Executive Summary
This report is made on the objective of executing a strategic analysis and evaluation of Blue Duck Shearling in order to be able to answer the following problem statement:
“How could Blue Duck increase their consumer based brand equity (CBBE) by improving their social media appearance?”
In order to answer the question an assessment of Blue Duck’s marketing strategy and implementation of the strategy was carried through. It focused on the Blue Duck’s social media marketing strategy and it led to giving suggestions how to improve their current approach with the aim of improving Blue Duck’s consumer based brand equity.
In order to find out the industry leading trends in Social Media Marketing there were examined
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Following these suggestions Blue Duck will increase their customer based brand equity and will succeed in building a stronger online community. Introduction
The aim of this report is to examine an American shearling outerwear manufacturer Blue Duck’s online appearance and give suggestions for their social media marketing strategy.
Blue Duck is a small company that serves the needs of United States shearling market. It is one of the main manufacturers of luxury shearling in the US. As their core product is shearling outerwear the active business season for them is from October till March the following year. During the summer season they mainly deal with the product development and design of the next season’s collection.
As the winter of 2011 and 2012 was rather warm, the business suffered and the sales volume declined. In the summer of 2012 Blue Duck decided to develop a new marketing plan and they hired branding agency Art Zulu to help building a social media marketing strategy. The main aim of the new approach was to increase brand awareness and build a strong online community.
This report will be assessing and analyzing the implementation of the strategy and in the end gives suggestions according to the findings.
Problem Statement
To assess the possibilities of increased brand awareness following problem was formulated:
How could Blue Duck increase their customer based brand equity (CBBE) by
One of the key roles of social media from a marketing perspective is the development of a client based platform. It is becoming an increasingly important part of any business’s marketing. Businesses can utilize existing online platforms to build networks of current and potential clients. By being active online allows businesses to connect with their customers in innovative ways to become a trusted source of information and convey the passion they have for their industry.
Social media has become an influential ground for consumers to share their opinions about a company’s brand and products. In addition, it helps in having a strong brand that produces positive relations and distinguish the brand from competitors, is a critical component for effective marketing. According to Dahlén and Lange (2009) “the quality of the product is not the evident factor when it comes to purchasing a product, the deciding factor depends on how the brand is perceived” (Para. 1). This demonstrates the importance of incorporating social media as a tool to promote brands, allow for interactions, and customer satisfaction by engaging with customers more frequently for feedbacks or reviews. Thus create an opportunity for the company to show its devotion to their customers, and initiate good reputation, which can increase sales. In other words, social media has the ability to upsurge the awareness for businesses as well as the brand.
The third issue for Trader Joe’s is their lack of social media presence. Trader Joe’s from their beginning has used a customer newsletter and occasional radio ads in order to promote their brand, and these advertising methods have not changed with the introduction and prevalence of social media. Many brands nowadays are seeking to gain a competitive advantage over the
The last research method used was an interview with John D. Smith, Marketing Director of Fisher Products. The company Fisher Products has had tremendous success using the social media marketing strategy. John D. Smith was interviewed because of his pioneering effort in the use of social media for advertising. A 30 minute interview was conducted with questions pertaining to the company’s use of social media and their
We are successfully utilizing social media as a powerful way to gain positive exposure and connect with our internet-savvy customers in a global and local level. We rely heavily in word-of-mouth advocacy”. (John Mackey, 2012)
Marquette University had many successes building its brand through a strategic social media strategy. According to the case study, members of The Office of Communications and Marketing supported and participated in the conception and planning stages to help structure an effective social media strategy. In addition to the research and information gathered internally, the university also engaged with a variety of audiences, not physically on the campus, to further extend its market research and brand. Marquette University’s marketing and communications team’s strategy for social media is focused on engagement, dialogue, bridging of information, and community. This strategy aligns with the university’s mission, “the search for truth, the discovery and sharing of knowledge, the fostering of personal and professional excellence” (”About Marquette: Our Mission,” n.d.).
As the marketing power of social media continues to grow, the Blanton has made it a priority to become a pioneer on these new social media platforms and establish a presence on social media in order to connect with its users. Additionally, the Blanton is
Mark W. Shaefer is a successful businessman that built his company while spending zero dollars on marketing. “I built my entire business without spending a dime on advertising or marketing in three and half years. All of my business has come from my blog, Twitter, and LinkedIn.” (Bell 34) By using the platforms that many individuals visit on a daily basis, free business exposure is created. “Social media is rapidly replacing traditional media as a source to which consumers turn for information about products and brands.” (Brison 309) Much like in the past, consumers want to learn about a product before purchasing it.
Slide 2: Sof-A-Logue.com has been in the social media business for 10 years. The proposition of the company is to be the lowest cost, highest quality service provider in the industry (MKT650 Scenario, 2013). The enterprise has been successful in growing every year, with a total of five billion in sales, but overall awareness of the name Sof-A-Logue is low. The task of this plan is to increase the top-of-mind recognition of the Sof-A-Logue parent brand and determine a path forward for the company.
Social media is an effective media of communication between the consumers and companies. The companies are using social media for improving consumer engagement and brand lift. This essay gives a brief overview of social media platforms and how effective they have been. It shows that the whole marketing concept has undergone radical transformation due to the social media interaction. The essay ends in conclusion depicting what marketers need to take care in order to have successful social media campaign.
Despite the fact that we’re already in the 21st century, society continues to show signs of progress and development strongly leaning towards the direction of advancement, constantly evolving. This pattern is no different from the world of advertising, as it has also evolved through the years and quite recently an unexpected technological innovation took the world by storm. It made such a tremendous impact that eventually led to the transformation of traditional marketing, and it’s no other than social media that we all learned to love.
The purpose of this report is to show that even though some state that Social Media has fallen short of their expectations, it is actually good for business, given that it enhances the visibility of their brand and helps businesses stay connected to potential customers.
In recent years, social media has become the best available option for brands to communicate with prospective consumers. In other words, social media is an opportunity for brands to transcend the traditional middleman (Neti, 2011). One of the many positives is that companies can build their own brand communities easily on the social media. There are some obvious benefits of brand communities which are facilitating information sharing, spread the history and the culture of brands, providing help to customers, and positively influencing brand loyalty (Laroche, Habibi and Richard, 2013).
For this paper, assuming that I am a small business owner, I will examine the power of doing so through various means of social media. Each site I use will be broken down, and I will give an in-depth look as to what techniques and approaches used for promoting my brand. Let’s take a look, starting with the company and its mission.
The benefit of social media is that H&M can get out its message and promote its brand by content marketing, while at the same time it can gather, store and interpret huge amounts of data. ‘’Content marketing’s purpose is to attract and retain customers by consistently creating and curating relevant and valuable content with the intention of changing or enhancing consumer behavior.’’ (Content Marketing Institute,