Digital Marketing

Module Introduction to Digital Marketing

Session No. I

Version 1.0
 Digital Marketing

Material from the published or unpublished work of others which is referred to in the Class
Notes is credited to the author in question in the text. The Class Notes prepared is of 7,169
words in length. Research ethics issues have been considered and handled appropriately
within the Globsyn Business School guidelines and procedures.

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Table of Contents
1. An Understanding of Digital Marketing ................................................................ 5

2. 4Ps in Web Marketing ............................................................................................. 5

2.1. Product ............................................................................................................... 5

2.2. Price ................................................................................................................... 5

2.3. Place .................................................................................................................. 6

2.4. Promotion ........................................................................................................... 6

3. Need for Digital Marketing ..................................................................................... 6

4. Need for framing Digital Marketing Strategies ..................................................... 7

5. Deciding on a Digital Marketing Strategy ............................................................. 8

6. Foundations of an Effective Digital Marketing Strategy ...................................... 8

7. Fundamental Strategies in Digital Marketing ..................................................... 10

7.1. SEO Enabled Tool ........................................................................................... 10

7.2. SEM Activities .................................................................................................. 10

7.3. Content Marketing ............................................................................................ 10

7.4. Remarketing ..................................................................................................... 11

7.5. Enhancing Responsiveness in Web Designs ................................................... 11

7.6. Email Marketing ............................................................................................... 11

7.7. Social Media Marketing .................................................................................... 12

7.8. Influencer Marketing ......................................................................................... 12

7.9. Video Marketing ............................................................................................... 13

8. Aligning of Internet with Business Objectives ................................................... 13

8.1. The Case of Dove ............................................................................................ 15

8.1.1. About the Campaign ............................................................................................15

8.1.2. Objectives of the Online Strategy for the Campaign .............................................16

8.1.3. The Campaigning Activity ....................................................................................17

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8.1.4. Key Results .........................................................................................................17

8.2. The Case of FK Distribution ............................................................................. 18

8.2.1. The Business Problem .........................................................................................18

8.2.2. The Transition ......................................................................................................18

8.2.3. Key Results .........................................................................................................19

8.2.4. New Goals ...........................................................................................................19

9. User Behaviour and Navigation........................................................................... 20

9.1. User Behaviour ................................................................................................ 20

9.2. User Navigation................................................................................................ 21

10. User Experience ................................................................................................ 21

11. Developing a Digital Plan.................................................................................. 22

References ................................................................................................................... 24

Table
Table 8.1: Engagement Value ...................................................................................................15

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1. An Understanding of Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing is identified as one of the current business practices of marketing products and
services via the online platform based on the application of internet enabled devices and other
such electronic and digital mediums. Digital Marketing is also identified by other names as
online or web marketing. In that, Digital Marketing as an emerging concept is identified to
encompass diverse variables like electronic mailing, blogging, video and voice broadcasting,
instant and also wireless messaging platforms. Again, Digital Marketing is also identified based
on other names like electronic commerce, e-business and mobile commerce. Another important
aspect of Digital Marketing is identified in terms of its consumer responsiveness that is not
observed in the case of traditional marketing media like that of broadcasting, print and outdoor
advertising platforms (Clampitt, 2017).

2. 4Ps in Web Marketing

The application of 4Ps (product, price, place and promotion) in the case of Web Marketing is
identified as follows:

2.1. Product
The website of the company is identified as the principal product in the virtual sphere for the
online firm that potentially helps in highlighting the brand to the target customers. The main
focus of developing the website is to create awareness in the minds of customers about the
website and the offerings rendered by the company. It helps in creating an interest in them and
thereby act in persuading them to get a detailed understanding of the diverse product and
service offerings made by the firm online (Patel, 2017).

2.2. Price
The commercial sites are identified as price elements related to the different assortments of the
physical products marketed by the firm. More so the website of the company and the product
and service websites are identified by the prospective customer as a cost factor owing to
transaction costs pertaining to internet connectivity and also the time and opportunity cost
involved with it. Though the aforesaid costs mentioned are lower compared to the same
incurred by the customers in terms of carrying out the activity physically yet the customers
would tend to be interested in comparing the online costs incurred for accessing the website of
the firm with that of its competitors. In case, where the customer finds that the price for the

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competitors is low compared to the initial firm the same would encourage the customer to switch
over to the competitor brand (Rishi & Bandyopadhyay, 2017).

2.3. Place
The company websites serve as significant platforms for carrying out interactions and
transactions between diverse stakeholders like the firm, customers and vendors in an online
fashion. Different types of transactions either commercial or non-commercial in nature are
carried out by the stakeholders on the website where it acts as an effective counter and outlet
for conducting the transactions. Again, the websites also contribute in helping in the online
distribution of different types of digital products ordered by the customers like digital music,
online services, information and other software products (Jessen, 2018).

2.4. Promotion
The website acts as an effective medium for promoting different types of promotional content
online to target customers spread over international markets. Communication carried out on the
virtual platform ideally help in emotionally impacting the mind-set of the customers and thus acts
as a driving force in both attracting and retaining target customers (Mahendran, 2019).

3. Need for Digital Marketing

Companies focus on carrying out digital marketing activities for essentially fulfilling five different
objectives that are highlighted as follows:

● Activities associated with digital marketing ideally help in enhancing the sales volumes
and thereby in generating greater revenues and profit margins. Sales volumes are aptly
increased in case of digital marketing in that the same helps in large scale distribution of
products across international boundaries while also contribute in effectively promoting
the product to the target customers.
● Further, digital marketing ideally helps in generating value additions to the customers in
that they can easily access the websites for gaining quality information before taking any
purchasing decision. Likewise, the generation of discounts and coupons in an online
fashion further contributes in adding value to the customers (Quesenberry, 2015).
● The digital marketing platforms ideally help the company management in maintaining an
effective touch with the customers. The platforms serve in tracking and identifying
prospective customers and thereby in interacting with them based on the use of
questions for understanding their needs and aspirations. The same helps in developing

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an effective product catalogue in a customized fashion while also in critically learning

about their attributes and interests. Growth of interaction with customers and also acting
in a consumer responsive fashion based on the application of the digital marketing
platforms in turn help in driving and augmenting customer loyalty.
● Working based on a digital marketing platform also helps the business organizations to
carry out cost-savings in an effective fashion. Considerable amount of costs associated
to services, printing of promotional documents and other administrative costs can be
saved in an extensive fashion based on the employment of digital marketing processes.
Saving on an extensive fashion would help the firm enhance the profit margins.
● Further, the employment of the digital marketing platform ideally helps in extending the
company and product brand over the online sphere and also in reinforcing brand values.
The above enlisted objectives for carrying out a digital marketing activity can be essentially
summarized in terms of Five Ss encompassing elements like ‘Sell, Serve, Speak, Save and
Sizzle’ (Mutuku, 2018).

4. Need for framing Digital Marketing Strategies

The importance of preparing a digital marketing strategy can be understood from a simple fact
that a company in the absence of an effective digital marketing strategic plan would tend to
suffer from the hinting on to the right opportunity at the right time. Losing of opportunities in the
greater marketplace would tend to make the company suffer from loss of potential business.
Further, the formulation of digital marketing strategies helps the business institutions in making
decisions in an informed and concerted fashion and also to make efforts in a streamlined
fashion for meeting of business objectives. The efficacy of framing a digital marketing strategy is
best understood in terms of understanding and gauging the impact of the continually evolving
digital marketplace on the business activities and also on the relationship between the firm with
its prospective customers (Coles, 2017). Again, the lack of an effective user engagement and
retention framework owing to the absence of a potential digital marketing platform would
invariably give away to competitors that can gain based on the division in terms of digital
competencies. The development of a potential digital marketing framework would help the
company in networking with customers spread over a global marketplace and also across
different time zones. The employment of the digital marketing platform in a planned fashion also
helps in the framing of effective marketing messages that are essentially meant in targeting
niche consumer segments based along wider international markets. The emergence and use of

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internet on a large scale ideally helps both the consumers and the business institutions in terms
of gaining wider control and access to greater information regards to the consumers while also
aiding the firms in employing different types of tools, tactics and also diverse techniques for both
reaching out and also in engaging a wider audience. The digital marketers focusing on
formulating the right type of digital marketing strategy are needed to understand the manner in
which the customers use different kinds of digital tools and also the way the same needs to be
used by the business for relationship building purposes with different stakeholders (Meiselwitz,
2017).

5. Deciding on a Digital Marketing Strategy

The decision needed to be undertaken by a firm for undertaking a digital marketing strategy
essentially rests on two basic premises that are underlined as follows.

● In the first case, the business managers need to evaluate and know that whether the
target customers are already carrying out research about products and services in an
online sphere before making purchase decisions or are planning to do so in the near
future. If the evaluation reflects that customers are already present online, then it is for
certain that the business institution needs to work in formulating a strategy for its digital
marketing initiatives.
● Secondly, the business managers tend to evaluate whether the products and services
brands they market are essentially suited for the digital marketplace. For maximum
cases the answer turns to be ‘yes’ in that it considerably rests on the first premise. In
that there exist potential numbers of customers for the product or service in the virtual
sphere the same denotes that the product or service brands would inadvertently be
marketed online or through the digital platform (Newson & Patten, 2017).

6. Foundations of an Effective Digital Marketing Strategy

The digital marketer is essentially required to focus on outlining the key or essential components
that would contribute in formulating an effective digital marketing strategy.

● Firstly, the business managers in collaboration with the digital marketers are required to
evaluate whether the business institution is readily in-built to work based on a digital
marketing framework. They are required to evaluate whether the products and services
sold by them can be effectively promoted in an online fashion. Again, the existence of

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the right kind of tools and infrastructures needed for conducting digital marketing
programs are also required to be evaluated in an effective fashion. The objectives of the
digital marketing plans and programs are evaluated to gain success in that the same are
synchronized and integrated with the business and institutional objectives and
processes. Herein, in cases of mismatch of existing business processes with the digital
marketing programs the business managers are required to focus on bringing about key
changes in the former aspects and also aim in making the staff get duly equipped in
handling such changes.
● The second crucial component that needs to be dealt with while designing of digital
marketing strategy is identified as competition. Herein, it is crucial for the business
managers to identify the key competitors of the business operating both in an online and
offline fashion. Further, it is required to understand the key differences in the digital
marketing activities carried out by competitors with that carried out by them and thereby
focus on incorporating the new and effective strategies used by them. In the face of
competition, the digital marketer is also required to focus on differentiating the online
product and service offerings compared to the competitors in that the same helps in
attracting potential customers (Patel, 2017).
● Thirdly, the digital marketer is also required to have a clear understanding of the
prospective customers and also their needs and expectations from the firm. Further, the
business managers are required to identify and evaluate whether they would be focusing
on the same consumer demographics for both the physical or virtual sphere and whether
they would be shifting entirely on targeting new consumer categories. In terms of
customer evaluation, the manner in which customers use the digital technology
platforms and also the manner in which the same platforms can be harnessed by the
business firms for attracting, converting and retaining customers also needs to be rightly
evaluated.
● Fourthly, the business managers are required to set and define effective goals in a
specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound manner associated to their
strategizing of digital marketing platforms. The goals identified need to be synchronized
with the business and organizational goals for generating key results.
● Finally, a set of Key Performance Indicators or KPIs need to be put in place that
contributes in evaluating whether the activities undertaken have the potential in meeting
the set targets and objectives both pertaining to business and business organization at
large (Jessen, 2018).

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7. Fundamental Strategies in Digital Marketing

The fundamental strategies that can be undertaken by a marketer regards to the ambit of digital
marketing are identified as follows.

7.1. SEO Enabled Tool

Effective SEO support is required in digital marketing for achieving higher page rankings on
search engines like Google compared to other competitor firms. Firms thereby focus on gaining
adequate support from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experts that help in generating
quality contents thereby helping the former in gaining needed success in terms of attracting web
traffic, driving sales leads and conversions and thereby in enhancing sales (Quesenberry,
2015).

7.2. SEM Activities

In terms of SEM (Search Engine Marketing) activities different types of activities can be
organized that may range from displaying advertisements associated to graphic display,
generation of video ads on social media platforms like YouTube, search ads that are essentially
text based in nature and also apps designed for the mobile platform. The activities associated
regarding SEM identified above are some of the paid advertising methods that are conducted to
generate greater number of Search Engine Results Page or SERPs. In terms of Paid Ads, the
use of the social media platforms like Facebook can also be extensively carried out in that the
same helps the business institutions in posting considerable number of paid ads. However, the
selection and use of the SEM activity needs to be carried out based on evaluating the business
framework for which it is undertaken and also the consumer categories that are targeted by the
firms (Mosca, 2016).

7.3. Content Marketing

Contents that tend to add value to effective audiences and also such that can help in marketing
a business either in a direct or indirect fashion is ideally identified as content marketing. Content
marketing activities are constituted either in longer formats like writing of blogs, articles and also
electronic books while in shorter formats it can encompass updates made on social media
platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Again, Conversation Sharing is also identified as a form of
Content Marketing activity that are used for sharing of content via social media platforms like
Twitter or also posting of informational content on different online forums. Regards to Content
Marketing, the contents rendered are needed to be unique, relevant and also are needed to

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bear needed consistency to help in adding value to the users and also in promoting the brand
image to the larger set of audiences (Scholl, 2018).

7.4. Remarketing
Remarketing acts as another effective digital marketing strategy that is pursued for engaging
prospective customers that initially failed to respond to the banner based advertisements.
Remarketing is carried out in terms of first tracking the non-responsive prospects based on the
use of cookies and thereby in developing advertisements and publishing them on different sites.
Again, the digital marketer can also focus on developing new advertisements for the company
website such that the same can help in targeting new and prospective users. In that,
remarketing requires the digital marketer to better understand the needs and expectations of the
customers and thereby in generating advertisements it helps in driving greater customer
engagement while also contributes in enhancing the level of brand awareness and conversions
(Watkins, 2018).

7.5. Enhancing Responsiveness in Web Designs

The responsiveness level of the web designs needs to be increased based on the incorporation
of responsive programming such that the websites tend to get developed in diverse formats to
suit the screen size of the digital devices like Smartphones, tablets and even Smartwatches
along with the standardized formats meant for laptops and computers. The application of
‘Responsive Web Designs’ contributes in helping a firm digitally market the product, service and
the company brand to a larger audience and thereby enables greater penetration (Gonçalves,
2017).

7.6. Email Marketing

The electronic mail which was considered prior as only a mode for carrying out of electronic
communication with potential stakeholders now serves as an effective tool for developing brand
awareness about a product or service brand or the company brand to a larger target audience.
Generation of advertisements through the use of emails act as an effective mode for generating
increased awareness about the company and the offerings amongst the target customers.
Again, the application of email marketing is also carried out for driving greater conversions and
also in generating sales leads. Further, the carrying out of click-to-call based email
communication ideally contributes in exciting customers to interact with the call centre units for
gaining further information before deciding on to availing the offer. Again, the application of
email marketing also contributes in helping the customers gain an effective idea regarding

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product and service attributes and also the patterns and benefits of usage of the same. It thus
helps in driving greater customer engagement and thereby in accelerating sales. Customer or
user engagement can also be increased based on the use of email communication in terms of
rendering quality information to the users regarding the products and services. A car company
can drive greater consumer engagement in terms of informing the customers about the various
protections and driving tips they need to take during the winter season. Email marketing carried
out based on the above respects ideally help in enhancing the level of customer loyalty (Yi,
2017).

7.7. Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is identified as an effective digital marketing strategy that is undertaken
by the digital marketers for both understanding of the consumer characteristics and attributes
and thereby in engaging them based on the application of diverse social media platforms.
Activities carried out in the ambit of social media marketing are best carried out based on
engaging such social media that are relevant to the target users or the buying communities. The
digital marketer focusing on the use of social media marketing is required to develop relevant
messages that both suit the social media platforms for which they are designed and also the
information needs of the users. Customer engagement in driven in social media marketing
based on not only posting of different types of social media messages in the form of video, text
and pictures in a combination or singly based on the nature of the platform but also in actively
responding on a real-time basis to the queries and issues of customers posted on the interactive
social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter (Mosca, 2016).

7.8. Influencer Marketing

In influencer marketing the digital marketer focuses on the incorporation of the support rendered
by industry influencers for largely promoting the product or services to target users. The
application of influencers in influencer marketing helps the companies gain the support of
people that have an established presence in the social communities and also represent a large
number of followers. Working based on the use of influencer marketing is ideally observed in
generating greater conversions than that of direct advertisements. Further, the use of influencer
marketing also contributes in not only generating greater brand awareness but also in
increasing the level of trust of the customers on the product or service brands and also in
attracting the mind-set of target audiences (Bregman& Watkins, 2013).

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7.9. Video Marketing

Video Marketing is identified in terms of posting of video contents based along social media
platforms like Facebook and YouTube that helps in drawing the attention of large number of
target audiences. Audio-Visual posts carried out in the form of video significantly contribute in
the generation of live testimonials of customers associated with the use of a product or service
brand. It helps in driving greater customer engagement where users are encouraged to post
their comments, suggestions and likes associated to the video posts (Jessen, 2018).

8. Aligning of Internet with Business Objectives

The activities carried out based on the application of the digital and social media platforms gain
significance in that the same are aligned with the business objectives of the firm. The objectives
of applying the social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube need to be
effectively aligned with the objectives of the firm for helping in the generation of needed returns.
In other words, the social media and other digital marketing activities are needed to be carried
out in an integrated fashion with the corporate objectives rather than being carried out in an
isolated fashion that fails to yield needed results.

The main objectives of aligning the internet or digital marketing with the business objectives are
reflected as follows.

● To understand the manner in which the pursuing of the digital goals ideally helps in the
fulfilment of the strategic and also the marketing objectives of the organization.
● To create an Engagement Value Scale or EVS that focuses on valuing each of the
different digital goals in regards to the fulfilment of institutional objectives.
● Identify Key Performance Indicators or KPIs that contribute in evaluating both the market
impact and also the efficiency of the digital marketing endeavours and also tries to
understand the relevance of the strategies from the viewpoint of the customers
(Bregman & Watkins, 2013).
● Further, different steps are needed to be undertaken for effectively aligning the digital
marketing goals with the strategy of the organization as a whole. The six different steps
are outlined as identification of strategic themes, defining strategic objectives, defining
marketing objectives, digital goals, application of EVS and finally highlighting KPIs. The
six steps are detailed as under.

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● The initial step is to identity around two to three strategic themes that contribute in
generating foundations for meeting the organizational strategy of the firm.
● Keeping with respect to the different strategic themes the business managers focus on
the identification of the different set of strategic objectives. The fulfilment of diverse set
of strategic objectives pertaining to different business functions ideally contribute to the
fulfilment of the strategic themes. The identification and execution of the strategic
objectives need to be carried out in a differentiated fashion respect to other competitor
firms for sustaining needed competitiveness (Mutuku, 2018).
● Further, the goal of the digital marketer is required to focus on identifying the marketing
objectives of the institution and thereby in integrating the same with the organizational
objectives. The integration of the marketing with the business/institutional objectives are
required to be carried out in such a fashion as they would mutually help in driving
success in the long run. In cases where the strategic business objectives of the firm is to
enhance the revenue the corresponding marketing objective would tend to focus on
augmenting the number of prospective marketing leads. Similarly, where the strategic
business objectives of the firm is to enhance the lifetime value of the consumers the
corresponding marketing objectives resonates as augmenting knowledge base of
consumer needs and expectations coupled with gaining knowledge regarding consumer
behaviour, purchasing habits and also their purchasing decision making behaviour.
● The evaluation of the measure of the degree of customer engagement is carried out
based on estimating the level of impact of the digital marketing goal on its objectives. It
is identified as the Engagement Value or EV. Thus, an EV of a digital goal ideally helps
in understanding its degree of effectiveness in meeting the marketing and also the
strategic objectives of the organization. The digital goals of an e-commerce firm
essentially encompass key parameters like ‘Add to basket’, ‘Add to wish list’, ‘Sign up for
offer/promotion’ and also ‘Order completion’. For each of the different digital goals
separate weightage can be assigned by marketers in terms of evaluating its impact in
fulfilling strategic business objectives like revenue enhancement (Rishi &
Bandyopadhyay, 2017).

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Table 8.1: Engagement Value

Digital Goal Engagement Value

● Add to basket ● 1

● Add to wish list ● 2

● Sign up for offer/promotion ● 20

● Order completion ● 100

(Rishi & Bandyopadhyay, 2017)

● Engagement Value Scales or EVS is developed in terms of constructing a pyramid that

reflects the different types of digital goals from top to bottom based on their impact on
fulfilling the diverse strategic objectives of the firm. The top of the pyramid reflects the
most effective digital goal followed by other goals in terms of fulfilling the organizational
and business objectives.
● Finally, a set of different types of KPIs or Key Performance Indicators need to be
outlined that ideally help in estimating the level of effectiveness of the strategic
marketing initiatives in fulfilling business objectives. Click-Through Rate or CTR is
identified as an effective KPI that contribute in understanding and evaluating the efficacy
of the marketing campaigns. It contributes in evaluating the degree of relevance of the
advertisements published on the digital platform compared to the keywords used by the
users for purposes of searching. Again, Conversion Rate or CR is also identified as an
effective KPI that ideally helps in evaluating the success of the digital campaigns and the
manner in which they tend to fulfil the business and marketing objectives of the firm.
Similarly, Click-per-Customer or CPC acts as an effective KPI that helps in judging the
significance of the digital campaigns. It aims to determine whether the firm is earning an
effective value in terms of clicks on an average (Bregman & Watkins, 2013).
Different case studies of companies involved in digital and social media marketing activities can
be rightly dealt with for effectively understanding the above aspect.

8.1. The Case of Dove

8.1.1. About the Campaign
A campaign known as the ‘Self Esteem Fund’ was launched by Dove during 2006. The objective
of Dove’s Campaign was to encourage Canadian women to get actively involved with the

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company’s mission of generating and enhancing the level of self-esteem amongst young girls.
The campaign launched by Dove ideally targeted a set of target audiences comprising of
mothers, mentors, educators, trainers and also other agencies that would help the firm in
accessing a large section of women audiences in the larger target market for effectively
spreading its message concerning, ‘Real Beauty’. The main objective of the campaign was to
bring about positive changes in the minds of around 70,000 women residing in Canada. Aligning
of online media was carried out by Dove associated to the carrying out of the campaign with a
specific objective associated with encouraging Canadian mothers to potentially think about the
self-esteem of their daughters and thereby in influencing their mind-set to get actively involved
in using the Self-Esteem Fund Resources and Tools rendered by Dove in the website
campaignforrealbeauty.ca (Ryan & Jones, 2012).

The campaigning activity was carried out by Dove based on the production of two different films,
‘Daughters’ and ‘Evolution’ with support provided by Ogilvy and Mather. The films were
developed by Dove for encouraging large scale attendance of women in the Self-Esteem
workshops and also to drive user and visitor engagement in the site, campaignforrealbeauty.ca.

The first movie, ‘Daughters’ ideally portrayed different daughters about the pressures felt by
them based on the need to be both pretty and also slim in looks. The film also reflected the
point-of-view of the mothers from an empathetic standpoint regarding the pressures felt by their
daughters for overemphasizing on the aspect of their physical appearances. The film,
‘Daughters’ borne a specific message outlined as, ‘Things won’t change until we change them’.

The second movie, ‘Evolution’ featured a young and pretty girl standing in front of a mirror. The
image of the girl is further enhanced by a team of makeup artists and hairdressers to make her
look quite ‘modellized’. Subsequently, the girl’s image is totally hair brushed to show the final
image of the girl as totally different from the initial image created by the touch of professionals.
The film depicted a specific message outlined as, ‘No wonder our perception of beauty is
distorted’ (Ryan & Jones, 2012).

8.1.2. Objectives of the Online Strategy for the Campaign

The online strategy pursued by Dove for the above campaign was developed in a multi-layer
format and was carried out to fulfil the following underlined objectives:

● The campaign was carried out for helping in the generation of needed awareness
regarding the self-esteem tools and resources rendered by Dove online.

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● To focus on launching a teaser that would be a one-minute movie. Previously, Dove had
launched a 15-second movie trailer that was made viral based on streaming on mass
and also by essentially targeting women’s websites mainly belonging to Canada. The
launch of the trailers was carried out to focus on the necessity of ‘Dove Self-Esteem
Fund’ and also for encouraging the flow of traffic to the site, campaignforrealbeauty.ca
for viewing the full movie.
● To develop a series of customized e-newsletters that were mainly targeted at niche
target audiences like mothers and female mentors to help in introducing tools and
resources for building of self-esteem as rendered by Dove.
● The movies were shot and also made viral for fulfilling certain specific objectives like
attracting and driving of users to render visits to the website, campaignforrealbeauty.ca.
and also in encouraging large numbers of users to enrol themselves at ‘Real Beauty
workshops’ that were to be carried out along 15 diverse locations based in Canada
(Scholl, 2018).
8.1.3. The Campaigning Activity
During September 2006, the video, ‘Daughters’ was posted by Dove on the social media
platform, YouTube. Along with making the video viral on YouTube different campaigns
associated with email marketing and also creating online banners were also carried out by the
firm. Likewise, during October 2006, the second video, ‘Evolution’ was also made viral by Dove
based on its posting on YouTube while also through the development of online marketing
campaigns based on the use of email marketing and through the use of online banners.

8.1.4. Key Results

The carrying out of the online campaign reflected effective results for Dove underlined as
follows:

● During the final quarter of 2006, the average number of visits on a daily basis to Dove’s
‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ increased from 1,378 to around 16,785 that reflected an
increase by 1,118 percent.
● Canadians with English and French accent responded in a different fashion to the online
campaigning. Canadians with English accent were observed to respond more actively to
the message rendered by the ‘Evolution’ movie while those having French accent were
observed to respond greatly to the message rendered by the ‘Daughters’ movie.

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● Results of newsletters were observed to be higher associated to niche sites which in turn
reflected the increased level of trust on the different niche sites and also the growth of
interactivity by the user groups.
● The campaign borne success in that it generated both immediate and a stronger impact
for which the same was extended on a global scale.
● Out of the total emails delivered for both the movies, ‘Daughters’ and ‘Evolution’ it was
observed that around 33 percent of the emails were opened by the target users while
around 13 and 11 percent of them were clicked respectively (Das, 2018).
8.2. The Case of FK Distribution
8.2.1. The Business Problem
FK Distribution operating as a leading distributor of print advertisements based in Denmark was
suffering from a potential problem in that the maximum number of print advertisements of
around 1.9 million distributed twice every week to households based in the region was observed
to have been declined by the customers.

8.2.2. The Transition

FK Distribution focused on bringing around a turnaround in its existing business model in terms
of incorporating the elements of creativity and also in working based on networking and
connectivity. The new business model of FK Distribution works based on a pull approach
compared to the existing push approach. In the pull approach, the print advertising distribution
company started generating print advertisements to the customers based on their specific
needs rather than to focus on pushing significant number of generic advertisements. The
application of the pull model gained success owing to the incorporation of digital marketing
strategies. Personalized distribution of print advertising as being carried out by FK Distribution
currently not only contributes in meeting the personalized needs and expectations of the
customer but also helps the firm in meeting its strategic objectives of revenue enhancement
based on distribution volumes of print advertisements (Jessen, 2018).

The transformation was made possible by FK Distribution in terms of exploring the fashion in
which the application of digital marketing would help in developing an effective connection with
the different households availing the advertisements. A digital system was also constructed that
contributed in aligning the needs of the customer with the digital marketing goals and business
objectives of the firm. The innovative and creative digital marketing system enabled by FK
Distribution replacing its old website ideally encouraged the householders or the visitors to
furnish an online profile that helped in providing information concerning the relevance of the

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different types of advertisements. Further, the new digital system also helped FK Distribution in
understanding and retrieving information concerning customer profiles, preference patterns and
also the customer engagement levels. Moreover, responsive web designs were employed by
the firm to help the customers in both accessing and also in updating their preferences from a
plethora of different devices like laptops, desktops, Smartphones or from other types of
customized app platforms based on their own convenience. The management of FK Distribution
also carries out an effective note of the preferred channel used by the different customers for
updating the profiles (Clampitt, 2017).

The transformation made enabled by FK Distribution helped the householders on a

considerable scale to visit the new website and thereby make selection of relevant
advertisements and also effective offers that differed in an area wise fashion.

8.2.3. Key Results

Estimates made by the management of FK Distribution reflects that in the previous case when
the company depended on the push model for distribution of print advertisements, around 30
percent of the distributed advertisements met the trash can than being read by customers.
Researchers employed by the firm now reflect that in the current scenario where the customers
focus on creating profiles and selecting advertisements they are more likely to be read than to
be thrown off or dumped. The growth of distribution of personalized and relevant ads has also
attracted around 80 advertisers that have signed up with the company. Growth of connectivity
for FK Distribution with its customers has increased in that the company management can
interact with the customers through the use of their preferred channels and also focus on
distributing the advertisements based on the employment of customized apps. Increase in
connectivity between FK Distribution with its prospective customers has helped in greater
understanding of the needs and preference patterns of the diverse households and also
contributed in enhancing the level of consumer relationships (Mahendran, 2019).

8.2.4. New Goals

FK Distribution further focuses on giving greater access to customers to churn different types of
digital advertisements. A mobile app is developed by the company with also a dedicated
website which would help the customers in selecting both advertisements and also other
marketing and promotional campaigns depending on their relevance compared to their personal
needs and expectations. Further, the new app is also developed to help customers browse
along a host of promotions and offers as rendered by different retailers on a time-to-time basis.
Customers thus are now not required of visiting the different individual websites of the retailers

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for gaining an understanding of the different types of offers and promotions in that they can gain
access to quantifiable amount of information based on accessing the website (Meiselwitz,
2017).

9. User Behaviour and Navigation

9.1. User Behaviour

Search engines performing over a period of time has become able in introducing different
methods for analysing the relevancy of the different contents based on the manner of interaction
carried out by the users associated to the contents. Quality stands as a significant factor that
are needed to be maintained by the search engines in that other parameters for ranking signals
like page optimization and also the back links can tend to be subject to manipulation. The
significant user behaviour signals that are used are identified as follows:

● Engagement of the user with the different contents: In cases where tends to click on a
specific search result and then again returns back to the search engine for repeating the
search, then the search engine becomes able to detect the repetitive search behaviour
of the user. In case where the same happens in a repeated manner for a site it tends to
down-weigh the assessment of the search value.
● Bookmarking: Search engines can easily help in detecting bookmarks especially linked
to favourites. The same counts to be an effective ranking signal for the search engines.
● Social Sharing: Search engines like Google and Bing have both acknowledged the fact
that the shares can be used by them on different social networks and also can detect
whether the sharing is carried out by an influential section of social networkers (Mutuku,
2018).
Social media networks like Facebook tends to use datasets based on past user behaviour for
showing advertisements to those people within the target audience that are most likely to
perform the action that is desired by the company viz. visiting the sites, availing offers and
promotions, viewing the offerings and also making needed purchases. Facebook helps in
tracking of different types of user behaviours like their shopping trends, the digital devices like
Smartphones and tablets used by them and also whether the customers tend to own assets like
house and vehicles (Scholl, 2018).

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9.2. User Navigation

Regarding the aspect of user navigation, the ‘flow’ parameter is attached due significance in that
the same helps in easily deciding on the degree of flexibility and easiness gained by the users in
terms of navigating from one web page to the other in search of relevant information. The
navigation experiences and quality of information gained by the users tend to influence their
frequency of visiting the sites (Yi, 2017).

The ease of use gained by a user is determined based on mainly four different factors like
structure, page layout, navigation and interaction. Navigation is associated with the movement
of the user from one particular web page to another based on the support gained from different
navigational tools like that of menus and also hyperlinks (Watkins, 2018).

10. User Experience

User Experience or UX is dealt with the fashion that the users can tend to gain access to
different pages, find, and access and also review different types of products and services
marketed by the company via the application of the digital platform. User Experience is
considered to be crucial for helping in both attracting customers and also helping in the
generation of adequate conversions thereby leading to a growth of sales revenues. In the
current period, the increased use of mobile phones by the users require the digital marketers to
work in an effective fashion for helping their users gain an effective searching and navigating
experience. The customers observe that an effective user experience gained by them based on
interacting with the company through the use of the mobile interface has further encouraged
their visits to the website. Further, the aspect of user experience does not get restricted to the
degree of usability of the information gained by the users from the relevant web pages
(Quesenberry, 2015). It rather focuses on probing further to understand the fashion in which a
brand speaks or presents it before the target users and gains success in conveying quality
information to the users in an effective fashion. The relevancy and authenticity of the contents
presented over the digital platforms further contribute in enhancing the level of user experience.
It is held that contents that are SEO friendly and tend to drive user engagement are held to
generate a greater degree of user experience.

UX is effectively identified as an amalgamation of diverse set of principles ranging from visual

design, information architecture, interaction enabled design, usability of the web page, user
search and finally the content strategy. Building up of an effective user experience stands as a

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mandatory principle for the digital marketing firms in that the same contributes in developing
effective relationships and interactions with the users or customers and thereby helps in the
increasing of customer loyalty (Bregman & Watkins, 2013)

11. Developing a Digital Plan

The development of a digital marketing plan is essentially required to be based along different
steps that are outlined as follows.

● Carrying out a situational analysis of the company is considered to be the first step that
is required to be carried out by the digital marketer for focusing on developing a digital
plan. The situational analysis can be carried out based on the employment of SWOT
Analysis that acts as an effective strategic tool contributing in understanding the relevant
strengths and weaknesses of the company from the internal standpoint and
opportunities and threats faced by the company associated with the external
environment where it tends to operate.
● Subsequently the digital marketer having conducted the SWOT Analysis of the company
is required to focus on identification of SMART Objectives for the digital marketing
endeavour. The SMART Objectives would help in defining the target objectives in terms
of specificity, measurability, attainability, degree of relevancy and finally whether the
same can be accomplished within a given time framework (Ryan & Jones, 2012).
● The framing of the digital marketing strategy requires the digital marketer to focus on
carrying out an effective segmentation of the larger consumer market in terms of
consumer demographics and psychographics. The needs, preference patterns and
attributes of the customers need to be effectively evaluated by the digital marketer.
Following the consumer segmentation, the digital marketer is thereby required in
effectively positioning the product or service to the target market. The digital marketer is
thereby required to understand the favourable channels of communication preferred by
the customers and thereby apply the same in reaching the information to the target
audiences. A plethora of different social networking platforms like social media networks,
blogs and also electronic mailing channels need to be used in an extensive fashion for
reaching the information to a wide range of audiences. Likewise, the digital marketer is
also required to focus on the framing of different types of contents that would effectively
suit the preference patterns and information needs of the customer with also the different
social networking platforms.

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● The digital marketer is also required to focus on the development of effective social
media based marketing campaigns and electronic marketing campaigns with also
carrying out paid advertising activities and CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
activities in an integrated fashion for helping in attracting considerable numbers of users
and thereby converting them to generate sales leads. Herein, tools associated to
marketing automation need to be used by the digital marketer for helping in the
automation of the different types of marketing campaigns.
● Finally, the digital marketer is required to focus on the incorporation of different types of
KPIs that would help in measuring and reflecting on the efficacy of the digital marketing
endeavours undertaken by the firm. Different types of data visualization tools like
dashboards and infographics can be incorporated by the digital marketer that helps in
evaluating the effectiveness of the digital marketing campaigns on a real-time basis.
Likewise, the Return on Investment or ROI can also be estimated based on the revenue
earnings gained associated to the investments generated for carrying out the marketing
campaigns (Patel, 2017).

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References
Bregman, S., & Watkins, K. E. (2013). Best Practices for Transportation Agency Use of Social
Media. United Kingdom: CRC Press.

Clampitt, P. G. (2017). Social Media Strategy: Tools for Professionals and Organizations.
London: SAGE Publications.

Coles, L. (2017). Social Media for Business: Foolproof Tips to Help You Promote Your Business
or Your Brand. United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons.

Das, A. (2018). APPLICATION OF DIGITAL MARKETING FOR LIFE SUCCESS IN BUSINESS.

New Delhi: BPB Publications.

Gonçalves, A. (2017). Social Media Analytics Strategy: Using Data to Optimize Business
Performance. United States: Apress.

Jessen, L. (2018). Social Media Marketing on Instagram. Exploration of Strategic

Perspectives.Germany: GRIN Verlag.

Mahendran, N. (2019). The Role of Culture in Social Media Marketing. A Systematic Literature
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Meiselwitz, G. (2017). Social Computing and Social Media. Human Behavior: 9th International
Conference, SCSM 2017, Held as Part of HCI International 2017, Vancouver, BC, Canada, July
9-14, 2017, Proceedings, Part 1. United Kingdom: Sprringer.

Mosca, F. (2016). Global Marketing Strategies for the Promotion of Luxury Goods. United
Kingdom: IGI Global.

Mutuku, C. (2018). Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Social Networks in Business.

Germany: GRIN Verlag.

Newson, A., & Patten, J. (2017). Blogging and Other Social Media: Exploiting the Technology
and Protecting the Enterprise. New York: Routledge.

Patel, D. (2017). Social Media Marketing Fundamentals - For Certifications: By Dhaval Patel
(VDS Developer). Mumbai: Dhaval Patel (VDS Developer).

Quesenberry, K. A. (2015). Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer
Revolution. United Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield.

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 Digital Marketing

Rishi, B., &Bandyopadhyay, S. (2017). Contemporary Issues in Social Media Marketing. New
York: Routledge.

Ryan, D., & Jones, C. (2012). Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing Strategies for
Engaging the Digital Generation. United States: Kogan Page Publishers.

Scholl, H. (2018). Modern Twitter Marketing. United States: Estalontech.

Watkins, B. (2018). Sport Teams, Fans, and Twitter: The Influence of Social Media on
Relationships and Branding. United Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield.

Yi, Z. G. (2017). Marketing Services and Resources in Information Organizations. United

Kingdom: Chandos Publishing.

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