Unit 12 - Internet Marketing in Business

Good Morning Year 12!

Welcome to a brand new unit! The Specification for this unit can be found here! Below, you will find instructions and helpful links to get you through every criteria but feel free to add your own findings and ideas / resources in the 'Comments' section as we go along...

So here goes...

LO - Describe the role Internet marketing has within a modern marketing context, what is the extended marketing mix,what is the role of relationship marketing (see unit 3!) and the opportunities technology brings. (advantages of being online) available to an online Business such as First Direct, Amazon or ASOS, TESCO.

The following activities may help:

• The 7P's
• Segmentation and development through the Internet
• Powerpoint on internet marketing in business

P1 - You have been asked by the Trade & Industry department of Oxford City Council to give a presentation to local traders in Oxford and the covered market. The presentation is called ' Creative ways in which a business can use the Internet to improve its marketing' and will use local, regional and national examples to show how business operators can benefit from this.  To achieve this task you need to:

1. Investigate the role of Internet marketing for at least TWO businesses in the context of the 'seven P's' (product, price, place, promotion, people, physical evidence and process)
2. Using your investigation for task 1.1 create a structured presentation based on the 7P's to describe to business operator's the role of Internet marketing used by the TWO specific businesses' elements and be prepared to give a verbal outline and hold a discussion with the group about each.  Deadline date Wednesday 22nd Jan 2014

The following companies might help:

B&Q  Easy Jet and see how they use their on line presence and identify what their on line business objectives might be.  Can you pinch these?
Nielsen's research into trends on Online shopping

Web Trends Marketing Warehouse what does the research tell you? and 

Workspace - 5 personalities of broadband users and what makes a successful web worker

P2 -  Describe (again!) how the Business you selected in P1 uses Internet Marketing. You may want to consider concepts like one to one marketing, mass customisation, cost-effective information gathering, reaching wider and more distant markets, on line games and music, enhanced graphics, enhancing traditional products and services, and the mix of on line and off-line activities! PS I've discovered an absolute gem of a slide show below all about Amazon's strategy...Use a minimum of three online businesses to compare and contrast how they differ in their online presence. An example might be how a company uses the internet to advertise last minute promotions. Deadline date Wednesday 5th Feb 2014

Amazon.com: the Hidden Empire

View more presentations from faberNovel

P3/M1/D1 - Explain the benefits to the customer of a Business using Internet Marketing! Consider opportunities to compare and select providers, increased bargaining power, more comprehensive and up to date product information, lower costs via dynamic pricing (auctions), supply convenience (eg airline tickets, vouchers), immediacy (no travel), digtial complaints services, opportunities to pool customer experiences (chat rooms, discussion forums), no middle man, no sales pressure, easier to cancel, more leisure time, flexibility etc!
Remember the core text provides additional theory on pages 294 to 297.  P3 links and gives you access to M1 & D1. Additional resources to help get your head around P3 can be seen below so click on the links accordingly:

• Internet marketing worksheet
• Benefits to customers greater supply convenience worksheet
• Benefits to customers - access to comprehensive information worksheet

Business examples to research might include airline ticketing, advanced rail ticket, www.thetrainline.com, www.ticketmaster.co.uk  and www.travelodge.co.uk All these have one thing in common and that is that they will operate yield management pricing or dynamic pricing policies. Deadline date Wednesday 5th March 2014

P4 - The news yesterday stated that a recent survey by the Boston Consulting Group showed that the UK is leading the world in the commercial use of the internet.  Do you think that this is a good thing for the UK economy? Click here to read.  Click here to listen.  The recent report suggests that the UK is a leading user of the internet in retail sales.  Summarise the report in less than 200 words.  You can find it here.

Having just explained the benefits to the customer of IM, it is now the turn of the Business itself! So, you will need to refer to your Business (ASOS, Amazon etc) closely and talk about the benefits under 3 main headings - Access, Availability and Business Efficiency. Alternatively you might wish to access this Tower Trophies business by clicking the link here

I was hoping to get you a guest speaker for today or set up a live video link with the owner who has taken a real business online but it was not possible to synchronise this to the lesson time today so I emailed him some questions that you might wish to read in terms of some of the research for this unit's P4 task.  Click here for Lionel Wrigth's answers and feel free to email him if you need further information using the contact details here: lionel@towertrpohies.com

P4 is looking for you to understand the theory around the following key topic areas

Access - Cover more frequent individualised communications to build relationships; use of communications to promote eg special offers, product launches; new services; use of purchase history to tailor offers to individuals, easier and cheaper to alter adverts, quicker response times to changing market needs, better information to guide stock holding.

Availability - increased range of customised buyer menus resulting in more accurate responses to customer needs and wants; use of internet information to identify product development opportunities; opportunities for immediate sales of products eg banking, insurance policies; possibilities of substitute online forms of products eg music, films, radio and TV programmes; podcasts; market development,

ability to expand markets more cost-effectively; lower entry costs for small businesses; opportunities to offer services ‘virtually’ eg virtual tours by estate agents; operating 24/7 eg internet banking; ability to link traditional methods with online marketing (‘bricks and clicks’); market diversification opportunities eg http://www.tesco.com/

Business Efficiency - use of internet to manage supply chain; use of electronic communications to reduce staff costs; opportunities for increased sales from existing customers; opportunities to monitor competitor activity; internet business opportunities eg use of paid-for promotion on websites, through search engines,
portals and links.  Deadline date Wednesday 19th March 2014

Key Terms that might be new to you include:

• Market diversification
• Search engine advertising
• Reciprocal and Affiliate links

Homework
Complete your task for P4 using the three part outline below:

1. As a business analyst produce evidence about the practicalities of going online. 
2. Describe the key benefits and opportunities presented by internet marketing activities for a selected business
3. How have they helped formulate and change the marketing mix e.g. Product features, promotional material, pricing, personalised menu, physical space requirements, distribution, 

P5 - Conclude all the previous work by providing 3 detailed examples each of your Business's increased efficiency, effectiveness and success. Deadline date Wednesday 26th March 2014

P6 - Explain the challenges of globalisation facing your selected Business when using the internet as a marketing tool! Be sure to cover...

Problems of channel conflict and disintermediation, low customer confidence in payment security, challenge of delivering higher reliability and raised expectations, managing overload of marketing feedback, volume of customer profiles (and related complex analysis), keeping pace with market and technology changes, challenge of constantly changing marketing goals in line with customer expectations, ensuring maximum access via ISPs and search engines, site security, payment method security, linguistic / cultural sensitivity, additional legal complexity!!

This little activity here should get your minds thinking about P6 and the report here may be something that gives you some more solid research that you can use!  The document here should also help with P6

Thats it guys if you want a DISTINCTION or MERIT get this submitted before the end of term six or I guess that you will be happy with a PASS grade ! Deadline date Wednesday 2nd April 2014

Hope you enjoyed the break and thanks for being such a  fab class!

Mr T