This week I met with my group for the Digital Marketing Strategy assignment and we got planning. At first we found it very difficult to decide on a business to base our strategy on, ranging from beauty salons to garden centres, local boutiques to bars. We eventually settled on the dance school I work for Dance Republic, as it fit all the criteria for the assignment and all the information we needed for the assignment, I have readily available anyway, so it made it easier for us that we didn't have to go asking companies this kind of information on their business that they may not want to share. Another benefit of doing the strategy on my company is that we will actually be able to use it within the business when the assignment is finished. So to begin the assignment, I gathered up all the information I could from my boss. A full detailed list of all of our services, a complete timetable of available classes, our health and safety policy, our mission statement, our budgets and so on. From there, we devised a SWOT analysis for the company, establishing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the company. We learned to do this in a lecture, and found it very useful for both the assignment and for the real world. We then looked at competitors in the field and creating Facebook and Twitter ads, which we also learned how to do in class. The strategy is shaping up nicely, and over the next few weeks I am sure we will finish it off once we cover the rest of the topics in class.
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'Marketing that involved gaining traffic and visibility for websites through both paid and unpaid methods’. This lecture focused on directing customers to your company’s site via ads, both free and paid.
Google AdWords was the first platform explored in class, discussing the benefits of pay per click for search engine results, which are plenty. Google AdWords allows you to establish a budget in which to give your advertisements more visibility on Google’s homepage, and therefore can bring your site up the ranking on Google, as well as increasing traffic to your site and of course improve the company’s profits. Google were of course the first to introduce this model of advertising, however everyone else soon followed. Facebook, Twitter and other search engines also adopted this format of allowing advertisements to be created by companies on their sites. I found this part of the course particularly interesting as it would particularly benefit me and the company I work for. Learning about Google and Facebook ads, and then practicing using them in class was very helpful as well as interesting. Key words are certainly the most important, as it makes it easier and quicker for consumers to find your site. The simpler and clearer your ad is, the more likely it will be to be clicked. Both Google and Facebook operate a pay per click function, where the company is billed for the amount of clicks their site receives as a result of the ads, which the company can switch off at any time they want. This feature was particularly beneficial to learn about. Blog post 1.
So this week I started my Digital Marketing Certificate in IT Carlow. After missing the first 3 weeks over being sick, I was excited and a little aprehensive about startig. However, everyone was so lovely and my lecturer John was so helpful in getting me settled in. I met my group for the first assignment, and got cracking straight away, not to waste any more time. In my first lecture, we discusses maket research, and how to target your customers on different platforms such as different social medias, you tube and so on. Targeting customers emotional and functional needs is one thing I particularly remember from that lecture, because supplying their needs is the most important thing any business needs to do to generate success. Being as straight forward and simple to use as possible is what entices customers, to avoid confusion. Solve their problem as easily as possible and they will love your product / service. Improve their experience and they will come back to you, and spread positive feedback about you company again and again. I have learned that word of mouth marketing has evolved over the years, and has spread to online forums. Comments and posts on Facebook or tweets is the same as telling your friend in person about a service or product. This lecture introduced us to the methods of digital marketing allowed to us by social media. We learned how easy it is to use social media to benefit your company, as in this day and age, it is primarily where you can fund your consumers.
Social media allows for better visibility for your company, and a wider reach of audiences. To use social medias to your advantage, you need to know your consumer. What kind of online content do they interact with? What kind of content do they post themselves? A trick is to mimic the style of posts that your consumer posts, and you will grab their attention. With the different social medias, comes different interactions with the content. For example, Twitter is instant and to the point, so that is how most people respond to it. It takes them a few seconds to read it, and often a few seconds to forget it, so better make it memorable. Facebook can be a bit more detailed and more visual, and is often the main online platform for a company to shine and win over new customers. Consumers can not only learn about your business on Facebook, but also review and spread the word to their friends and followers. Therefore, if their experience is good and they share that, you could most likely gain more customers as a result. The Marketing purchasing funnel was also discussed in this lecture, with the top of the funnel being research based for the customers (blogging, social media), the middle being interested buyers (landing page of company website), and the bottom is the buying stage (checkout page eg). This layout made it very easy to understand the process customers go through when exploring new companies / products etc. |