E-Marketing
The E-Marketing Plan
Overview of the E-Marketing
Planning Process
The best firms have clear visions that they translate,
through the marketing process, from e-business objectives
and strategies into e-marketing goals and well-executed
strategies and tactics for achieving those goals.
This marketing process entails three steps:
- Marketing plan creation,
- Plan implementation,
- Evaluation/corrective action.
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The Napkin Plan
Dot-com entrepreneurs were known to simply jot their ideas on
a napkin over lunch and then run off to find financing.
The big company version of this is the just-do-it. An employee
has an idea, and convinces management to just do it.
These plans sometimes work and are sometimes even necessary
but they are not recommended when substantial resources are
involved. Sound planning and thoughtful implementation are
needed for long-term success in business.
The Venture Capital E-Marketing Plan
Small to mid-sized firms and entrepreneurs with start-up ideas
usually begin with a napkin plan without going through the entire
traditional marketing planning process.
BUT as the company grows and needs capital, it has to put
together a comprehensive e-marketing plan.
Where does an entrepreneur go for capital?
- Sometimes bank loans,
- Most of the time, it is equity financed,
- Private funds (friends and family),
- Venture capitalists.
The Venture Capital E-Marketing Plan
Investors are looking for a well-composed business plan,
and more importantly, a good team to implement it.
The business plan should contain enough data and logic to
prove that:
The e-business idea is solid,
The entrepreneur has some idea of how to run the business.
The Venture Capital E-Marketing Plan
9 questions that every business plan should
answer:
1. Who is the new venture’s customer?
2. How does the customer make decisions about
buying this product or service?
3. To what degree is the product or service a
compelling purchase for the customer?
4. How will the product or service be priced?
The Venture Capital E-Marketing Plan
9 questions that every business plan should
answer:
5. How will the venture reach all the identified
customer segments?
6. How much does it cost (in time and resources)
to acquire a customer?
7. How much does it cost to produce and deliver
the product or service?
8. How much does it cost to support a customer?
9. How easy is it to retain a customer?
The Venture Capital E-Marketing Plan
VCs look for a way to get their money and profits
out of the venture within a few years:
- The golden exit plan is to go public and issue stock in
an initial public offering (IPO),
- As soon as the stock price rises sufficiently, the VC
cashes out and moves on to another investment.
All VCs’ investments are not successful. But if even
one out of 20 is an [Link], the risk was well
worth the reward.
A Six-Step E-Marketing Plan
A Six-Step E-Marketing Plan
Step 1—Situation Analysis
Planning for e-marketing does not mean starting from scratch but working with
existing business, e-business, and marketing plans is an excellent place to start.
Opportunities Threats
Hispanic markets growing and Pending security law means costly software
untapped in our industry. upgrades.
Save postage costs through e-mail Competitor X is aggressively using e-
marketing. commerce.
Strengths Weaknesses
1. Strong customer service department. 1. Low tech corporate culture
2. Excellent Web site and database 2. Seasonal business: peak is summer
system. months.
E-business Goal: Initiate e-commerce in within one year.
Metric: Generate $500,000 in revenues from e-commerce during the first year.
Exhibit 3 - 1 SWOT, Objective, and Metric Example from E-Business Plan
Step 1—Situation Analysis
The organizational e-business plan: SWOT analysis => e-business strategy.
The marketing plan: gathers information about the firm’s products, the
markets currently served, and so forth.
The distribution plan: identifies areas where the products are currently sold
and suggests geographic gaps that might be receptive to e-commerce.
Promotion plan information: gives clues about how the Internet fits with the
firm’s current advertising, sales promotion, and other marketing
communications.
The firm and brand positioning in the marketplace: Internet planners must
decide how closely Web site content and promotion will follow current
positioning strategies.
The marketer moves to strategy formulation.
Step 2—Link E-Business with
E-Marketing Strategy
Marketers need to:
1 Review the marketing and e-business plans,
2 Conduct a strategic planning to help achieve the firm’s e-
business goals + define potential revenue streams,
3 Create supporting e-marketing strategy for the e-business goals:
A Tier one strategy: marketers design segmentation, targeting,
differentiation, and positioning strategies,
B Tier two strategy deals with the 4P’s and relationship management
by creating strategies around the offer (product), value (pricing),
distribution (place), and communication (promotion),
4 Further, marketers design customer and partner relationship
strategies (CRM/PRM).
Differentiation
Segmentation
Tier 1
tasks
Positioning Targeting
E-Marketing
Offer Strategy
Tier 2 CRM/PRM
tasks
Value Communication
Distribution
Exhibit 3 - 1 Formulating E-Marketing Strategy in Two Tiers
Step 3— Formulate Objectives
In general, an objective in an e-marketing plan takes the
form:
Task (what is to be accomplished),
Measurable quantity (how much),
Time frame (by when).
SWOT Analysis Leading To
E-Marketing Objective
Opportunities Threats
1. Hispanic markets growing and 1. Pending security law means costly
untapped in our industry. software upgrades.
2. Save postage costs through 2. Competitor X is aggressively using
Facebook marketing. Facebook e-commerce.
Strengths Weaknesses
1. Strong customer service 1. Low-tech corporate culture.
department. 2. Seasonal business: Peaks during
2. Excellent Web/social media summer months.
sites and database system.
E-Marketing Objective: $500,000 in revenues from e-commerce in
one year.
Typical E-Marketing Objectives
Most e-marketing plans aim to accomplish multiple
objectives such as:
Increase market share,
Increase sales revenue,
Reduce costs,
Achieve branding goals,
Improve databases,
Achieve customer relationship management goals,
Improve supply chain management.
Step 4 — Design Implementation
Plan to Meet the Objectives
Select:
- The marketing mix (4 Ps),
- Relationship management tactics,
- Other tactics to achieve the plan objectives.
Devise detailed plans for implementation.
Check the right marketing organization is in place for
implementation.
Step 4 — Design Implementation
Plan to Meet the Objectives
Information technologies are especially adept at
automating these processes, this is why the
information gathering tactics are important:
- Web site forms, feedback e-mail, and online surveys,
- Web site log analysis software helps firms review
user behavior at the site and make changes to better
meet the needs of users,
- Business intelligence uses the Internet for secondary
research, assisting firms in understanding
competitors and other market forces.
Step 5 — Budgeting
A key part of any strategic plan is to identify the
expected returns from an investment.
Returns are matched against costs to develop a
cost/benefit analysis, ROI calculation, or internal rate
of return (IRR)
Determine whether the effort is worthwhile.
During plan implementation, marketers will closely
monitor actual revenues and costs
To monitor of results are on track for accomplishing the
objectives.
Revenue Forecast
The firm uses an established sales forecasting method for
estimating the site revenues in the short, intermediate, and long
term.
Inputs: The firm’s historical data, industry reports, and
competitive actions.
An important part of forecasting is to estimate the level of Web
site traffic over time.
This number affects the amount of revenue a firm can expect
to generate from its site.
Revenue streams:
- Web site direct sales, - Advertising sales,
- Subscription fees, - Affiliate referrals,
- Sales at partner sites, - Commissions, and other fees.
Budgeting
Intangible Benefits:
Putting a financial figure on such benefits is challenging but
essential for e-marketers.
What is the value of increased brand awareness from a Web
site?
Cost Savings:
Money saved through Internet efficiencies is considered soft
revenue for a firm.
E-Marketing Costs
Costs for employees, hardware, software, programming, and more.
Some traditional marketing costs may creep into the e-marketing
budget
The cost of a Web site can range from $5000 to $50 million.
Few of the costs site developers incur:
Technology costs: software, hardware, Internet access or
hosting services, educational materials and training, and other site
operation and maintenance costs.
Site design. Web sites need graphic designers to create
appealing page layouts, graphics, and photos.
E-Marketing Costs
Other costs site developers incur:
Salaries. All personnel that work on Web site development and
maintenance are budget items.
Other site development expenses. If not included in the
technology or salary categories, any other expenses will be here
(registration of multiple domain names and hiring consultants).
Marketing communication. All advertising, public relations, and
promotions activities, both online and offline, to draw site traffic.
Search engine registration, online directory costs, e-mail list rental,
prizes for contests, and more.
Miscellaneous. Other typical project costs might fall here—
expenses such as travel, telephone, stationery printing to add the
new URL, and more.
Step 6 — Evaluation Plan
Once the e-marketing plan is implemented, its
success depends on continuous evaluation. The
tracking systems should be in place before the
electronic doors open.
What should be measured? The plan objectives need
to be evaluated with:
- Balanced scorecard for e-business
- ROI …
