Digital Marketing Report: ARGOS Ltd. Strategies, Analysis, and Plan

This report analyzes the digital marketing strategies of ARGOS Ltd., a British catalogue retailer. It begins with an introduction to digital marketing, its benefits, and a comparison with traditional offline marketing, highlighting cost-effectiveness, global reach, and measurable outcomes. The report then conducts a digital environmental analysis, identifying opportunities such as direct advertising and easy brand promotion, alongside challenges like high competition and the risk of hacking. It explores digital channels, emphasizing the use of online platforms like Facebook for revenue generation and customer engagement. The report further discusses environmental factors, consumer trends, and the importance of adapting marketing strategies to the changing business landscape, emphasizing the need for ARGOS Ltd. to gain a competitive advantage and safeguard itself against evolving market dynamics. The report also covers the digital marketing plan, key methods for evaluation, monitoring and measuring the digital marketing effectiveness.

Digital Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................19

INTRODUCTION
Digital marketing is a wide term which refers to extensive selection of variety of
promotional techniques and tactics to reach customers with the use of digital technologies. It is
also known as internet marketing since internet plays a major role in this type of marketing
(Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). The motive of digital marketing is to engage customers to
have interaction with the brand through digital media. The company chosen in this report is
ARGOS Ltd. which is British catalogue retailer having its head office at Buckinghamshire,
England. It was founded by Richard Tompkins and has physical outlets as well as online retail
presence. Furthermore, it has established its business overseas through franchising strategy. It is
a subsidiary of Sainsbury. The report covers digital environmental analysis for assessing the
impact, comparison between digital presence with physical outlets, digital marketing plan, key
methods for evaluation, monitoring and measuring the digital marketing effectiveness.
TASK 1
Overview of digital marketing landscape as well as compare with online and offline marketing
concepts
ARGOS Ltd. Is carrying its business by selling goods in physical shops as well as online.
It is a profit making company and is interested in knowing about digital marketing and its related
aspects. In the words of Philip Kotler “marketing is an administrative and social process
through which individuals and groups obtain what they need and desire by the generation,
offering and exchange of valuable products with their equals. This is the normal definition of
marketing which is crucial to the success of an organization. It is a job of the management of the
company and comprises of number of activities planning, segmenting, deciding objectives,
promotion, advertising and many other tasks connected with marketing (Tiago and Veríssimo,
2014). The traditional marketing has evolved with the time which has given rise to the concept of
digital marketing. Digital marketing is a form of direct marketing which creates nexus between
customers and sellers electronically with the use technologies such as websites, online forums,
emails etc. Digital landscape has improved in last few years, which involves social media
marketing, influencer marketing, pay-p[er-click advertising, search engine optimization, content
marketing etc. It is a whole new way to reach huge number of customers in the target market.

Benefits of digital marketing
The merits of digital marketing are as follows: Low cost- Digital marketing needs low cost to reach high number of customers. Whereas,
traditional marketing is expensive. ARGOS is large company which need to cut down its
costs from different activities, therefore, it can do so by opting digital marketing. Global reach- Marketing through digital technologies helps a business to connect and
interact with people across the globe. ARGOS can increase its customer base by pursuing
people from different nations (Chaffey and Smith, 2013). Measurable outcomes- The online data tools has made it easy for business to make
estimation regarding marketing. This can benefit ARGOS to make effective plans. Also,
it can compare its data with the available information of its rivals to understand the
mistakes made by it in traditional marketing. Brand development- A business can have website or other digital platforms to raise
company's brand value or image. ARGOS can have blog about its products and their
quality. In this way, the brand value of the company can be increased. High ROI- The return on small investment is high because it helps in engaging people
with the use of social media platforms, emails, etc. ARGOS can opt for social media
advertising to raise the awareness about its products.
Difference between online and offline marketing
A distinction is provided below:
Basis Online marketing Offline marketing
Meaning It is the practice of marketing which is
done with use of tools and methods via
internet (De Haan, Wiesel and Pauwels,
2016).
It refers to such marketing practices
which does not involve online
marketing (Silva and Goncalves,
2016).
Cost Low cost and low investment High cost and high investment
Exposure It has wide exposure which helps
reaching out people globally (Kannan,
2017).
There is a definite limit which is
restricted to a particular region or
nation (Wiener, Hoßbach and

Saunders, 2018).
Convenience There is no limit to time in this, it can
be accessed anywhere anytime.
The convenience is till the time outlet
is opened.
Personalisation It is possible in online marketing to
allow its main customers to experience
personalisation (Joo, Wilbur and Zhu,
2016).
Organizations usually do not focus of
personalisation in offline marketing
(Taleizadeh, Sane-Zerang and Choi,
2016).
Social media
influence
Online marketing can help entities to
promote its business through online
modes and channels. By this, it can
make its followers huge through social
media (Järvinen and et. al., 2012).
There is no impact of social media
because all the activities are done
offline and physically by following
traditional methods.
Online/offline
marketing
media
Website/blog, social media, email
marketing, content marketing, video
blogging, online classifieds etc.
Television, radio, flyers, brochure,
news papers, pamphlets, posters etc
(Dao and Thorpe, 2015).
Environmental analysis is a strategic tool with a detail process to assess external and
internal factors affecting the organization. Purpose of this analysis is to identify opportunities
and threats for making effective decisions. It covers all areas of a business to bring information
for developing the best course of action. By this, plans are prepared to achieve the goals and
objectives with existing strategies by making modifications in them. With regard to ARGOS,
environmental analysis with its digital presence has been conducted which is as follows:
Opportunities of digital marketing
The success of digital marketing depends upon using tools and techniques to get benefits
of digital marketing. Hence, the opportunities are as follows:
Direct advertising- The advertisement of the product is done directly without engaging
any intermediaries or agency. ARGOS can depict its products on variety of digital channels with
effective online strategy and promotional tools. This can help it survive in cut throat competition
by gaining competitive advantages (Stephen, 2016).

Easy brand promotion- Advancement in technologies has benefited businesses to
promote their brand to many customers. ARGOS' can use different mode of digital marketing to
get information about the company and its brand. The amount of investment is less as compared
to traditional marketing approaches.
Easy consumer reach- Digital marketing can prove to be a medium of communicating
and interacting with target as well as prospective customers. There are variety of channels and
platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. ARGOS can used digital marketing to reach increased
number of potential customers.
Inexpensive channel- It is a cost-effective way through which products or brand can be
advertised to large number of consumers living in different parts of the world. The cost is low as
compared to traditional marketing channels. ARGOS can invest in digital marketing for making
its business grow. ARGOS can evaluate the cost of online marketing with traditional marketing
to find out the cost in order to opt for online marketing (Järvinen and Karjaluoto, 2015).
Accountability of marketing activity- A company can have access to its digital marketing
activities and their outcomes in order to evaluate them. ARGOS can gather the online marketing
content to for conducting audit so that desired outcomes can be attained. In offline marketing
people often neglect the responsibility for their mistakes. ARGOS can ascertain its defaults by
going through its past data which is stored on cloud or available on the internet.
Consumer Trends: With the help of analysis, it has been identified that in the present
environment consumers depends upon the online platform. ARGOS examined that in the current
environmental situation, it has been discussed that ample number of customer buy products
through online platform.
Challenges of digital marketing
Organizations have to go through number of challenges or issues while opting for digital
marketing. These are as follows:
High competition of brands: The search for a particular brand is easy on the internet but
search engines shows rivals companies or brands while searching for a particular brand. ARGOS
can lose some its customers by this as they will look for more cheaper alternatives.
Limited internet access- It is correct that the number of internet users have increased in
the past years, but there are areas in considerable number which do not have the facility of

internet or have limited access to internet. In the context of ARGOS, the plan to reach customers
globally can fail in this. Hence, it should focus on those areas having effective internet facility
(Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019).
Risk of hacking- Digital marketing is dependent on internet which has high risks of being
hacked. With the advancement in technologies comes the drawback modes and channels. The
promotional strategies of ARGOS can be hacked or accessed by its competitors or hackers which
can create a huge problem financial as well as non-financially (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick,
2012).
Anti-brand activities- It is called doppelganger in layman language. It refers to a
individual or number of people in groups who carries activities to destroy brand image of a
company. ARGOS' established brand image can be ruined if it comes across such activities.
These are generally the bloggers, opinion leaders, influencer etc. who are liked by majority of
people and they rely on their perspective.
Advertisement for limited products- There is a limited scope for showcasing every sort
of products because it is done online through digital channels. Therefore, ARGOS may not get
the opportunity to put all of its products online. Customers may find problem with this.
The above opportunities and challenges should be considered by Online retail industry so
that companies like ARGOS can get a realistic insight of the digital marketing (Leeflang, and et.
al., 2014). By carrying an assessment of these factors, effective strategies can be developed for
using tools and techniques of digital marketing. ARGOS should make its strategies accordingly
to avoid risks and challenges and convert them into profit. This can be done by comparing the
strategies with competitors who is best in the industry and has already opted for digital
marketing. This can help ARGOS gain competitive advantage and safeguard itself against the
changing business environment. Furthermore, the growth can be multiple in a short span of time
as more customers will have knowledge about the brand or products.
TASK 2
Digital channel is a way of communicating or interacting with customers. Digital marketing
activities are generally carried through digital channels to promote, sell etc. These are
interconnected with each other and the ultimate purpose of digital tools, platforms and channels
to raise the awareness about the products or brand among the customers around the globe.

Use of digital platforms and internet for revenue generation

Digital platforms are the software or hardware of a site present online. Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter are some of its examples, which are used by corporations for marketing.
Campaigns and branding are done on these platforms. The number of internet users have grown
in last few years and there are some common online platforms which are used by them.
Facebook is widely used social networking site, where ARGOS can make its page and store
information about the company and its products (Stone and Woodcock, 2014). Also, it can
provide a facility for the consumers to raise their queries which can be entertained by the
company and provide them feasible solution.
Digital marketing can be done through digital platforms which is a cost-effective method
for connecting with large population who are using the internet. It can be an effective way which
help the customer connect to the product directly. ARGOS can invest on its social media
platforms to study the behaviour, patterns and needs of customers to make products which can
fulfil their expectations. Every year the trend of digital platforms change which should be
tracked by organizations to develop strategies accordingly. This can boost the participation of
variety of people which will contribute to the success of the company. It is possible because the
more customers will get to know about ARGOS and its products, the more sales will occur. In
this way, it revenue can be increased (Holliman and Rowley, 2014).
Role of digital marketing communications in relations to 7ps
Product- It is refers to main product which is sold by the company. Every business is
should goods meeting the expectations of the consumer so customers' satisfaction can be
increased. In context to ARGOS, digital marketing communication can help analyse the needs
and demands of the customers by studying the data of the customers available online. Also, it can
have conversation with the individual directly (Zook and Smith, 2016).
Price- The value which customer will have to pay for the product of the company is
considered as the price. The final price is based on the cost of production, supply-demand etc. of
the goods. ARGOS can use digital marketing communication to determine the price of the
products by comparing the pricing strategy with competitors' products available online (Rowley,
2017).
Place- It is the location where the products are shown or displayed to be sold to
customers. Organizations pay hefty amount for taking premium locations on rent. ARGOS can
7

avoid rent or acquisition cost through digital marketing because all the products are shown
through online platforms (Kotler, Kartajaya and Setiawan, 2016).
Promotion- It is the activity to raise the awareness of the products or services of the
company. It can be done through variety of modes for advertising the products or brand. It is
important to keep the customers have the knowledge about products. ARGOS can take help of
various digital platforms to promote its products. Number of products can be advertised online
which can reach number of customers rapidly (Bourne, 2015).
People- The companies need staff for different kinds of activities. Every organizations
should have right people for the right job. In traditional marketing, it can add on the existing
costs. Whereas digital marketing communications need only few people to manage the whole
work of digital marketing. ARGOS can cut the cost of appointing variety of people for managing
the marketing activities by opting digital marketing.
Processes- This is about the activities which are carried for the delivery of the products to
the final consumer. The delivery services should be the one which is accessible by majority of
customers. ARGOS can take the advantage of digital marketing by shifting the delivery process
as per the choice of customers (Kaufman and Horton, 2014).
Physical evidence- This is the evidence which every product is required to prove the
transaction. For example, ARGOS provide bill to every customers who purchase its products.
This is the physical evidence of the products of the ARGOS. Digital marketing communication
can be done through websites. This is an effective way for creating the physical evidence.
Different types of digital tools and digital hardware to enhance marketing
Digital tools refer to resources to help entities organize and manage the business
activities by tracking and evaluating. These are basically software used by the companies in
achieving its goals and objectives. Variety of digital tools to help with enhancement of marketing
are as follows:
Content marketing- It is an indirect way of carrying marketing activities. This ultimate
goal is to encourage the customers to have interaction with the content. This is possible through
reading, sharing etc. ARGOS can use this to write about the company and its products to reach
target audience. For example, Coke's “Share A Coke” Campaign, Buffer's Open Blog etc.
8

Search engine optimization (SEO)- This is the most popular digital marketing tool for
every type of businesses who wish to do marketing. ARGOS has its own website in which it
store its exclusive information to remain competitive in the whole industry. This is done for
creating the optimization of the content written specifically for the company (Crittenden and
Crittenden, 2015). for example, Write Enticing Page Titles and Descriptions, Use Headings and
Subheadings
Search engine marketing- This tool is dedicated to advertise the products through search
engine. These are developed in such as way that company pay for these tools to make their
products look good enough to attract the customers. This can be opted by ARGOS for
advertising its products in an effective way to attract huge number of customers.
Consumer life-cycle stages of digital adoption
Innovators– Innovators are the first individuals to adopt an innovation. Innovators are
willing to take risks, youngest in age, have the highest social class, have great financial lucidity,
very social and have closest contact to scientific sources and interaction with other innovators.
Risk tolerance has them adopting technologies which may ultimately fail. Financial resources
help absorb these failures (Jackson and Ahuja, 2016).
Early Adopters– This is the second fastest category of individuals who adopt an
innovation. These individuals have the highest degree of opinion leadership among the other
adopter categories. Early adopters are typically younger in age, have a higher social status, have
more financial lucidity, advanced education, and are more socially forward than late adopters.
More discrete in adoption choices than innovators. Realize judicious choice of adoption will help
them maintain central communication position (Ives, Palese and Rodriguez, 2016).
Early Majority– Individuals in this category adopt an innovation after a varying degree
of time. This time of adoption is significantly longer than the innovators and early adopters.
Early Majority tend to be slower in the adoption process, have above average social status,
contact with early adopters, and seldom hold positions of opinion leadership in a system (Zanetti,
Cavalieri and Pezzotta, 2016).
Late Majority– Individuals in this category will adopt an innovation after the average
member of the society. These individuals approach an innovation with a high degree of
scepticism and after the majority of society has adopted the innovation. Late Majority are
9

typically sceptical about an innovation, have below average social status, very little financial
lucidity, in contact with others in late majority and early majority, very little opinion leadership
(Lamberton and Stephen, 2016).
Laggards– Individuals in this category are the last to adopt an innovation. Unlike some
of the previous categories, individuals in this category show little to no opinion leadership. These
individuals typically have an aversion to change-agents and tend to be advanced in age. Laggards
typically tend to be focused on “traditions”, likely to have lowest social status, lowest financial
fluidity, be oldest of all other adopters, in contact with only family and close friends, very little
to no opinion leadership (Parasuraman and Colby, 2015).
TASK 3
Digital marketing activities and develop multi channel capabilities in organization
Digital marketing-
It is the broad term which include all marketing activities, channels, methods to promote
their organizational product and services. With the help of digital marketing, business able to
increase awareness of their product features among the customers to develop willingness to buy.
Is is beneficial for the small or medium size organization because they does not have enough
capital capital to invest in other promotional activities. Another benefits is that, digital marketing
is cost affective rather than traditional marketing (De Pelsmacker, Van Tilburg and Holthof,
2018). In the context of Argos Ltd, marketing manager promote their household and personal
products in order to rise demand which further increase productivity and profitability. Company
sell their products through online mode with the help of digital marketing. Digital marketing
includes various activities such as website, search engine marketing, social media, online banner,
advertisement etc.
10