are generating more than 13 times the clickthrough rates of all
Facebook desktop ads. (API, an abbreviation of application program interface, is a set of
routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. For example, Google Maps
APIs lets developers embed Google Maps on webpages using a JavaScript or Flash
interface. The Google Maps API is designed to work on mobile devices and desktop
browsers.) A study by Hipcricket, suggests that 64% of people who have viewed an ad on
mobile have made at least one purchase as a result.
However, for a few reasons, it can be difficult to effectively measure purchase intent of
mobile users who click through on ads. Some clickthroughs are accidental and others get
misattributed. The best way to understand the behaviour of your mobile audience with ads is
to test it with a few campaigns.
Device hopping
According to research from Google, a full 90% of viewers hop from one device to another to
complete a task. You are watching TV, maybe scrolling through your Twitter feed absent-
mindedly. You come across a tweet that could be of interest. Not in the right mindset to read
it then and there, you forward it to yourself for later reading. Later on, you check your email
on a desktop and click through to read the whole thing but it is not readable on this device.
The best way to conquer this? Build your content using responsive design. Responsive design
reshuffles your webpages to fit whatever device is viewing them. So your page will look good
on phones, tablets, and desktops.
Mobile users and search
As digital marketers know, search is one of the biggest driving factors for how today's
companies get found online. So it makes sense to think about the experience of mobile users
at the search box. Mobile user behaviour at the search engine box is more focused and
time-sparing.
Consumers do not search the same way on mobile devices as they do on desktops. Search
queries on mobile devices are typically shorter, containing fewer characters, and more
dependent on autocomplete suggestions. Therefore, when determining what keyword
phrases to perform mobile searches around, focus on the theme of the page to see what
autocomplete suggestions are most common.
The majority of mobile users click on one of the top three organic results on a search engine
results page. Since these searches are on the rise, you should focus in on the SEO tactics that
will help you get to the top spot on your 2-5 most important keyword phrases. Google rolled

out additional algorithmic changes that prioritise search listings of sites that are optimised for
mobile over those that are not when a mobile user is searching. So optimising for search on
mobile is of the utmost importance.
What is the difference between mobile and responsive design?
There are two major methods for creating a mobile website’s responsive design and mobile
templates. Responsive design requires only that you have one website that is coded to
adapt to all screen size, no matter what device it is being displayed on.
By contrast, a mobile template is a completely separate entity requiring you to have a
second mobile-only website or sub-domain. Mobile templates are also built for each specific,
not per screen size.
Responsive Web Design
Responsive web design offers a great solution for future-proofing, but may not always be the
best solution. In some cases, mobile-specific websites and native apps can offer rich
experiences that are not always ideally suited to responsive styles.
An important first step in dealing with the mobile landscape is taking the time to choose an
approach, whether responsive or mobile-specific, that best suits users’ needs. A great way to
determine if a responsive design is the best solution for a particular site is to identify users’ top
tasks.
User experience
According to Google’s ‘Think Insights on Mobile’, if a user lands on your mobile website and is
frustrated or does not see what they are looking for, there is a 61% chance they will leave
immediately and go to another website (most likely a competitor). It is also said that if they
have a positive experience with your mobile website, a user is 67% more likely to buy a
product or use a service.
Also, if you are sharing out content links or links to your website and do not have a mobile
friendly website, you are not only going to experience high bounce rates and low conversion
rates but also a frustrated audience.
Responsive adapts to future devices
One of the big benefits of responsive design is that the size of the template is designed based
on screen size not device. This means that no matter what size screen someone is viewing
your website on, it will display properly for that screen size. So in the future as new devices
(TVs, watches, glasses, etc.) are being used for web browsing, your responsive site will still look
beautiful.

Moving forward, it will be extremely critical that your website provides mobile users with an
easy-to-use experience. Having a mobile website is no longer a simply a nice feature, rather
it is a necessity and literally impacts the growth of your business.
Tools to measure digital footprint
There are many tools to measure your digital footprint, some paid and some using the
freemium model:
 Google Analytics is a great free tool that will give you real time stats on visitors to your
website and you can also create dashboards for your needs.
 SEOquake is a popular and handy analytic seo-tool for Firefox, Chrome and Opera
browsers. SEOquake helps to obtain an information about any site for a wide range of
parameters such as page rank, Google index, Alexa and many others. Keyword
Density tool serves to demonstrate the number of times a keyword or phrase appears
on a web page. SEOquake has a parameter that highlights nofollow links.
 Followerwonk helps you explore and grow your social graph. Dig deeper into Twitter
analytics: Who are your followers? Where are they located? When do they tweet?
Find and connect with new influencers in your niche. Use super-actionable
visualisations to compare your social graph to others and easily share your reports
with the world.
These are just some of the tools available to give you a feel for what is out there. It obviously
depends on what you want to get across and who the audience of the report is, but the
core types of report you will be building will cover: social media monthly reports, digital
benchmarking, competitor analysis, or brand/people profiling, etc.
1.2.3 Impact on the competitive environment
The competitive environment, also known as the market structure, is the dynamic system in
which your business competes. For businesses to understand adequately the nature of the
competition they face, they must define their market accurately. This involves recognising a
broad base of competitors.
With the impact of digital, many small businesses can compete with larger businesses. The
tools and channels available give marketers the power, and with good content marketing
they can compete on the same level.
Barriers to entry
Internet gurus said the web would give us a flat, level playing field where anyone could be
king or queen. That is not what happened. The web has disrupted plenty of industries, largely
because it has overcome the inherent friction in many business processes. However, not
many of these new players have carved out a niche and become the new Amazon.

Barriers to entry still loom large. The myth that somehow it is easy to enter a market may be
false. But perhaps the barriers changed. Perhaps our perception that they went away was
simply a brief, beautiful period during the disruption when old barriers crumbled but new
ones had not yet been erected: when Google, Amazon, and Facebook had not yet risen to
power.
There are three big barriers to entry that online companies can erect:
 Attention – simply, if you have people’s attention, you can direct it at things. Attention
is a scarce resource. Google has your attention and they are an effective
middleman, for instance kickstarter projects and YouTube channels compete for your
attention.
 Permission – the right to interrupt a consumer – to send them messages – is a strong
advantage. Facebook can tell you when you have been tagged; Amazon can let
you know when a friend recommends something.
 Math – the ability to crunch data and make optimised decisions is an advantage.
Access to data, and tools to mine it (including proprietary algorithms) are key.
Google knows enough about you to present a genuinely better offer at the time
when you want it.
Price is a top driver of global online retail competition. However, customers are indicating
that they are willing to pay more for fast and reliable delivery, innovative products,
innovative marketing, exclusive access to products, the fact that the website stores their
information, and if they can return items to the store.
1.2.4 Impact on internal resources
Today's disruptors are people and companies using digital capabilities to remove traditional
barriers to entry, produce better products and services, and build great digital relationships
with their customers. They do so better, faster, and stronger than you can today by taking
advantage of your legacy. And they have your executives rethinking competitive strategy,
and your product strategists scrambling for ideas on how to use digital and software
capabilities to deliver new products, or complement existing ones.
This in turn forces organisations to look at their internal resources and staff’s abilities to keep
up with and carry out the new digital functionality.
In addition, product strategists, the people charged with coming up with the firm's own
disruptive response, view IT leadership as too tied up in policy and procedure, being the
centre of "no," rather than the centre of "let's try that." In many cases, IT leaders find out
months after the fact, that product strategists have been working with small, unvetted app
shops that promised quick development times and a lower-friction operating model than
working with internal resources would impose.
1.2.5 Internal digital capabilities and limitations
The internal analysis of strengths and weaknesses focuses on internal factors that give an
organisation certain advantages and disadvantages in meeting the needs of its target
market.

Strengths refer to core competencies that give the firm an advantage in meeting the needs
of its target markets. Any analysis of company strengths should be market oriented/customer
focused because strengths are only meaningful when they assist the firm in meeting
customer needs.
Weaknesses refer to any limitations a company faces in developing or implementing a
strategy. Weaknesses should also be examined from a customer perspective because
customers often perceive weaknesses that a company cannot see. Being market focused
when analysing strengths and weaknesses does not mean that non-market oriented
strengths and weaknesses should be forgotten. Rather, it suggests that all firms should tie their
strengths and weaknesses to customer requirements. Only those strengths that relate to
satisfying a customer need should be considered true core competencies.
The following area analyses are used to look at all internal factors affecting a company:
Resources – profitability, sales, product quality, brand associations, existing overall brand,
relative cost of this new product, employee capability, product portfolio analysis
Capabilities – the goal is to identify internal strategic strengths, weaknesses, problems,
constraints and uncertainties.
1.2.6 Supporting acquisition, conversion and retention
Acquisition technology
This includes:
Paid search – paid search marketing is an inexpensive and scalable form of web marketing
and can be a great way to draw qualified visitors to your website. Paid search marketing
campaigns involve bidding for ad placement in a search engine's sponsored links for
keywords related to your business offering; you pay the search engine a small fee for each
click on your paid ad (hence the name pay per click marketing). Tools you can use include
Google Keyword planner, Google AdWords, LinkedIn Ads, Facebook ads and Bing Ads.
SEO – few people go beyond the first page of search results. Your website needs to rank well
on the most popular search engines to be found by potential customers. Search engine
optimisation (SEO) is all about making that happen. You need to identify the search terms
that will give your web pages the highest rankings and most importantly, website traffic that
will ultimately become business.
SEO link analysis – use OpenSite Explorer to research and compare backlinks with
competitors for intelligent, targeted link building. Identify top pages, view social activity data,
and analyse anchor text.
Keywords – reveal high performing keywords with Wordtracker or Google Keyword Planner.
SEO Spider tool – the Screaming Frog SEO Spider allows you to quickly analyse, audit and
review a site from an onsite SEO perspective. It is particularly good for analysing medium to
large sites where manually checking every page would be extremely labour intensive (or
impossible!) and where you can easily miss a redirect, meta refresh or duplicate page issue.
Affiliates – for a publisher, affiliate marketing offers some significant benefits. Firstly, there is
the opportunity to generate additional revenue. For some organisations affiliate marketing
represents their entire business (for example, price comparison websites); for others it is a
useful way of making some money alongside their core business activity. Secondly, carefully

selected ads can bring some big brand names onto your website and boost your association
with them. This can have a beneficial impact on your own brand reputation.
For an advertiser, affiliate marketing is a great way to get other people or businesses to
promote your products and services and you reward them – usually with a commission
payment – for each referral or sale. It extends your 'reach' in terms of audience and, if well
targeted, can provide a highly cost-effective, scalable and influential additional sales
channel. Tools to help include:
 Commission Junction – helps advertisers acquire new customers and sell more to
previous buyers, while helping publishers generate advertising revenue
 LinkShare – offers a wide range of solutions for establishing and growing successful
affiliate marketing programmes
 Blogging – by creating a blog on your website and using a content management
system such as WordPress or Joomla you can create content that will get picked up
by search engines
 Social media – after creating content on your website, etc. you will need to share this
with your network to get engagement
 HootSuite – HootSuite is a social media management system for businesses and
organisations to execute campaigns collaboratively across multiple social networks
from one secure, web-based dashboard. Key social network integrations include
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ Pages
If you really want your content to reach significant audiences, you need to be working
harder to engage with influencers in your particular niche – i.e. those who are
communicating with your target audience, not your existing one. Influencers will have an
interest in your particular niche and might even write a blog about it. Also, their engagement
is good. Any good influencer should be communicating with their followers just as you should.
Keep an eye on their Twitter timeline and see how often they are replying or mentioning
other Twitter users. On LinkedIn, see how many groups they have joined and how often they
engage with other people’s updates.
If you are looking to find influencers, here are several paid services out there like Traackr that
will provide in depth analytics and draw out the crucial influencers for you. However, if you
do not have the budget for this, there are a few free tools and tactics to help you out:
 Followerwonk – this Moz tool is a particular favourite. The key feature recommended
is ‘Search Twitter bios’ which lets you type in keywords and it will list Twitter users with
these phrases in their bio. The list is ranked by the number of followers and social
authority but also gives you some interesting stats about the number of tweets, how
many people they are following, and how many days old the account is. The
individuals you want to be focusing on are those with the highest social authority.
 Klout – Klout is a great resource for finding influencers with a simple search. Type in
your keyword in the search bar and for most search terms, a list of top influencers will
be generated. This can take some trial and error when picking the right terms. The
number beside each profile image is their Klout score – the higher the number, the
more influential they are. Although this is not a perfect metric, it is helpful for getting a
rough idea.

 Alltop – Alltop is essentially a blog search engine that covers a variety of industries.
You can either search for a keyword, or look at the Hot Topics. Be wary that Alltop will
generate a mix of blogs of differing quality, so take a good look at its
recommendations. If it is an industry recognised blog with a good following, then
track down the details of writers that cover topics specific to your industry. Most blogs
will have social details for their authors, or you can just search the social networks
once you know their name. Alternatively, Technorati is another blog search engine
that can dig up some good sites.
 Google+ Communities and LinkedIn Groups – once again, with both of these
networks a simple search will do. Find Communities and Groups relevant to your field
and do a little research into the members – who are they and what do they do? How
many connections do they have? Do they update and share content other than their
own?
 Twitter lists – within Twitter, where you can create lists based on a keyword or
hashtag.
 Twubs – has a Twitter chat directory for each day of the week which is well worth
having a look at.
Key deliverables/metrics:
 number of visitors
 cost /visit
Conversion technology
This includes:
Market and customer insight – driving value through understanding and predicting consumer
behaviour. Market and customer insight is an oft-used buzz-phrase covering the process of
using internal or external data to describe and predict customer or market behaviour. In
practice, organisations often stop at the describing stage and do not move on to action.
Harnessing the full potential of customer insight can transform how you set your strategic
objectives, define your future commercial plans and even how you take specific decisions
with individual customers. Effective customer insight can help your organisation drive growth
and plan for change.
There are many tools to monitor market trends such as Business Monitor, Gleanster Research,
etc. Also, by using a social media management dashboard such as Hootsuite you can
create lists based on market trends and customer trends.
Another tool for customer/visitor insight on your website is ClickTale. ClickTale takes the guess
work out of website optimisation, conversion analysis and usability research. Knowing how
visitors use your website will enable you to target specific audiences, improve customer
satisfaction and increase conversion.
IA (Information Architecture) – focuses on organising, structuring, and labelling content in an
effective and sustainable way. The goal is to help users find information and complete tasks.
To do this, you need to understand how the pieces fit together to create the larger picture,
and how items relate to each other within the system.
Information Architecture is more of a mental job than one based on output. For this reason it
has always received more than its fair share of scrutiny. Information architects leverage

experience, research and user polling to provide sound advice as to how a website should
be architected. This is the nature of their work. To convey their suggestions, however,
Information Architects normally create site wireframes. These help all project stakeholders
comprehend the breadth and depth of a website’s architecture, including all interactions
with the user.
Wireframe tools include – PowerMockUp, Briefs, Xiffe and NinjaMock.
Site analytics – website analysis is an element in site planning and design as well as on going
monitoring. Google Analytics shows you the full customer picture across ads and videos,
websites and social tools, tablets and smartphones. This makes it easier to serve your current
customers and win new ones. There are also other tools that help you understand who the
unknown visitors/visitors who do not fill in a contact form are. LeadForensics is software that
gives you complete access to who is visiting your site, what exactly they looked at while
there and how to make contact with them.
Content management systems/Conversion tools – there are a number of tools that can help
you update content, add call-to-actions and landing pages so you can convert visitors to
your website. Paid tools such as HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, etc. are all-in-one tools that will
help you with SEO, social media, email and changing content on your website. WordPress is
a free content management system you can use to build and create websites. Also, many
developers build plugins to turn it into a very powerful content management system that can
help you convert visitors.
Once you have contacts that you need to convert, there are free email tools such as
MailChimp, CampaignMonitor and paid ones, such as Getresponse and OptimisePress that
can help you nurture your contacts and leads to turn them into paying customers.
Key deliverables/metrics:
 % conversion visitors to sales
 average basket /order size £
Retention technology
Customer retention is a complex beast and understanding ways you can use email to
increase your customer retention will lead to a direct increase in the amount of money you
make from your customers. Your business’ retention refers to the percentage of customers
that stay with you and purchase again. It is directly related to terms like ‘churn’ – i.e. the
percentage of customers that do not repeatedly buy from your business or leave you.
Email marketing – as above with lead nurturing you also need to nurture current customers
and keep them up-to-date with developments and news. There are many software systems
and tools to help you do this. Here are some examples of customer retention:

Amazon spends a massive amount of time optimising user email flows and driving
customers back to Amazon.com. Getting customers back on your site is a golden
opportunity to get them to interact with new features or buy products.
Every time you buy a book on your Kindle, Amazon sends you an email to thank you for the
purchase and asking you to review/rate the book.
For Dropbox, no install = no business. You are never going to become a paying customer
year-in, year-out if you do not install Dropbox in the first place so they spend time focusing on
getting you to install.
Dropbox send an email a few days after a new customer signs up to Dropbox and has not
yet installed the email client. This is the sort of activation email you should send your
customers if they have not taken your core activation action.
Increasing your retention rate means you see a better ROI from each and every customer
you sign up. This gives you a better business, optimises your cash flow and gives you a better
machine to work with! Spend as much time optimising for customer retention and lifetime
value as you do on customer acquisition and you will be amazed at the growth.
Support – managing customer support can be half the problem. An effective help desk tool
will allow you to manage incoming emails and calls effectively. There is nothing that looks
worse (from a customer’s perspective) than when you lose track of one of their requests. A
helpful tool such as HelpScout can be used to handle incoming support emails. It is a straight-
forward tool that will help you get the average response time down and means you no
longer lose track of your customers’ requests.
CRM – CRM applications offer numerous service functions that can be used to help you
retain your best customers and protect future revenue. You can stay in touch by setting
reminders to follow up and it keeps a history of all communication. It helps you understand
your customers better by tracking their demographics or what they have ordered. There are
a number of CRM tools including Sage CRM, Salesforce, NetSuite, Zoho and Insightly.
Key deliverables /metrics:
 % repeat visitors
 % repeat purchasers
 Customer lifetime value: (Average value of a sale) x (Number of repeat transactions)
x (Average retention time in months or years) e.g. a gym member who spends
£20/month for their membership for 3 years – £20 x 12 months x 3 years = £720 in total
revenue (or £240/year)

1.2.7 Appraising current digital activity
One of the most important parts of digital campaigns is the conversion rate of a website as a
measurement of its success. A conversion rate is measured by the number of potential visitors
performing the desired action, whether the action is buying a product, filling out a form, or
some other goal of the web page. For example, if there are 100 visitors to a particular web
page via a pay per click ad, and one of those 100 buys the product the website sells, then
the conversion rate for that particular ad is one percent. The larger the conversion rate of a
web page, the more successful the website will be, which in turn dictates how successful the
paid inclusion campaign is.
There are many different ways to raise conversion rates, most of which have to do with being
everything a potential customer wants. Of course, improving conversion rates may just have
something to do with recognising the potential of the website. Some of the other ways to
maximise the chances of a conversion include:
 Knowing the unique selling point of the web page
 Being memorable with unique information
 Offering several payment options
 Having a clear returns policy
 Having clear policies on information protection
 Being clear and concise with information
There are many software tools that will help you measure your conversion rate. The most
popular is Google Analytics. By setting up goals you can find out which are the most
successful marketing channels on your website.
Whilst the website is the hub, you also need to appraise your other digital activities such as:
 SEO – rankings on search engines, on-page SEO and number of organic links to
website
 Social media – number of fans and followers and engagement
 Content – what content do they use – video, infographic, podcast, blogs and does
this get shared or encourage engagement

1.3 The Strategic Implications of Disruption
1.3.1 The key drivers of digital disruption
There are a number of key drivers for digital disruption including threats of new entrants,
suppliers, customers, buyers and change in the operating environment. Businesses need to
be strategic and consistently monitor and measure the drivers to see if it affects their
business.
What is Porter’s 5 Forces model?
Porter’s 5 Forces evaluates profitability in an industry and measures market stability.
Figure 1.1 Porter’s five forces

Understanding the Tools
Force 1 – The threat of new entry:
 New competitors can enter the
market easily if they can make good
profits resulting in decreasing other
competitor’s prices
 How easy is it for a business to set up
in your sector?
 Threats of businesses starting in your
sector?
 Specialist knowledge
 Time and cost of entry
Force 2 – Buyer power:
 Powers of customers to decrease
your prices
 Amount of customers?
 Are customers powerful enough to
drive prices down?
 Costs of changing
Force 3 – The threat of substitution:
 The diverse levels various businesses
offer to replace others
 Is there an alternate business offering
similar products or services you are
providing
 Cost of change
 Is there a different product or service
altogether that customers may switch
to buy?
Force 4 – Supplier power:
 Power of suppliers increases the price
of inputs
 How many suppliers are there in your
business sector?
 Are the suppliers unique?
 Do the suppliers have the power or
are there alternate options?
Force 5 – Competitive rivalry:
 Strengths of competition of other
businesses
 How many competitors are there in
your target business sector?
 Are there quality differences between
rivals?
 Customer loyalty

Porter’s 5 Forces model example:
Figure 1.2 Porter’s five forces example
Findings:
Threats of new entry – this is high, which means it is easy for competition to enter this business
sector. Therefore if the business seems to be making a profit, competitors can easily enter the
industry to reduce profits.
Competitive rivalry – this is very high, meaning that if one business raises the price of their
products they will be undercut by competition.
Buyer power – strong buyer power. They can dictate terms to suppliers because of volumes
ordered.
Threats of substitution – there are very little substitution opportunities available.
Smaller businesses have the opportunity to compete with larger companies in a full scale
level as previously mentioned. For instance they can:
 Make a low price mobile app and secure lots of downloads
 PPC advertising gives you the opportunity to be in front of a large audience if you
have the budget as you can use specific targeting methods such as keywords,
geography and job roles

 Social media engagement is open to any business with a solid strategy. When
conducting social media there needs to be a reason why you are doing it, there
needs to be a writing style, who writes (MD, company view, employee view). Most
importantly, your target audience needs to engage through social media
For more on Porter’s Five Forces read: ‘The Five Competitive Forces that Shape
Strategy’ by Michael E Porter, Harvard Business Review, January 2008, p 86 – 104.
For more on Porter’s Five Forces watch this interview with Michael Porter on
YouTube.
1.3.2 Change in the operating environment
Digital marketing is a new playing field for a lot of businesses it can be a risky but rewarding
channel to operate in. This is because the operating environment is rapidly changing and
organisations need to have the resources and capabilities to react to this change.
New entrants – It is not only incumbent rivals that pose a threat to firms in an industry; the
possibility that new firms may enter the industry also affects competition. In theory, any firm
should be able to enter and exit a market, and if free entry and exit exists, then profits always
should be nominal. In reality, however, industries possess characteristics that protect the high
profit levels of firms in the market and inhibit additional rivals from entering the market. These
are barriers to entry.
Emerging markets – digital channels are more important for marketers than traditional media
when it comes to connecting with consumers in emerging markets. The Brand Discovery
Index, from GlobalWebIndex found, for example, that social media is six times more
important for brands in markets such as Indonesia and Thailand than it is in Japan or the UK.
To emphasise the difference in attitudes, consumers in the Netherlands are seven times more
likely to find out about new brands and products from advertisements than social media.
Another significant digital channel is mobile, and campaigns in countries such as Thailand
and Vietnam are around four times more effective than in developed markets like the UK
and the Netherlands.
Cost pressure – marketers are under more pressure than ever to control costs. After the
recession, many marketing budgets were cut and marketers were forced to get the same
results at a lower price. Fortunately, digital marketing can be achieved at a lower cost.
Businesses have been looking at flexible payment models and more frequently SaaS
(software as a service). With SaaS businesses can essentially rent the software. People do not
need to pay a lump sum and maintenance costs. They pay what is usually an affordable
monthly payment.

Market growth – market growth can be slow if consumers do not adopt a high demand, or
rapid if consumers find the product or service useful for the price level. For example, a new
technology might only be marketable to a small set of consumers, but as the price of the
technology decreases and its usefulness in everyday life increases, more consumers could
increase demand.
1.3.3 Impacts on strategy and the strategic landscape
Organisations have many strategic options and it is about selecting one that fits the needs of
the company. Porter’s generic strategies is a good model for working out the strategy and
strategic landscape.
Figure 1.3 Porter’s generic strategies
Cost leadership – Porter's generic strategies are ways of gaining competitive advantage – in
other words, developing the ‘edge’ that gets you the sale and takes it away from your
competitors. There are two main ways of achieving this within a cost leadership strategy:
 Increasing profits by reducing costs, while charging industry-average prices
 Increasing market share through charging lower prices, while still making a
reasonable profit on each sale because you have reduced costs
Cost leadership is about minimising the cost, to the organisation, of delivering products and
services. It involves being the leader in terms of cost in your industry or market. Simply being
amongst the lowest-cost producers is not good enough, as this leaves you wide open to
attack by other low cost producers who may undercut your prices and therefore block your
attempts to increase market share.

Cost focus – companies that use cost focus strategies concentrate on particular niche
markets and, by understanding the dynamics of that market and the unique needs of
customers within it, develop uniquely low cost or well-specified products for the market.
Because they serve customers in their market uniquely well, they tend to build strong brand
loyalty amongst their customers. This makes their particular market segment less attractive to
competitors.
Differentiation – differentiation involves making your products or services different from and
more attractive than those of your competitors. How you do this depends on the exact
nature of your industry and the products and services themselves, but will typically involve
features, functionality, durability, support and also the brand image that your customers
value.
To make a success of a differentiation strategy, organisations need:
 Good research, development and innovation
 The ability to deliver high-quality products or services
 Effective sales and marketing, so that the market understands the benefits offered by
the differentiated offerings
Large organisations pursuing a differentiation strategy need to stay agile with their new
product development processes. Otherwise, they risk attack on several fronts by competitors
pursuing focus differentiation strategies in different market segments. (Differentiation focus
means pursuing strategic differentiation within a focused market.)
1.3.4 Strategic opportunities to adopt digital capabilities
Look at virtually any consumer industry and you will see how changes in digital technology
are fundamentally altering the way that consumers engage with brands before, during, and
after a purchase. Consumers today expect to browse, research, solicit feedback, evaluate
and push the ‘buy’ button at their own pace and at the time and place – and via the
platform – of their choosing.
Consumers also continue to engage with brands online after a purchase and to share
experiences with one another. Much of this consumer journey is beyond the direct control of
companies and marketing organisations are sprinting merely to keep pace.
The good news is that digital marketing can offer detailed data on and analysis of consumer
behaviour, as well as precise results about a marketing programme’s effectiveness, with a
degree of detail and precision that previous generations of marketers could hardly fathom.
The challenge is that these new technologies and consumer behaviours are raising the
requirements for what will succeed in the market. Building powerful consumer experiences
requires brands to operate outside their comfort zone; for example, they must work with
much shorter cycle times, with more rapid and frequent iterations, and through a broader
vendor ecosystem than the traditional marketing process.

Four New Digital Marketing Models
Digital branders are most often consumer product companies or other marketers that focus
on building and renewing brand equity and deeper consumer engagement. These
companies are shifting their investment from traditional linear advertising toward more
immersive digital multimedia experiences that can connect consumers to the brand in new
ways. They are reimagining how they engage consumers with the primary goal of recruiting
new consumers to the brand and driving loyalty through multiple experiences with the brand.
Customer experience designers use customer data and insights to create a superior end-to-
end brand experience for their customers. Typically, these companies (such as financial-
services companies, airlines, hotels, and retailers) build their business models around
customer service. By reinventing how they interact with customers and wowing them at
multiple touch points, these companies hope to create an ongoing dialogue and build a
loyal customer base.
Demand generators (typically retailers) focus on driving online traffic and converting as many
sales as possible across channels to maximise marketing efficiency and grow their share of
the wallet. All elements of the digital marketing strategy — website design, search engine
optimisation, mobile connected apps and engagement in social communities — are tailored
to boost sales and increase loyalty. Although demand generators also need to leverage
content to drive engagement, they are more focused on driving volume and efficiency than
on curating the deep, emotional branded experiences that digital branders pursue.
Product innovators use digital marketing to help the organisation identify, develop, and roll
out new digital products and services. These companies employ digital interactions with
consumers primarily to rapidly gather insights that can help shape the innovation pipeline. By
helping nurture new sources of revenue, the marketing group directly increases the value of
the company.
1.3.5 Changes in the direction of strategy
It has been said so much that it has become a cliché: “we live in a world of constant and
rapid change”.
This is not something new. We have been bombarded with rapid innovation and change
since the dawn of the industrial revolution. In fact, companies are so aware of the changes
in the world around us that they have change management processes for dealing with
them.
Unfortunately it would appear that although these processes have served well, they are not
adapting to the change brought about by the emergence of the web and mobile. The
problem is that the very nature of change is changing.
Change is changing – if you look at the 20th Century you will see a huge amount of change.
The rise and fall of manufacturing, the birth of the digital economy – there was no shortage
of change.
However, if you look closely, it was fairly predictable and the economic environment was
fairly stable. Change was evolutionary and it did not take huge insight to see what was
coming over the horizon.

Today things are different. Change is much more volatile. It is harder to predict what will
emerge and what you should invest in. Take for example the rise and fall of Adobe Flash.
Many organisations had to spend considerable amounts moving away from that technology,
not to mention the career impact for the thousands of Flash developers.
Change can no longer be controlled (scenario plan) – most companies’ change
management approach attempts to control change. They attempt to manage risk, resist
change or (if all else fails) control the direction of the change.
This stood them in good stead for a long while. Before the web, they could shape markets,
define style and taste and tell consumers what to like. They had the budgets and reach to
speak to consumers in a way nobody else could.
The web has changed all of that. Everybody has a voice and this means change cannot be
controlled and it cannot be resisted.
Take for example the way in which the music industry responded to Napster. Napster showed
consumers that they did not have to go to stores to buy their music or buy entire albums for
the sake of one song they liked.
Of course the music industry resisted this change. It threatened their business model and so
they went after, and eventually closed down, Napster.
The problem was that consumers had seen an alternative. While the industry may have
closed Napster they had not stopped the tide of change. Because they failed to adapt,
ultimately Apple could step in and launch iTunes. The result was that retail brands like HMV
and Tower Records went into receivership.
Change can no longer be managed, resisted or controlled, but it can be ridden.
Riding the wave of change – when it comes to the rapid and often unpredictable nature of
change in the digital realm, a new approach to change management is required.
Take for example Google algorithm updates such as Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird.
These were all major changes to Google’s search algorithm that affected website rankings
on Google. When Google releases updates, digital marketers are not aware of what is
coming and what they will need to change on their website until the update is live.
Instead of trying to ‘manage’ change we need to start riding it. Marketers need to help their
organisations stop trying to control their environment and help them establish a culture that
can quickly adapt to it.
Modern change ‘leadership’ needs to be constantly on the outlook for change and ready to
adapt quickly when it comes. It needs to be willing to take risks, accept that mistakes will be
made and be quick to recover when they do. Modern change leadership needs to
embrace the chaos and iterate its way through it, experimenting as it goes. To achieve this
you need a certain type of leader.
A change leader – companies no longer need change management processes. They need
change leaders; people comfortable with the new, and happy operating in an environment
of uncertainty and chaos. Marketers are ideally suited to this role.
Marketers are used to having an eye constantly fixed on the horizon and adapting to new
innovations as they become relevant. They are comfortable with identifying what will
succeed and fail, but equally happy to adapt quickly when they get it wrong.
Change leaders know that the world has changed and that what was once safe ground, no
longer is.

Index
Digital Strategy 169
24*7 access ...................................................37
7Ps of digital marketing.........................89, 90
—A—
4Cs.........................................................100, 101
4Ps ...................................................................93
70/20/10 rule ...............................................146
7Ps .................................................. 93, 100, 101
8Ps ............................................93, 94, 100, 101
Acquisition technology ...............................19
Acquisition strategy7 ...................... 4, 79, 109
Adoption lifecycle........................................43
Affiliates/affiliate marketing .......... 19-20, 82,
90-92
Agile marketing/response ..........93-107, 148
Ansoff’s matrix..........................................65-67
Apple ............................. 9-10, 32, 55, 139, 165
Attribution ....................................................120
Augmented reality............................. 9-10, 99
—B—
Balanced scorecard .................................165
Banner advertisements ......................86, 123,
128-130. 144
BANT..............................................................113
Barriers to adoption .....................................44
Barriers to entry .....................2, 17-18, 28, 152
Big data........................................3, 48-49, 102
Blogs/blogging.............. 20, 24, 44-45, 54, 79,
84, 94, 110-111, 113, 115, 139-142, 149-
150, 155-160
Bounce rate..............16, 62-69, 121, 156, 161
Budgeting ................................... 103, 145, 147
—C—
Campaign (s)......................................116, 123
Campaign tags ..........................................125
Capabilities..............................................19, 35
Centralised structure ......................... 137-138
Change.............................................. 28, 31-33
Channel management.............................119
Channel performance ..............................119
Channel(s)..................109, 119, 123, 141, 156
Clickthrough rate (CTR) ....................121, 136
Communications strategy....................45, 72
Competitive environment..................17, 146
Competitor(s)....................... 2, 12, 59, 74, 100
Contact strategy....................................39, 42
Content management ..................20, 22, 53,
139-140, 164
Content marketing ..........17, 42, 47, 72, 103,
105, 110, 117, 139-140, 155-156, 160
Contingency planning.......................146-147
Conversion rate...................... 16, 24, 88, 116,
134-136, 146, 160
Conversion technology .............................. 21
Cost focus...................................................... 30
Cost leadership ............................................ 29
Cost per click (CPC)...........................82, 121,
CRM ...............................23,51-56, 96, 105, 135
Customer acquisition .....23, 40, 58, 109, 117
Customer behaviour .........12, 47, 66, 93-102
Customer conversion ............................69, 85
Customer experience .......2-3, 11, 31, 38-39,
45, 74, 137, 147, 163
Customer retention.................. 22-23, 87, 136
Customer support ................................23, 118
—D—
Dashboards.......................16, 50-51, 134-136,
141, 149, 152, 161-164
Decentralised structure............................. 138
Demand generators.................................... 31
Device hopping ........................................... 15
Differentiation ...................................12, 30, 90
Digital dashboards...............50, 134-135, 162
Digital disruption........................................2-57
Digital enablers.......................................44, 96
Digital environment ............................1-33, 47
Digital footprint.................................12, 16, 50
Digital marketing mix................93-94, 99-101

Index
170 Digital Strategy
—E—
Email marketing.....................4, 22, 76, 87-88,
105, 142, 144-145
Emerging themes/trends ............... 35-36, 42,
46-47, 52
Employees(s) ............. 9, 11-12, 19, 28, 70, 73,
87-88, 137, 139, 144, 146, 147, 162, 165
Event marketing ...........................................77
External marketing .....................................139
—F—
Facebook .................. 8, 10, 14, 17-20, 41, 44,
53-55, 70, 77, 81, 83, 118, 135, 140-141,
144-145, 149, 152, 154-155, 158, 160
Flexibility .................97,104, 137, 140, 147-148
Funnel approach ...................................85-86
—G—
Google ............ 9-10,13, 15-19, 22, 32, 38, 47,
81, 83, 87, 102, 104, 111, 128, 131, 140-
141, 149-151, 156
Google+...................................................20, 21
Google AdWords .........19, 81, 116, 128, 144,
156
Google Analytics................16, 22, 24, 44, 50,
55, 122-123, 130, 133-135, 140, 147, 149-
152, 155-156, 161
Google Glass.........................10-11, 38, 42, 47
Google optimiser..........................................86
—H—
Horizontal scanning .....................................38
HubSpot........................ 22, 53, 76, 85, 94, 152
—I—
Implementation plan(s) ............................136
Inbound marketing .............42, 53-54, 79, 85,
98, 107, 111, 113, 115, 118
Influences...............................................42, 101
Influencers...........17, 20, 66, 83, 111-112, 155
Information architecture (IA) ...............21, 26
Insight......................................................16, 155
Integration .............3-4, 20 ,45, 54-56, 67, 71,
109, 113, 117, 135, 140, 161
Internal marketing..................................3, 138
Internal resources.................................18, 163
Internet.......1, 4, 17, 45, 47-49, 106, 109, 118,
142, 152-153
Internet of things .......................................... 53
—K—
Keywords ...............................................19, 151
KPIs .................................................................. 91
—L—
Lead (s) ..........................87, 114-115, 151, 160
Lead nurturing .............................. 88, 113-114
LinkedIn...............................................20-21, 84
—M—
Macro-environment ................................1, 38
Marketing automation...........................53-54
Marketo...............................................22, 54-55
Measuring..............................98, 133-134, 159
Metrics...................................120-121, 160-164
Micro-environment ............................1, 11, 38
Mobile ....................13-16, 42-43, 46, 145, 160
Mobile browsing........................................... 13
Monitoring ....................21, 45, 47, 51, 56, 91,
140-142, 154, 163
Multi-channel marketing ................3, 45, 161
—N—
Networking .................................................... 77
—O—
Objectives ........................61, 67-68, 70-71, 79
Online PR ..................................................83-84
Outsourcing................................................. 105
—P—
Paid search ......................19, 79, 87, 122-123,
145-146, 154
Pardot..................................................22, 55-56
Pay Per Click (PPC)............19, 24, 27, 45, 78,
81-82, 87, 94,105-106, 121, 133-134, 151
Performance oversupply.............................. 8
Personas(s)..........45, 72-74, 78-79, 90-91, 112

Index
Digital Strategy 171
PESTER .......................................................2, 5, 8
Porter’s 5 forces ................................ 25, 27-28
Porter’s generic strategies..........................29
Positioning.......................................... 73-74, 80
Positioning map ............................................75
Pricing.............................................................89
Primary data.............................................49-50
Product innovators.......................................31
Project planning .........................................143
—Q—
QR codes .....................................42, 45, 76-77
—R—
RACE Framework..........................................68
Regulatory and legal frameworks...........141
Resourcing ...................................................102
Response-attribution..................................119
Responsive web design ..............................16
Retention technology .................................22
Risk.........................................................143, 146
—S—
Scheduling...........................................103, 143
Search behaviour..................... 152, 156, 160
Search marketing............19, 54, 79, 110, 150
154, 158
Secondary data ......................................49-50
Segmentation .......................56, 73-74, 87, 90
Sentiment.............................149, 155, 159-160
SEO..................4, 15, 19, 22, 24, 45, 79-81, 83,
87, 90-91, 94, 101, 106, 111, 115, 118,
136, 139-140, 154, 156
Site behaviour .....................149-153, 156, 160
Skills and capabilities .........................104 ,105
SMART objectives ..................67, 79, 156, 157
Social behaviour.................................149, 154
Social media ...........20, 24, 28, 44, 76, 83-85,
90, 110-112, 139-140, 159, 161
SOSTAC ™.................................................59-61
Stakeholder(s) ........................11, 63, 119-120,
138, 164-166
STP...............................................................73-75
SWOT..................................................... 2, 35-36
Synergy........................................................... 76
—T—
Tagging .................................................128-131
Targeting ..................................................73-74
Testing...................................... 54, 87, 120, 154
TOWS analysis...........................................36-37
Tracking......119, 122, 128, 131, 136, 150, 163
Twitter ............10, 15, 17, 20-21, 41, 45, 54-55,
57, 80, 83-84, 118, 123, 125, 130-131, 134-
135, 140, 141, 149-150, 152, 154, 158, 160
—U—
Upwards market migration........................... 8
URL builder tool....................123-126, 131-132
User experience ...................... 13, 16, 38, 116
USP .................................................................. 78
—V—
Value ................................................ 39-40, 136
Viral marketing ............................................. 84
Volume................................................39-40, 50

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