Digital Marketing Strategy for Unilever

This document discusses the digital marketing strategy for Unilever, including a SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, and creating a digital campaign. It provides insights into the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Digital
Marketing
Strategy

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Brief Overview of Company..................................................................................................3
Situation Analysis...................................................................................................................4
Digital Marketing Campaign..................................................................................................9
Digital Campaign creation process.......................................................................................10
Creating the Digital marketing Campaign............................................................................11
SWOT Analysis of Unilever's ....................................................................................11
PESTLE analysis.........................................................................................................13
Competitor analysis.....................................................................................................15
Objectives....................................................................................................................15
Action Plan..................................................................................................................15
Budgeting....................................................................................................................16
Measurement of Campaign.........................................................................................17
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
The Digital marketing strategy is the use of web based and online technology to better
make the promotion and marketing effort. The digital campaigns are the stepping stones through
which we reach to our ultimate digital marketing goal. With the changed scenario, and increased
use of internet the digital marketing came into effect. The effective use of digital strategy gives
the company triple return on investment. The aim of this report is to highlight the effectiveness
of digital strategy thus, helping the organisation to achieve its promotion and marketing
objectives (Alavi, 2016). The organisation selected for this report is Unilever, founded in 1929
headquarters in UK. Unilever is an company which deals in Fast moving consumer goods. The
company's currently digital strategy being followed is analysed. Lastly, the digital campaign is
being created with motive to increase the company market presence.
MAIN BODY
Brief Overview of Company
The Unilever, is multinational consumer goods company which is headquartered in UK.
The company majorly trade in the Food & beverages, Home care, Beauty and personal care. The
company owns over 400 brands some of them are Axe, Dove, Lux, Lipton, Surf, Knorr, Magnum
etc. The company major brand has sales of over one billion euros. The company has subsidiaries
operating in various countries. The company stocks are traded on the London Stock exchange
and New York Stock exchange. The company has €51.980 billion revenue and employs 155000
employees, in year 2019.
The major competitors of Unilever are Nestle and Procter & Gamble. The company
currently operates through the retail store outlets. The company owns the strong network of the
distributors and wholesalers across the world which helps them in achieving the competitive
edge by bringing down the cost of distribution (Dasser, 2019). Unilever company spends huge
amount on building its brand awareness. The company owns the strong physical remembrance
through making its product available at leading retail stores. The company is using the digital
medium also to connect with the customers at fast pace which is being lacked in traditional
media promotion.

Illustration 1: Unilever Network
Situation Analysis
The Dove brand is one such major revenue generating to parent, Unilever brand. The
“Real Beauty” is one such campaign being launched by the company with intention to change
the definitions of women using the social media platform. The intention was to change the
stereotyping view of women. To start with it focused majorly on creating the societal impact
which indirectly increased revenue for the brands. The company used the video, tweets,
inspirational photos and airbrushed the use of bloggers and celebrity to endorse it. They gave the
chance to real women to be face of this campaign. The digital medium used to endorse this
digital campaign was the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and You Tube. The company focused on
creating conversational approach rather than brand awareness approach. The goal was to ignite
the audience to converse about their brand. The perfect mix of the images, videos and content
was used to engage the audience (Hess and et. al., 2016).
But with good and applause it faced the ugly reactions of the audiences. As, the
youngsters were in quest to get the exact meaning of the real beauty with this the issue of body
image and differences in colour started to ignite. The disable women were not part of the face of
campaign. On that time the company promoted the differential product as Fair and Lovely which
gone against this campaign image. The Real beauty is still running and proved yet effective for

the company as later on they changed the faced backlashes from the people. The Dove used the
right set of keywords and content which gave them many clicks.
The company even needs to restructure its website as it is lacking the attraction appeal.
The content and hashtags used to promote its campaign are commendable. The Unilever has
good social media followers and search engine rankings are also favourable. The company
always creates the positive buzz with its campaigns. Unilever asset is that it efficiently plans and
targets the campaign which favours and creates right balance between the strategy, target
audience and platform so selected. The company needs to build on an Omni-channel strategy in
order to be more efficient and increase more brand awareness (Jelfs and Thomson, 2016).
Illustration 2: Winning Over Female Beauty Consumers in India – A Lesson From Dove, 2021
Illustration 3: Dove Social media hashtags

Illustration 4: Red Label social media strategy

Illustration 5: Social Media Strategy Review: Surf Excel,2014

Illustration 6: Unilever breaking stereotypes

Illustration 7: Lipton Mobile video campaign, 2017
Digital Marketing Campaign
The Digital Marketing is the process in which the online and web based technologies is
combined to leverage the efforts the marketing and advertising. The marketing is based on using
the platforms such as the mobile and computers. The tools of the digital marketing are as
follows;
Websites and apps: The company owned launch of websites and interactive apps are also
part of the digital strategy.

Search engine optimisation (SEO): It is the process of the optimisation of the content
and reach of the website in order to improve the ranking of the website on Search engines.
Paid Search: The Paid search refers to the sponsored search which appears at the search
engine result page. The every click on ad is being paid by the company.
Content Marketing : The content marketing refers to the use of right set of keywords and
buzzwords to educate and inform the audience. The main impact is to attract the audience.
Social media marketing (SMM) : The Social media marketing refers to the use of social media
platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. to promote the product.
Email Marketing: The email marketing refers to the usage of emails to attract and target
the audience. It helps to the company to build relations with audience through sending of
personalise mails.
Mobile Marketing: The mobile marketing refers to the use of the mobile technologies
such as sending SMS, in-app marketing to promote the product.
These all tools work together and help an organisation to promote and market the
product. With the increased used of internet the digital marketing strategy gained more
accreditation (Leischnig, Woelfl and Ivens, 2016). The instant analysis of the consumer activity
is being present in an summarised from which helps in tracking the consumer preference and
activity more easily.
Digital Campaign creation process
The digital marketing process is the steps which are related to the link of the digital
campaign and strategy. The first step is researching about the target audience and the customer
needs and wants and how the organisation can use it to their advantage. Then comes the planning
stage in which the planning of the content and tools is identified in which the digital platforms to
be used is identified. Then comes the analysis stage in which the we analyse the plan so
implemented with the gaols so set. If the deviations are found the reworking is done in order to
optimise the work so that set goals can be achieved in best manner. The reworking in terms of
content and promotional platform is done (Perker, 2020).

Creating the Digital marketing Campaign
The digital marketing campaign creation is the step by step process which requires proper
dedication from the moment of crafting to its launch. After being, launch of digital plan the
efforts are directed to manage and track it. The following steps are taken in order to create the
digital marketing campaign;
SWOT Analysis of Unilever's
The situation analysis is the analysis of the market opportunities and threats before
launch of any campaign. The situation analysis in case of Unilever is as follows; Strength: The strength are the internal strategic factors which helps the organisation to
know its strategic competence internally. The Unilever owns the strong the economies of
scale in terms of operation and distribution network globally. The company has strong
and proficient workforce in its every subsidiary who are managing its operations with
excellence. The Unilever's main success lies in its diverse product portfolio (Yadav,
Illustration 8: Digital Marketing Process, 2020

2017). The sub brands so owned by company are competent enough which brings strong
revenue to Unilever. The company has strong research and innovation centres which are
linked with each other and brings increased prosperity for the company. The marketing
department team is very competent who has creative mindset which plans and lays out
the campaigns well in structure and contribute to the company’s success. The company in
advance understood the importance of digital platforms and started using it smartly which
gave them strong standing in market against their competitors. The digital campaign so
launching will be benefitted by the engagement on social media platforms. Weakness: The Unilever has weakness in its business operations. The product line of the
Unilever is similar to an extent. Such as, the different fragrances under same brand name.
The Unilever's diversification and innovation is being lacked in product lines. The
company owns the strong interdependence on the retailers. The main weakness possessed
by Unilever is the availability of the close substitutes. The easily imitable products are
available in market with results in decreased profitability. The company lacks the good
presence on social media platforms as compared to their competitor’s performance. The
related product line creates somewhere the replicality of the advertisement essence on all
social media platforms. This impacts negatively the Unilever’s presence. The major
drawback using digital strategy is that the culture and language may create the barrier in
communicating effectively with global consumers (Saura, Reyes-Menendez and Palos-
Sanchez, 2020). Opportunity: The Unilever's opportunity can be in identifying the different segment. The
company can even take advantage of the launching new products. As, the social trends
are changing and consumers preferences are also changing largely. So, Unilever can take
advantage of exploring new product innovation. The company can even harness the
power of digital tools by using it correctly. Unilever marketing team can use the social
media tools rightly to connect with the youngsters and can even use new technological
updates such as Big Data and AI to make their functioning more easier and to better
understand the consumers response. The launch of the apps will be beneficial in
connecting to consumers more closely. Threats: The Unilever is threatened greatly by emergence of the private label brands. The
private labels are the new entrants globally which makes the environment more

competitive. As, Unilever has strong dependence on the retailers this can be great threat
to company. In FMCG industry the, product imitation is major threat as the investment so
spent by company gets wasted. The company performance can be affected by the
competitor’s performance (Saura Lacárcel, Palos Sánchez and Cerdá Suárez, 2017). The
Nestle and P&G are the main competitors and they continually revamp their product lines
which makes the Unilever's work more challenging to standout against their competitors.
The Nestle owns the good presence on social media which stretches the limelight of
Unilever’s presence to connect with audience.
PESTLE analysis
The marketing audit refers to the systematic evaluation and analysis of the business
marketing environment, both internal and external environment is analysed. The balance
between the goals, objectives and strategies is aligned in order to increase the company’s
marketing performance. The macro environment analysis in case of Unilever while launching
its new digital campaign is as follows; Political: The Unilever has to comply with the every country rules and regulations while
marketing on digital platforms. As, the campaigns so launched should not carry any
message which provokes the misunderstanding of any political party. To remain
successful, the concerned rules should be followed while advertising with this the
company will be free from any risk and will not fall under any pit which will harm its
image (Mahalingam and Ashokkumar, 2020). Economic: The economic stability favours the company’s performance. The Unilever has
its manufacturing set in various countries and the economic stability in environment is a
major factor. The Unilever, can have the advantage of the workforce staying over globe
and it will help them to create an integrated advertisement that will attract consumers
globally. Being a multinational company if one country’s economy doesn’t work well
this will not impact the other country’s operation. The major benefit of using digital
marketing strategy is that it will not affect the developing economy performance over
other consumer’s response. Social: The Unilever, by owing strong brands has benefit of raising the social and
environmental factors. The Unilever’s Dove brand which focuses on glorifying the

women’s image is being appreciated globally. The Surf Excel ‘Dirt is Good’ campaign is
also acknowledged in reducing barrier between the Hindus and Muslims. Such campaigns
have added the social aspect attached with Unilever in a positive way. Technological: The Unilever’s is having the great use of automation in its processes
which gives them competitive edge against their competitors. Unilever can be at great
advantage by using the Artificial intelligence in its process to better make its marketing
campaigns more efficient. The company’s till now success can be credited rightly using
the digital strategy as a part of promotional tool which gave them more upper hand in
creating consumer engagement (Carvalho and Carvalho, 2020). Legal: Every country has its own laws and regulations. Relating to advertising and
marketing also every country has made their marketing laws which should be stringently
followed to maintain the positive brand image(Beqiri, 2020).
 Environmental: The Unilever has always promoted the use of eco-friendly and
sustainable products. The company in its past digital strategy has raised the
environmental concern which maintained their contribution towards the social
responsibility and attracted the large audience. Toady’s audience is highly educated and
largely aware with the environmental concerns and by arsing the environmental issue in
their digital campaigns will continue to add positively to company’s image.
Unilever is a multinational company which has maintained its positive image till now by
following the laws and regulations and helping the consumers to offer better products by
exercising great effort on marketing.
Linking Digital business with Digital marketing strategy
This point requires the connectivity between the campaign and business. This requires the
link between the company products with its online strategies so implemented. The Unilever owns
its online presence with its website and sells the product through leading e- commerce platforms
such as Amazon, Flipkart etc. The company even has its product availability at the physical retail
stores such as Walmart, Tesco etc. The Unilever is harnessing the power of digital strategies to
increase its revenue generation. It is the crisp of Omni channel strategy which gives the physical
and online connectivity to enhance the shopping experience (Schlegelmilch, 2016). The Unilever
will be using the use of social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) Search engines,
apps and website to promote its new digital campaign.

Competitor analysis
The Nestle is playing the social and digital strategy game well and using digital channels
well to energise its savings and attract more consumers. The nestle is marinating right mix
between the its social advertisement and marketing on digital platforms. At, same time Unilever
is still battling to win the complete attraction of consumers on social media platforms. The
Unilever many digital campaigns are completely social messages the too much of social
messages also creates the negative and dull environment. The company is in dove brand always
coming with new ideas and fresh campaigns which lure the interest and attraction of the
audience. In other brands this pace is losing which needs to worked upon. At, same time Nestle
is in minds of youngsters and millennials much more through use of advertisement on digital
platforms. Therefore, the Unilever marketing team needs to build its strong social media
presence and through apps and good website (Prihadini, Nurbaity and Rachmadi, 2020).
Objectives
The objective guides the direction of the new campaign and all activities are aligned
towards achieving the common objective. The Unilever's objective with launch of new digital
campaign is;
 To increase the overall market share by 60% in next two year.
 To increase the sale of all product lines by 25% in upcoming 6 months.
 To increase the overall revenue share by 40% in one year. To increase the overall brand revenue by 50% in next 6 months.
Action Plan
The action plan is the roadmap to achieve the objectives so set. In case of the Hindustan
Unilever, following are the digital strategies which can be implemented to reap the benefit the
digital marketing to drive the increased benefits;
 The Unilever firstly should focus on opening and modifying the websites, which gives
the option to buyers place order directly from the company owned website. For now, the
company owns the website but it needs more working in order to expand the shop
facility. The present website also needs reworking as the colour plate is being more hard
on eye. The easy navigational website attracts more users. It will help in reaching to users

more frequently. As, while ordering only if they have any query they can write it
alongside ordering.
 Unilever can even launch its own app, this will allow more ease and flexibility to the
consumers. The company right now sells the products through retail websites, the launch
of the app will give the users more enhanced experience. The users will be able to
identify the new launch of product from the app itself only. The loyalty of the customers
will also be maintained. As, with the busy and changed lifestyle patterns consumers like
to shop online. While ordering from the other websites the loyalty can be taken by
competitor brand as the consumer psychology to try new things which is available at
same price. Therefore, the launch of app will help in building the customer loyalty.
 The Unilever owned brand Dove, can also plan to launch the campaign which focuses on
the strong relation between the mother and daughter. As, now the dove focuses on young
women but with focus on the relationship between mother and daughter, they will be able
to target to emotions. The Dove brand is recognised for its strong marketing against the
women. The video can be designed in a way which shows the old love and new love still
present between the mother and daughter duo. And, in videos they can show the how
unaffected relation exist between the working mother and daughter now also and how
dove is part their of life. The focus can be on showing how the dove is strengthening the
relations and the legacy to use dove as part of life is being passes on generations. This
can be launched on all leading Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and
You Tube. This will lead in using the social media followers towards marketing effort.
Through all these campaigns the Unilever will be able to build positive image on social media
and search engines. Through websites and apps the company can have improved search engine
rankings. The Unilever with launch of this Dove campaign would able to grab the target the
family more easily. The hashtags can be used which will make help in building the social media
and search engine rankings (Giunta, 2020).
Budgeting
The Budget is the process of expressing the plan so set in financial terms. The expression
of the needs in financial terms makes it more easy and considerable for the finance department to
analyse the priority which helps in easy allocation of funds. The funds are needed to promote the

campaign on various digital platforms then the cost of analysing it is also needed. By setting the
requirement in financial terms it makes easy for the finance team to allocate the budget
accordingly (Ribeiro, Nguyen and Tran, 2020).
Measurement of Campaign
The controlling and measurement of the activities is required to better monitor and
control it. The controlling is done through the KPI (Key Performance Indicator). The KPI's are
the indicators against which the measurement and controlling of performance becomes easy. The
Unilever, can track the social media marketing using the analytics of the social media. The
Facebook, Instagram and You tube are the platforms which is needed to promote the campaigns
so planned and these provides summarised report which includes at what time audience visited
more from which place and with time. For tracking the website and app performance, Analytics
is used which helps in tracking the performance in a better way (Smith, 2020). The Analytics
helps in summarising and analysing the results such as what keyword was used by the consumer
to visit the website, from which source the visitor came to know, the most engaged time for
website etc. details. This helps in better tracking the activities and helps in better managing it.
The great advantage is that it provides the information on the the daily, weekly, annually,
quarterly basis. Which makes it better to compare and analyse (Varadarajan, 2018).
CONCLUSION
From the above findings it can be concluded that Unilever is using the social media and
search engines to result in positive brand image. The company has used some markable
campaigns which have grabbed the attention of audience. The Unilever has understood earlier
the importance of the digital platforms and harnessed this as their advantage by incorporating the
digital strategy as part of their promotion strategy. Keeping pace with the technology helps in
gaining the competitive advantage. The digital strategy is sustainable and interactive than
traditional marketing and helps in promoting and marketing the products more easily.

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