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.
 L
egal-E thical
T
echnology In
tern
et
E Competition
Oth
erfactors
Markets
SWOT

E
-MarketingPlan
E
-B u sin
ess
S Strategy/
M odel E
-M arketing Implem entation
Strategy MarketingM ix/CRM

P Perform
anceM
etrics

Ex
hib
it3-1E-MarketingPlan–StrategyFo
rmulatio
nandIm
plementatio
n
 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 Amazon.com, 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 …