Digital Marketing Strategies for M&S

This report discusses the digital marketing strategies used by M&S, including a digital marketing audit, customer segment and persona development, customer journey analysis, and the RACE model. It also presents a digital marketing plan for M&S to achieve its objectives.

DIGITAL
MARKETING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Digital marketing audit.....................................................................................................................3
Customer segment and development of persona.........................................................................6
Customer journey in relation to targeted segment.......................................................................6
Digital marketing strategies(500).....................................................................................................6
Objectives....................................................................................................................................6
Digital marketing strategies.........................................................................................................7
RACE model................................................................................................................................7
Digital marketing plan (900)............................................................................................................8
Performance evaluation(400).........................................................................................................10
key performance indicators in relation to M&S's performance evolution plan.........................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Digital marketing can be define as that function in organisation which is related to
marketing strategies of organisation by utilizing online tools of marketing in relation to
promotion of product and services for targeting customers (Chaffey and Smith, 2017). This
report is base on study of M&S in current market. It is British multinational organisation which is
operating in business of clothes and accessory. Under this report, a proper digital marketing
audit is conducted. This is consist of discussion on key competitors of organisation and there
strategies of digital marketing. There is also identification of various digital marketing objectives
which are formulated according to current strategies of organisation. Along with this, new digital
marketing plan will also be discussed to manage digital marketing function in M&S. In end, there
is performance evaluation with appropriate plan. This is useful in achieving objectives of digital
marketing plan.
MAIN BODY
Digital marketing audit
Swot analysis: It is a framework that is undertake by an organization in order to
formulate strategies and policies for the future growth and development. In marks ans Spencer,
managers are using digital platforms in order to enhance their market share. The SWOT analysis
of digital technologies of company is outline below:
Strength Weakness
 The company has wide presence on
digital platforms such as Facebook,
Instagram and many more.
 Effective and user friendly design of
website helps organization to grab the
attention of consumers.
 It offers an efficient online platform
along with mobile application to
potential buyers where they can buy
products within a single click
 Website of M&S is not able to get
higher ranking on google because of
this they are not getting much traffic of
users.
 They do not have efficient human
resources who are good to use digital
techniques and platforms to enhance its
presence.
 Company is depend on outside sources
for data analytics and digital

( Chaffey, 2019). capabilities to increase in number of
consumers.
Opportunities Threats
 They can enhance their presence on
various digital platforms such as
LinkedIn to target new consumer
segments for instance working
professionals
 There is a wide scope in digital
marketing. They can use personalized
and customized email marketing to
attract more number of buyers (Confos
and Davis, 2016).
 They can associate with other digital
agencies in order to improve the
website ranking as well as to gain the
competitive advantage
 It has threat from other competitors
such as Primark, Zara ans many more
as they are using online platforms in an
efficient manner to enhance their
revenue.
 Automation and mobile friendly
techniques is also a constrain in the
success of company as buyers prefer
more customized and personalised tools
for online shopping.
 Security and privacy is the major issue
in the use of digital technology as there
are various hackers who can easily
access data and confidential
information of organization.
Comparison between Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Zara in context of digital presence:
Basis Marks & Spencer John lewis Zara
Build a website Build a attractive
corporate website is
the effective way to
present their brands
and products. Marks
and Spencer is one of
the company which is
invest in the creation
John lewis is one of
the leading company
across the globe but it
use different strategy
in context of corporate
website. It is great
appearance, mobile
friendly easily access
In context of Zara, It is
one of the more
fashionable and
dynamic company
which use their
website in very
different way as
compare to its

of website and take the
advantage of creating
more fun flexibility on
that site (Deiss and
Henneberry, 2020) .
through mobile, sharp
texts and images, ease
of use and navigations
on that website.
competitors. It is
website majorly use
content consistency
and presence it is more
fashionable which is
attracted to their
customers.
Social media platform In today's era most of
the company uses a
digital platform in
effective and efficient
way. Marks & Spencer
majorly uses three
platform like
Instagram, Facebook
and you tube videos.
John lewis is uses a
different social media
platform to promote
their brands and
product. It is not only
uses a Facebook and
Instagram but it plan
for those customer
who's interested for a
company products so
it also created social
media pages (Hanlon,
2019).
Zara run a number of
integrated campaign
on social media sites.
It is not only a
presence on two- three
social media platform
but it is in Facebook,
twitter, Instagram, you
tube and LinkedIn
because of the
importance of pictures
and videos in fashion.
Reach and visibility In relevance of
company, the
campaign run across
the globe and five
million unique users
add in campaign per
month on yahoo and it
is help to create more
brand awareness
It is use different
digital marketing
strategy to create
brand awareness. John
lewis good use of
portals to obtain a
reach and visibility of
brands.
Zara is one of the
famous brand so it is
not such things to be
done for creating
brand awareness but it
majorly uses social
media platform to run
their campaign and
create brand image in
the mind of customer.

Therefore, on that basis it is clear picture in context of digital marketing strategy. John lewis
and Zara are more visible, reach and targeting a customer through social media platform rather
than Marks and Spencer. It is only uses two or three social media channels to promote their
brands but competitors majorly uses a social media platform and also a reached to a customers
through run digital campaign (Järvinen, 2016).
Customer segment and development of persona
M&S is dealing in clothing and ailed industry where organisation is performing at global
level. It is important for organisation to choose appropriate strategy to achieve business
objectives. These strategies are related to choice of digital marketing strategies. In relation to
organisation, it has to choose particular customer segment to implement customer strategy.
Further discussion on this is mentioned below:
Under the current situation of organisation it can be evaluated that ready to wear segment
of organisation can be use to better segment in which organization can use digital marketing
strategies. This is because it helps in achieving business objectives and manage function in
according to firm.
Customer Persona
 Retarget its visitor with Facebook ads to increase conversion rates is the best function
where organisation can identify the potential customer for reedy to wear clothes.
 Run a promotion during holidays to increase sales and capture attention when buyers are
more aware, so that organisation can identify the current needs and can implement its
strategies accordingly ( Kannan, 2017).
 Create style guides to show your visitors how to wear or incorporate your items into their
everyday life.
 Run a giveaway on Instagram to increase both brand awareness and the size of your
community.
Customer journey in relation to targeted segment

Digital marketing strategies(500)
Objectives
It is important for organisation to formulate objectives. These objectives must be based
on SMART framework to achieve business objectives (Kaur, 2017). In relation to M&S, all these
objectives are mentioned below in context of digital marketing:
 To increase market share and reach of organisation in target market and Global platform.
 To improve profitability of firm by 20% in relation to ready to wear products.
 To increase views on official site of organisation by 25% in current time.
Digital marketing strategies
Digital marketing strategy: It refers to the strategies that makes a company enable to
enhance its presence among the potential buyers in an effective manner. It consist various
strategies such as content, email, social media marketing and many more. As per the current
trend, it is essential for Marks ans Spencer to undertake digital technologies. This will help the
entity to enhance its customers base and to get an edge over other competitors (Key, 2017).
Managers of Organization should adopt Search Engine Optimization technique. It is tool of
digital marketing that enables managers to improve quality as well as quantity of website traffic.
It is executed in order to increase number of visitors on web page of company from a search
engine such as google, yahoo and so on. This strategy will help them to improve the website
ranking. In this technique some efficient keyword are used to enhance web page visibility so that
it rank at good position on different search engines. It shows the web link of company on top
while consumer search for it using predefined keywords. To get the better outcomes,
organization need to an extensive research on market conditions, competitors position, google
analytics as well as keywords use by consumers. In relation to this organisation can RACE model
which is helpful in implementing of new program and achieving business objectives.
RACE model
This is framework which is use by organisation to manage, plan and control activities
which has to be perform by organisation at the time of digital marketing plan in organisation.
This is effective tool which can be use organisation to mange its function and achieve digital
marketing objectives. This involve four stages which are discussed below:
REACH: Under this stage all those function which are released to development of brand
awareness are discussed. These are building awareness of a brand, its products, and services on
websites. This can be done on the basis of different platforms related top paid, owned and earned
media.

ACT: In context of this stage the organisation has to manage and act on the strategy in
appropriate way. Under this organisation can use those channels which are related to
management of internal function. This is because, for improving function firm has to concentrate
on internal function which will helps in implementing the project in time related manner. For
improving function of website organisation can use google tools which helps in improving
“Viewed product”, “Added to Basket”, “Registered as a member” or “Signed up for an e-
newsletter”. M&S will use functions where it will identify good blog writers which helps in
promoting good content of social media sites.
CONVERT: This stage is related to converting all efforts of organisation in final sale of
products and services which are offered by organisation to customer in market. In relation to
M&S organisation is focusing on ready to wear products so here firm can use e-commerce sites
to promote its function and increase transactions by using variety in payment methods.
ENGAGE: This stage of model focus in building good relations to buyers by making
them long time customers. In context of this, M&S can use repeat purchases using
communications on M&S site, social presence, email and direct interactions to boost customer
lifetime value. It can be measured by repeat actions such as sharing content through social media
and repeat sale. This is helpful in customer satisfaction by managing long relations.
Digital marketing plan (900)
Digital marketing plan can be define as that function which is used by organisation to
achieve its business objectives. In includes various activities which has to be perform by firm to
achieve its business objectives in market. These are related to function of firm and can be use to
achieve business objectives. In context of M&S, there is evaluation of digital marketing mix
which can be use by firm to achieve its business objectives. This is discuses below:
Product: A product is a service or an item offered by a company in order to satisfy the customer
needs. Marks & Spencer deal with various products such as clothing (Jeans, t-shirts, Jackets),
accessories (belts, hats, boots, ties, leather bags), furniture (sofa, tables, ) is collaborating with
various suppliers nowadays in terms of making sustainable and market friendly environment. The
firm use various sustainable methods to collect the best products for their brand. And even they
use recyclable materials to reduce the waste of products and increase the quantity and quality.
These kind of strategies led by the Marks & Spencer has generally developed a standard of
maintaining and reuse of the products which increases the confidence of the potential buyers.

Availability of the products including clothing (Jeans, t-shirts, Jackets), accessories (belts, hats,
ties, boots, leather bags), furniture(sofa, table). Here organisation can use to promote these
products on Facebook and other platforms to achieve maximum cover.
Price: It has been generally suggested good value of a products at normal prices in the
market so that the demand of the consumers will initially goes higher. It does not specifically
reflected that there is a need of cheaper products to be available for the consumer, it simply
means that consumer need better products at better prices from which they get maximum
satisfaction. Marks & Spencer followed competitive pricing strategy and has a better quality
products in cheaper rates to create a balance between International and national currency in
clothing at the same price. Even in the seasonal times Marks & Spencer follows dynamic pricing
strategy to offer more discounts on products Therefore it increases the sustainability for future
goals. In this, organisation can use sable prices where it can attract customer to site and sale
products in effective way (Kingsnorth, 2019)
Place: It states that product should be available easily to the customers from where they
can find it easily. Marks & Spencer ensures that its location and stores are sustainable in nature.
More than 1463 stores are operating in more than 50 countries including France, Spain, Turkey
and Finland and currently, more than 950 stores are opened in United Kingdom. The company
has its own websites which helps various consumers across the countries to purchase online and
with minimal discounts. Marks & Spencer has a facility of International delivery and can be
brought in local currency from where the customer has been purchase the product online.
Promotion: Promotion is one of the major element in marketing mix because there are a
huge possibility to increase the marketing value of a product. Marks & Spencer uses digital
advertising campaign to easily connect with the customers across the countries. Generally Marks
& Spencer uses mobile ads, social media and other facilities. And even company promote
clothing brand from their own website which enable the customers to get fashion tips. Marks &
Spencer has the facility of reward system in which customers receive points in their account after
purchasing the products however such reward points can be spent in future online shopping
(Piñeiro-Otero and Martínez-Rolán, 2016).
People: People are the major and important element of the marketing mix because it
symbolizes consumer participation in the service delivery. Around 83000 employees are
currently working in Marks & Spencer. The company follow competitive payment policy to

retain employees. Currently company provides pension benefits, life insurance scheme, health
benefits and other perks to their employees so that they get ample amount of satisfaction other
than monetary benefits. For new trainees, company organize learning and development
programmes to make them ready for higher roles in the company. Nowadays Marks & Spencer
recruiting more women employees from last decade to create an employee balance on gender
basis and diversification in the company.
Process: The delivery process and operating system of the company need proper
planning, mechanism and flow of activities. Marks & Spencer stores are different places are
properly organized and well structured. Generally stores are divided into several sections
including shoe clothing, clothing for women and men, accessories and payment counter to attain
structured quality of a store. Even in the website, customers can do online shopping by simply
logging on to the website (Saura, 2020).
Physical evidence: It includes all International and national stores when company has its
own mark embraced. Marks & Spencer has more than 1463 stores available in approximately 50
countries. It has around 83000 employees in total who are working for this company. Marks &
Spencer includes clothings for men, women and kids, flowers, accessories and furniture available
in each and every store.
This can be seen from above information that organisation is using effective tools which
are useful in identification of current tends in digital marking. This will benefit to firm in
managing successful business environment and achieving its objectives related to digital
marketing.
Performance evaluation(400)
Performance evaluation can be define as process which involve identification of factors
which are related to implementation and performance on digital marketing plan in organization.
This is effective tools as it help firm in identification of actual situation in organisation from
perspective of digital marketing plan. In relation to M&S , it can also use this function. For this
organisation can use some key performance indicators which are discuss below:

key performance indicators in relation to M&S's performance evolution plan Web traffic sources: Under this system, organisation can use three type of web traffic.
These are search, referral, and direct. In context of performance evaluation M&S has to
identify that which factor is impacting more on firm. By identification of traffic
organisation can identify effectiveness of digital programme. Brand awareness: This is also the key performance indicator which can be use by
organisation to achieve business objectives an effectiveness of digital marketing plan.
This is helpful to M&S in getting overview about the current position of organisation in
market and achieving business objectives (Saura, Palos-Sánchez and Cerdá Suárez
2017).
 Cost per lead: This is most important factor which is mandatory for effective evaluation,
this include cost involve in per lead function of organisation. This is effective function in
process of performance evaluation as it helps organization in identification to total cost
per head on digital marketing function.
These are the key performance indicators which can be use by organisation to achieve its
business objectives in current business environment. This is helpful to organisation in achieving
its objectives and managing its function according to it (Todor, 2016).
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above mention report that digital marketing is function
which is helpful to organisation in achieving its business objectives by promoting product on
digital platform. Under this like M&S can use proper digital marketing plan which is helpful in
achieving business objectives. This plan consist of various factor liker formulation of buyer
persona and many more which is essential for organisation to achieve business objectives. Along
with this it can also concluded that it is important for firm to evaluate performance of digital
marketing plan by using key performance indicators.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Chaffey, D. and Smith, P.R., 2017. Digital marketing excellence: planning, optimizing and
integrating online marketing. Taylor & Francis.
Chaffey, D., 2019. Digital marketing. Pearson UK.
Confos, N. and Davis, T., 2016. Young consumer-brand relationship building potential using
digital marketing. European Journal of Marketing.
Deiss, R. and Henneberry, R., 2020. Digital marketing for dummies. John Wiley & Sons.
Hanlon, A., 2019. Digital marketing: strategic planning & integration. SAGE Publications
Limited.
Järvinen, J., 2016. The use of digital analytics for measuring and optimizing digital marketing
performance. Jyväskylä studies in business and economics, (170).
Kannan, P.K., 2017. Digital marketing: A framework, review and research agenda. International
Journal of Research in Marketing, 34(1), pp.22-45.
Kaur, G., 2017. The importance of digital marketing in the tourism industry. International
Journal of Research-Granthaalayah, 5(6), p.72.
Key, T.M., 2017. Domains of digital marketing channels in the sharing economy. Journal of
Marketing Channels, 24(1-2), pp.27-38.
Kingsnorth, S., 2019. Digital marketing strategy: an integrated approach to online marketing.
Kogan Page Publishers.
Piñeiro-Otero, T. and Martínez-Rolán, X., 2016. Understanding digital marketing—basics and
actions. In MBA (pp. 37-74). Springer, Cham.
Saura, J.R., 2020. Using Data Sciences in Digital Marketing: Framework, methods, and
performance metrics. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge.
Saura, J.R., Palos-Sánchez, P. and Cerdá Suárez, L.M., 2017. Understanding the digital
marketing environment with KPIs and web analytics. Future Internet, 9(4), p.76.
Todor, R.D., 2016. Blending traditional and digital marketing. Bulletin of the Transilvania
University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series V, 9(1), p.51.
Online:
Customer journey <https://www.monigroup.com/article/customer-journey-mapping-navigating-
course-better-customer-relations>