Mossto Shoe Store Utilizes A Digital Marketing Platform To Boost Sales. #essay

Digital Marketing Platform 1

In the modern era, every organization relies on modern digital tools with the motive to promote its products in the market. Further, it is a well-known fact that adoption of promotion tool is must for every business where the product related information can be easily shared with the target market through advanced tools such as social media marketing, mobile, email marketing, etc (Agrawal 2017). The present study is based on Mossto which is an online shoe store company that mainly offers products to ladies. The company is efficient enough in meeting requirement of ladies regarding clothing and shoes. Overall analysis has shown that the products of Mossto are unique regarding design and color options that directly influence the purchase decision of the target market. The shoes are manufactured in Spain by the skilled individuals and with the help of high-quality materials. The organization has developed digital strategy objectives which take into consideration accomplishing 10% market awareness, targeting the new group of customers. The two advanced tools selected are Facebook and email marketing that will be explored in the present research. These two tools are efficient enough in meeting needs of the target market and in turn information linked with products can be shared easily.

The first key digital marketing platform undertaken by the business is Facebook where with the help of social media Mossto can share information linked with products to its target market. The concept of Facebook was introduced in February 2004 by Mr. Zuckerberg at the time of studying psychology at Harvard University (Brennan & Croft 2013). A large number of features of this website is present that involves post free classified advertisement, application development, developing the new page which can be of any organization, etc. The value of Facebook is $364billlion where on a monthly basis over 1.71 billion people are using this site. This digital marketing tool has some pros and cons that every business has to consider. The main benefits of this platform are as follows:

• It is very easy to set up the new profile where any individual or organization can develop the profile, and it is easy to use(Andersson, Fredriksson & Berndt 2014). Only internet connection is required to access facebook.
• Facebook is considered to be one of the most effective platforms where ideas and thoughts can be easily shared such as in case of Mossto promotional message linked with products can be shared with the target market
• Facebook enhances social skills where the current trends in the market can be known along with the new products that businesses have launched in the market(Armstrong et al. 2015).
• Saves time and marketing cost where it is possible for the business  to share large number of messages with their target market in lesser period and no expenses are incurred associated with this type of promotion
• One of the main benefits of this platform is that it encourages two-way communication where feedback from customers can be easily taken in relation to the products and in turn their satisfaction level can be known easily
• It allows in enhancing relationship with the target market and businesses can easily enhance their customer base in short period of time. The use of Facebook as a marketing platform can assist the company in its long term growth by developing long term relationship with all its potential customers.    

Cons

• Freedom of expression is the major drawback where every individual has freedom to share ideas, and due to this reason chances of misuse is quite high (Heimbach, Kostyra & Hinz 2015)
• Sometimes any individual can post the negative comment regarding company’s product, and this can directly harm the brand image of the enterprise.
• Many times it has been witnessed that for businesses to engage with the facebook users who are not interested in the kind of information shared with them. Neither it becomes possible for the company to force them for accessing the message nor any other tactics can be undertaken.
• The ads that are targeted actually sometime goes wrong where it does not reaches to the right target market. This is the main issue that is being faced and in turn leads to decline in the level of performance (Sinha et al. 2015).

So, these are some of the pros and cons of this digital platform that businesses are required to undertake at the time of employing this platform for promoting products and services. In comparing with the pros and cons it has been analyzed that benefits associated with employing facebook as one of the social media channel is present in large amount and surely it can deliver large number of benefits to the business.  

The business objective of Mossto is to accomplish 10% market awareness within the time period of 6 months after the launch of the product in the market. So, this objective can be easily accomplished by undertaking the Facebook platform that can allow the organization in accomplishing this objective easily (Hossain & Yafooz 2017). Business can develop its own platform as through this it is possible to share crucial information with the target market linked with the product. Developing awareness in the market is easily possible by employing this tool and in turn customer base of the organization can be easily enhanced in short period. This business objective is directly associated with the long term performance of the business in the market where developing awareness in the market can surely be beneficial for the enterprise. Facebook as one of the tool can enhance market awareness, and the overall goals of the business can be accomplished easily in every possible manner.

History and Background

For effective implementation of the Facebook platform, different strategies will be undertaken. New content will be designed for targeting customers. For instance “Mossto presents the new design of ladies shoes at an affordable price” This type of message can be shared in front of the target market for attracting them (Järvinen & Karjaluoto 2015). Another message “10% discount on the new arrivals of Mossto!! Grab the offer”. So, this type of promotional message is highly effective through which it is possible for the business to influence purchase behavior of its target market. This content will be highly effective for the business as it can highlight the ultimate objective of the business in every possible manner. Apart from this advertising campaigns will also be designed where the information regarding the new type of products introduced will be shared with the target market.

Facebook advertising will take place by sharing new designs of shoes that have been introduced in the market. The advertising campaign will be based on new ideas through which promotion is possible. New facebook page will be developed through which customers will be engaged into the major affairs of the enterprise. The promotional content designed will be shared with the target market through which customers will gain information about the new product and they can be influenced to purchase the same.  So, this will surely encourage the purchase behavior of the target market and can assist in accomplishing the main goals of the enterprise.

The overall success will be measured by taking feedback from the target market where customers will be asked various questions in order to know whether they are aware of the new product range of Mossto shoes in the market or not. This will allow in knowing whether Facebook as one of the platforms selected for sharing information and promotional message with the target market is effective or not. In short, the level of market awareness will allow in knowing whether this platform is fruitful for the company or not. Measuring success is necessary for every organization as through this it can be known whether the platform undertaken is effective or not. Customer response is effective enough in knowing whether facebook as one of the platform is effective or not.

For company like Mossto this platform is quite crucial as in case if new products are launched in the market then in such case it is possible to obtain response of large number of customers easily. In short, it can act as development tool for the business and can allow enterprise in gaining competitive edge (Urban, Gosline & Lee 2017). In near future company can identify how many customers are purchasing its products and with the help of same it is possible to measure success in the market in every possible manner.    

In the present scenario, email marketing has emerged as one of the most powerful tools for attracting customers and enhancing sales of business enterprise. Furthermore, it was in the year 1971, when the first electronic mail was sent. However, the first email marketing blast was carried out in 1978 (Davis 2017). It was Gary Thuerk who forwarded more than 400 emails to individuals for the purpose of carrying out promotion of his computers. The result of this was that Gary Thuerk achieved $13 million sales. In the year 1991, the internet became live worldwide, and it was Hotmail which carried out the explosion of email marketing. In 1996, a company named Xoom carried out the most renowned email marketing campaign as the marketing email was forwarded to more than 6 million users of the internet. The mentioned above campaign is also considered as the largest spam of the world.  

Which Business Objective Does this Fulfill

The main advantage of using email marketing is that it results is saving the overall cost incurred in marketing and promotions (Leeflang et al. 2014). As compared to the other marketing tools, email marketing is cost effective and convenient. Apart from this, it also supports in creating brand awareness of a business enterprise. Email marketing at regular intervals assists organizations to make people in the market aware about new products, services introduced. One of the key advantages of this marketing is that it is measurable where business can easily know the value of the campaign through web analytics software.

However, it can be critically argued that spam filters result in killing various marketing opportunities present for small and large companies. In addition to this, another disadvantage of email marketing is that it requires lots of time and efforts. Undelivered email is also one of the main disadvantage of email marketing where the emails that are specially designed for  the target market are not delivered. Therefore, it is necessarily required for the businesses to keep their marketing list up to date so that information can be shared with the correct target market. For effective email marketing it is necessary to have right resource and skills where Mossto is required to ensure that proper marketing list, design and right copy is available.     

The company will be making use of constant contact and mail chimp for the purpose of carrying its email marketing. The selected digital marketing will help Mossto to accomplish its objective of selling 10,000 units of those new purchases that too in a period of six months. It can be expressed that email marketing platform such as constant contact can help Mossto to achieve its objective of increasing sales. Furthermore, the platform offers facilities such as the listing of building tools, various mobile friendly email templates, and contact management (Nosrati et al. 2013). These facilities will support Mossto in carrying out the smooth functioning of all its marketing practices over emails. The MailChimp marketing automation services are quite effective as through this it is possible for the enterprise to develop awareness in the market regarding its new product range (Tiago & Veríssimo 2014). The email will be shared with the help of pictures through which customers will know what type of products have been introduced in the market. Selling more units of products is only possible when email strategy is designed in proper manner keeping in view the customers requirement.

Mossto will be creating an account on constant contact, and here the brand will be required to enter username and password for the account (Dawe 2015). After creating the account, the company will be directed to the main page of constant contact where it will be required to rename its campaign. Furthermore, will need to enter its name in the section email name and after this various templates for email marketing will be available for Mossto. Here, the company will also have an option to make use of its own template for email marketing. After this, Mossto will need to enter a subject line to its email and add email address below the subject line. Apart from this, Mossto will need to complete some other process on the page and once done it will need to click on the button of save and continue if the company is satisfied with its email marketing layout (Reimers, Chao & Gorman 2016). Here, the business will also be available with the option of adding multiple contacts. An effective process of monitoring will be used here to ensure that the campaign is going in the right direction to accomplish its marketing objectives. Continuous monitoring will be carried out to identify loop holes in the campaigns and then corrective measures will be taken to overcome the same.    

Implementation of the Platform

The success of Mossto’s email marketing campaign will be measured with the help of different matrix. For example matrix such as open rates will be used and here the company is going to divide its total times when email opened with the total number of email sent (Rollins, Anitsal & Anitsal 2014). The use of mentioned above matrix will support Mossto in defining the total percentage of opened emails. Based on the information collected, effective measures can be taken in the situation if the results are not satisfactory or up to the desired extent. In addition to this, click through rate (CTR) will also be used to measure the success of email marketing campaign (Honigman 2013). According to this matrix, the total number of time a click is made will be divided by Mossto with the total number of impressions on emails. Web analytics software can also be employed by Mossto for knowing the success of its campaign and it can allow in know how many customers have successfully utilized the message that have been shared with them.

The rationale behind using this matrix is that it will help in determining the fact that whether the content forwarded through email is compelling and effective or not. Based on the information collected, Mossto will be carrying out certain changes in its content to make it more efficient and enhance the brand visibility (Ryan 2016). Other than this, the matrix such as abuse report will also be used to determine the success of Mossto’s email marketing campaign. Here, the total number of email subscribed who marked Mossto’s email as spam will be identified. It will support in identifying the fact that whether the campaign is heading towards right direction or not.

• It can be recommended that Mossto can develop a competent team of personnel’s who would be responsible for taking care of marketing activities of social media and email. The rationale behind this is that having a team of individuals will assist Mossto in responding back to the comments over facebook and emails on time and accurately.  It is essential for companies to react quickly and appropriately to the doubts, issues, and concern of people over the mentioned above platforms of marketing.  
• It can also be recommended that Mossto should focus more on the content which has been promoted through marketing platforms such as emails and Facebook. Mossto should emphasize more on posting and forwarding content which is unique, creative and relevant to the target audience. The rationale behind this is that creative and useful content will support in attracting more and more customers from the target market and thus, will enhance the volume of sales and profitability of Mossto.
• It is also important for Mossto to use various social media tools for websites like Facebook so that all the traction of the audiences can be measured and the posts that attracts more and more people can be promoted more.
• Paid for of Facebook Advertising can be done as it reaches millions of people with very less cost. Further, these posts can be promoted to special demographic and geographical targeted audiences. In terms of demographic changes, company can select the age, preferences, habit of the targeted population and in terms of geographical, location can be set to target a particular area.
• Other than that, Company can also use the live video feature of both Facebook and YouTube in order to showcase their products launch, talk about some new products, guest appearance, etc. in order to engage people towards them in most appropriate manner. They can also trying to integrate the chat box into their Facebook page which will help them to improve the customer service by quickly responding to all their comments and questions.
• Company can also create innovative hash tags on Twitter on the regular basis and promotes them with some exciting news or information. People usually repost them, like them which generate branding for Mossto in return. For all the feeds, that company can share, focus can be given on the

Conclusion 

From the above report, it can be concluded that social media and email are the two important techniques which Mossto will be using to accomplish its business objectives. Marketing on Facebook and email will support the company in creating awareness of its products and services among people in the market. At the same time, it will create demand and will assist in enhancing the volume of sales and profitability. The main benefit of using Facebook is that it will allow two-way communications between the company and potential customers. On the other hand, the platform provides an opportunity to express views and opinions to individuals, and this can be considered as the major drawback of the Facebook as a marketing platform.  In short, Mossot can grab large number of benefits through adoption of social media channel as creative messages with the help of this tool can be shared with the target market and it can allow in gaining competitive edge to the business in every possible manner. Company will share promotional offers through this platform through which customers can know what kind of benefits are provided to them. The key objectives that have been developed by the business such as enhancing awareness in the market and selling more units of the products. So, this will be accomplished through the adoption of facebook as one of the social media channel along with email marketing.  

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