PROS & CONS OF EACH ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY Pros Display ads - Instant - Closest equivalent to booth or street fair. (Can use animation)
Algorithmic Search Sponsored search Social media
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Interactive content
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Online distributors A/B Testing
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Easily accessible SEO possibilities Budgetary Cost control – can set budget and limit how much you spend on a daily basis Targeting – can control who is seeing your ads making every dollar you spend is accounted. Easy access, daily usage Large user, prospect consumers are high Low cost, mostly free advertising (testimonials, Wallet selection guide to educate consumers on wallet selection Contests (high entertainment value, increase visitor engagement) Themes (Save the cows) No additional hiring needed for fulfillment expenses Establish strong online retail platforms Brand positioning Get clear evidence Test new ideas Optimize one step at a time
Cons - Distracting or annoying - Users used to ignore display ads - Google DoubleClick report – 0.1% only - Doesn’t comply with mobile devices - Low click through rates + pay-perimpression pricing = risky - No guarantee the site will appear in response to particular search - Slow search - Complex management of campaigns - Required keyword bidding strategy and rates of conversion – increased competition in getting keywords increased cost -
Too much fake information
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Time and cost consuming Requires big banners
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Need to pay commission More competition Less loyalty or trust
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Instinctual choices Consumes time and resources Only works for specific goals
ONLINE VS OFFLINE MARKETING Category Similarity
Online Marketing Offline Marketing - Just-in-time delivery with integration of both online and offline activities - Product demonstration available for both approaches - Priority on brand development Cost Cheaper Costly Focus Mass audience (Above The Line) Limited audience (Below The Line) Time Fast Time consuming Positioning 7 listed in the case (prioritized) Printed materials, booths, retailers and worldwide wholesalers Accessibility Internet connections (easy) Tangible platforms (difficult) Benefits Convenient, cost effective, low manpower Product ready (creates brand loyalty) Challenges Abundance of tools, lack of knowledge in High capital causing lower profit margins optimizing each tool. Customer Manageable since many channels cater Difficult since 1 to 1 intervention, requires Care more customers time, cost, and locations
ONLINE MARKETING AT BIG SKINNY Who What
Kiril Alexandrov, CEO at Big Skinny. Catherine Alexandrov, Marketing Director & Wife of CEO Big Skinny Wallet- Design to overcome five major wallet problems: o Size, Weight, Card pocket size, Slippery interior & lack of versatility. o Made of fully nylon microfiber- tough and durable - Also offers leather exterior with nylon microfiber interior. o Product price is $20
Reaching consumers over internet – Online Marketing Big Skinny o Which medium best suit Big Skinny after the event of glitch which causes Why Big Skinny wallets were originally design by the CEO as he hates to sit on thick wallet How Produced after 2 year with dozens of designs trials and material combination to produce this perfect product. Where & When NA STRENGTH WEAKNESS NO specific target market. Product – solve 5 main problems with wallet Weak Online marketing strategy (Exhibit 1) 1985, Porter competitive advantage strategy. o Size & material Differentiation Overall cost o Weight - Design leadership Slim thin wallet o Price although with 16 $20 for a lifelong o Healthier cards investment on Joyful and satisfied customer testimonial via health and posture video recording Offline market promotion – fairs, festival, retail Focus Differentiation Cost Focus stores and wholesale tradeshow Using microfiber Only $20 Sales Pitch – Regular compared to big skinny material rather wallet with same 16 cards for only $20. than leather Beyond in-person sales advertising – billboards-postcards at restaurants – adv. in car, motor and fashion magazine Negative reputation due to glitch Strong Management Pricing Power Innovative Culture Success in trade fairs Unique products THREAT OPPORTUNITY
Intense Competition Solely relied on offline market. Social media and internet threat Phishing, Fake web site, Link manipulation, Spoofed website Solution Protecting personal privacy using secured outsourced phishing-proof services (CIMB Bank) using trade association and online trust seals such as VeriSign Recommended privacy setting, access lvl, antivirus
4000 wallets ordered through online store, o consumers are ready to buy wallets online Potential customers could easily see differences in thickness – Straight forward sales www.bigskinny.net website created to propel online direct sales Innovative market – Online & New Markets
ISSUES / PROBLEM STATEMENTS / CASE STUDY QUESTIONS Reaching consumers over internet – Online Marketing of Big Skinny Online marketing services offered to help but impose high cost 1. Due to a glitch in an online promotion, Big Skinny given 4000 wallets for free via their online channel 2. How should Big Skinny convince site visitors to buy Big Skinny ? a. Convert Awareness & Interest into Consideration & Intention – b. Strong brand image – Content of site or adv to attract to landing page – photo, promotion of the day, offer of the hour, Videos( Social buzz, hype, referral rebate (CRM), photo& video with artist & celebrities with
ONLINE MARKETING
Display ads = catching/distracting users on websites via banner adv. i. Strength stuffed wallets b4 & a4 switch – thin and lightweight Video of comparison of normal wallet to big skinny wallet Rich colorful Graphical advertisements of big skinny wallet compared to normal wallet with 17 cards Effectiveness of Ad-Network – target Direct Purchase on small scale ii. Threat Internet users have largely ignore display ads (Statistics of 0.1% success) low click-through rates+ pay-per-impression = Apprhension. RISKY iii. Weakness Display ads sold on per-impression. Need to pay whether users interested/clicked or not. Need to choose where the ads would appear, specific or group sites. Ad-networks or ad-exchange strategy Algorithmic Search=search engine most preferred result due to algorithm and rank sys How it works(google,yahoo,bing,baidu) o Product feed with relevant keywords and tags mentioned frequently with relation to location and “product search & feeds” o Increase Search probability SEO – focus targeting of image, geographic, video or academic Create additional sites to link to primary site Repeat most important keywords in small font at bottom of every page. Use relevant keywords for all filename Use heading tags within each page Strength/Advantage o Algorithmic results – based on high ranking search results most relevant to users query – frequency and location of keyword search o Site submit systems – submit new content to search engine database, alerts of existence of new site. Weakness/Disadvantage o No guarantee that the site would appear in response to particular searches o Based on select and rank system which takes time to grow Solution o Start with Google(88% market share) – create & test – algorithm used (panda 2011penguin 2012- hummingbird2013) Sponsored Search = place listing within search result How it works o Based on specified key words by advertisers
o Search engine present the corresponding advertisement(two keyword-matching) Exact-match = results exact match of a query on the precise keyword Broad match=results a wide range multi-word query o Ads were sold on “per-click” basis. o Search engine sorted ads to prioritize ads with the highest bids and the highest click-through rates(Strength & Threat) Solution: o 24 keyword search – 1014 clicks with 66 sales o Use analytical softwares such as Google Trends to identigy hypothesis – experiment and conduct cost benefit analysis
Social Media=crowd sourcing platform (facebook, twitter, myspace, dig, flickr,…) How Big Skinny used social media platform o Maintained a FB page and Twitter feed to update its latest promotions o Posted videos of satisfied customer testimonial (create brand fandom – advocacy to the brand) o Reward those who actively(>1000) share and comment and talk about the videos Weakness o Video and blog post will only reach to customer if they visit the website o Takes time to grow a fan base Solution o Plan & choose specific platform rather than all platforms. o Learn about the customers – target group – geographic, demographic, psychographic, behavior or product related o Video maps, Calendar event, Mobile apps, Chat rebate of referral. Strength: o Solution to weakness: used AddThis applet to share this videos via social media platform to reach to the mass market o Shared information on product, events and promotion which was done via WOM (word of mouth) not through “sharing” in social platform. o Constant update on social media – staff regularly logged into social media Interactive Content Interactive wallet selection guide – Lifestyle & Asthetic question to recommend to best suited wallet Contest – “wallet haiku” – promote wallet minimalism – for expressing the essence of wallet in micropoetry Essay contest – “save the cows” – replace leather wallets with thin microfiber models Online Distributors (Amazon, buy.com, ebay) Strength / Advantage / Benefit Take over the challenge of finding customer bcz they run sponsored search adv campaign for indv products due to existing large user database
Strong brand value – creates customer confidence – drives huge traffic Run robust platforms – marketplace infrastructure o Can handle and volume of transaction o Structured and secured charging to cust and payment to Bigskinny o Able to manage fulfillments – packaging and mailing Disadvantage/Threat/Weakness/Challenges o Price varied according to services o Monthly fee & 7-15% sales commissions on each item sold o Integrated A/B testing may cannibalize our item if our commission agreement is not attractive to distributor o Low conversion rate from visitor to customer – due to wide range of options Strong online competitors for the same product type Solution o Maximize visual appeal o Do no solely rely on online distribution o Ensure price on online distribution is higher than on own website to attract traffic – advertisement lead to buying on own website cheaper – tunneling the traffic concept o Take a monthly contract with different online distrubutors such as Zappos, shiptiques rather than just one.
A/B Testing= A marketing technique that showed different advertisements to different users in order to compare response rates Implementing A/B Testing Refer to page 171 ( IT Architecture & Infrastructure) To manage A/B testing refer page 213 (IT portfolio management) Valuing IT Investment refer Figure 7.10 Valuation methods (Ouput)
Opportunity Modify Big Skinny site so that different site users would see different material(SEO consultant suggested) Variants in text , layout, pricing options, images, content, call to buy actions, sign-up options, subscrive RSS feeds option, Logo and strapline, use of trade association and online trust seals such as VeriSign Challenge Need new variation and tracking systems the site did not support Complexity of full-scale A/B testing(even though the system is free) would require hiring a software engineering consultant of a full time employee Other Options (3 options) Affiliate marketing = let any interested sites even blogs send traffic to Big Skinny in exchange for commissions Email marketing = in touch with existing customers Coupon sites (Groupon or LivingSocial) = promote Big Skinny in daily emails to their members offering large discounts to entice/induce/lure purchase
Next Step – Solution to 4000 orders due to system glitch Cancellation of orders that ended up with zero or near-zero prices(just like Dell or Amazon) Looking Ahead – Where to focus New consumer or Existing consumers? Social and interactive media or WOM(tradeshow and fairs) Retail portals (Amazon, Ebay,Buy) or own website. Allignment between Vision, Human Capital, Infrastructure, Process, IT system
3. How should Big Skinny convince those site visitors to buy wallets? a. Powerful & engaging marketing video b. Satisfied customer testimonial video who strongly suggest this product with rating system(star award) when in comparison on other online distribution platforms such as Amazon or Ebay c. Highlight the health implication of using thick wallets and use the strength of product to create awareness converting into interest and intention to purchase. d. Highlight the only wallet in the world to provide 1 year warranty and money back guarantee within 30 days if not satisfied. 4. Leather Wallet ?? a. Big skinny does not sell or manufacture “leather wallets” but does sell a leather like material wallet 5. What is the Priority for Big Skinny Lowest priority
Testimonial Online shop Channels A/B testing - costly
Highest Priority
Define target group – customer segmentation Positioning – creative advertising USP/UAP (unique selling proposition/unique advertising proposition) Online Distributors Expand partnership Handle advertising Prepares and delivers product to c
SOLUTIONS 1. Narrow target market a. Men & women18-30 still active in social scene 2. Improve traditional media a. Focus target market print magazines- how wallet blends well with watches or pants or shirt(new style launch) b. Character role with celebrities & socialist –save the cow - in return for advertisement and sales via environment friendly product. c. Door-to-door marketing : department storess and nightclubs to demo products – collaborate with designers (H&M, zara, forever 21) d. Design a more attractive logo e. Evolve impulse purchase with attractive customer service Delivery Warranty Material care Privacy policy – RFID block Exchange and return Trade in old wallet for certain price. 3. Increase digital engagement & social media presence a. Brand Engagement : Content rich website( young, fun, sleekly, sophisticated and classy look) Gift ideas or customize wallets on request as a respond to signature look. b. Brand awareness Lifespan of each product – trend analysis using Data Collection Tools creating buzz – youtuberadioworld sensation – measuring metric through Data Analysis softwares which provides model and statictics c. Assessment & metric: Review-analyze-expand on display ads & SEO Search (algorithm & sponsored) Weekly special coupon on website Trending key phrases : clutch, purse, organizer, best gift for dad… Increase Hastag marketing & sharing incentives 4. Minimal presence on Amazon and buy.com
