Digital Marketing: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies

This report discusses various aspects of digital marketing, including its definition, uses, and platforms. It explores the opportunities and challenges of digital marketing and provides insights on designing and developing effective digital marketing campaigns. The report also highlights the importance of measuring and evaluating the performance of digital marketing efforts. The case study of M&S is used to illustrate these concepts.

Digital Marketing

Table of Contents
Digital Marketing.....................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................3
LO1............................................................................................................................................3
LO2............................................................................................................................................4
LO3............................................................................................................................................6
LO4............................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................9
REFERNCES............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
This report discuss about various aspects of digital marketing. Digital marketing
consist of activities undertaken by an company to promote its product on digital platforms.
This has started from understanding and explaining what is digital marketing and its uses in
present day scenario of marketing. Opportunities that digital market provides and challenges
associated with it. Then report includes what are the various platforms which company can
use for digital marketing. These platforms are various including social media, search engine
and how company can use these to achieve objectives that were decided by the company.
This report also includes various activities which need to be undertaken by company while
designing and developing digital marketing campaign. Lastly what are the measures that a
company can use to evaluate and measure performance of its digital marketing campaign.
M&S have taken as the company on which this report is based.
LO1
Digital Environment-
All those efforts to promote product of a company through digital and electronic platform are
known as digital marketing. Promoting product through digital platform provide endless
possibilities. Platform which are used for digital marketing are social media, search engine,
email and other websites and applications that can connect with current and future customers
(Kannan, 2017). Advertisements in traditional marketing were posted and delivered through
local and national newspaper and through magazines, in digital marketing those same
advertisements are posted on different digital platforms. Not just advertisement but digital
media also allows promoting products by videos and audios like in traditional media they
were used for TV and Radio promotion.
The main difference in digital and traditional marketing are difference in their cost,
digital marketing is comparatively less costly than traditional marketing that consist of
advertisement in print format in newspaper and magazines.
Other difference in these methods is that digital marketing promotion requires a time to show
result whereas in digital marketing company does not have to wait long to see improvement
and unlike traditional marketing result of advertisements are measurable through Google
analytic tools.
Other main difference is that digital marketing focus on providing value to the customers
whereas traditional marketing only focus on increasing sales with their advertisements.
There are many benefits that digital marketing provides to the company some of them
are, Digital marketing is a cost friendly. Digital marketing allows to promote in new markets
and trade globally in small investments (Todor, 2016). Results in digital marketing are
measurable and company can get to know what is the result of the investment they have done
on digital marketing.
Opportunity of Digital Marketing-

Analysing data related to customers to know better about customers is customer
insight. This analysis can help M&S to take better decision about what to sell customers and
when to sell customers. These results help to design and develop strategies and campaign to
become more effective and efficient. To get adequate return on investment on marketing
using customer insight has become very important. This allows tailoring marketing efforts
with customer requirements (Yasmin, Tasneem and Fatema, 2015). There are four
components of customer insight they are,
full access to clean and reliable data, right tools to analyse the data, skills required to interpret
the data, right technology to be able to act on the insights. Which respectively refers to using
facts based insights. Tools that is right and appropriate to analyse the data. Skills that are
required to interpret data in a form that can be easily understand. At last using right
technology to act on the insights.
Earlier it was companies who use to control the buying process but not anymore.
Presently customers have all the power and can put company on its heels with their
comments and the power of money they use to buy the products (Scheinbaum, 2016). This
way power has shifted from company to customers that are driven by factors that are
information, access and collaboration. Information about the product that is available on one
click has made it very easy for customers to know about pros and cons of any product of their
interest and they can choose whether to buy it or not. Access to every product is not just
dependent on physical stores but is available online and on ecommerce sites. These sites have
opened up the boundaries from where customers can buy products of their choice.
Collaboration of various digital platforms with customers has enhanced customers’ power.
Challenges and impact of digital marketing-
Focus of companies have transferred from brands and suppliers to customers, this has
become new way of marketing and experience of customers has become prime responsibility
of companies. They are concerned with making products which are demanded by customers
and can solve the problem of customers instead of selling what they create. In digital age
customers expectation have increased to a vary extent and to meet those expectations have
become important to sell product of the company (Quinton and Simkin, 2017). But in doing
so companies many times do negative publicity of their product which tends to show qualities
that does not even exist in the product and customers buy them on the basis of those qualities.
To track multitude of different devices used by customers one of the best and oldest method
is to use cookies. This is an added script to a URL. In the state of intense competition rising
above noise has become very difficult and effective digital marketing can help companies to
reach to a wide range of customers and prospective customers.
LO2
Digitals tools, platforms and channels-
There are various platforms on internet that can be used by M&S to generate revenue
and these platforms are-
Google ads- most used search engine in the world Google allows to business organisations
that they advertise on this search engine and whenever anyone uses the search engine they get
to see the advertisement.

Social networking sites- social networking sites that not only connect people from each other
but also gives organisations to connect with people or customers (). In this medium of
marketing companies not only advertise directly but also can advertise through various other
sources like advertising through pages on these social sites.
Internet- In these advertisements that appear randomly on devices attract attention of those
using these devices.
These help companies to generate revenue by increasing customer base as they get to know
about various products and companies promote these products on these platforms.
7 P’s that are known as marketing mix include price, product, promotion, place, people,
process, physical environment. All these have been changed in relation to digital marketing.
In these
Price- this factor has changed in a way that consumers have been very careful and aware
about the price they are paying for the product (Taiminen and Karjaluoto, 2015). Customers
compare the price of competitors and substitute of the product they are buying.
Promotion- Digital platforms have changed the whole system of promotion. Digital and
internet have become major source through which companies promote their products.
Product- Digital platforms and internet have made it very easy to find out about the products’
pros and cons. Thus companies have to be very careful about what products they are selling
and material they have used to make that product.
Place- It refers to availability of the product which is now have become easily accessible
through digital platforms and internet.
This has changed marketing communication in relation with digital platform.
There are various tools that can enhance marketing. These are,
Organic Social media marketing- Marketing through various social media sites like facebook
and Instagram. These are main source of social media marketing.
Paid social media tools- Beyond organic reach social media sites also provide scope for
marketing by paying for advertising (Karjaluoto, Mustonen and Ulkuniemi, 2015).
Companies can advertise through various sources where companies need to pay for
advertising.
Email- This platform allows to advertise through Email. Companies direct communicate to
customers and prospective customers. Companies can communicate their various schemes
and offers to customers.
Display retargeting tools- these means that when customers get to see the advertisement when
they open any of the application and software.

Consumer life cycle stages of Digital adoption- This cycle is divided in 5 stages that
are, Awareness- this stage involves creating relationship with customers through digital
platforms. In this stage consumers first time get to know about the product.
Engagement- This stage is where customers get engaged with a product. Customers plan to
buy product and search marketing content about the product especially through digital
platforms and internet.
Evaluation- This stage is where consumers check the product with another product through
research and just by gut feeling. In this digital world consumers can evaluate products
through internet search.
Purchase- stage 4 includes purchase of the product by their final decision. In this stage
various customers take help to take final stage.
Product and support experience- This step involves after sale services provided by the seller
and support where consumers require installation like services.
E-commerce and online transaction, earlier considered as an luxury has now become
part of people’s day to day life. These allow getting a wide range of product choices while
being at home. Technology gives a real life experience to buyers where they can not only see
the product but can feel the product they are buying. On the other side online transaction help
people to pay anyone who is not around (Erragcha, 2018). This also helps to skip the
experience where people use to go in bank to transfer money and make transactions. When
both these things come together and people purchase products from E-commerce websites
and then pay through online transaction. This has made life very easy and gives comfort of
shopping at home and paying without any consideration of physical currency and bank
experiences.
Automated sales put automatic repetition of sales which has been documented and
recorded on the websites and software. In this type of sales customers are reminded through
email. Task that are covered by automated sales are inventory control, pricing, regular
documentation etc. Benefits of these sales are that seller gets to know about potential and
regular customers (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019 ). Non automated sales is where
customer place order all the time they need to buy a product and companies keep promoting
customers to convince them to buy product from them.
LO3
Digital Marketing Activities-
Digital landscape provides a space in digital world. These allow people to create their
own landscape which ideal for them. There are many opportunities in this company can
create landscape as per their requirements and challenges are that it becomes difficult for the
companies to choose and platform from where they can get the best return.
Digital marketing activities also include development of multichannel platform that increase
likelihood of the content being seen as this allows to appear where customers pay most
attention (Beier, 2016). This attention seeking platforms can be Email, Social Media, web

and ads. These multichannel platforms provide various benefits that are focus on the
customers, leveraging automation and using the data of customers’ online activities.
Online interchange refers to information that is given by one online platform to other. This
interchange helps companies to use the data that they can use to design marketing plans for
their prospective customers and existing customers to gain their attention.
Digital marketing campaign, which are plans designed to promote products to the
customers. This platform involves a complex and constant exchange of data fron various
digital platforms which company use to market their products (Jackson and Ahuja, 2016).
These campaigns needs dedicated people with high technical knowledge so that they can
present their advertisement to audience. Designing this campaign requires needs to undertake
few steps that are-
Defining goals- first step is defining goals why a company is designing the digital marketing
campaign. This step also undertakes to consider some factors that are brand awareness, social
media followers etc.
Identify your target market- After determination of goals, next step includes identifying target
market. Under this customers whose needs are being satisfied through the product of a
company and those whom company intend to sell their products are considered. It allows
company to design and develop campaign which can attract those people.
Define persons- this means detailed description of the ideal customers for a product that
company sells. This includes basic detail about customers that is their age, gender,
occupation, class and status.
Budget- Important step in this process that needs to be considered well during designing and
developing the campaign. In this step company determines the cost they are able to and
willing to spend on the campaign.
Social media advantage- In this step company seeks to and plans to take advantage of social
media as the campaign is launched at various social media platforms. Following this process
any company can design and launch their digital marketing campaign.
Omni channel marketing which is concerned with providing an seamless experience
to customers during their online shopping. This interrelates every channel to engage
customers and provide them an wonderful overall experience with the brand throughout every
channel. This channel focuses on building relationship with customers and developing their
brand loyalty and long term retention with a particular brand (Misirlis and Vlachopoulou,
2018). Omni channel ensures that customers receive same experience and messaging through
every channel. A consistent image of brand ensures a heightened sense of familiarity with the
brand which is possible through Omni channel marketing. Other important factor that is
related with Omni channel marketing is that it works on removing existing efforts in the
customer experience through using data. This marketing needs to focus on few aspects that
are focus on context, knowledge of the customers, coordination between departments, fully
integrated marketing technology and responsively designed web pages. This has various uses
that are, better customer segmentation, better brand visibility, improved synergy in
departments and channels and it is also a cost friendly marketing.

LO4
Monitoring and measuring techniques-
Measuring and monitoring digital campaign are very important for M&S to know about their
success and scope for improvement in process of the campaign. This also helps in designing
next campaign (He and Garnett, 2016). There are few methods that can be used to measure
digital marketing that are, Overall website traffic- all digital marketing efforts are focused to
drive more traffic on the website. Measuring website traffic is most easy and important
measure digital campaign.
Traffic by source- another measure concerned with traffic that shed light on from where
visitors of website are coming from. This helps to determine which sources are working good
than others.
New visitors vs returning visitors- this help to determine quality of the content that is being
provided through the website. Returning of visitors to a page indicates that they find content
useful and interesting (Saura Palos-Sánchez and Cerdá Suárez, 2017). To use key
performance indicators (KPI) in measuring digital marketing there are five categories they
can be used. These are
Lead generation, SEO optimization, websites and traffic metrics, social media tracking and
Paid advertising.
There is an process that can be used by M&S to measure their digital marketing. This
is as follows-
Identify and develop business objectives- first step involves setting business objectives. That
also involves including everyone in campaign from top management to every employee of
M&S even if they cannot take active part in campaign. Developing business objectives
requires brainstorming and critical thinking.
Set targets for each business objectives- this step includes setting targets for all objectives
that are being developed. Setting targets refers to quantify objectives in terms of numbers and
time duration.
Identify segment to focus on- in this step one important thing to consider is target customer
segment that needs to focused through campaign. Segments can be divided in various forms
like based on geographical area or any other form.
Establish KPI- KPI helps to monitor and identify performance against goals which have been
decided. This can be done through various methods like search engine ranking, traffic etc.
Identify targets for success indicators- once KPI has been selected next step needs to set
specific targets for each KPI. These targets are numerical values given to each KPI. For this a
starting point is from where success can be measured.
Choose and use a good Analytical platform- too monitor and measure all these company will
require to use a good analytical platform (Bekoglu and Onayli, 2016). There are various
platforms available to use for analysis of data for instance- Google analytics.

Execute real time improvement based on measurement result- once analytics have been
completed. Last step is to execute real time improvements in the digital marketing campaign
launched by M&S based on the data.
There are some online metrics that can be used by M&S to measure performance of
website. These are, Time to Title, time to start render, overall weight, overall asset count,
third party domains, error rate, bounce rate, top pages, conversion rate etc.
To measure population in digital marketing, metrics which are useful are as follows,
overall traffic, channel specific traffic, new vs returning visitors, queries by the visitors, user
demographics these metrics can help in ensuring population in digital marketing.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above report it can be concluded that digital marketing which is not
only an cost friendly affair but also an effective way of communicating about products to
their customers and prospective customers. there are various platforms through which
promotion covered in digital marketing can be done. These are social media, web, search
engine that provides access to a wide range of people in a single effort and less cost. Digital
marketing provides various opportunities to companies they can promote through and also
have few challenges in itself. These challenges can be overcome using proper strategy. Not
only challenges but opportunities can also be effectively utilised. Report also includes various
activities that are undertaken in digital marketing. Use of various measures and data related to
customers is also explained and analysed in this report. At the end report also includes
various measures that needs to be undertaken to monitor and measure performance of digital
marketing to help company know about return on their investment.
REFERNCES
Books and journals
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Activities. A Case of Online-Videos. In A Case of Online-Videos (September 7, 2016). Paper
has been presented at the 14th Interdisciplinary European Conference on Entrepreneurship
Research (IECER), Chur, Switzerland.

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Erragcha, N., 2018. Using Social Media Tools in Marketing: Opportunities and Challenges.
In Digital Marketing and Consumer Engagement: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and
Applications (pp. 666-683). IGI Global.
He, S. and Garnett, P., 2016. Exploition of Metrics of Social Media Marketing Effectiveness
by use of Delphi Method and Attempt on the Way to Qualify Social Media Marketing
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