Digital Marketing Assignment: Effectiveness Of Social Media In Pharmacy2U

Question

Task: You will submit all three parts as a single document which contains:

1. Digital Marketing Audit (40% weighting)
2. Digital Marketing Strategy(30% weighting)
3. Digital Marketing Plan (30% weighting)

For the digital marketing strategy, students are required to select an organisation of their own choice. The same organisation will be required for all tasks in this assignment.

Students should not choose big organisations such as Nike, Apple etc – as it is very difficult to do an audit on these organisations. The organisations should be small to medium.

1 - Digital Marketing Audit (40% weighting)
You are required to undertake a digital marketing audit for your case study organisation.

• A one-page background to the organisation (this is OUTSIDE the word count) that explains the customers.
• SWOT on the organisation’s current use of social media.
• Evaluation (advantages and disadvantages) of two competitors using social media.
• Identification of two key customer groups and development of personas.
• Customer journey flowchart or graphic.

The digital marketing audit is likely to include a range of digital marketing tools, frameworks and models.

2 - Digital Marketing Strategy (30% weighting)
The digital marketing strategy is the next stage in the plan. It is based on the digital marketing audit.

This will include:

• TOWS matrix and commentary on the analysis.
• TWO digital SMART objectives.
• Recommended digital marketing strategy based on the audit and TOWS.

The digital marketing strategy is likely to include a digital marketing model (e.g. RACE, Forrester's 5Is, Lauterborn’s 4Cs, the Ten C’s of marketing or the 6Cs of customer motivation or acquire, convert, retain) and should be supported by academic underpinning.

3. Digital Marketing Plan (30% weighting)
The plan shows how the strategy will be achieved and is based on the strategy and objectives. The plan needs to be realistic and will reflect the organisation’s size and capabilities. 

This will include:

• Consideration of metrics and resources required, including staffing and a budget.
• An outline tactical plan, created in Excel or other spreadsheet with no more than 40 strategic activities, and inserted into the Word (or other document processing system) report.

Answer

Executive summary
The present digital marketing assignment has evaluated the concept of digital marketing audit along with digital marketing strategy as well as plan for the organisation of Pharmacy2U. Smart objectives and Tows matrix has also been mentioned in the present discussion. However, a digital marketing plan has been highlighted with the use of resources; activities; staff and budget as well. The competitors of the organisation have also been analysed in the context of digital marketing assignment which helped in considering the position of the respective company.

Introduction
The digital marketing assignment examines the readings of Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, (2019) that digital marketing is known to go beyond the internet along with trying to reach the people within the off-line world with the use of digital means whereas; social media seems to be limited towards the boundaries of the internet. On the other hand, it is also stated in the digital marketing assignment that marketing plans can help in outlining the marketing and advertising efforts. This is known to describe the business activities that are involved for the accomplishment of certain marketing objectives within a particular time frame. Hence, the present study outlined in the digital marketing assignment evaluates the use of digital marketing and social media within the organisation of Pharmacy2U in UK.

Digital marketing audit
Background of the organisation selected to prepare the digital marketing assignment explaining the customers
Pharmacy2U seems to be an online pharmacy which is located in the area of UK. This has been involved within piloting the electronic transfer based on prescriptions within UK. They tend to manage NHS repeat prescriptions on behalf of the patients. The organisation was propounded by the pharmacist Daniel Lee in the year of 1999 and was launched within the public in the year of 2000. The respective organisation is considered to be a different type of pharmacy which have been launched online for reinventing pharmacy care, we have helped in developing the Electronic Prescription Service with the NHS. In this pharmacy mentioned in the digital marketing assignment, the use of unique technology and clinical excellence helps in delivering its effortless services to the patients. This organisation is known to be regulated through the General Pharmaceutical Council along with its Online Doctor service which has been regulated through Care Quality Commissions. 

The mission of the concerned organisation outlined in the digital marketing assignment has been to provide higher quality and safe patient care within the atmosphere of respect; professionalism as well as effective communication. On the other hand, the vision of the particular company has been to be an integral member for the healthcare team responsible for the outcomes related to the medication use process. The online doctor service of the organisation offers a safe; confidential and secured consultation with an experienced UK GP. The convenient service of the respective organisation is known to allow lower prices regarding genuine medicines of UK (Pharmacy2U.co.uk., 2020).

Swot for the recent use of social media for the company 
(Refer to the appendices)

As mentioned in the swot table developed within the digital marketing assignment, it has been identified that the growth of the e-pharmacy market in recent days has been strength of the respective company. However, it also offers online medical consultation for the patients. This is yet another benefit of the company as compared with its competitor organisations (Kingsnorth, 2019). However, it still faces some shortcomings such as undergoing a higher rate of turnover and there are not sufficient funds for the application of resources and supporting programs as well. On the other hand, it is also clear on this digital marketing assignment that the opportunities for the respective organisation can help the company to secure its further investments along with the safety of orders and the payment system that has been designed with a higher level of security for protecting the personal information of the patients. However, the competitors of the concerned company can become its threat using the online pharmacy services similar to pharmacy2U. Nevertheless, the changes within the policies and legislation of UK can also possess a threat for the company to make its services get adjusted with the respective policies of the country.

Evaluating two competitors using social media
There are many competitors of the particular organisation explored in the segments of digital marketing assignment which makes use of their online services. From these, the two most effective competitors are Lloyds Pharmacy and Express Chemist. Lloyds Pharmacy is known to be propounded in the year of 1973. Similar to Pharmacy2U, the respective organisation is also known to compete within the industry of healthcare. However, Lloyds Pharmacy tends to generate $3.7M lesser revenue as compared with the organisation of Pharmacy2U (Lloyd’s Pharmacy.co.uk., 2020). On the other hand, the other competitor seems to be Express Chemist which was founded in the year of 2000 and is known to be headquartered within Maidstone, England. This organisation is also found to specialise for delivering medicines along with the health products as well as offering a discreet and efficient service (Expresschemist.co.uk. 2020).

However, there are certain advantages and disadvantages illustrated in the digital marketing assignment for making use of the social media platforms by the respective organisations. For instance, making use of online platforms for this particular organisation provides them with increased brand awareness as social media helps in being a cost efficient digital method of marketing for increasing the visibility of the business. Thus, the present organisations have been found to implement the social media strategy which in turn, has increased the brand recognition. On the other hand, there are several potential risks as noted herein digital marketing assignment which is faced by these respective organisations such as bad reviews can be observed that eventually damages the reputation.

Identification of two key customers groups along with the development of personas in regards to the case scenario of digital marketing assignment
Personas are generally used within the businesses for creating content; building websites along with the advertising messages. The customer personas are found to enable the organisations to view along with seeing their services and products through the perspective of the customers. In this case, the marketers are required to segment the customers towards the traditional graphic along with generational differences as well (Zhu and Gao, 2019). For instance, the organisation has been found to merge with the Chemist Direct recently and has more than tripled the numbers of its customers. The company has had 350% of growth within the patients after its merging with Chemist Direct. On the other hand, it is also seen in this digital marketing assignment that pharmacy2U has been known to select RingCentral for driving the digital transformation. This made the respective organisation announce about their leveraging RingCentral’sUCaaS and CCaaS services by the Cloud for offering the next level of customer service within the age of digital transformation.

Customer journey flowchart or graphic
The digital marketing assignment considers the readings of Vieira et al., (2019) that this is referred to as the complete sum based on the experiences that customers tend to go through while interacting with the organisation. This considers the all over experience for being a consumer. This seems to be a visual representation of the process through which the customers pass for achieving a goal of the organisation. With this map, knowledge about the motivation of the customers can be obtained along with their pain points and needs as well. (For detailed customer experience map, refer to appendix 3) 

Figure 1: Online customer service experience
Source: (Guoan and Xue, 2019)

As per the analysis performed in the digital marketing assignment, it can be stated that for providing a great experience to the online customers of the respective organisation, it must undertake digital marketing models such as 6Cs of Customer Motivation. This model is known to be recognised as a tool that is used for higher education along with looking at the ways for improving the motivation. However, it is also used in the online offer as well. This model helps in defining the online value proposition.

Figure 2: 6Cs of Customer Motivation
Source: (Ivanov, 2019)

Content: This segment of digital marketing assignment ensures that the company must provide accurate content within the website along with interactive services as well as videos and tools. 

Customisation: This helps in the personalisation of the services and the products that needs to be delivered online.

Community: This indicates to be customer forums like the exchanging or troubleshooting tips

Convenience: This is referred to as the availability of the app and the website

Cost reduction: Considering the scenario of digital marketing assignment, this is considered to be the informed perception based on lower cost while providing the offers

Choice: This helps the customers with many choices such as broader range of services and products that can be offered along with the additional payment methods.

Digital marketing strategy
Tows matrix 
(Refer to appendix 2)

This matrix build in this digital marketing assignment is mainly used as a strategic planning tool and has the capability for adding real value for the respective organisation while helping for taking strategic planning a step further. This concept mentioned in this section of digital marketing assignment is considered as a variant of swot analysis as well. According to the tows analysis of pharmacy2U, certain strategies have been developed to mitigate any kind of risks for the company. For instance, use of a personal organisational app for the customers to get access can help the company to take online orders as well as consultations (Katsikeaset al., 2019). On the other hand, it is also evident herein digital marketing assignment that effective training for the staff and the employees along with the supervisors can make them perfect to use the online apps along with handling the websites. This can also prevent higher turnover of the staff and target more customers through making the websites easy for their access. However, providing free delivery services seems to be a scheme which can help in overcoming the threat of the competitors. This boosts average order value along with being able to control the costs of free shipping as well. Nevertheless, competitive salary for the staff and making an easy process to manage the online orders can help the company to possess some committed employees along with eliminating the risks of employee turnover. Thus, the use of technologies has helped in transforming the industries through retail as well as entertainment towards leisure and travel and has been making an important and much more needed mark within healthcare.

Digital smart objectives
There are several objectives noted herein digital marketing assignment which can help the respective company to plan accordingly and boost its profit as well. These objectives are mentioned below:

 Table 1: Smart objectives
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

What are some valuable recommendation in regards to the digital marketing assignment related to the tows and audit?
Digital marketing strategies are found to be a series of actions that can help the particular organisation for attaining the goals of the organisation with carefully selected channels of online marketing. All these channels tend to include earned; paid as well as owned media and this can also support any common campaign across any specific business line. As put forward by Khan, (2020) it is stated in this digital marketing assignment, the digital marketing strategies can help in becoming a plan to maximise the benefits of the business based on data assets along with technology focused initiatives. This might need a team which can be cross functional comprising an executive leadership along with the members of information technology and marketing as well. For the present company of pharmacy2U considered to develop this digital marketing assignment, a digital marketing model can be utilised for instance10Cs of marketing.

Digital marketing model
The marketing models are found to be useful frameworks which can focus on planning along with the strong mechanisms that can enable the concerned organisation for developing any robust plans of marketing which can stand the test of time. As opined by Zaveri and Amin, (2019) in regards to the case of digital marketing assignment, the 10Cs of marketing considers each of the elements for the framework of online marketing. This might be internal along with reviewing the website of the organisation as well as the related communications of marketing and the way they are managed. The elements are mentioned below within this digital marketing assignment:

Customers: The web generally provides opportunities that are much more targeted marketing along with considering the way the company knows its customers. For instance, the way organisations have developed the personas and does the organisation collect insights from its customers. This considers that the behaviour of the customer has been changing in a dramatic way and the customers are found to expect transparent and speedy communication within all the stages based on the sales process. The respective organisation explored in the sections of digital marketing assignment can provide discounts to the loyal customers.

Corporate culture: This has become significant along with the brand perception for savvying the online buyers. This is mainly referred to as greater authenticity and transparency as well. The customers consist of expectations of the brands that are followed by them. As per the views of Barbosa et al., (2020), this considers the way of the corporate culture for the respective company aligns with its customers however, monitoring the same. The business of the organisation involves the retail sale based on drugs; prescriptions and similar others. The information in the website of the company allows it to maintain its transparency with the customers.

Convenience: This is referred to as the ability to shop from anywhere and is known to shift the powers from the shoppers to the customers. Technology is known to create convenience for the customers through smart phones. This has created an opportunity for the respective organisation as it serves online along with considering an easy access for shopping within various devices through the adaptive website of the company. The existence of the online app of the company also helps the customers to recognise their previous orders and can be easily accessed as well.

Competition: Technology has provided the competitors along with the new entrants for being disruptive within an environment where it has not been possible for predicting the next step along with the changes (Samranet al., 2019). The traditional competitors of pharmacy2U are found to move online along with entering the new online entrants overseas. The competitor organisations of the respective company are considered to eliminate or rather introduce the distribution channels as well.

Communications: A single change through technology and digital media seems to be an advent for new forms related to inbound marketing like organic SEO as well as social media. In this case the communication has evolved within the new forms of inbound pull marketing and with the use of social media, the multi-party and two way dialogue can be considered rather than the traditional one-way corporate communication. For the present company, it consists of its other software for communicating with the customers who cannot be viewed in front of all and this helps the company in preventing any bad reviews and maintaining its reputation as well.

Consistency: This is referred to as the delivery of similar service besides the channel. This makes the organisation apply similar standards for its customers whether order online; or telephone. Based on the views of Ivanov, (2019), this can also enhance the company to maintain its ethics for the customers and in recent days most of the customers search for the things online which has helped the respective organisation to create its opportunity. 

Creative content: For the present organisation chosen in the context of digital marketing assignment, its main source has been through its website while most of the customers are found to seek its additional sources like the platforms of social media along with reading others comments and several others. This made the company use its corporate website. This enhances the potential customers; associates and clients to contact the company which builds trust and provides its own unique online identity as well.

Customisation: Most of the websites are found to customise its web experience. For the present organisation, it tends to welcome back for the site. The company can also make some suggestions for the customers to engage with and might process an easier way to make use of this. According to Saura et al., (2019), the particular easier technology of the organisation has been known to facilitate personalisation as it has been previously considered as mass customisation. 

Coordination: This has also been termed as integration which ensures click to delivery along with the multichannel service of customer experience which has been coordinated. As per the investigation on digital marketing assignment, this seems to be the interaction process which can integrate any collective set based on independent tasks which has been a central purpose for the particular organisation. This ends through examining the implications for such a perspective based on the future research within the organisational coordination. However, the respective organisation can also improve coordination through effective leadership; mutual communication and the implementation of sound organisational structure.

Control: This is termed as the final element which brings forward the way of online buying process along with browsing which is able to deliver a greater measurability and insight as well. As stated by Ivanov, (2019), this ensures the organisation to monitor whatever is working or not working; and what can work much better. However, with the help of web analytics, the particular organisation can measure the marketing in a better way along with testing the new ideas for overseeing whatever generates a good conversation and interaction as well.

Digital marketing plan
The digital marketing plan developed for the scenario of digital marketing assignment can help the respective organisation for boosting its online sales along with increasing its profit margin as well. For digital marketing and enhancing engagement within social media, Pharmacy2U would require forming a social media page for interacting with the customers and helping them know about the offers and services that the company provides.

Metrics and resources needed involving staffing and budget
Performance metrics table 

Table 2: Performance metrics
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

The readings developed within the digital marketing assignment signify that human resource activities are needed for achieving the strategies of the respective organisation. However, 5 50 6 staff are needed to be hired for this campaign to create softwares and to manage social media as well (Yoga et al., 2019). The all total salary of these staff can be calculated as $1, 30,000. They are required for the respective organisation to maintain its activities. Thus, these activities and staff are mentioned below within the digital marketing assignment:

Table 3: Activities and staff
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

 Budget table 
(Refer to the appendices)
Tactical plan
This is referred to as an outline of the plan through which it can be executed. An effective planning can outline the positioning of the activities for the digital marketing strategy of the respective organisation. As per the views of Diez-Martin et al., (2019), this can also help in the identification of tactics which can help in making sales profit as well. The respective plan build on this digital marketing assignment outlines the activities that can help in achieving the particular strategy. 

(Refer to appendices)

Conclusion
To conclude, the present digital marketing assignment has discussed digital marketing within the organisation of Pharmacy2U. Digital marketing audit and digital marketing strategy has also been considered in the present study along with its plan as well. However, swot analysis and the competitors of the organisation have also been identified for the respective company. Smart objectives have also been highlighted for the company regarding its strategies for digital marketing. Thus, digital marketing can be able to help the organisation in generating better revenues and seems to be much easier to maintain customer relationships online.

Appendices
Appendix 1: Swot analysis for the recent use of social media for the company

Table 1: Swot analysis
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

Appendix 2: Tows matrix 

Table 2: Tows matrix
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

Appendix 3: Customer experience/journey map for digital marketing
 

Appendix 4: Budget plan

Table 3: Budget plan
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

Figure 1: Budget plan
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

Appendix 5: Tactical plan

Figure 2: Tactical plan
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

References
Barbosa, B., GOVCOPP, I.U., Filipe, S. and Santos, C.A., 2020, February. An exploratory study on digital marketing adoption by industrial B2B companies.In BOOK OF ABSTRACTS (p. 25).

Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2019. Digital marketing. Digital marketing assignment Pearson UK.

Diez-Martin, F., Blanco-Gonzalez, A. and Prado-Roman, C., 2019. Research Challenges in Digital Marketing: Sustainability. Sustainability, 11(10), p.2839.

Durai, T. and King, R., 2019.Impact of Digital Marketing on the Growth of Consumerism. Available at SSRN 3344421.

Expresschemist.co.uk. 2020.Online Pharmacy UK - Express Chemist. [online] Available at: http://www.expresschemist.co.uk/ [Accessed 6 Apr. 2020].

Guoan, Z.H.U. and Xue, G.A.O., 2019. The digital sales transformation featured by precise retail marketing strategy. Expert Journal of Marketing, 7(1).

Ivanov, M., 2019. Cloud-based Digital Marketing. In Proceedings of the Selected Papers of the 8th International Conference on Monitoring, Modeling& Management of Emergent Economy (M3E2-EEMLPEED 2019) (pp. 395-404).

Ivanov, M., 2019.The digital marketing with the application of cloud technologies.In SHS Web of Conferences (Vol. 65, p. 04019).EDP Sciences.

Katsikeas, C., Leonidou, L. and Zeriti, A., 2019. Revisiting international marketing strategy in a digital era. International Marketing Review.

Khan, M.A.S.A., 2020.Role of Internet in Digital Marketing. Digital marketing assignment Our Heritage, 68(24), pp.137-139.

Kingsnorth, S., 2019. Digital marketing strategy: an integrated approach to online marketing. Kogan Page Publishers.

Lloyd’s Pharmacy.co.uk. 2020. Online Pharmacy UK - Lloyd’s Pharmacy. [online] Available at: http://www.lloydspharmacy.com/ [Accessed 6 Apr. 2020].

McLean, G., 2019. Digital Marketing Fundamentals.

Pharmacy2U.co.uk. 2020.Online Pharmacy UK – Pharmacy2U. [online] Available at: https://www.pharmacy2u.co.uk/ [Accessed 6 Apr. 2020].

Samran, Z., Wahyuni, S., Misril, M., Nabila, R. and Putri, A., 2019. Determination of Digital Marketing Strategies As Effective Communication Techniques For GoOntravel Brand Awareness. Journal of Research in Marketing, 9(3), pp.752-757.

Saura, J.R., Palos-Sanchez, P.R. and Correia, M.B., 2019. Digital marketing strategies based on the e-business model: Literature review and future directions. In Organizational Transformation and Managing Innovation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (pp. 86-103).IGI Global.

Vieira, V.A., de Almeida, M.I.S., Agnihotri, R. and Arunachalam, S., 2019. In pursuit of an effective B2B digital marketing strategy in an emerging market. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47(6), pp.1085-1108.

Xiao, T., Guan, C. and Liu, W., 2019.Marketing strategy of organic agricultural products on e-commerce platforms.

Yoga, I.M.S., Korry, N.P.D.P. and Yulianti, N.M.D.R., 2019.Information technology adoption on digital marketing communication channel. Digital marketing assignment International journal of social sciences and humanities, 3(2), pp.95-104.

Zahay, D., Altounian, D., Pollitte, W. and James, J., 2019.Effective resource deployment in digital marketing education. Marketing Education Review, 29(3), pp.182-192.

Zaveri, B.N. and Amin, P.D., 2019. Global Marketing Strategy in Digital Era: Global Online Presence. In Breaking Down Language and Cultural Barriers Through Contemporary Global Marketing Strategies (pp. 103-112). IGI Global.

Zhu, G. and Gao, X., 2019. Precision retail marketing strategy based on digital marketing model. Science Journal of Business and Management, 7(1), pp.33-37.