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.
● 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.
● 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.
● 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.
● 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.
Different case studies of companies involved in digital and social media marketing activities can
be rightly dealt with for effectively understanding the above aspect.
1. The Case of Dove
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 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.
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’.
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.
● 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.
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.
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.
● 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.
2. The Case of FK Distribution
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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