Digital Marketing: Opportunities, Challenges, and Impact

This document explores the opportunities, challenges, and impact of digital marketing in today's digital environment. It covers key consumer trends and insights fueling the growth of digital marketing. It also examines the key digital tools, platforms, and channels compared to physical channels. Additionally, it discusses how to organize digital marketing activities and build multi-channel capabilities. Finally, it evaluates methods of monitoring and measuring digital marketing effectively.

Digital marketing

Table of Contents
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
LO1: Demonstrate an understanding of the opportunities, challenges and impact of the digital
environment............................................................................................................................3
P1: Digital marketing landscape and comparison between online and offline marketing
concepts..................................................................................................................................3
P2: Key consumer trends and insights fuelling the growth of digital marketing...................5
LO2: Examine key digital tools, platforms and channels, comparing and contrasting bricks
and mortar and other physical channels.................................................................................5
P3: Key digital tools and hardware available to marketers in contrast to ‘bricks and mortar’
and other physical channels....................................................................................................5
P4: Development of e-commerce and digital marketing platforms and channels in comparison
to physical channels................................................................................................................6
LO3: Determine how to organise digital marketing activities and build multi-channel
capabilities in an organisation................................................................................................6
P5: Digital marketing plan and strategies to build multi-channel capabilities.......................6
P6: Evolution of omni-channel marketing.............................................................................8
LO4: Evaluate methods of monitoring and measuring digital marketing effectively............8
P7: Measurement techniques and performance metrics in digital marketing........................8
P8: Actions to improve performance in digital marketing....................................................9
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
In today's day where human use cellphones for almost everything, digital marketing is the
biggest tool that can be used in order to reach potential customers. Brands all over the globe use
innovative and creative ways to covey their messages and attract new customers. Connect
Catering, is a local SME in Wallingford, and they have always used the traditional marketing
strategies like giving advertisements in local as well as national newspapers, featured editorials
in specialist magazines and advertisements through local FM Radios. Taking recent reports in
consideration, the traditional marketing structure is not as efficient as it used to be and as a result
sales is dropping every year. The report will focus on establishment of digital marketing
channels for Connect Catering along with traditional marketing. The light will be shed upon
opportunities and risks associated with with the same along with the ways to mitigate them. This
reform will include interconnected analytics spread throughout all the channels of operation to
measure the success and plan follow ups along with the techniques to acquire target customers
and personalize customer experience using marketing tactics.
Main Body
LO1: Demonstrate an understanding of the opportunities, challenges and impact of the digital
environment
P1: Digital marketing landscape and comparison between online and offline marketing concepts
Digital marketing is an extension of traditional marketing where internet is used to create
a communication channel between the organization and the customers. Different individual
elements like social media platforms, emails, web browsers, content marketing and many more
synchronises together and establishes a two-way interaction between the company and the
customers (Ornato and Ferraris 2018).
Digital landscapes is an accumulation of websites, emails, social media platforms,
electronic devices such as cell phones, laptop, tablets and other such elements which are essential
for reputation management for the organization. The understanding and use of this tool is a key
factor in establishing and then maintaining the goodwill for the organization. Connect Catering
may start by responding to the customer feedback online within the tolerable time frames, this
will help the organization in maintaining digital and using it for the benefit of the business.
Basis of differentiation Offline Marketing Concepts Online Marketing Concepts
Focus The offline marketing concepts
focuses on their product.
During the course of
advertisements and sales the
emphasis is on the product.
Since Connect Catering was
using this marketing strategy
the focus of their
advertisements was on
reflecting the quality of their
services.
Online marketing strategies
focuses on the content. May it
be social media advertisements
or emails, the quality of
content is the key ingredient
for online marketing. It
requires a lot of innovation and
creativity in order to make the
content more relatable for
potential customers.
Medium The medium that conveys the The medium that conveys the

message to the customers in
offline marketing is mainly
mass media like telephones,
newspapers, magazines, FM
Radio etc.
message to customers I online
marketing is third party for
example media, social media,
content marketing, e-mails etc.
Communication Offline marketing establishes a
one-way communication
between the organisation and
the customers. Most
commonly used
communication tools for
offline marketing are
newspapers and radio. The
customers have to put a lot of
efforts to revert back to the
business regarding queries or
feedbacks in offline marketing
(Zhao et al 2016) . This can be
a huge reason why the
traditional marketing is not
giving the expected results for
Connect Catering lately.
Online marketing strategies
establishes a two-way
communication between the
customers are the organization.
Most commonly used
communication tool for online
marketing is social media. This
makes the communication easy
and reduces customer efforts,
the solution to their query is
just a few taps away. The
customers can share their
valuable feedback using this
marketing strategy as well.
Target Audience The target audience in offline
marketing is scattered as well
as limited. Considering the
case with Connect Catering,
they used advertisements
through local and national
newspapers and radio and
therefore the reach of the same
was limited. Even if they have
a specific audience they will
be unable to target them using
the limited resources that
offline marketing has to offer.
The target audience is online
marketing is at one place and
huge. In addition using the
countless resources this
marketing strategy possesses,
Connect Catering will be able
to create personalized
advertisements and can push
them towards a specific
direction.
Cost Incurred The cost incurred in offline
marketing is comparatively
high with a relatively low
return on investments.
The initial stages of online
marketing can be achieved by
having no investments at all.
The return on investment rate
is higher as well.
Reach The business can not directly
reach the people who holds
expertise using this marketing
mix as a result of the
This marketing structure
enables a business to reach put
directly to the experts as there
is communication barriers in

communication barriers. this one. Connecting caters can
reach the experts and get their
valuable feedbacks as well.
Table 1: Differences between offline and online methodologies.
P2: Key consumer trends and insights fuelling the growth of digital marketing
The key consumer trends and insights fuelling the growth of digital marketing are as follows:
Importance of customer insight and understanding in developing effective digital
marketing activities – Understanding customer insight is important for a business in order to
map the journey of a customer that leads him to buying a particular commodity (Pistol and
Bucea-Manea 2017). Connecting Caters should understand the epicentre of their target customer
needs. Further marketing strategies will be developed on the basis of the origin of their
customer's needs.
Rise of online consumer power – The digital age have placed the power to turn the
cards into the hands of the customers. Retail websites can ban a seller for lifetime if frequent
reviews about any misconduct from his end (Chaffey 2009). A business is just an extension of
their customer's will and therefore when the online marketing reforms are introduced in
Connecting Caters, they will have to prioritize customer feedbacks. Many reputed brands have
made some major changes in their product and services as per customer requirements in order to
earn their loyalty.
The shift from brands and suppliers to customers and their experience of the brand
– Everything from price determination to the quality and supply of goods and services was taken
care by the brand itself, but as a result of increased competition and availability of countless
substitutes the power lies in the hands of customers (Cvjetković et al 2020). Connecting Caters
have to work on optimising customer experience. Customers now choose their desirable brands
and their feedbacks influences others in their decision as well.
The impact of negative publicity and meeting customer expectations in the digital
age- Negative feedbacks from the customers can even result in shutting down a business.
Internet is a hub of ideas and every review influences a lot of others in their decision. Connecting
Caters have to work on maintaining their digital landscape. The organization have to respond to
both negative and positive feedbacks in the maximum tolerable timeline. This is termed as
reputation management by marketers (Chaffey et al 2013). The organization have to address the
customers with empathy and assure them that no such mistakes will happen in future if the
customer had a bad experience and vice versa if a customer submits a positive feedback the
organization have to assure them that more efforts will be put in making their experience even
better in their upcoming encounters with the organisation.
LO2: Examine key digital tools, platforms and channels, comparing and contrasting bricks and
mortar and other physical channels
P3: Key digital tools and hardware available to marketers in contrast to ‘bricks and mortar’ and
other physical channels.
Most important tools and digital hardware include social media marketing, design tools,
analytics tools, content marketing tools, and email marketing tools. Internet with its countless
applications have become the biggest source of revenue generation for businesses that operates

in accordance to the digital marketing strategies (Subramaniam et al 2019). Connecting Caters
can use internet for market penetration, market expansion and get ideas for product development
by analysing the information scattered over the internet by multiple customers based on their past
experiences. These tools and digital hardware can enhance, support and take digital marketing to
the next level by by satisfying the 7Ps of marketing mix and using them for their own benefits.
The 7Ps of marketing mix are Price, Product, Place, People, Promotion, Process and
Physical Evidences. Digital marketing introduces new opportunities that can result in massive
profit maximization for the business. Connecting Caters can use digital marketing and take
advantages of Price by introducing discount codes, online vouchers, price deduction on goods
and services by point gathered by app referral (Wilson 2018). The organization can use the
second P of marketing mix i.e. Product by focusing on the emerging social media platforms like
YouTube and sponsor them in exchange of their promotional activities. The third element is
Place and Connecting Caters can now distribute their services using digital landscape just like
Uber and many other brands do. With development in A.I. Technology the organization can use
chat bots to help their customers taking care of the next P i.e. People. There are infinite ways of
carrying out promotions using digital marketing like social media promotion and video
advertising. With the rapid growth of online purchasing the Process of a customer entering a
website and gathering information and making bookings should be simplified and attractive at
the same time (Hemann and Burbary 2013). A huge number of customers make purchases based
on the online reviews of the commodity and this is the best example of Physical Evidences in
digital landscape. Connecting Caters have to understand and analyse these elements and use the
digital hardware in order to plan a flawless online marketing strategy.
P4: Development of e-commerce and digital marketing platforms and channels in comparison to
physical channels
The growth of online transactions and e-commerce – E-commerce is rapidly growing
with time. By a report by eMarketer there will be 2.14 billion digital buyers worldwide by 2021.
With this much growth in the sector, Connecting Caters can take advantage of the situation. The
world is amidst pandemic and online transactions are way safer than cash transactions,
According to a report by eMarketer retail sale with online payments is expected to be $4.058
trillion by the end of 2020.
The role of different automated and non-automated sales and support activities –
Sales automation takes all the complex time consuming activities and use software to make it
lesser time consuming. Connecting Caters can use these techniques in accordance to their needs.
The records kept are more reliable and not as complex using this tool (Groening et al 2018). The
time and resources saved by using automated sales and support activities can be used in a more
productive manner.
LO3: Determine how to organise digital marketing activities and build multi-channel capabilities
in an organisation
P5: Digital marketing plan and strategies to build multi-channel capabilities
Opportunities and challenges of digital landscape and development of multi-channel
platforms and online interchanges – Digital hardware landscape introduces countless
opportunities for Connecting Caters like getting an understanding of customer insight, a huge
growing market with customers all over the globe, countless opportunities to attract customers
and optimize customer experiences and many more. But with opportunities comes the challenges
that Connecting Caters might face, for example many brands have come out of controversial

advertisements attempts going viral online, therefore extra efforts have to be put while analysing
the variables making sure that the deliverable does not hurt someone's values. The risks of
malware users stealing confidential information and even funds is also a challenge and therefore
the organization have to invest extra efforts to mitigate the same.
Digital marketing campaigns planning – Planning is the first step in the process of
management. The digital marketing campaign planning for Connecting Caters will start with
setting their goals. Then a critical analysis of the strategy as well as the stakeholders associated
with it will be done making sure that it won't go against the ethical guidelines and does not
disrespect someone's values or belief (Micu et al 2017). An active monitoring will be required
even after the implementation of the campaign and active follow up actions will have to be
taken.
P6: Evolution of omni-channel marketing
Illustration 1: Challenges associated with digital landscape

Omni-channel marketing is accumulation of multiple traditional and digital marketing
strategies that synchronises together and provide customers an integrated experience (Gupta and
Pauna 2019). Connecting Caters can use omni-channel marketing strategies to have a
consistency in optimal customer experience.
Few examples of omni-channel marketing Connecting Caters can use are:
 Customers receiving SMS about the pricing of goods and services as soon as they enter
the premises.
 Customers getting calls or emails about the status ofChaffey their commodity.
 Customers getting personalised advertisements.Chaffey
LO4: Evaluate methods of monitoring and measuring digital marketing effectively
P7: Measurement techniques and performance metrics in digital marketing
It is essential for Connecting Caters to use different approaches in order to measure
digital campaigns using KPIs and other analytics platforms(Saura et al 2017). KPI is an
abbreviation for Key Performance Indicators. It is an accumulation of quantifiable measurements
that helps in determining the organisation's long term position. The active monitoring is essential
to ensure that everything is going as planned. The market outside the business is dynamic and
often there are some changes in business environment, using this approach the campaigns are
monitored and evaluated and therefore an alternative follow-up action is taken instead of going
through the entire plan and easting the valuable time and investment. These business metrics
may include:
 Net-profit margin
 Sales revenue
 MRR(Monthly Recurring Revenue)
 Cost of Customer AcquisitionChaffey
 Net-promoter score
Connecting Caters can use all of these measurable metrics to monitor the success of on-
going campaigns. These tools helps an organization find the company's financial, operational and
strategic achievements and compare them with the pre-decided objectives. These tolls also helps
an organization to compare its growth with their competitors. Connecting Caters can also use
analytical platforms to ease this active monitoring (Chiang et al 2018). Analytical platforms are
fully-functional automated software build specially to address the requirements of businesses.
Some of the examples of best analytical platforms are:
 Oracle Analytics server
 MicrostrategyChaffey
Illustration 2: Omni-channel marketing

 Birst
 Tableau
 Sisense
These tools helps a business keep a tract of their operational activities along with the flow
of investments in running campaigns mitigating the biggest business risk i.e. losses.
P8: Actions to improve performance in digital marketing
The shift from traditional marketing practices to digital marketing strategies is a very
major reform for Connecting Caters. The organization have to keep an eye on many small
elements which all comes together when it comes to enhancing overall customer experience
(Tapp 2014). There are many elements that the organization have to keep a check on during their
course of digital marketing landscape. Some of the best examples of these metrics are :
 Unique Visitor Traffic – This is one of the most important measurable. It keeps an eye on
the number of individuals visiting the organization's website or YouTube channel in a
pre-determined time frame. Connecting Caters have to keep an upward trend in Unique
Visitor Traffic which would mean the content is interacting well with the target
customers. This also implies that the marketing campaigns are doing well.
 Bounce Rate – This revolves around the number of visitors coming to the organization's
website but quitting after visiting only the home page. Connecting Caters can keep the
bounce rate by having the content that is of value to the customers. A good overall design
is also an efficient way of keeping the bounce rate low.
 Throughput – This usually refers to the bits of data any system is able to process at any
given point of time. It is important for the organisation as it determines the bandwidth
required to handle websites requests as well as concurrent visitors.
Conclusion
Digital marketing refers to use of internet in order to promote the goods and services. The
organization is going through a major reform in their marketing strategy. The traditional
marketing refers to the use of mass media elements to establish a one way communication
between buyer and seller where as the digital marketing framework refers to using internet and
its countless applications to establish a two-way communication between the company and its
potential customers. Connecting Caters have to work on what markets call reputation
management by maintaining a good digital landscape. The organization can rise above the 'noise'
by having an efficient digital marketing strategy. Along with constant monitoring using KPIs,
analytical platforms and business metrics. E-commerce and online transactions are increasing at
a rapid rate. The organization can use omni-channel marketing network in order to ensure
consistent optimization of customer satisfaction. The organization have to design their
campaigns in a way that are unique from the competitors and valuable for the customers so that
they stand out. Moreover the organisation needs to operate within the ethical values of business
and prioritize customer satisfaction, consider their feedbacks and work in order to enhance
customer satisfaction because all of these elements comes together and helps an organisation
earn their customer's loyalty.
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