Contemporary Issues in Marketing: Practical Skills Assessment Portfolio

This assessment demonstrates a small integrated marketing communications campaign for promoting the product of Virgin Atlantic Airlines with 5 pieces of communication. It includes a summary reflection on the importance and application of digital marketing tools within contemporary marketing.

BSc (Hons) Business Management
BMP4004
Contemporary Issues in Marketing
Assessment 2
Practical Skills Assessment Portfolio
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Contents
Contents
Introduction ...............................................................................................................................3
Campaign objectives ................................................................................................................3
Measurement of success.............................................................................................................4
Campaign plan ...........................................................................................................................5
Communication 1: Facebook .....................................................................................................5
Communication 2: Instagram.....................................................................................................6
Communication 3: Twitter ........................................................................................................6
Communication 4: YouTube .....................................................................................................6
Communication 5: Website ......................................................................................................7
Reflection on Campaign ............................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References ...............................................................................................................................10

Introduction
Contemporary issues in marketing is concerned with four aspects that are
change in technology, change in customers’ expectations, brand value and social
media (Bala and Verma, 2018). All these aspects have great impact on the
operations, sales and revenue of the company. Digital marketing tools plays most
important role to increase the customers’ engagement towards a brand in the global
dynamic world. For the practical skill portfolio, chosen company is Virgin
Atlantic Airlines that is part of Virgin Group Ltd. The company offers passengers with
checked baggage, beverages and comforts, flight entertainment and meals in ticket
price. Present skill portfolio is built on a product of the company that is “VEX” that
offers speed and efficiency to its people. It is express courier service of Virgin
Atlantic Airline for all urgent shipments that are under 32 kg per piece.
The assessment demonstrates small integrated marketing communications
campaign for promoting the product of the company with 5 pieces of communication.
It also includes summary reflection that includes importance along with application of
digital marketing tools within contemporary marketing and effectiveness of integrated
digital marketing tools to persuade customers for responding and reason behind it.
Campaign objectives
Making attempts for marketing communications campaign without any
objective is similar to making efforts for preparing vacations without having
knowledge of destination (Hanlon, 2021). In context to marketing communications
campaign for promoting VEX of Virgin Atlantic Airlines, mentioned below are
campaign objectives framed by managers of the company: Increasing brand awareness: To enhance social media impressions among
potential and prospective target audience by 25% towards VEX within two
weeks. Improving market size: To enhance market share through decreasing
customer churn by 20% in three weeks. Increase organisational profits: To reduce paid ads on social media by 30%
along with boost existing search engine marketing efforts with approximate of
3 weekly blog posts in four weeks. Optimise funnel: To enhance conversion rates by 10% in three weeks of
time through improving remarketing efforts on middle of funnel prospects.

 Increase sales volume: To increase sales volume of VEX by 23% by
enhancing website traffic within four weeks of period.
Measurement of success
Digital marketing campaign is one of biggest investment of a business, it is
key to measure the success (Rossiter, Percy and Bergkvist, 2018). Marketing
department of Virgin Atlantic Airlines measure the success for confirming whether
the campaign or initiative has hit overall objectives, to gain deeper insights into
customers as well as behavior for feeding in future campaigns or initiatives. In
context to digital marketing campaign for promoting VEX, the marketing team of
Virgin Atlantic Airlines can use following metrics:
 Organic search traffic: It is the metric through which visitors which
land on organisational website from some unpaid sources, essentially free
traffic is determined. When the content of digital marketing campaign is
successful in boosting search ranking, the number rises over time. With
organic search traffic, marketers can measure success of the digital
marketing campaign of Virgin Atlantic Airline through measuring how likely
the site is to rank highly in search engines as well as produce targeted
content that assist in ranking for particular keywords.
 Behaviour flow: It is a tool of measuring success so to understand
traffic patterns for the campaign (Stoychev, Dimitrova and Desev, 2019).
Marketing managers of Virgin Atlantic Airline can measure success for
digital marketing campaign through analysing behaviour flow that is
visualisation of average user path throughout the site. The metrics helps in
identification of the how effectively the company is at keeping its users on
site as well as what drop off points can be corrected for improving user
retention.
 Online and offline sales: Success of digital marketing campaign to
promote VEX of Virgin Atlantic Airline can be measured through online and
offline sales of the product. Online sale is simplest conversion to gauge
success. While, there are various customers who likely to visit
organisational store and devise purchase decisions that is offline sales.
Through looking towards improvements in online and offline sales,

measurement of success for digital marketing campaign of the company is
possible.
Campaign plan
Campaign plan is short term integrated communications plan for the purpose
of generating sales or leads (Mora, Vila-Lopez and Küster-Boluda, 2021). The
purpose of campaign plan for digital marketing campaign of Virgin Atlantic Airlines is
to generate awareness, develop interest, foster desire and influence action of target
audience for purchasing offering that is VEX. Planning digital marketing campaign
provides the company a framework for evaluating success, highlight points of data
for review addition to outline success for the specific campaign. The digital marketing
campaign for promoting VEX of Virgin Atlantic Airlines is planned through digital
communication channels for providing seamless experiences to stakeholders and
customers.
Communication 1: Facebook
Facebook is widely used digital communication channel for reaching, retaining
addition to engaging target audience. For promotion of VEX of Virgin
Atlantic Airlines, use of Facebook by marketing team is effective. In order to plan
promotion of the product through Facebook, steps of AIDA model by marketers of
Virgin Atlantic Airlines for VEX is as follows:
Awareness: It is the first step in digital marketing communication in which
marketers needs to consider ways for attracting attention of consumers. In aspect to
Facebook, marketers of Virgin Atlantic Airlines attract attention of target audience for
VEX by using analytics to time along with target posts, adding picture, making the
posts fun, changing up kinds of content that are shared and making the brand
relatable.
Interest: Once target audience is interested in offering of the brand, they
make attempts for learning more about the brand, benefits of solutions or products
and potential fit with them. For the purpose of generating interest of target audience
for VEX of Virgin Atlantic Airlines on Facebook, marketing team is required to use
effective headline that are to be used in distinct posts. Other ways to generate
interest for VEX of Virgin Atlantic Airlines through Facebook includes asking
questions, telling stories, infographics and videos with hashtag headlines.

Desire: Businesses are done with people that they know, like along with trust
(Rocha, de Oliveira and Giraldi, 2019). For digital marketing campaign of Facebook
for VEX of Virgin Atlantic Airlines, desires among target audience are developed
through serving them content. The more prospects interact with brand on Facebook,
the more will trust the organisational products and boost chances to buying the
offering.
Action: Once desires for the product on digital communication channel are
developed, the next is giving the prospects chance to act or take action on it. In
relevance to promotion of VEX of Virgin Atlantic Airlines on Facebook, adding link or
showing now option can help target audience to reach the website of company and
act for purchasing. Moreover, users can comment, like together with share distinct
posts of company for getting feedbacks related to the organisational product.
Communication 2: Instagram
Attention- It can be gain through by posting relevant content regarding VEX
of Virgin Atlantic on Instagram. Relevant content through advertising can generate
attention of their customers in an effective manner(Fu, Phillips and Phillips, 2018).
Interest- This can be generated through putting caption below the pictures
and this should be compelling which can attract users in a sizable manner. In
caption, social media manager of Virgin Atlantic can tell the features of their express
courier services.
Desire- Managers of Virgin Atlantic can create hashtags in order to flourish
their content related to their express courier services to a massive number of users
which help to gain desire of people towards the brand.
Action- Managers of social media managers are adding their website link on
their page which helps them to deliver more information about their courier services
namely VEX.

Communication 3: Twitter
Attention- In order to gain attention of more users towards their VEX campaign,
managers of Virgin Atlantic can make more connections and post the new related to
updates of their marketing campaign.
Interest- For gaining interest of users towards their courier delivery services,
managers of Virgin Atlantic can post the content which is accurate for them and solve any of
their problem.
Desire- In order to generate desire of the users, managers of Virgin Atlantic can post
content whereby it has been used by people as well as their reviews.
Action- Content that is posted on Twitter aid should include a link of company's
website which help users to book VEX services provided by Virgin Atlantic in an effective
manner. It is imperative for managers to keep their website updated which help them to
gain viability (Karimova and Shirkhanbeik, 2019).
Communication 4: YouTube
Attention- Managers of Virgin Atlantic can shoot videos which shows their
VEX services to users in order to gain their attention.
Interest- Main aim of this video content is to aware their users regarding their
VEX services which allows customers to gain insights regarding their choices.
Desire- There are varied desires of people which can be addressed through
this video content. Desire for VEX services can help managers of Virgin Atlantic to
increase their sales in this stream.
Action- Content of video is considered as relevant by users by providing links
of their website which help them to book the services in an effective manner
(Mogaji, 2021).
Communication 5: Website

Attention- Website of Virgin Atlantic should be designed in an effective manner
regarding their VEX services. They can gain attention through the practice of search engine
optimization (Alves, Galan-Ladero and Rivera, 2021).
Interest- Website of Virgin Atlantic provides full description of their VEX services
which can generate interest in users to adopt in an effective manner.
Desire – This can be generated through building the website very attractive and it
should include a short video of how VEX services can be used.
Action- On website of Virgin Atlantic, bookings links of their VEX services are given
which can help users to take an action.
Reflection on Campaign
Working on various digital marketing tools was my great experience in the
field of marketing. In the digital marketing campaign to promote VEX of Virgin
Atlantic Airlines, I and the marketing team of the company has divided roles and
responsibilities in order to achieve success. While doing so, use of digital marketing
tools benefited the most. From my working in the digital marketing campaign of the
company, I have analysed that digital marketing tools in contemporary marketing is
important as they connect the company by reaching to global potential and
prospective customers in the manner which are scalable, measurable addition to
cost effective. Social media marketing tools is vital digital marketing tool that connect
the brand with wider customers as well as offer key information related to the
business, upcoming events, products and services. In the digital marketing campaign
to promote VEX of Virgin Atlantic Airlines, I used Facebook which is popular social
media marketing tool for spreading words about the product. It is applied be me for
giving the company an opportunity to educate, entertain addition to engage with
target customers online for heavily reduced costs of marketing. Facebook is an
important tool as it allows the company to communicate with customers and permit
target audience to see organisational offerings without having to visit the stores.
Google Analytics is an effective digital marketing tool to track along with report
website traffic. By using Google Analytics in digital marketing campaign of VEX of
Virgin Atlantic Airlines, I helped marketing team to identify trends together with
patterns in the ways visitors engage with the website of the company. The digital

marketing tool is important in promoting organisational offering through digital
campaign by allowing requirement of information in shaping success strategy of the
establishment. In the campaign, I applied the tool for discovering things that I
probable never knew about people that visits on site of company. Furthermore, it is a
free tool that helped me to track the effectiveness of digital marketing campaign of
the company. While, Search engine optimisation is digital marketing tool that is
aimed for improving ranking of website on search engines for creating larger target
audience. In the digital marketing campaign for promotion of VEX of Virgin
Atlantic Airlines, use of Search Engine Optimisation assisted me to optimise visibility
of the brand and product online. It states that when more people see the website, the
more online traffic for the company increases. Search engine optimisation is
important as it provide better chances to provide VEX of Virgin Atlantic Airlines to
greater number of target audience.
Mentioned below are importance and application of various digital marketing
tools that are used by businesses in contemporary marketing:
Faster and Cost effectively- As comparison to traditional marketing
approach, the digital marketing is faster and cost effective. I as marketers of
company, for example, Virgin Atlantic Airline used digital marketing tools to promote
their product and services from anytime and anywhere without going outside as well
as waste time in distribute pamphlets. Small business can use this tools to spread
awareness about their product and services in minimum investment by posting
videos, pics and reels on the Facebook or Instagram. By using digital marketing
tools, they can interact better with their customers and maximise their experience.
Reaching wider audiences- Digital marketing tool helps the marketers of any
organisation to provide better customers services by direct interacting and
communicating with them through social media which increase their relation addition
to customer base. With usage of digital marketing tools, I was able to reach large
number of customers across the world with in their work place and create trust
among them. They can reach to customers by responding their questions, queries as
well as solve their issues related to product and services through chatting on social
media in order to turn them permanent customer for life long.
Establish brand reputation- Digital marketing will provide a chance to
business to generate a good reputation in dynamic market place. It allowed me as
marketing experts to show their potential customers what their company is made of

as well as how their product and services can help them to satisfied their needs and
increase their demands.
Integrated digital marketing tools are techniques which entails idea to create a
unique form of expression which is easy to determine in all of channels that are used
by customers. Within airline industry, different companies use different digital
marketing tools for distinct purposes. For example, use of Facebook by Virgin
Atlantic Airlines for persuading customers to respond is effective. Digital marketing
manager of British Airways has been using Workplace from Facebook for enabling to
assist people to perform jobs easier and provide bound customers with ‘Best of Best’
guide to capital. I believe that Facebook is one of effective integrated digital
marketing tool for persuading customers to respond because the tool allowed me to
create addition to distribute the quality of content which is helpful for users. It is also
effective tool as it permits sales as well as customer service representation to build
connection with consumers that are interested in the brand (Saran, 2021).
Conclusion
In accordance to presented information, it is concluded that marketing is the
most important activity in an organisation which is directly related to promotional
activities for sell or promote offerings of brand in the target market to meet desired
goals. While attempting efforts for organising integrated marketing communications
campaign, various contemporary issues are faced by marketers in establishing
campaign objective, planning campaign and using digital communication tools.
Within contemporary marketing, digital marketing tools are important as they are cost
effective, guide to reach wider audience and establish brand reputation.

References
Books and Journals:
Alves, H., Galan-Ladero, M. M. and Rivera, R. G., 2021. Theoretical Background:
Social Marketing and Quality of Life. In Applied Social Marketing and Quality
of Life (pp. 3-25). Springer, Cham.
Bala, M. and Verma, D., 2018. A critical review of digital marketing. International
Journal of Management, IT & Engineering. 8(10). pp.321-339.
Fu, F. Q., Phillips, J. J. and Phillips, P. P., 2018. ROI marketing: measuring,
demonstrating, and improving value. Performance Improvement. 57(2). pp.6-
13.
Hanlon, A., 2021. Digital marketing: strategic planning & integration. Sage.
Karimova, G. Z. and Shirkhanbeik, A., 2019. Marketing artificial intelligence: Creating
the AI archetype for evoking the personality trust. Academy of Marketing
Studies Journal. 23(4). pp.1-13.
Mogaji, E., 2021. Introduction to Advertising: Understanding and Managing the
Advertising Process. Routledge.
Mora, E., Vila-Lopez, N. and Küster-Boluda, I., 2021. Segmenting the audience of a
cause-related marketing viral campaign. International Journal of Information
Management. 59. p.102296.
Rocha, P. I., de Oliveira, J. H. C. and Giraldi, J. D. M. E., 2019. Marketing
communications via celebrity endorsement: an integrative
review. Benchmarking: An International Journal.
Rossiter, J. R., Percy, L. and Bergkvist, L., 2018. Marketing communications:
Objectives, strategy, tactics. Sage.
Stoychev, L. Y., Dimitrova, T. V. and Desev, K. V., 2019. Planning and effectiveness
evaluation of marketing communication. Балканско научно обозрение. 3(1).
pp.93-96.
Online:
Saran. C. 2021. How Virgin Atlantic used Workplace from Facebook to great
advantage during the pandemic. [Online]. Available through:
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252500638/How-Virgin-Atlantic-
used-Workplace-from-Facebook-during-the-pandemic