Marketing Communication Campaign Assignment Sample

Marketing Communication Campaign Assignment

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Introduction Of Marketing Communication Campaign Assignment Sample

Task 1

(a) Background information

My role in this project

Marketing communication manager

Background of the organization

Whitbread PLC is a British international hotel and restaurant chain with its headquarters in Houghton Regis, England. The company began as a brewery in 1742 and had grown to become the worlds biggest by the 1780s (Barnes, 2021). Premier Inn is the company’s biggest division, with approximately 785 hotels and 72,000 rooms in the United Kingdom. The business continues to own almost 3,000 pubs. The customer base of the company mainly is local market travellers, foreign travellers. Starbucks, Hilton Worldwide, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Compass Group are among Whitbread's primary rivals. Whitbread is a major hotel, cafe, and coffee house owner.

Stakeholders

The Board of Directors is dedicated to corporate governance being an essential element of the organisation. It is critical in their interactions with investors, workers, vendors, and other stakeholders.

End customers: their needs and wants

Customers expect products and services to work properly in order to overcome their problems or fulfil their desires, as well as to be safe and secure.

Chosen theme and rationale

Theme: Raising awareness on a product service

Rationale: Whenever it comes to introducing new goods and services, brand recognition is critical, since it influences customers' choices when it comes to choosing among competing businesses. It promotes repeat purchases and contributes to the growth of market share and additional revenues.

(b) Analysis of internal and external environmental factors affecting Whitbread, and the challenges that these might present at the planning stage

In order to comprehend the various internal and external environmental factors which have an influence upon Whitbread, the “SWOT” and “PEST” analyses will be used respectively.

SWOT Analysis

PEST Analysis

(c) The importance of meeting customer needs and expectations in the context of Whitbread

By developing a strong Client Heartbeat and staying ahead of the competition, they will create businesses that consumers adore. The Winning Teams excite consumers and keep them coming back, which, combined with our emphasis on Everyday Efficiency, results in Profitable Growth. Although, the company constantly focus on customized its planning and enhance the quality of the services at the topmost with a perfect balance with the needs of customers. An entrepreneurial or small company should examine four primary consumer requirements (Chaithanapat and Rakthin, 2021). These are all the following: pricing, reliability, selection, and accessibility. That is why, if the company once exceeding customers’ expectations becomes a norm, it opens the path for consumers to become ardent champions for the business and its service. Each client is unique, as are their requirements. They would have to work around it in order to meet the client's expectations.

Customer requirements must be met if a company wants to maintain and attract new consumers. This is the point at which the going becomes difficult. Because after a business has gathered information and data about what its customers need from it, the next step is to integrate that information into pre-existing processes (Witkowska and Stachowska, 2021). Often, this entails completely overhauling a marketing campaign. The business may even be required to design, construct, and implement a whole new aspect of the product. Each firm must handle this stage uniquely, but they have developed a framework for how management may discover, comprehend, and fulfil consumer requirements.

Customers want businesses to be reliable, honest, responsive, and polite. Businesses may surpass these standards by assuring that each interaction with a client leaves them feeling satisfied and confident in the company is committed. Customers’ expectations are divided into two categories. On one level, people anticipate a particular type of service or product and are pleased when they get it. The other, and most desirable, level is one in which they anticipate getting more than they are receiving. Relationship building is a high priority in terms of consumer expectations. Customers demand a customized connection with the business with which they conduct deals and are satisfied when that relationship is ongoing and constant (Ali et al., 2021). Additionally, they prefer that the business contacts with them negotiate and deal, and they anticipate interacting with the same people each time they contact the company to avoid trying to explain any data. Therefore, considered all the factors that the company will tend to execute the campaign awareness planning regarding the services and products of the organization. It will help to build a potential profile among the customers.

Task 2

(a) Explanation of how the selected project will support the organizational goals

The selected project, that is, crafting an effective social media marketing plan to raise awareness about the products/services offered by Whitbread, would be very beneficial in terms of instilling a sense of trust and reliability among its customers. This is exceptionally important in these challenging times, when the whole human population is feeling threatened due to the ill effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the current conditions, it is actually very difficult for people to opt for leisure and tourism activities since there is a strong element of uncertainty regarding the extent to which the organizations operating within this sector have maintained preventive measures such as social distancing, regular sanitization, use of PPE in close circles, vaccination etc. Therefore, it becomes very important for a company like Whitbread to make a demonstration to its customers (existing and potential) as to how well it has managed its physical infrastructure and workforce in this period of pandemic, by following each and every governmental mandate and ensuring that its products/services and its overall way of doing business are 100% safe and secure for its customers.

By doing this, Whitbread will be able to create a strong positive impression upon the customers’ minds and gravitate more number of customers towards it, thus keeping up the business, even amidst the pandemic situation. If the company does not let people know about the investments it has made in the direction of providing safe and secure service to the customers, it will result in a major financial downfall. The marketing plan will make sure that it does not happen, and it will also greatly enhance the brand image of Whitbread big time.

Smart Objectives

The primary objectives to be accomplished through the marketing plan are as follows:

• To develop a viable and effective social media marketing plan at the lowest possible cost
• To run the marketing campaign for 6 months
• To enhance Whitbread’s customer reach by 33% by the end of the first three months of the marketing campaign
• To achieve an increase of 45% in terms of customer reach by the end the 6 months
• To raise the revenue of the company by a minimum of 30% during the “peak seasons”
• To establish a strong presence in the market amidst the pandemic situation

Alternative ways to gain the objectives

Other than the selected type of marketing, namely “social media marketing (SMM)”, the alternative ways to gain the objectives include the following-

“Content Marketing”: This strategy entails providing the audience with solutions to their questions through the publication of helpful information. It can be accomplished through "blogs', "websites" "social media platforms", "email", or any other means (Saura, 2020).

“E-mail Marketing”: Email marketing may be a quick, flexible, and cost-effective method of reaching new consumers and retaining existing customers by encouraging repeat website visits. Email marketing enables businesses to create focused, customised messages.

“Search Engine Optimization”: When creating information for a business, it must be discoverable by the public. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, enables material to appear at the top of search engine results pages (Bala and Verma, 2018). Thus, the organisational website will be discovered by those who are actively seeking what is being given.

“Influence Marketing”: Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which businesses collaborate with internet influencers to promote their products or services. Some relationships with influencers are less concrete than that - businesses collaborate with influencers to increase brand recognition. What is critical in this case is that the online collaborators have actual influence (Saura, 2020). They must exert influence over the demographics of the individuals with whom a brand intends to build a connection.

Recommendations

In order to formulate the overall functional process through the digital media platforms, the company have to promote the overall services through social media platforms. In an era of digitalization social media is one of the apex platforms that can easily connect the customers with the services of the organization. Social media is critical for increasing brand recognition, but the business must first have a firm grasp on its audience. This enables this business to produce meaningful material that is not exclusively sales-oriented and to provide the appropriate level of customer care.

The findings indicated that social media is being utilized to create or enhance brand recognition, which may result in increased sales income in the future (Wibowo et al., 2021). Businesses could profit from this exposure by increasing the number of likes on their company Facebook page, which establishes an online presence and expands their circle of influence.

If the business responds to consumer complaints fast enough on social media, this positive interaction may help attract and retain customers. Ascertain that consumers can be reached through their chosen channels (Tajvidi and Karami, 2021). Social media customer care provides assistance through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Over 60% of customers believe that the most critical aspect of excellent assistance is quickly resolving a problem. While the idea of “social care” is not unique, offering multi-channel assistance that incorporates social media may create significant difficulties for big and small B2B and B2C businesses alike, as well as possibilities to positively influence customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The issue is that internet advertising is constantly changing. Digital marketing's enormous breadth and size make it a complicated and difficult field. While many businesses are already acquainted with social media management tools that automated the process of researching for brand mentions or scanning social media sites for particular keywords, hearing is just as critical for customer support (Oncioiu et al., 2021). By targeting a targeted audience through social media, businesses may fine-tune their segmentation approach. Marketers and public relations experts may utilize social media to develop relationships with their consumers, produce engaging content, and track brand opinions.

Now, the fact is due to the pandemic situation of COVID-19, the social media strategies are the topmost that drive the overall campaign in a proper way. For the pandemic situation, the governmental bodies have implemented some norms like social distancing and all which disrupt the communicative process sometimes. Due to this reason, the travellers are not feeling safe going anywhere. In that case, if this marketing campaign will organize the overall process through the social media platforms they will be able to assure them through it.

Timeline

The marketing campaign regarding the awareness among the customers on the services of the company will be fixing within the 6 months. The first 3 months will be fixing on highly focus to implement the campaign among the wide range of the customers. The next 3 months will fix for to get their feedback and get more security and assurance to come to this place without any hesitation in this harsh situation of coronavirus.

Key Resources

In order to implement the process of digital marketing among the customers, there will need some necessary resources that will fulfil the tasks properly. Therefore, the major key resources are Blogs, Workshops, Seminars, social media communities, capital, helping staff.

(b) Presentation (Speaker’s Notes text)

Explanation of how the selected project will support the organizational goals

The project the project is now working on, that is, implementing a well-designed social media marketing strategy to enhance trust and dependability among clients, would be extremely helpful in this regard. During these difficult times, when the whole human population is feeling endangered owing to the impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic, this is particularly vital. Whitbread will be able to generate a favourable impression in the eyes of customers and bring more customers to the company, even during the global epidemic. It will result in a big financial disaster if the firm does not let people to know about the money it has invested in helping to ensure the safe and secure delivery of services to clients. Whitbread's marketing strategy guarantees that it does not happen, and it will benefit the image of the business enormously.

SMART Objectives

The primary objectives to be accomplished through the marketing plan are as follows:

• To develop a viable and effective social media marketing plan at the lowest possible cost
• To run the marketing campaign for 6 months
• To enhance Whitbread’s customer reach by 33% by the end of the first three months of the marketing campaign
• To achieve an increase of 45% in terms of customer reach by the end of the 6 months period
• To raise the revenue of the company by a minimum of 30% during the “peak seasons”
• To establish a strong presence in the market amidst the pandemic situation

These objectives, based on the principles of the SMART framework would most certainly enable Whitbread to successfully enhance te performance of its business with the marketing plan.

Alternative ways to gain the objectives

Other than the selected type of marketing, namely “social media marketing (SMM)”, the alternative ways to gain the objectives include the following-

• “Content Marketing”
• “E-mail Marketing”
• “Search Engine Optimization”
• “Influence Marketing”

Importance of social media for enhancing the customer's awareness

Social media is quickly gaining traction as a part of digital marketing, offering significant benefits due to its potential to reach millions of customers worldwide. They assist you in building relationships with consumers, increasing brand recognition, and increasing leads and sales (Kalogeropoulou, 2021). Customer service is heavily reliant on the usage of social media. The reciprocal advantages of simple brand accessibility through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media platforms enable quick consumer contact and engaging social engagement, while also facilitating brand development and widespread communication across various channels.

Social networking may help improve the way customer service problems are handled. If consumer complaints are addressed fast enough through social media, this positive interaction may help attract and retain customers. Ascertain that consumers can be reached through their chosen channels. Many companies see social media as an additional avenue for personality and do not always react to consumer comments or tweets (Ardiansyah and Sarwoko, 2020). By conversing on Facebook and Twitter, users may develop genuine connections. In the age of digitization, social media has emerged as an apex platform for connecting consumers to an organization's offerings. While social media is important for brand awareness, businesses should first have a strong understanding of their target.

The problem is that online advertising evolves at a breakneck pace. Due to the vast breadth and scale of digital marketing, it is a complex and challenging subject. While many companies are already familiar with social media management solutions that automate the process of looking for brand mentions or monitoring social media sites for certain keywords, listening is as important for customer service (Kalogeropoulou, 2021).

Importance of a proper timeline

Timelines are critical to the success of any Endeavour. They, not only aid in organizing the tasks at hand but also keep everyone responsible for accomplishing them. They define the project’s objectives and assist in establishing a project’s direction and priorities (Ryckman, 2020). A timeline is a visual representation of a chronological series of events along a drawn line. It allows the observer to rapidly grasp temporal connections. Timelines are beneficial for documenting any kind of growth since they provide an easily understandable history and assist viewers in comprehending previous and current patterns.

Importance of key resources

Each business plan requires the use of Critical Resources. The resources available to your business allow it to create and deliver a Business Model, penetrate markets, maintain relationships with Market Segments, and earn revenue (Johnson, Christensen and Kagermann, 2008). Various Key Resources are required for various company models. These are the primary assets that a company model must possess in order to be successful.

Risks involved in SMM

User authorization

On social media, it's critical to ensure that each user with account access has the appropriate degree of authorization (Jacobson, Gruzd and Hernández-García, 2020).

Phishing

When a harmful third-party attempts to mimic a brand and connect with customers in order to get sensitive personal information, this is called “phishing” (Dwivedi et al., 2021).

Non-secure password

According to “LMG Security”, an eight-character password may be broken in less than eight hours, a “ten-character password” in eight years, and a “twelve-character password” in 77,000 years (Bender et al., 2017). According to the business, firms frequently choose speed over security, opting for short, “easy-to-remember” passwords that leave them exposed to hackers.

Contigency plan

In order to handle these risks the following steps can be implemented to develop an effective contingency plan:

• Establish a “policy committee” for social media risk management.
• Ensure that the policy aim is formalised and communicated to all employees within the organization (Milde and Yawson, 2017).
• Conduct an audit of all social media accounts and identify any individuals who may have had access credentials in the past or present.
• State explicitly how frequently you want to conduct a formal audit of an organization's social media accounts and users (Subroto and Apriyana, 2019).
• Create internal rules that will grant users access to particular accounts.
• Educate each user about the networks to which they have access and the related timetable for access (Zeebaree, Ameen and Sadeeq, 2020).

(c) Gantt Chart

Task 3

(a) Evaluation of the changes that can be made to the plan and their impact on the other areas of the same

Based on the feedback received from the two individuals to whom the plan was sent for perusal, it is evident that in general, the entire plan is quite complete, and the elements which constitute it are relevant for handling the wide array of factors which are involved in the making of a marketing plan. Two areas, however, have been identified by the two respondents, which according to them would enhance the viability of the plan. According to the first respondent, the alternative ways of accomplishing the SMART objectives need to be amended a little bit, in that, the person opines that relying completely on just a single type of marketing, namely, "digital marketing", would limit the range and scope of the company's marketing plan since it would exclude a large segment of the population, that is more engaged with other marketing channels such as the print media and mass media, which includes TV, radio and blimp advertisements.

This is important, as per the respondent, since these channels, although they have gotten overshadowed due to the massive and pervasive influence of the more modern platform of internet, are still very important as marketing channels to reach a wider section of the customers. It is also important to note that using these channels of marketing would demand a higher investment, owing to the comparatively higher expenses of the more conventional means of marketing such as radio, TV and blip advertisement. Therefore, using these means would require a complete restructuring of the financial plan, since the marketing manager will need to readjust the financial resources that are supposed to be invested for specific areas of the same, in order to avoid a great budget difference.

For doing this, the marketing personnel will have to closely observe the purpose of each of the remaining elements involved in the plan, and check if there is any room for cost reductions. Although it would perhaps not be practically possible to completely balance out the price difference between the use of digital media marketing and the use of the other suggested means of marketing, it is very much within the capabilities of the marketing official to make sure that the entire process gets streamlined to such an extent that the overall cost of executing the entire marketing plan is kept below the average expenditure that are usually needed to be made in such activities like this.

(b) How the outcome of the plan could be measured as a result of its implementation

In order to measure the outcome of the implementation of the suggested changes in the plan, two “Key Process Indicators (KPIs)” can be used. A “Key Performance Indicator (KPI)” is a quantifiable statistic that shows how well a firm is accomplishing key business goals. Organizations use KPIs at different levels to assess their progress toward their goals. The two KPIs to be used are as follows:

“Net Profit Margin” indicates how profitable your firm is on each dollar of sales it generates. This financial KPI is a measure of a business's profitability and is critical for making both long- and short-term financial choices. Understanding this KPI may even offer a company an edge over its competition in a price war.

Net profit margin quantifies the amount of net income earned as a proportion of total revenue. Net profit margin enables investors to determine if a company's management is earning enough profit from its sales and managing operational and administrative expenditures.

“Customer Retention Rate” is a critical KPI for subscription-based organisations, since it affects (1) recurring income, (2) customer satisfaction levels (which affects account expansions and referrals), and (3) business development.

Customer retention rate is a metric that indicates the percentage of existing customers that continue to conduct business with you over a certain time period. It is one of the most critical indicators for determining customer loyalty and should serve as a KPI for determining the effectiveness of your loyalty marketing initiatives.

(c) Explanation of TWO things that might be done differently when planning a project in the future

Targeting domestic holidaymakers

Since the lockdowns are gradually being taken off and the travel restrictions being relaxed, Whitbread can focus upon the specific category of “domestic holidaymakers” and create a marketing plan exclusively for this particular customer segment. International travel is still a questionable mater considering the differences in the governmental mandates that are active in different nations, so international travelers should not be paid much attention to, unless the rules allow it. Therefore, targeting the category of domestic holidaymakers and crafting special packages for them which would make their travel much easier, cheaper, comfortable and safe for the holidaymakers and their kith and kin, who would be accompanying them in their travel. Targeting specific segments of customers would streamline the marketing plan of Whitbread and cut a lot of expenses that would otherwise be needed for touching multiple segments of customers.

References

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Feedback from Respondent 1

Appendix 2: Feedback from Respondent 2