Lloyds Pharmacy Digital Marketing Strategy Assignment

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.

strong>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 study build on this digital marketing strategy assignment has emphasized on the digital marketing strategy for the organisation of Lloyds Pharmacy considering the information of its digital marketing audit and plan as well. However, several frameworks and tools have been highlighted in the discussion along with specific recommendations for implementing within the company. The budget and activities have also been sorted in the below context of digital marketing strategy assignment for conducting a digital marketing campaign for the concerned organisation.

Introduction
According to Duggal, (2020, p. 197), it is stated herein digital marketing strategy assignment that digital marketing is considered to be the use of mobile devices; internet; search engines; social media and similar other channels for reaching out to the consumers. This aspect works through attracting the potential customers within the organisational website and encouraging the people for purchasing the products and the services. This makes digital marketing to encompass all efforts of marketing which is used within an electronic device or rather the internet. Hence, the present digital marketing strategy assignment evaluates the concept of digital marketing and its related aspects for planning a digital marketing strategy on the organisation of Lloyds Pharmacy in UK.

Digital marketing audit 
Organisational background along with the customers
Lloyds Pharmacy is considered to be an organisation of pharmacy in Britain consisting of 1500 pharmacies and above. The organisation comprises over 17000 staff along with dispenses across 150 million of prescriptions items on an annual basis. The organisation has been to be owned by a German company named Celesio which is eventually owned through the American Corporation of McKesson. The company is headquartered in UK. Lloyds also provides online service to its customers, wherein the customers are provided with online doctor consultation as well as booking and delivery of necessary medications (Lloyds pharmacy. 2020). In modern times, owing to busy lifestyle, many people find it difficult to scrape out time for visiting physicians for follow-ups, which are eased through the services offered by Lloyd’s Pharmacy. The vision of the organisation selected in the present case of digital marketing strategy assignment has been to be the great brand of healthcare. The core of the organisation has been treatment; prevention and management and aims in delivering a higher quality of outcomes for the chronic conditions of the customers. A higher quality services and products of healthcare are offered through its websites while launching innovative as well as affordable products to improve the health of the community like monitoring blood pressure along with allergy relievers; check up services; private consultation and similar others. The broad range of services offered increases the customer inflow for the company, attracting all types of customers online and in the stores as well.

Swot analysis
(Refer to appendix 1)

The swot profile based on the concerned organisation can provide an in-depth analysis of its strategy for the operations and businesses of the organisation. This analysis done in the digital marketing strategy assignment helps in providing an unbiased and clear view for the key strengths of the organisation along with the weaknesses as well as potential opportunities and threats (Gómez et al., 2019, P. 2). This profile can also help in the formulation of strategies which have augmented the business through enabling one for understanding the customers; partners as well as competitors in a better way. Thus, as stated in the swot analysis of the company, it has been identified that they acknowledge customer care in an effective way and consists of a wider age base of the customers such as children to the elderly population can be welcomed in the stores through the staff who are always found to be satisfied and happy. This has been considered the strength of the organisation. On the other hand, the weaknesses of the company have been found to be the customers who wait for a longer duration within the stores and loyalty programs are not held in the company for the potential customers. 

However, social media and online services along with the assurance of a good relationship of work with the centre management have resulted in being the opportunity for the company. Nevertheless, as stated by Ivanov, (2019, p. 396), intense competition in the market has been raised in recent days and online reviews can also at times impact the reputation of the company which can act as a threat for the organisation.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of two competitors for using social media in the context of digital marketing strategy assignment?
There are several competitors of the present organisation of Lloyds Pharmacy, who exist in the UK market. Two of the best competitors are Clear Chemist and Pharmacy2U. Clear Chemist is known to be a licensed pharmacy which operates online in UK and also provides more than 15000 medicines to its patients or rather the customers (Clear Chemist.co.uk. 2020). This organisation also offers a service for online doctor consultation. On the other hand, Pharmacy2U has also been considered as a leading online organisation and provides confidential service of online doctors. However, the company also consists of more than 300,000 patients per year and is renowned as the top competitor for the respective company (Pharmacy2U. 2020). Thus, all the UK pharmacies are known to be regulated through the General Pharmaceutical Council along with the online service which are considered by the commission of care quality. Hence, for making use of this online social media service, these concerned organisations undergoes through several benefits and limitations that are mentioned below within this digital marketing strategy assignment:

Table 1: Benefits and limitations of using social media in the digital marketing strategy assignment
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

Key customer groups along with the development of personas
A persona is referred to as the archetypical user for a system which is known to be a fictional representation for the actual user and however, is applied within the early stages based on product design and development. As evidenced by Kusumawati et al., (2019, P. 28) in this segment of digital marketing strategy assignment, the idea of persona has been when a software needs to be designed, this might be required for an individual. Thus, personas cannot be resembled as the roles that are played by people. The social media personas can help in being more focused as well as actionable for the social strategy. 

This requires a target audience for the concerned organisation. Hence, there are key customers of Lloyds Pharmacy which is owned by the respective organisation. For instance, John Bell & Croydon which is retail as well as wholesale business that delivers the broader range of the higher quality products of healthcare along with the solutions for medical professions in the market of UK and across the globe as well (Kumar, 2020, p. 1362). On the other hand, it has also merged with healthcare service for online doctors with Dr. Thom in the year of 2011. The respective acquisition reflects the commitment of Lloyds Pharmacy regarding the growth of healthcare services which are offered. This allows the organisation to meet the customer requirements besides the provision based on the traditional services of pharmacy.

Customer journey map
In this digital marketing strategy assignment, it is referred to as a visual representation related to each and every experience for the customers that are present (Langan et al., 2019, p. 40). This helps in revealing the story of the customer experience for the concerned organisation through the original engagement and can also be defined as a longer term relationship. Customer journey is known to be the complete experience through which the customers pass while interacting with the brand or rather the organisation.

Fig 1: Customer Journey Map
Source Developed by the author

Nevertheless, the journey of the customers can also be related to the implementation of a model of digital marketing which can result in being beneficial for the customers and the organisation to provide a good experience of buying. For instance, the model of technology acceptance is referred to as a theory of information systems which reveals the way users can accept along with making use of a technology. As put forward by Barbosa et al., (2020, p. 25), the respective model can be used for scrutinising the individual behaviour for accepting technology in different information systems. This model presented in the digital marketing strategy assignment is significant for prediction of accepting and using the technology and information systems as well through the individual users. There exist two of the most significant factors for this model such as perceived ease and perceived usefulness. Thus, for the present organisation selected in the case of digital marketing strategy assignment, the online services for the customers have resulted in perceived usefulness of the technology for the customers and on the other hand, the online deliveries and shopping for the medicines and similar others have resulted in being the perceived ease (Domegan et al., 2019, p. 400). However, there is a shortcoming noted in this segment of digital marketing strategy assignment for making use of the concerned model as the variable that relates to the users behaviour is known to be one of the limitations of TAM and can also be evaluated with the help of subjective means like behavioural intention like interpersonal influence. 

Figure 2: Technology acceptance model
Source: (Diez-Martin et al., 2019, p. 2839)

Digital marketing strategy 

Tows matrix
(Refer to the appendix 2)

As stated in the swot analysis of the organisation within this digital marketing strategy assignment, it has allowed the company to design certain effective strategies to sustain in the market along with attracting the customers. These strategies have been created while considering the strengths; weaknesses; opportunities and threats as well. Thus, as per the strengths and opportunities of the company, it has derived that with the help of online services, it provides online delivery to the other Pharmacies; elderly homes; schools and for similar other communities. On the other hand, as opposed by Ivanov, (2019, p. 400), considering the weaknesses and the opportunities of the organisation mentioned in the digital marketing strategy assignment, the company is known to provide charity where it can organise loyalty programs for both the employees and the customers to maintain its old customers and reduce turnover of the employees. However, the readings of digital marketing strategy assignment also signifies that the organisation can sustain in the competitive environment through maintaining its standards along with welcoming different ages of customers with online services which can be considered as the strategy of strength and threat. Nevertheless, for mitigating the weaknesses and threats of the organisation, the company can also introduce online programs or rather games for the customers to keep them engaged along with an instant response for customer service as well.

Digital smart objectives
The digital objectives of marketing outlined herein digital marketing strategy assignment should be specific; achievable; measurable; relevant as well as time specific. These need to be the benchmark over the competitors of the organisation for providing with an assurance of being much more effective (Khan, 2020, p. 138). Thus, some of the digital marketing objectives for the concerned company are mentioned below:

 Table 2: Digital smart objectives
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

Digital marketing strategy
In this digital marketing strategy assignment, Digital marketing strategy is referred to as a plan which can help in the business for achieving particular digital objectives and goals that are carefully selected within the channels of online marketing like owned; earned and paid media. As the concerned company is found to make use of digital media for the customers, it needs to consider some strategies. It has been evidenced that the most important strategy in the year of 2018 has been identified as social media marketing which is followed through content marketing along with data management related to SEO (Vieira et al., 2019, p. 1100). These strategies mentioned in the digital marketing strategy assignment are able to offer interesting insights within the methods of probability for leading generation. In this case, video and email are found to continuously make effective ways for marketing any service or rather products. Thus, the use of social media and content media marketing has been termed to be the most powerful strategy. However dealing with the digital media marketing in an effective way, the concerned company can undertake a model of digital marketing such as Lauterborn’s 4Cs model which is also considered as a variant within the 4Ps. 

According to the research on digital marketing strategy assignment, the model was suggested by Bob Lautenborn in the year of 1990 that provides a more customer centric and traditional marketing mapping with the 4Ps of marketing mix and has been experienced to be beneficial for the organisational culture when applied. The significant elements of the model are mentioned below:

Figure 3: Lauterborn’s 4Cs model
Source: (Yoga et al., 2019, p. 100)

Customer needs and wants
The mentioned element in the context of digital marketing strategy assignment mainly emphasizes on the products and the services for instance, the respective organisation has been delivering all new ranges of products to the customers and within all kinds of communities. 

Cost for satisfaction
This element illustrated in the digital marketing strategy assignment has been to replace the element of price of marketing mix. This can result in being interesting while considering the goods of commodities like the non-branded purchases through the supermarkets (Zahay et al., 2019, p. 190). For instance, the respective company provides a premium price strategy while offering online consultation with the doctors for the customers which are worth it for them.

Convenience for buying
This is referred to as the place where the organisation or rather the stores needs to be placed where the customers can also access the stores from anywhere. Thus, the online source of shopping and purchasing medicines and the products of basic needs have provided the customers with an opportunity to get the shop available for 24 hours.

Communication
This replaces the element of promotion which has pushed the organisation to the customers. This has been considered as a two way of communication that has been pushed through the company to the customers as well (Zhu and Gao, 2019, p. 35). Thus, it is clear on this digital marketing strategy assignment that while the application of digital marketing, this has provided both the organisation and the customers with an online platform where they can share their views and instant response can also be acquired as well.

Digital marketing plan
A plan of digital marketing possesses a document where details are shared regarding the planning of campaigns for digital marketing along with the actions. This discussion presented in the digital marketing strategy assignment also considers the use of business goals for short or rather long term. Strategies are also planned while achieving the goals within the digital level. Creating a digital marketing plan for the respective organisation might take into account the resources along with the staff defining their key roles and responsibilities. Thus, formulation of a digital plan of marketing can be beneficial for the respective company for making its business to be unique along with revealing the key messages for the customers through the channels of digital media (Key et al., 2019, p. 132). Thus, a detailed approach for outlining the strategy of digital marketing might reveal several opportunities along with expanding the reach.

Requirement metrics as well as resources with staffing and budget
Performance metrics table for the scenario of digital marketing strategy assignment

Table 3: Performance metrics
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

Table 4: Activities and Staff 
Source: (Developed by the Learner)

It has been evidenced by López García et al., (2019, p. 130) within the digital marketing strategy assignment, that the plan of digital marketing helps in effective engagement of the customers along with providing various metrics for the evaluation of the effectiveness based on the technologies of digital marketing. As per the above activities that have been stated in this section of digital marketing strategy assignment, the HR needs to be responsible for the present context and plan along with developing the selection; recruitment; learning and development programs for developing the digital skills in a proficient manner within the employees.

Budget table
(Refer to appendix 3)

Tactical plan
(Refer to appendix 4) 

The tactical plan developed in this digital marketing strategy assignment for digital marketing tends to describe the way it can implement the strategy along with defining the channels as well as tools which are generally used (Goldman et al., 2019, p. 517). This in turn, needs to define whatever is hoped for acquiring with the use of each of the tactics along with relating to the major objectives associated with the concerned organisation.

The first activity outlined in this digital marketing strategy assignment would involve exploring the options for developing new and attractive content for the social media and improving the native content, to make it more impactful. Organizing the website for the implementation of the digital marketing plan as well as creation of content for the micro audience would take up the third and the fourth week, according to the tactical plan. Next, the company examined herein digital marketing strategy assignment would have to focus on collecting reviews from the customers regarding the changes in their digital marketing strategy and other steps, regarding the impro0vement of the content, designing for data security and evaluation of the platforms being utilized for the digital marketing, to check for their efficacy, will follow consecutively.

Conclusion 
To conclude, the present study build on this digital marketing strategy assignment has evaluated the digital marketing strategy for the organisation of Lloyds Pharmacy highlighting the digital marketing audit and planning. Different tools and models have been considered in the above discussion related to the respective company. However, performance metrics along with the strategies and activities as well as budget has also been emphasized in the present discussion on digital marketing strategy assignment for a successful implementation of the digital media marketing campaign for the concerned organisation.

References
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Appendices 
Appendix 1: Swot analysis

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

Appendix 2: Tows matrix

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

Appendix 3: Budget plan

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

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

Appendix 4: Tactical plan

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