1 Proposed Digital Marketing Strategies
Digital marketing is an umbrella term that refers to the marketing of services and products using digital technologies that evolved from merely servicing customers to involve the engagement of customers (Mandal, Joshi and Sheela, 2016). The following paragraphs present three digital marketing strategies proposed to Virgin Media that would aid it in developing long-term and profitable relationships with its customers.
1.1 Strategy 1- Long-term social media marketing strategy
1.1.1 Situation Analysis
Virgin Media offers a wide range of products and services that are presented through several bundles that are regularly updated (Virgin Media, 2021). Furthermore, the telecommunication sector is characterised by its fierce competition and the ease of their substitution which are main drivers for change to maintain a competitive edge (OVUM, 2016). In promoting its services and products, Virgin Media utilises social media platforms. However, their performance is below average as compared to its competitors. To illustrate, Virgin Media’s followers on its Facebook page are 541K as compared to 992K and 1.3M followers on the page of Vodafone and O2 respectively.
1.1.2 Objectives
Building long-term assets is a strong basis for maintaining momentum in the future (LYFE Marketing, 2021). With regards to social media platforms, such assets are presented through the audience of followers, mainly the youth, who are naturally more attracted to digital media than nature (Edwards and Larson, 2020). Therefore, the main objective of this strategy is to build strong relationships with existing and potential customers through which engagement of the audience would be triggered and maintained leading to better communication with customers (Acker et al., 2011).
1.1.3 Strategy
The long-term social media marketing strategy is the perfect strategy to achieve the aforementioned objectives by building a solid audience of followers. To achieve this, two main approaches will be used. The former will rely on paid advertisements where follower ads will be developed and advertised to the company’s target audience using the stored data in relation to their demographics (LYFE Marketing, 2021); while the latter will depend on organic opportunities, such as hashtags and content, to increase the brand’s visibility and drive customers’ interest to grow its social media pages (LYFE Marketing, 2021).
1.2 Strategy 2- Long-term SEO marketing strategy
1.2.1 Situation Analysis
With the changes in consumers’ purchase behaviours and the increase of online buying, e-commerce had become increasingly vital to all businesses. Virgin Media currently provides several online purchasing options that include updating existing bundles, purchasing new products, having an engineer appointment, etc (Virgin Media, 2021). However, when keywords such as fastest wi-fi in the UK, which is Virgin media’s main mission, broadband deals, etc, the website does not appear on Google search engine indicating the need for Search Engine Optimization.
1.2.2 Objectives
Therefore, the main objective is to boost the number of customers reaching the website by increasing the traffic through gaining customers’ attention; thus, generating interest which is the main driver for actions to purchase leading to a surge in revenues, if done correctly (Sotnikova, 2016).
1.2.3 Strategy
Search engine optimization is the key to generating traffic into the website as it is a strategy that makes customers tick (Sotnikova, 2016). To start with, to have an effective SEO strategy, a sitemap representing the plan of the website should first be developed to identify flaws and deficiencies in the flow. This step is crucial to aid search engines in identifying and categorizing the content of the website (Sotnikova, 2016). The SEO marketing strategy will focus on two main aspects namely, optimizing the most relevant keywords that are used by customers and influencing the website’s ranking through backlinks, social signals and content (LYFE Marketing, 2021).
1.3 Strategy 3- Content marketing strategy
1.3.1 Situation Analysis
Virgin Media seems to be not focusing on content marketing through multiple channels. This is apparent through the weak performance of many of its channels such as Instagram and blogs on its website. The rate at which the content is being updated is slow which is apparent from the few blog articles posted on its website. Furthermore, the content created seems to only address informational needs without being interesting enough to attract a mass audience.
1.3.2 Objectives
The main objective is to provide prospective customers with valuable, easily accessed and readily understood information through a wide range of channels to increase transparency and build trust towards the social consumer concept (Acker et al., 2011); thus, converting prospects to customers through driving greater engagement that will boost their purchasing actions based on the content provided (Mandal, Joshi and Sheela, 2016).
1.3.3 Strategy
The main strategy to be adopted is the diversification of the channels and the means through which content is delivered to the audience (Zahay, 2015). These include offering content through ebooks that provide valuable information, checklists that aid customers in deciding between two options, and case studies (Caroll, 2019). Also, there should be an increased focus on weakly performing channels such as Instagram and blogs on their website (Caroll, 2019).
2 Customer Service Metric Analysis
It has been observed that customer relationship management is a key driver of value, especially in the telecommunication sector (Livne, Simpson And Talmor, 2011). The following presents an analysis of five customer service metrics.
2.1 Customer Retention rate
As defined by Keiningham et al., (2007), customer retention is “customers’ stated continuation of a business relationship with the firm” (p.364). For the telecommunications sector, it is continuing to use the same provider. Thus, it is correlated to customer loyalty patterns i.e customers who are likely to spend to the firm and recommend it to others (Keiningham et al., 2007). Therefore, this rate is crucial for Virgin Media to assess the effectiveness of their marketing, customer service and lifetime customer value to enhance customer value. Its significance emerges from the fact that customer retention is much cheaper than customer acquisition (Baer, 2020).
2.2 Customer Acquisition Cost
Simply stated, the customer acquisition cost is the costs incurred while acquiring new customers. Thus, it is related to the expenses incurred on sales and marketing per every new customer (Livne, Simpson And Talmor, 2011). The significance of this metric emerges from the fact that it offers a means of measuring the return on marketing investment. It also aids in enhancing the profitability of a business (Livne, Simpson And Talmor, 2011); thus, if CAC is high, Virgin Media could choose the most cost-effective marketing strategy such as considering leveraging more on less costly means such as social media marketing.
2.3 Customer satisfaction Score
Customer satisfaction is a crucial aspect in maintaining long-term relationships with customers that are vital for its survival (Biesok and Wróbel, 2011). This method is amongst the simplest in measuring satisfaction rates which are mainly obtained through surveys with scaled rating questions. The main value of this metric arises from its simplicity and ease of conduction allowing a business to quickly have an insight into dissatisfaction rates to be able to take prompt corrective actions. Furthermore, it allows for measuring the satisfaction rates throughout the product life cycle allowing a business to pinpoint where exactly dissatisfaction emerges (Biesok and Wróbel, 2011).
2.4 Net Promoter Score
A net promoter score is a score that measures the loyalty of customers through their likelihood of recommending the business to others. The score is obtained using a survey question. Subsequently, the score obtained is the number of promoters minus the detractors (Schneider, Beren, Thomas and Krosnick, 2008). NPS is significant because it aids in having more growth opportunities that are dependent on emotional connections. It also gives an indication of the efficacy of resource allocation within a business; consequently, more funds could be allocated to weak areas to enhance customer loyalty and the NPS score (Schneider, Beren, Thomas and Krosnick, 2008).
2.5 Customer Effort Score
Customer effort score is a customer satisfaction metric that aims to assess customers’ experiences in terms of the ease of using a product or a service, and the effort exerted while doing so (Birkett, 2021). The results are obtained using survey questions with scale ratings. Thus, it allows businesses to facilitate the purchasing process to their customers making it convenient and less time consuming which in return will increase their loyalty and satisfaction rates leading to higher sales and profitability. It also allows a business while upgrading or developing new products and services (Birkett, 2021).
3 Conclusion
To conclude, It has been established that digital marketing plays a vital role in marketing products and services of businesses. Not only are they capable of providing effective marketing campaigns but also, they allow businesses to offer better customer support through direct contacts with customers increasing their engagement (Mandal, Joshi and Sheela, 2016). Among the several benefits offered by digital marketing, the ease of access to information and having direct contact with customers through which their feedback is obtained and considered to aid in having effective communication; thus leading to a strong competitive advantage (Mandal, Joshi and Sheela, 2016).
This report proposed three digital marketing strategies to be adopted by Virgin Media namely, Social media marketing, SEO marketing and content marketing. The company would benefit from the aforementioned strategies in several ways including retaining a strong audience of followers, building strong relationships with prospects and existing customers, enhancing traffic and conversion rates, and increasing transparency and building trust with customers. These attributes are collectively capable of enhancing customer acquisition, satisfaction, and retention rates.
