Online  Marketing  Proposal  Weaver  and  Company  

Wenting  Zhang  

ABSTRACT  

The  proposal  summarizes  the  benefits  that  online  marketing  can  bring  to  Weaver  and  Company,  and  objectives,  strategy  and  measurement.    

 

  2  

 

Table  of  Contents  

Executive  Summary ................................................................................................................ 3  Online  Marketing  Channels.................................................................................................. 3  Channels  for  Weaver  and  Company .................................................................................. 4  Paid  search  marketing  Pay  Per  Click  (PPC) .............................................................................4  Why  PPC.............................................................................................................................................................. 5  Budget .................................................................................................................................................................. 5  

Email  marketing ................................................................................................................................5  Why  emails......................................................................................................................................................... 5  

Search  Engine  Optimization  (SEO)..............................................................................................6  Why  SEO.............................................................................................................................................................. 6  

Social  Media ........................................................................................................................................6  Why  social  media ............................................................................................................................................ 6  Medium................................................................................................................................................................ 7  

Objective: ................................................................................................................................... 7  Strategy....................................................................................................................................... 8  Measurement ............................................................................................................................ 9  Conclusion................................................................................................................................11  Appendix ..................................................................................................................................11    

 

  3  

Executive  Summary    Online  marketing  helps  businesses  achieve  objectives  that  are  difficult  to  be  

achieved  through  offline  channels.  For  Weaver  and  Company,  the  key  success  factor  is  to  use  the  right  online  marketing  channels  and  corporate  efforts  with  current  offline  marketing  to  achieve  objectives.    

This  proposal  includes  overview  of  online  marketing  channels,  marketing  plan  objectives  and  strategies  as  well  as  how  to  measure  and  control  the  results.    

Online  Marketing  Channels    To  develop  a  strong  marketing  plan,  it  is  important  to  be  familiar  with  each  

online  marketing  channel  and  plan  strategies  by  these  channels,  because  each  channel  has  its  own  tools,  tactics,  strengths,  weaknesses,  and  best  practices.    

 Table  A:  Six  major  online  marketing  channels:    

Channels   How  it  works   Purpose  1.  Paid  search  marketing,  Pay  Per  Click  (PPC)  

Place  messages  on  a  search  engine  (Google,  Bing,  or  Yahoo!)  encouraging  click  through  to  a  web  site  when  the  user  types  a  specific  keyword  phrase,  typically  on  a  Pay  Per  Click  (PPC)  basis.    

Increase  visibility  in  search  engine  result  pages  to  acquire  customers.  

2.  Search  engine  optimization  (SEO)  

Boost  a  company’s  position  in  the  natural  search  listings  through  modifications  to  the  web  site  or  direct  efforts  to  get  others  to  link  to  the  site.  

Increase  visibility  in  search  engine  result  pages  to  acquire  customers.    

3.  Display  and  rich-­‐media  advertising  

Such  as  banners,  skyscrapers  and  rich  media  ads  with  image-­‐based  video,  online  audio,  widget,  in-­‐game,  or  animated  online  advertisements.    

Attract  users’  attention  and  clicks  to  increase  brand  awareness  and  traffic  to  the  website.    

4.  E-­‐mail   Electronic  mail  as  a  means  of  communicating  commercial  or  new  services  messages  to  an  audience  through  sending  e-­‐newsletters  or  email  campaigns.  

Attract  visitors,  encourage  repeat  purchases,  and  increase  customer  engagement.  

5.  Social  media   Online  PR-­‐maximizing  favorable  mentions  of  company,  brand,  products  or  web  sites  on  a  range  of  third  party  web  sites  such  as  media  sites,  social  networks,  and  blogs,    

Increase  brand  awareness  and  create  a  sense  of  community  among  customers.    

6.  Affiliate  and  partner  marketing  

Provide  financial  incentives  to  others  to  close  transactions  on  your  behalf  or  drive  traffic  to  your  site.  

Extending  reach  into  audiences  via  other  sites.  

     

 

  4  

 Among  these  six  channels,  display  &  rich-­media  ads  and  affiliate  &  partner  

marketing  are  not  considered  as  parts  of  Weaver  and  Company  current  online  marketing  plan,  because:    

Display  and  rich-­‐media  advertising  is  a  passive  advertising  method,  which  is  not  suggested  to  B2B  organizations,  because  business  buyers  consider  cost  and  quality  more  carefully,  they  do  product  research  by  themselves  rather  than  paying  attention  to  online  banner  ads.    

Affiliate  and  partner  marketing  is  a  very  expensive  channel.  On  the  other  side,  it  is  not  suitable  though  for  business  products  or  lower  priced  products,  since  it  won’t  be  sufficiently  profitable  for  the  affiliates.    

Channels  for  Weaver  and  Company  Channels     Why  Pay  Per  Click  (PPC)   Attract  visitors  to  website  quickly  through  search  engine    Search  engine  optimization  (SEO)  

Attract  visitors  to  the  website  and  convert  them  to  customers  

Email     Communicate  with  customers  directly  and  easy  to  track  prospective  customers  

Social  media   Increase  awareness  and  create  customer  community    

Paid  search  marketing  Pay  Per  Click  (PPC)  Visibility  in  search  engines  (Google,  Yahoo!  Or  Bing)  can  be  achieved  through:    • Pay  per  click  (PPC)    

Bid  on  keywords,  which  are  related  to  products  or  services.  Cost  is  only  incurred  when  the  ad  is  clicked  on  and  a  visitor  is  directed  to  the  company’s  website.    • Search  engine  optimization  (SEO)    

Raise  ranking  in  organic  (unpaid)  results,  or  bid  against  other  advertisers  to      

Table  B:  Google  search  result  for  medial  supply    

   

 

  5  

Why  PPC      Why     How    High  level  of  traffic    

People  naturally  turn  to  a  search  engine  when  they  are  seeking  products.    The  higher  the  ranking  on  the  search  engine,  the  higher  the  traffic  that  would  be.    

Highly  targeted      

The  target  of  PPC  is  someone  who  is  looking  for  the  products  or  services.  There  is  limited  waste  compared  to  other  media.    

Instant  result    

Only  takes  a  few  days  to  achieve  high  ranking.  

     

Budget  The  PPC  cost  varies  depending  on  how  competitive  the  keywords  are.    There  is  

no  average  cost  of  a  PPC  campaign.  Some  competitive  keywords,  such  as  “insurance”  can  be  charged  at  thousands  of  dollars  per  day.  But  some  less  competitive  keywords  may  only  charge  a  minimum  cost,  $0.01  per  click.    

Currently,  the  keywords  “Nuprep  and  Ten20,  “  are  purchased  by  bio-­‐medical.com.  In  order  to  acquire  new  distributors,  it  is  suggested  to  bid  on  product  and  company  related  keywords  to  increase  awareness.  The  feasibility  of  PPC  and  potential  profitable  keywords  for  Weaver  and  Company  need  future  analysis  and  research.    

Email  marketing  E-­‐mail  marketing  activities  include  e-­‐newsletter  registration,  email  campaign  

and  purchase  reminder  email.    

Why  emails  Why     How    Personal     A  one-­‐on-­‐one  conversation  with  a  lot  of  people,  all  at  one  time    Direct     The  target  is  clear  and  messages  are  under  control.    Drive  traffic   Through  sending  newsletter  frequently,  reminder  letter,  welcome  

message,  initial  contact  with  prospective  customer.          

The  implementation  of  email  marketing  requires  a  relatively  larger  amount  of  customer  email  addresses,  meanwhile,  requires  approve  from  these  customers  for  sending  product  and  service  related  information.    

It  is  highly  suggested  that  the  company  offers  email  sign-­‐up  options  on  the  website  and  use  customer  database  management  software  to  track  and  keep  all  the  customers  data.  For  example,  add  subscription  on  the  website,  “Would  you  like  to  receive  more  information  on  our  company  and  our  products’?      

 

  6  

Search  Engine  Optimization  (SEO)  Search  engine  optimization  involves  achieving  the  highest  ranking  in  the  

natural  or  organic  listings  on  the  search  engine  result  pages.  The  ranking  is  dependent  on  an  algorithm  used  by  each  search  engine  to  match  relevant  site  page  content  with  the  key  phrase  entered.      

Why  SEO  Why     How    High  organic  ranking      

Boost  company’s  position  higher  than  other  competitors  and  so  achieve  higher  level  of  traffic,  meanwhile,  it  is  unpaid.    

High  conversion  rate     Help  to  improve  visitors’  online  experience,  and  convert  them  to  customers.    

     

In  conclusion,  SEO  requires  a  lot  of  efforts  on  website  design  and  key  phrase  analysis.  It  cannot  be  achieved  immediately;  it  should  be  an  ongoing  project.    

Social  Media  Social  Media  is  a  continuous  and  ever-­‐expanding  online  dialogue  regarding  

news,  entertainment,  products/services  and  any  other  topic  that  inspires  an  Internet  user  to  speak  out.  It  is  through  mediums  such  as  blogs,  wikis,  forums,  and  other  social  networks.    

Why  social  media    Why     How  Users  are  more  likely  to  buy  

A  recent  study:  (market  research  firm  Chadwick  Martin  Bailey  and  immoderate),  Facebook  fans  and  Twitter  followers  apt  to  recommend  brands  they  follow  to  others,  furthermore,  they  are  also  more  likely  to  make  a  purchase  from  those  brands.  (See  Appendix  for  detail  statistical  data)  

Create  a  Community/Engagement    

Members  can  interact  with  each  other,  share  stories  and  suggestions  about  the  products/services,  learn  more  about  Weaver  and  Company  and  become  more  invested  in  the  brand.    

Customer  acquisition   Find  prospective  clients  and  start  relationships  through  current  customers  network  and  recommendation.    

Manage  brand  reputation    

Shape  customers  opinions,  clarify  biases,  and  reverse  negative  slants  through  monitoring  the  blog  post  &comments  to  discover  if  and  when  people  are  discussing  the  brand  and  products/services  

Customer  service   Address  customer  service  concerns  and  be  able  to  answer  product/service  questions  immediately.      

Public  relation     News  release  will  become  more  visible  and  convenient  among  customers    

   

 

 

  7  

Medium    

Blogs:    Provide  educational  and  instructional  content  for  customers  and  make  company  announcements.  Help  to  build  professional  and  trustworthy  reputation.      

Facebook:    Business  profiles  connected  people  as  “fans”;  now,  users  simply  “Like”  the  Page,  there’s  no  need  for  approval  from  administer.    Connect  with  current  customers  and  find  new  ones  by  leveraging  fans’  social  networks.    

 Twitter    Allow  people  to  connect  each  other,  through  short  updates,  called  “tweets.”  Until  2009,  19%  of  US  Internet  users  Tweet,  and  the  number  is  still  increasing.    

 In  conclusion,  social  media  is  an  important  factor  influencing  the  customers’  

purchase  and  post-­‐purchase  evaluation  process,  since  Internet  users  tend  to  listen  to  one  another  first  rather  than  advertising.  If  a  business  doesn’t  have  a  presence  on  social  media  platforms  such  as  Twitter  and  Facebook  they  risk  being  seen  as  “out  of  touch”  while  missing  out  on  valuable  word  of  mouth  and  even  sales.    

Objective:    The  objectives  can  be  summarized  into  three  areas.  The  bottom  line  is  to  

increase  sales,  through  customer  acquisition  and  customer  engagement  &  loyalty.  

 

Acquire  customers  

-­‐Trafjic  building  -­‐Prospective  customers  relations  -­‐Increase  awareness  

Engage&loyalty  

-­‐  On-­‐going  diaglogue    -­‐  Database  building  

Sales  

 

  8  

Strategy        

Strategy   Tool  Increase  website  traffic     Website  design,  SEO,  PPC,  Google  Analytics  Increase  conversion  rate   Google  Analytics,  SEO  Build  a  list  of  prospective  customers     Trade  shows,  email  marketing-­‐online  sign-­‐up  Leverage  online  for  brand  awareness     Social  media    Create  an  ongoing  dialogue  with  current  and  prospective  customers.    

Social  media,  email  marketing  

Create  customer  database  for  tracking  and  management    

Customer  database  software  

     

Additionally,  online  marketing  grows  along  with  company’s  growth.  It  helps  to  achieve  objectives  in  every  stage  of  company’s  development.  

In  general,  the  company  development  stage  could  be  summarized  as:  • Market  Penetration-­  Increase  existing  product  sales  in  the  existing  market;    • Market  Extension-­‐  Increase  existing  product  sales  in  the  new  market    • Product  Development-­‐  Introduce  new  product  in  the  existing  market;  • Diversification-­‐  Develop  new  product  in  the  new  market.    

Table  C:  Online  marketing  function  in  different  development  stages    

 

 

  9  

Measurement    Google  analytics    (http://www.google.com/analytics/)    

Google  Analytics  is  a  free  on-­‐site  behavior  tracking  system.  And  it  is  a  standard  tracking  system  for  most  of  the  top  companies  in  the  world.  And  it  is  easy  to  use  and  implement,  by  placing  a  piece  of  JavaScript  code  on  company  pages  throughout  web  site,  markers  will  be  able  to  gain  web  site  visitors  information.    

 Implementing  basic  Google  Analytics  requires  two  steps:    • Creating  a  Google  Analytics  account  at  http://www.google.com/analytics/      • Copy  and  paste  the  tracking  code  on  every  page  on  the  web  page    

Marketers  can  gain  rich  insights  on  the  following  major  areas:  Insights   How  

Marketing  effectiveness    

Captures  all  the  traffic  sources,    • PPC  traffic,    • Organic  traffic,    • Email  campaign,    • Visitors  visited  the  web  site  by  typing  in  URL  directly.    Not  only  records  the  amount  of  traffic  (visits)  generated  by  those  online  marketing  channels,  but  also  segment  the  information  within  each  channel.  These  information  can  latter  be  used  to  reflects  the  effectiveness.    

Target/market  information    

Capture  information:  • Where  are  they  from?  • Which  site  did  they  visit  before  they  come  to  site?  • What  keywords  do  they  use,  on  what  search  engine  before  

they  arrive  on  site?  (what  information  were  they  looking  for?)  

• What  information  on  the  site  is  they  interested  or  not  interested?  

• How  long  do  they  stay  on  site?  • How  many  pages  do  they  view  while  on  the  site?    

     In  conclusion,  the  information  not  only  can  be  used  to  optimize  marketing  

strategies  for  other  online  channels  (e.g.  bidding  on  the  high  performance  keywords)  but  also  to  improve  the  site  content  to  better  serve  potential  customers  (by  improving  site  content  to  better  cater  visitors  interests).  This  list  is  not  an  exhaustive  list  of  what  Google  Analytics  can  be  used  to  assist  other  online  marketing  channels.  Ultimately,  it  can  be  used  to  optimize  the  traffic  source  coming  to  the  site,  and  to  improve  visitors  online  experience  by  improve  the  site  content  and  structure.    

 

  10  

Google  Analytics  Example:  (an  online  retailer’s  website)  Table  D:  On-­site  behavior  

   Table  E:  Traffic  distribution  based  regions  

   Table  F:  Traffic  source  overview  

   

 

  11  

Conclusion  Effective  marketing  is  one  of  the  key  elements  of  a  successful  business.  

Meanwhile,  marketing  is  all  about  customers.  When  more  and  more  customers  are  spending  an  increasing  part  of  their  lives  in  the  virtual  world,  there  is  no  reason  for  not  taking  action  in  the  online  world.    

For  Weaver  and  Company,  these  are  the  summarized  benefits,  which  can  be  achieved  through  online  marketing.    

• Sales  increase  • Better  communication  with  customers  (Online  PR  Tool)  • Less  marketing  expenses  • Brand  building    In  sum,  online  marketing  requires  significant  amount  of  efforts  and  time.  It  

helps  business  grow  and  also  grow  along  with  business.      

 Appendix      Appendix  A:  The  statistics  data  revealing  the  powerful  nature  of  social  media  marketing:      

     

     

More  than  50%  of  Facebook  fans  said  they  are  more  likely  to  make  a  purchase  for  at  least  a  few  brands,  (and  67%  of  Twitter  followers  reported  the  same.)  

While  60%  of  Facebook  users  and  79%  of  Twitter  users  are  more  likely  to  recommend  a  brand  after  becoming  a  friend  or  fan,  over  50%  of  Facebook  users  (and  67%  of  Twitterers  are  more  likely  to  purchase  from  brands  they  latch  on  to.)