Digital Marketing
assignment tutorial
*
Digital Marketing: assignment tutorial
The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do:
Michael Porter
The assignment
You are required to develop a report for the case-study scenario outlining recommendations for a proposed digital marketing plan for the case-study organization
The report is addressed to the owners of the organization and you are to write it as if you are a consultant engaged to research and present the information. The report will be written in a management-report format that will be easily understood by the addressees - that is: it is not an academic paper and must use appropriate language and terminology.
Digital Marketing: assignment tutorial
The recommendations made in the report must be specific to the case-study organization, and NOT a generic description of the elements of e-Marketing that are available to any organization
Note that an exception to this rule is with regard to costs. Your report should contain no specific costs [eg ‘the website will cost £2,000’] … however, the recommendations must be appropriate to the case-study organization
The recommendations must be based on the plan’s key objective[s] as described in chapter three of the core text
Digital Marketing: THE JUDGEMENT CALL
A decision you have to make where there is no clear rule about what the right thing to do is
Everyone makes judgement calls every day of their lives
This assignment is all about you making judgement calls – recommendations - based upon your understanding of [a] the concepts and theories and, [b] your analysis of the situation
Digital Marketing: assignment tutorial
The assignment requires you to address three key issues.
Digital Marketing: assignment tutorial – online marketing objectives
You must state the objectives for your recommendations in the introduction of the report.
As is the case with any strategy, there are some tools/tactics that are more suited to one strategic objective than another
Although within the core text it is either explicitly or implicitly suggested that some elements of digital marketing are more suited to the different objectives, the application of the correct recommendations for the stated objectives is something that will come from your understanding of the subject [remember the reading I suggest you do]
It is this kind of application of knowledge and understanding that differentiates the marks awarded for each submission as it requires a series of judgement calls from each student
Digital Marketing: assignment tutorial
Having decided the key objectives you are now in a position to make recommendations to the case study organization
To do this, you need to consider all of the elements of digital marketing and:
Digital Marketing: assignment tutorial
- Decide if each element is relevant to the case study organization. If it is not relevant, do you need to mention it at all in your report? [judgement call ]
- Decide if each element is suitable or not suitable for the case study organization and the objective you have set [judgement call]
- Make a specific recommendation about that aspect. That is, should this element of digital marketing be adopted; if not why not; and if so why - and how is it best implemented for that organization [judgement call ]
- How much do you need to tell the organization [judgement call ]
Digital Marketing: assignment tutorial
- As an example of how to make recommendations to a case study organization, let’s take a look at one element of the subject : domain names
- I am going to use The Modeller’s Stand case study for this example
- Let’s assume you have decided that a website is required and so that website would require a domain name. Therefore, as part of your report to Robert Terwilliger you would need to recommend the right domain name
- Note: a generic recommendation would be ‘you need a domain name’ … suggesting the right domain name is a specific recommendation
Digital Marketing: assignment tutorial
The concept would require you to read all of the relevant literature around how a domain name is constructed, i.e. what characters can be used, how are they formed etc etc etc. This would also include reading about good practice in choosing the right domain name
All of this information would be generic: that is it could apply to any organization in the world
Digital Marketing: assignment tutorial
The judgement calls on this exercise are
- Based on the situational analysis, and having decided on your objective[s] – is a domain name required?
- Based on you understanding of the concepts of domain names and what denotes the right domain name – what is the right domain name for the case study organization?
- For the report: based on the case study – how much information do you need to give to the recipient[s] of your report?
Digital Marketing: assignment tutorial
TELL THEM WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW – AND NO MORE
This is the key to the content any management report.
What does the addressee need to know in order for the report to be both complete and to the point
*