DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY –

BICKIEPEGS

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CONTENTS

 Executive Summary Page 2

 Company Background Page 2
 SOSTAC: Situational Analysis Page 3
 PEST Page 4
 SWOT Page 5
 SOSTAC: Objectives Page 5
 SOSTAC: Strategy Page 6
 SOSTAC: Tactics Page 7
 SOSTAC: Actions Page 9
 SOSTAC: Control Page 10
 References Page 10

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This campaign aims to directly increase the sales revenue of the Bickiepegs company, as
well as increasing the popularity of all social media platforms, specifically targeting
Facebook and YouTube primarily in order to focus efforts as efficiently as possible. The
Campaign will be titled ‘Natural Nurture’ and aim to span over a 6-month duration, sticking
to the goals and vision of Bickiepegs which are ‘to ensure proven and high quality, naturally
based products and for dietary devices become more freely available, accepted and
understood by consumers’, and ‘to identify oral health & nutritional products & dietary
devices for use from early years onwards and develop profitable brands with scientific
rationale that have the potential to be sold worldwide’.

The Targets of the objective are:

 Increase revenue of Bickiepegs LTD by 5% in comparison the previous year (2015) by

the end of 2017.
 Increase number of Impressions by 50% on previous year (2015) by the end of 2017
 Increase engagement through increasing likes on Facebook page and views on
YouTube videos by 65% quarterly until the end of the campaign

The strategy to achieve this focuses on posting free content and more effective posts on
social media, as well as incorporating the cause of children’s dental health as whole in order
to expand the current scope of the company by attracting people other than mothers that
wish to aid the cause itself. This also aims to gain the support of other social media pages
and YouTube channels, as well as bloggers and forums such as Mum’s Net in order to
advocate the product and help other people pick Bickiepegs over other competitors.

COMPANY:

Bickiepegs Healthcare LTD is a company based in Aberdeen, Scotland that sell products
typically to mothers with young children/babies aged 6 months – 3 years. These products are
limited to two brands, which are the Bickiepegs themselves, which are a small, all natural
and edible teething peg in order to aid the formation of a baby’s jaw, teeth and general
mouth structure, and is the only teething biscuit on the market. The Doidycup is the sister
product and the other brand, and this product is sold with the purpose of training children to
drink from an open topped cup rather than a bottle or lid cup, which is difficult transition for
the child and parent and is essential since the prolonged use of bottles directly correlates to

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certain dental health issues later on in life. This cup is unique to the market being the only one
of its kind and coming in a variety of colours and styles. The company has a very good brand
heritage being formed in 1925 and is even used by the royal nursery, and thusly is endorsed
by health professionals in many different professions.

SOSTAC: SITUATIONAL ANALYSI S

Market:

The market for Bickiepegs Healthcare is rising in terms of value annually, with figures showing
an estimated worth of $42.2M in 2012 and with a 5 year forecast on this figure, the expected
market value in 2017 is $66.8M Which is a huge increase and therefore gives to opportunity
for growth in Bickiepegs in unison with the market. In 2014, data showed that 18% of children
experienced teething pain prior to the age of 4, providing a huge market share for
Bickiepegs if positioned as efficiently as possible. Bickiepegs already distribute products
across 22 countries and therefore has a clear international presence, creating even more
opportunity worldwide which may be even more advantageous due to the decline in the
birth rate in the UK over the past three years in comparison to the three years’ prior if 12 per
100 and 13 per 1000 respectively.

Fig 1.1 (Mintel, 2016)

Competitors:

While Bickiepegs are the only teething biscuit on the market, Bickiepegs still has its
competitors that sell other products such as plastic teething rings as well as gels and
therefore this creates direct competition through the availability of substitute goods. These
have the potential to reduce Bickiepegs market share, however they do also enable

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Bickiepegs to make clear that their product is the only one to aid teething using natural
products and reaching both frontal and rear teeth. Competitors selling teething products
such as plastic rings may also be preferred to an edible product due to the difference in life
expectancy as well as price, and therefore the natural aspect of the product must be
pushed as well as the design being better for rear teeth. The table above shows that
Bickiepegs social presence in comparison to its competitors and thus how and where
improvements are needed most drastically even prior to looking at the engagement rates of
each page’s audience.

Company Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Nibbler

score
Bickiepegs 353 170 - 3 7.2
Calpol 294,291 - - 10,187 8.0
Heinz 778,532 2,719 - 2,153 7.5
Sophie La 1,866 383 10.7k - 7.3
Giraffe

Fig 1.2

(Mintel 2016)

PEST

Political Economical
 Need to adhere to global  Rise in living wage making products
regulations more affordable
 No effect from newly implemented  20-minute lifespan may not be
sugar tax enough value for money
 Increased marginal social benefit
due to product being natural, edible
and biodegradable
Social Technological
 Changing consumer attitudes and  Social media users increasing
preferring natural healthy products  Online retailers becoming more
 Seen as a smaller company, not just popular
profit maximising  New website, user friendly and
mobile friendly, 7.2 (Nibbler)

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 SWOT

Strengths:
 No Competitors, due to both products being
completely unique to the market
 Online retailers
 Heritage available online, as well as mention
of use in the Royal Nursery
 Good reputation
 Supported on Forums
 New website and brand logos, scoring 7.6
on Nibbler1
 Multiple awards
Opportunities:
 Increase number of online retailers
 Introduction of promotion on social media
 YouTube channel?
 Attract younger mums through the use of all
social media platforms
 Increasing number of internet users to reach
 Increasing number of forums for mums to
advertise to and advocate product
Weaknesses:
 Only two available brands/products
 Only photo’s posted on social media and
even these are infrequent
 Products not featured much on any
platform
 Websites not mobile friendly
Threats:
 Market unsaturated, and could be easy for
a new company to make a bigger digital
presence
 Bloggers/experts possibly promoting other
products which greater reach
 Possible competitors from other countries in
international market

SOSTAC: OBJECTIVES

Increase revenue of Increase engagement

Increase number of through increasing likes on
Bickiepegs LTD by 5% in
Impressions by 50% on Facebook page and views
comparison the previous
previous year (2015) by the on YouTube videos by 65%
year (2015) by the end of
end of 2017 quarterly until the end of
2017
the campaign

Setting objectives is crucial to achieving and measuring success, and therefore require
careful and realistic goals that will improve the marketing strategy the most efficiently,
impacting specific areas directly rather than a more generalised approach such as simply to

1 http://nibbler.silktide.com/
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increase profit by using social media. Increasing revenue is still of course a crucial part of any
marketing strategy and thus for Bickiepegs, the utilisation of Facebook impressions and
engagement is key in order to increase the company’s current scope, and as Facebook has
over one billion users, it is the most efficient platform to initially do so, and is reflected by the
SMART objectives in a realistic and measurable manner. The company’s current Facebook
likes being below 500 makes the goal of increasing engagement specifically more
attainable. The targets incorporate the 5S model directly, with the Sell, Speak and Sizzle
aspects in particular being targeted as is shown in the SMART targets above.

Fig 1.3 (Smart Insights, 2016)

SOSTAC: STRATEGY

Segmentation & targeting

Bickiepegs generally target mothers aged 25-45 at this present time. The initial strategic
approach implemented in this report is to use social media to increase the scope of this
target range, through the application of generally increasing Bickiepegs’ current social
media presence to attract the already massive population of mothers using Facebook and
other social media, as well as younger mothers as well as expecting mothers who spend the
most time online and using social networking for their own needs as well as those of their
children. This may also increase the reach of Bickiepegs with more current mothers
discovering the brand and product through social media alone, as well as possibly
increasing the target bracket the other way, with older mothers or even grandparents
possibly seeing and even engaging as far as to recommend the product to other younger
mums, aiding growth in general, due to the over 50 age group being the most rapidly
growing group of internet users. Mothers in particular will be targeted more so than fathers
due to the already existing segments Bickiepegs targets to and who their brand will be most
recognisable to on the market and the cultural theory of the bond between a mother and
child being incredibly strong.

Fig 1.4

(Mintel, 2016)

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Positioning:

The product focuses very heavily on being healthy and all natural, in order to position itself in
such as light that mothers will choose this product of products that are potentially harmful
such as plastic teething rings or possibly some gels containing various chemicals surpassing
the mothers understanding. This idea of assuring mothers that Bickiepegs are all natural and
sugar free is extremely relevant if the product is to be selected in somewhere like a
supermarket or chemist where a vast range of alternatives are available, and this should
therefore be reflected by the digital campaign potentially by using Facebook to share and
promote other health related campaigns as well as awareness, so that mothers themselves
are able to know the brands reputation and therefore sharing this with the product. This is
beneficial even further when looking at trends in the baby food market category, as product
containing sugar such as baby juices are on the decline as on 2015 2

Big Idea:

The campaign positioning will enable the healthy benefits of the product to stand out
amongst others, and therefore the campaign will have the slogan of ‘Natural Nurture’,
having the potential to allow various trends and hashtags on every social media platform
currently used by Bickiepegs as well as others such as Instagram which will be adopted and
then used by the company. The slogan could be promoted itself through the use of other
promotions such as competitions, such as the use of seasonal competitions in which children
dress their babies accordingly with the caption of natural nurture, and the winner receive
free Bickiepegs products or a discount if the social media reach does not increase enough
to justify this. The campaign will also be promoting awareness of teething issues as well as
other dental health issues amongst children in particular, following in the wake already
started by implementing downloads of the teething chart on the Bickiepegs website. This will
allow parents such as older mothers who have had children previously and know how
important these issues are, as well as already concerned mothers with current children or
those who are expecting. This is made easier by the various medical professionals that have
endorsed the products, and this will be made clearer with the growth of the Facebook page
and YouTube channel respectively.

SOSTAC: TACTICS

RACE:

Using the RACE tool to support the digital campaign is a key tactic in enabling the campaign
to be successful, with the use of social networks, forums such as mums net, bloggers and
YouTube extending the reach of Bickiepegs and allowing parents to explore further into the
product with the massive number of users of all of these platforms, this is the most effective
way to do so whilst finding out reviews and opinions of other mum’s or professionals in the
health service. These exploration options will enable users to act upon these mediums, and
reach Bickiepegs themselves and the company’s own media channels such as those on
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube in order to find more information about the product such as
its heritage and the ‘Natural Nurture’ campaign and therefore the products scientific
development and its natural ingredients being the best thing for the child. This in itself leads
to the next stage of converting, and aiding the consumer completing the decision making
process in and deciding to buy the product, and this allows them to purchase online directly

2 Euromonitor
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from online retailers, or find stores near them that have the product listed such as Boots. The
ability to purchase the product from online retailers such as Boots and Amazon is also key to
aiding the digital campaign, especially so if a link to these retailers is placed onto the
Facebook page in order to potentially further engagement as well as purchases
exponentially. Finally, after the purchase has been carried out and the parents use the
product, they will become advocates and hopefully engage the campaign itself, possibly
posting in a forum as mentioned above and therefore aiding the exploration of other mums,
as well as increasing the rate of engagement on the consumers preferred platform such as
the Bickiepegs Facebook page or commenting on videos.

Fig 1.5

(Mintel, 2016)

The timing of the campaign will enable it to fit with seasonal holidays such as Easter, in which
the initial promotion will be used as an opportunity to increase engagement with both of the
intended platforms, commencing with the pages YouTube channel sharing a video on the
announcement, rules, and prizes of the competition in which mothers are to send pictures of
their children with Bickiepegs products dressed in an Easter themed costume, in order to use
the already present seasonal buzz. The campaign itself will begin January 2017, and end in
July 2017, allowing 6 months to achieve the SMART objectives above, however the
promotional competition will end in May, as appropriate, and allowing sufficient time to use
any buzz created.

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 The commencement of the campaign will introduce posts being shared at least once a
week that promote the cause of children’s dental health and hygiene in order to promote
the cause that is accompanying the campaign, with early warning signs, common
conditions, and advice as well as articles from health professionals such as dentists, to aid
directly in the mission of Bickiepegs, which is to ‘identify oral health & nutritional products &
dietary devices for use from early years onwards and develop profitable brands with
scientific rationale that have the potential to be sold worldwide’, and this therefore is the
point most notable to communicate to the audience.

This message will enable us to reach out to more platforms than those of the company, such
as potentially utilising other bloggers and forums to advocate the campaign’s cause as well
as the product itself, attracting more people to the Facebook and YouTube pages. In
addition to this, forums such as mum’s net or net mums perhaps may also endorse the
products campaign, and support is with the use of free content that Bickiepegs will provide
such as the chart which they already have done, and other resources providing useful
information like this one.

SOSTAC: ACTIONS

The ‘Natural Nurture’ campaign will span over a 6 moth duration with free content being
posted monthly in order to generally promote awareness of several dental health issues, as
well as allowing Facebook posts averaging three times a week including videos and GIFs in
order to increase the engagement rate from the impressions made, as well as allowing the
videos

Month Facebook YouTube Twitter Events Free content

Jan Tri Weekly Fortnightly Weekly ‘Year of Preventing cold, and

dental flu jab promotion
health’
Feb Tri Weekly Fortnightly Weekly Teething statistics &
product
recommendation
Mar Tri Weekly Fortnightly Weekly Healthy alternatives
to chocolate
Apr Tri Weekly Fortnightly Weekly Easter ‘fancy Pacifier and thumb
dress comp’ sucking guide for
parents
May Tri Weekly Fortnightly Weekly Tooth Decay
information
Jun Tri Weekly Fortnightly Weekly Tooth brushing
techniques and
statistics
Jul - - - - -

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SOSTAC: CONTROL

To measure the success of the campaign as well as any other aspects required for
development such as click through rate and engagement rate from this. The Facebook
engagement rate is the total number of shares, comments and likes divided by the total
number of likes the page has, multiplied by 100 in order to acquire a percentage, and this is
crucial in terms of reviewing content success rather than just how many likes the page can
get, however the current Bickiepegs Facebook page is not as active as many businesses of
the scale. The same applies to Twitter in terms of likes, replies and retweets / number of
followers x 100. Facebook and Twitter also offer tools to help with audience feedback such
as the Facebook Page/Audience Insight Tools, and Twitter Analytics.

If the engagement rates of these platforms do not increase, Bickiepegs may have to alter
some areas of the objectives in order to achieve a more realistic goal a second time around,
as well as aiding in seeing which areas of the campaign are succeeding and in which case,
how much by in order to transfer this success to other aspects of the campaign, including the
increase in revenue which is one of the SMART objectives.

REFERENCES

Bickiepegs. (2016). Bickiepegs Healthcare - Experts in oral care since 1925. [online] Available
at: http://www.bickiepegs.com/ [Accessed 11 Dec. 2016].

Bickiepegs Healthcare, Bickiepegs Presentation Final. (2016).

CALPOL®. (2016). CALPOL®. [online] Available at: https://www.calpol.co.uk [Accessed 11

Dec. 2016].

D. Chaffey, F. Ellis-Chadwick (2016), Digital Marketing (6th edn) Harlow: Pearson

Euromonitor International, (Accessed 05/11/2016), Baby Food in the United Kingdom,

Retrieved from Euromonitor Passport Database

Heinz UK. (2016). Heinz | Homepage. [online] Available at: http://www.heinz.co.uk/

[Accessed 12 Dec. 2016].

M. L. Roberts, D. L. Zahay (2012), Ohio: Carnage Learning

M. S. Barker (2012), Social Media Marketing, Australia: Carnage Learning

Smart Insights (2010) Digital Marketing Plan Framework. Available at:

http://www.smartinsights.com/ (Accessed 10 November 2016).

Sophielagirafe.co.uk. (2016). Official homepage of Sophie the Giraffe UK. [online] Available
at: http://sophielagirafe.co.uk/ [Accessed 11 Dec. 2016].

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