Digital Marketing
Digital marketing will come in handy to boost the sales of MERL’s new toy collections. However, for the digital campaign to e effective, an analysis of various influencing factors is critical. In analyzing the situation at hand, the political and technological external factors shall influence the efficiency of the marketing. With BREXIT in place, MERL’s shall be forced to invest more to penetrate certain markets. The sales are also not expected to be high due to the BREXIT that seen the closure of some markets. The main objective of the campaign is to increase traffic to MERL’s official website and hence ensure high attendance of the launch event. The launch event is majorly targeting women and families that have kids within the age range of three to twelve years. Official communication on the launch event shall be done via the company’s official social media handles and the company’s website. Email shall also be used to communicate with those in the company’s mail list. With a budget of £2000, all the digital marketing strategies shall be implemented. To assess the efficiency of the marketing schemes, control measures like google analytics, Twitter analytics, Facebook Analytics, and Instagram Analytics shall be applied. These tools shall be used to monitor the success of the digital campaign.
Table of Contents
Contents
External Environment Analysis. 4
Internal Environment Analysis. 5
Segmentation and Targeting Strategy. 6
Situation Analysis
External Environment Analysis
Political: The sale, production, and distribution of the new toy collection would be greatly affected by the BREXIT that has led to increased marketing and production costs, and further limited the markets that can be explored by eliminating the free market concept. The penetration of some markets would, therefore, come at a cost hence reducing profit margins.
Economic: The market for toy products is currently overcrowded. More companies have diverted to making toys coming up with different products of different brands. Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic has tattered the economy and thus reduced the purchasing power of many people. Many people are giving priority to essential products like food and hence may contribute to low event turn out.
Social: Social platforms like TikTok, Likee, and VSkit are gaining traction in the market. Most of the users of these platforms are within the age range of our target market and hence shall be used for marketing. Family weekend outs are also gaining popularity, and hence the sale and marketing of the new toys in resorts, beaches, and fun points that families frequent on weekends will be vital.
Technological: Digital advertising methods have become more popular due to the large audience they can reach. Exploiting all the modes of digital marketing for the new toy collection will, therefore, be necessary.
Legal: The new toy collection of MERL is unique and is an invention of MERL. To protect this invention and to ensure that competitors do not replicate this invention for their selfish needs, copyrighting the new toy collection will be important. Copyrighting ensures that only MERL produces such toys in the market. General Data Protection Regulation will come in handy to protect MERL’s official date from manipulation by competitors.
Environmental: The production, distribution, and sale of the new toy collection must be in line with the sustainable development goals as outlined by the United Nations. MERL must adopt production and distribution mechanisms that do not contribute to environmental pollution or degradation, like the use of solar energy and other renewable sources of energy that do not contribute to global warming.
Internal Environment Analysis
Budget: A budget of £2000 has been slated for the digital marketing program.
Resources: Some of the resources that will be required for the digital marketing program are social media platforms, official company websites, quality images, and videos, among others. All these products are currently available. The slated budget shall be used to boost the social media platforms, produce more quality videos and images, and improve the official website of the company.
Objectives
To increase the organic traffic to the official website of MERL by at least 15% by the use of the Search Engine Optimization Technique. The 15% target is to be achieved by May.
To increase the efficiency of email marketing by achieving a 5% Click-Through Rate from all the email adverts. The mailing list of MERL will be used to achieve this target by the end of April.
To increase attendance and to follow in Twitter too at least one hundred and fifty thousand followers through the use of twitter threads that will be highlighting the collection before and after it opens. The twitter threads will be linked to the official website.
To increase traffic to the website by at least 10% by the use of promoted posts on Facebook and Instagram by the end of May. The promoted posts shall have a direct link to the official website of the company.
Strategy
Segmentation and Targeting Strategy
The primary target group of this digital marketing campaign is families that live in Berkshire area and Greater London. These families must be having kids that are out to have fun and are also seeking educational facilities.
The second segment of the target market is women that have young kids that are aged between three and twelve years. This second segment has no specific location but generally those people that our new toy collections can reach. The women must have kids since the kids will be directly interacting with the toys.
Those targeted must be social, outgoing, and fun enthusiasts. The launch event will be thronged by many people out to have fun, socialize, and have good moments with their families. Those coming for the event must, therefore, be ready to entertain huge crowds. The event is entry free, and therefore, people from all walks of life and social status shall be targeted. The aim of the launch is to ensure that the new toy collection gains traction with the population and hence no restricted entry.
Creative Strategy
Using the company’s official Instagram handle, we’ll create exclusive Instagram stories and highlights involving toys to show our clients the evolution of toys, including how toys were introduced and how they were used in the past. These stories will have details of the launch event hence drawing the attention of the audience to the main event.
To keep the audience’s attention on the upcoming event and increase their curiosity over the launch, we’ll conduct a virtual reality tour of the museum where the launch is to take place. The virtual reality tours of the museum will be critical in entertaining the audience as they are on quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic. The rates for the virtual reality tours shall be $25-50 per hour, depending on the package that a client shall settle on.
Communication Strategy
Social Media shall be used as a strategic communication tool to reach the targeted audience. Close to ninety-five percent of the targeted audience has a social media presence, and with the proliferation of the coronavirus, where a good number of people are staying home, they spend most of their time on social media platforms to beat the quarantine boredom. A section of the new toy collection shall be showcased via Instagram stories and Twitter threads. Promotional videos shall run via the official twitter and Instagram handles. Paid adverts shall also run on Facebook via the official Facebook page of the company. Invitations to the event shall be done via email through the company’s mailing list. Customers will be required to sign up for the event via the links attached to the sent emails. Through social media platforms, an online gaming competition shall be announced to attract more people. The official website of MERL shall be awash with adverts of the official launch event. The home page and the VR and RSVP sections shall have exclusive messages of the official event.
Tactics
Marketing Mix
Product: The product under the promotion is the new toy collection.
Price: The event shall be entry free. During the event, some of the toys from the new collection shall be given to customers free of charge.
Place: The event shall be conducted at the MERL museum, that is, if the pandemic issues are sorted out. Otherwise, the event shall be conducted online via the virtual reality tour.
Promotion: Various promotion channels, like social media platforms, shall be utilized. Email marketing shall also come in handy.
Communication Mix
Advertising: Hashtags to drive traffic to MERL Instagram/Creating storyline with toys on Instagram (Twitter or Facebook)/Email advising
Personal Selling: Staff are trained to provide assistance to customers (Use to create a better customer experience
Direct Marketing: Direct marketing to target markets such as elementary schools/Families living in Berkshire area and Greater London with kids
looking for fun and educational family activities.
Sales Promotion: Seasonal offers/Attract customers by giving small gifts
Public Relations: Sponsor toys for poor children to promote brands/Customer reviews published on the MERL website (Social media account).
Actions
| Type of Post | Channel | Target Audience | Message | Content | Objective Target | Date |
| Promoted Post | Instagram & Twitter | Online, proficient social media users. Families with young children, in Berkshire and Great London Area | Announcing the launch date and minimal content of the new collection | Twitter and Instagram stories are fitting, a short introduction of crucial collection piece, the infrastructure of proactive content marketing. | To inform the audience of the launch date to entice the audience with new collection and drive traffic to the MERL website. A by-product of digital-marketing via social media will be the increased SM reach on both Instagram and Twitter | 21st March – 4TH April |
| Campaign Advertisement | As seen above – Alongside pre-subscribed members email found on MERL Database | Announcing the launch date and minimal content of the new collection | In comparison to social media posts, the email shall be a more formal, expletive, and comprehensive base. Including dates, images of information surrounding the new launch | To inform the audience of the launch date to entice the audience with new collection and drive traffic to the MERL website. By –product, building and PR and audience relationship | 23rd March – 6th APRIL | |
| Promotion Videos | Instagram Twitter Website | Social media audience, MERL website, Email recipients | History of the new collection, selection of key toys accompanied by information surrounding selection | Video from 1 to 2 minutes from key MERL staff and collection, including dates, MERL websites and social media | To expand MERL’s research, drive new traffic to MERL social media sites and website landing page | 30th March – 27th April |
| Social Media Advertisement (Banner Ads) | Facebook and Instagram | Online, proficient social media users. Families with young children in Berkshire and Great London Area | Dates, address and opportunity to see collection up-close | Short yet punctual information to keep the target audience’s attention. Carousel of images from the new range | Increase MERL’s following and attract pre-existing audiences unaware of the new collection thus far. Cautious of Ad-block Ineffective marketing | 30th March – 27th April |
| Online competition | Twitter and Facebook | Online, proficient social media users. Families with young children in Berkshire and Great London Area | Increase awareness of launch. “My Favourite Toy” challenge. | “My Favourite Toy“- posting a picture of a toy you or your child used to enjoy. It creates a connection between MERL’s new launch and target audiences’ childhood. Drives traffic to the new launch | Induces audience feeling of nostalgic/sentimental feelings. It creates a connection between MERL’s services and the target audience. Especially popular during quarantine, where “TBT” content has become popular | 5th March – 28th April |
| Virtual Reality Tour | MERLS Website | Online, proficient social media users. Families with young children in Berkshire and Great London Area. Including all-new audience gained from previous advertisements | Portray MERL’s awareness of current climate-catering to the needs of many whilst quarantined. | Virtual tour on the website of entire MERL collection alongside the new launch | During quarantine under strict government orders due to COVID-19, a virtual tour of the new collection with a tour guide soundtrack alongside the video. Easy navigation of museums and new collections. | New Collection Launch Date |
Control
To effectively monitor the performance of the digital campaign, various tools shall come in handy to monitor the performance. Tools like google analytics and the analytics tools of the social media platforms shall be put in use. Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook Analytics shall be used.
Google Analytics: CTR and UTM mechanisms shall be used to monitor the performance and efficiency of the email promotions. These tools shall assess the number of visits to the official website arising from the links attached to the promoted mails. The MERL website traffic shall be monitored during the virtual reality tour. The time spent on the website by the customers that subscribed to the virtual reality tour shall be monitored. The videos promoted on the official website and the paid social media adverts shall be monitored in terms of view to gauge the number of impressed audiences.
Facebook/ Instagram/ Twitter Analytics: All paid adverts on these platforms shall be monitored to determine the traffic to the official website that arose from these promotions.
Feedback: Via online surveys, customers shall be asked to give their feedback on the online tour of the museum and the launch event. The official MERL website shall also be monitored for the reviews section where customers comment on the company’s website.
Contingency Plan
| Issue | Likelihood/10 | Impact/10 |
| Pandemic | 2 | Financial-10 Operational-10 |
| Natural Disaster | 1 | Financial-10 Operational-7 |
| Poor Customer Response | 3 | Financial-10 |
Budget
| Type of Post | Channel | Budget |
| Promoted Post | Instagram and Twitter | £100 |
| Campaign Advertisement | £600 | |
| Promotion Video | Instagram Website | £200 |
| Social Media Advert | Facebook and Instagram | £500 |
| Online Competition | Twitter and Facebook | £50 |
| Virtual Reality Tour | MERL Website | £550 |
References
- (2019). Guide to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). (Online). Available at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/accountability-and-governance/data-protection-officers/. [Accessed 27/03/2020].
Visual Paradigm. (2018). Pest Analysis Example: Toy Industry. (Online). Available at:
https://online.visual-paradigm.com/diagrams/templates/pest-analysis/toy-industry/. [Accessed 27/03/2020].
Fern Fort University. (2019). Mattel, Inc. PESTLE & Environment Analysis. (Online). Available at: http://fernfortuniversity.com/term-papers/pestel/nyse4/736-mattel–inc-.php. [Accessed 27/03/2020].
The Museum of English Rural Life. (2020). Search & Browse Collection. (Online). Available at: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/merl-collections/search-and-browse/. [Accessed 27/03/2020]