Digital Marketing and E-Commerce

Objectives

By the end of the course students will be able to

• explain why there's Marketing Planning and a Digital Marketing and eCommerce planning.
• recognise and describe the environmental variables that influence digital marketing and e-commerce activities.
• define, explain and practically use the fundamental digital marketing concepts in well planned strategies and tactics for success, this meaning: connecting directly to the business objectives.
• utilise analytical tools and frameworks that marketers use to conceive and execute digital marketing research and strategy.
• demonstrate nd how marketers perform the functional tasks that constitute digital marketing such as collecting marketing intelligence for successful marketing strategies.

Learning outcomes

• Recognise and understand the environmental variables that influence digital marketing and e-commerce activities.
• Define, explain and practically use the fundamental digital marketing concepts in well planned strategies and tactics for success, this meaning: connecting directly to the business objectives.
• Utilise common analytic tools and frameworks that marketers use to conceive and execute digital marketing research and strategy.
• Demonstrate how marketers perform the functional tasks that constitute digital marketing such as collecting marketing intelligence for successful marketing strategies.
• Explain eCommerce as a Distribution tool within the Marketing Planning process.

Competencies

General skills

• Be able to analyse and summarise.
• Be able to communicate orally and in the languages of the community.
• Be able to organise and plan.
• Be able to use information: seek, analyse, select, organise and exploit information effectively.

Specific skills

• Be able to analyse and understand the operation of the market and its influence on the activities of a company.
• Be able to apply market research theory and instruments to implement business strategies.
• Be able to apply theoretical knowledge, skills and communication tools to create an integrated communication strategy for an organisation.
• Be able to define and implement strategies and business models with intensive ICT use, and in particular the internet, social networks and e-business systems.
• Be able to devise and deploy integrated marketing communication initiatives.
• Be able to devise and implement integrated marketing plans.
• Be able to learn and apply knowledge and skills to strategic marketing management.
• Be able to plan decisions and product management for commercial distribution channels.
• Understand and be able to convey the importance of an organisation's approach to the market and customer relations.

Basic skills

• Students can apply their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional manner and have competencies typically demonstrated through drafting and defending arguments and solving problems in their field of study.
• Students can communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialists and non-specialists.
• Students have demonstrated knowledge and understanding in a field of study that builds on general secondary education with the support of advanced textbooks and knowledge of the latest advances in this field of study.
• Students have developed the learning skills necessary to undertake further studies with a high degree of independent learning.
• Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their field of study) in order to make judgements that include reflection on relevant social, scientific and ethical issues.

Core skills

• Be a critical thinker before knowledge in all its dimensions. Show intellectual, cultural and scientific curiosity and a commitment to professional rigour and quality.
• Become the protagonist of one's own learning process in order to achieve personal and professional growth and acquire all-round training for living and learning in a context of respect for linguistic, social, cultural, gender and economic diversity.
• Display professional skills in complex multidisciplinary contexts, working in networked teams, whether face-to-face or online, through use of information and communication technology.
• Exercise active citizenship and individual responsibility with a commitment to the values of democracy, sustainability and universal design, through practice based on learning, service and social inclusion.
• Interact in international and worldwide contexts to identify needs and and new contexts for knowledge transfer to current and emerging fields of professional development, with the ability to adapt to and independently manage professional and research processes.
• Project the values of entrepreneurship and innovation in one's academic and professional career, through contact with a variety of practical contexts and motivation for professional development.
• Use oral, written and audiovisual forms of communication, in one's own language and in foreign languages, with a high standard of use, form and content.

Content

Topic 1. Strategic communication as usual

1. Strategic communication planning fundamentals
   1. Role of communication
   2. Strategic tools
      1. Research (from qualitative to Big Data)
      2. Segmentation (from targeting to personalisation)
      3. Brand positioning statement
      4. Customer journeys (from consumer to conversation)
      5. Communication disciplines
   3. Communication strategy
      1. Marketing planning
      2. Communication strategy within:
         1. Objectives
         2. Target audience
         3. Copy strategy
         4. Communication assets
         5. Calendar
         6. Budget
         7. Measurement

Topic 2. Digital marketing

1. Introduction
   1. The digital transformation framework
      1. The digital transformation pyramid
         1. Business model/business strategy
         2. Corporate execution/ operating model, operations, go to market
         3. Enabling technologies
      2. Sharing economy
         1. What is collaborative consumption and what isn't?
      3. Re-imagine marketing
         1. Why? What remains? What evolves? (Flipped Class)
         2. Internet marketing fundamentals- from consumer journeys to conversation journeys, from traditional targets to personalization.
         3. Brand territories: an intro. to content planning
      4. Digital skills
         1. Emotional intelligence
         2. Digital project management
         3. Interpersonal communication
2. Internet marketing
   1. The objective of internet marketing.
   2. The objectives of internet marketing communications:
      1. Recruitment (basics)
         1. The basic offer: basic and optional ingredients
         2. Growth hacking
      2. Loyalty (basics)
         1. Sales: Upselling, cross-selling and MGM
         2. Retention
      3. Recapturing of lagged customers (basics)
      4. Customer lifetime value (LTV) and customer total value (CTV)
      5. Recruitment and loyalty ROI
   3. Internet marketing communication tools
      1. Holistic consumer journeys / conversations (managed and unmanaged)
         1. Physical touchpoints
         2. Digital touchpoints
         3. The holistic design
            1. Owned, earned, paid digital channels & brand funnel
3. Internet marketing strategy
   1. Liquid strategies
   2. Gap research identification (conversation journey)
   3. Communication objectives definition (and KPI definition):
      1. Leads vs conversion (magnet leads)
      2. Known vs unknown consumers: (Personalization@Scale)
         1. Research: Data signals
         2. Data management: 1st, 2nd, 3rd party data
         3. Data warehouse/BI tool/dashboard/spreadsheets/API (funnel)
      3. Communication disciplines, media (O/E/P) & assets: (flipped class)
         1. Disciplines
            • CRM: Segmentation and data base usage
            • Brand content - media content
            • Social commerce
            • Search engines (SEM, SEO)
            • Advertising (Display, Social Media Ads, …)
            • PR (Influencers)
      4. Media
         1. Owned: What are they & why need them? control.
            • E-mailing
            • Mobile (Apps & UX)
            • Organic positioning (SEO)
            • SEO Tools
            • Long tail advantages
            • …………
            • Social networks, social media & content strategy, KOL's, crisis, relationship marketing in social, community management:
            • Vertical vs horizontal social media
            • Main social networks in Spain
            • Blogs
            • …………
         2. Paid: What are they and why need them? Control
            • SEM Planning campaigns
            • Google ads.
            • Fundamental planning strategies
         3. Earned: What are they and why need them? Control
            • Bloggers
            • Sharing brand posts
            • Press
            • Organic search
            • …………
      5. The Strategy: Decisions
         1. Mission and channel architecture
         2. Persona, brand character
         3. Planning
         4. Ideas and tactics for marketing objectives through social media
         5. Strategy flow and circuits
         6. Calendar
         7. Budgeting
         8. Pre, during and post strategy control

Topic 3. E-commerce

1. The new e-consumers
2. Behavioural changes (flipped class)
3. The online POS
4. New business models
5. Evolution vs revolution
6. Products vs services
7. Benchmarking

Evaluation

Percentages expressed as part of the final grade:

• 30%: Class attendance & participation (Based on individual and group graded exercises developed during the course in class time or as homework)
• 20%: Mid-Term Exam
• 30%: Group Project Presentation
• 20%: Individual Oral Presentation

A significant amount of class time involves discussion of lectures, case studies and current periodicals, as well as individual and group exercises that introduce and reinforce key topics. Therefore, students' participation in class is essential and it is assessed.

Students are expected to take an active role in the class, participating in class discussions and fulfilling the required work for each session. In order to successfully meet this requirement, students should be prepared to devote significant time outside of class to reading and critical thinking. This course is fully integrated with UVic's Aula Virtual. Students are required to actively access and interact with resources on this platform.

The mid-term exam is taken in-class and may consist of questions in multiple choice, short answer or short essay format.

The group presentation requires teams to work outside of class to analyse a real-world case that involves tough digital marketing and e-commerce issues. The group presents its analysis and recommendations to the class and answer questions.

During the course, each student is also given an individual oral case presentation. This presentation requires outside research. The student must find an example of a digital marketing or e-commerce challenge faced by a company (or group of companies), and then explain how the challenge is directly linked to a topic that we have learned about in class.

Methodology

The marketing function is an essential part of almost every small or large business enterprise. Nowadays most marketers are asking themselves what's wrong with their Marketing, why isn't it working as it used to. The role of Marketing is changing in a dramatic manner. Consumers seem to react against brands that want to offer them their loyalty. How can we find new consumers and maintain the existing ones?

To be effective, senior business managers and leaders must understand how marketing activities are connected to overall organisational performance, and any professional who works within the marketing function must master that discipline's key concepts, analytic tools and processes in today's fast changing digital environment.

Marketing is a new management tool (let's not call it science) but it has already gone through several revolutions. The Digital one is happening now and we're going directly toward Marketing 4.0 or if you prefer, Personalisation Marketing.

This course provides students with an introduction to the central elements of digital marketing and e-commerce management.

The primary objective of the course is to provide students who are interested in business with the introductory knowledge and skills that they will need to move into professional roles, whether in the marketing function or another discipline. At the same time, the course aims to improve the overall critical thinking and communication skills that students need in order to succeed in any organization or field.

The course uses:

• Relevant case studies of firms involved in developing and implementing digital marketing and e-commerce strategies.
• Current articles from business newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals to be discussed on a daily basis to motivate class participation.
• Videos, lectures and in-class exercises.