sd sample assignment _grade c_ - direct &_ relationship marketing 2010-11

8/6/2019 Sd Sample Assignment _grade C_ - Direct &Amp_ Relationship Marketing 2010-11

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Table of Content

ContentsIntroduction ............................................................................................................................................. 2

SOSTAC (Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Action, Control) .................................................... 2

Types of marketing Scented Willow uses now ............................................................................... 3

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 5

References ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 8

Appendix 1 .............................................................................................................................................. 9

Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................................................ 11

Appendix 3 ............................................................................................................................................ 12

Appendix 4 ............................................................................................................................................ 14

Comment [d1]: Title page

Comment [d2]: Executive sunmmary?

Comment [d3]: You could insert separat

within SOSTAC for each type recommendati


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Direct and database marketing Scented Willow

Introduction

This assignment is on a small local business in Ripley, Derbyshire, called Scented Willow. It

will have been in business for three years in April 2011 and within this small amount of time

has gained good custom and good profit. www.scentedwilliow.co.uk states that Scented

Willow the ethical body care and gift shop offering a range of gifts to cater for all.

Direct and database marketing

Direct and Database Marketing is slightly different although they both aim for the same goal.

Tapp (2008, p) describes direct marketing as A method of marketing based on individual

customer records held on a database Linton (1995) describes database marketing as A way

of improving the performance of those activities through the effective use of customer

information. From these 2 definitions we can see that they are different but overlap slightly.

Sharp (1989) By using a database it will help them learn more about their customers, in a

business to business situation it is a must. A system helps you keep control of orders and

opens up opportunities to go further by finding your customers want.

Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Action, Control (SOSTAC)

SOSTAC (Smith et al, 2004) means looking at the current situation and performance of the

company. Scented Willow is a gift shop whose target audience is 15+ and sells a range of

gift type products (See Appendix 1). The manager is happy with the current profit of the

company, but feels this is least important; she focuses mainly on custom and reputation. In

Ripley there are very few shops that offer the types of gifts that Scented Willow s sells. What

Scented Willows offer is unique and personal, which the majority of people prefer when

buying a gift or treating themselves. I feel that serious competition for Scented Willow is if a

Lush or Yankie Candle opened as they sell similar products, but for now Scented Willows is

one of the well-known gift shops in Ripley.

Comment [d4]: Word count is 1620 so th

fine.

Comment [d5]: Many or few staff? one

location previous experience? Later OK

Comment [d6]: Such as?

Comment [d7]: are

Comment [d8]: always give the page num

verbatim quotes

Comment [d9]: page see d8 above

Comment [d10]: always spell out numbe

small - two

Comment [d11]: and what else?

Comment [d12]: This part of the senten

redundant

Comment [d13]: What system?

Comment [d14]: Finding what your (mis

word)

Comment [d15]: How?

Comment [d16]: Note order change

Comment [d17]: Note suggested change

Comment [d18]: What else do you know

them?

Comment [d19]: Good idea. Some v larg

organisations focus on retention.

Comment [d20]: Scented Willow not p

Comment [d21]: See d17

Comment [d22]: How do you know this

Comment [d23]: Would arise?

Comment [d24]: The best known?


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Types of marketing Scented Willow uses now

The manager of scented Willow does no use direct marketing; however she has a specific

database which allows her to collect information from customers. The information she gets

from the customers is name, address, e-mail, which she asks for when they purchase an item

in-store. Having this database allows her to send the customers information on

specific/future offers that they may be interested in.

Scented Willow has an Internet site, Harris et al (2007) The future of Web technologies is

with greater personalization and portability. The internet site shows customers different

products Scented Willow offers, it gives information on product and prices. The website is

clearly laid out with different categories and subheadings making it easy to find types of

product. They also have a Facebook page with information on recent updates to the

store/products, events, images and more. By using this it is will appeal to a wider audience,

www.clickymedia.co.uk states in the UK there is roughly 24.2million users, The highest

percentage of users are between 20-29, will the majority of these have disposable income and

fit in with the target audience.

Scented Willow also has ad in a local posted magazine called All Things Local. It gives a

chance for companies to promote their business to the local areas for an affordable price,

www.allthingslocal.co.ukprices starting from just 30 + VAT per issue. Scented Willow

will give a little information about their business and what they offer to appeal to customers.

The only problem is that a lot of people dont read these that come through the door and they

get put in bin.

Scented Willow offers a warm/friendly atmosphere, which is going to help appeal to custom

and increase word of mouth for the business. When it comes to attracting people from

outside of Ripley Scented Willow may have to rely on word-of-mouth as these people may

not have heard of the company. I feel that Scented Willow has already got good word-of-

mouth and attracts a large amount of customers.

They also offer all year round sales (see appendix 2) these will appeal to a lot of people if

they thing they are getting a bargain. They also offer discount for gold and B-line card

holders, which will attract them more as it shows they are taken into consideration.

When looking at the objectives the manager will have to take into account the current

situation and what could change or improve. Ingham (1994) talks about how objectives are

Comment [d25]: And if no email?

Comment [d26]: good

Comment [d27]: what does this quote t

reader?

Comment [d28]: are

Comment [d29]: what do you know abo

Scented Willows visitors?

Comment [d30]: Has an ad

Comment [d31]: Put in the

Comment [d32]: How do youo know this

Comment [d33]: How do you know?

Comment [d34]: Appear to

Comment [d35]: You cannot say I feel e

what evidence have you?

Comment [d36]: Evidence?

Comment [d37]: think

Comment [d38]: explain what these are

Comment [d39]: see d34 above

Comment [d40]: Becky yopu have som

things in here but need to add evidence for w

you say.

Comment [d41]: You could also use this

as a sub-heading and insert others


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made to improve a situation, they need to make sure they are achievable, and it is good to

think about where it could lead.

(See appendix 1) The manager told me that if she could change anything it would be her

database as she only asks in-store for customer's details and people are a bit cautious about

giving out the details. To improve the database this could lead to retaining and gaining new

custom, as well as a better profit. Scented Willow could also improve their promotional

methods to help appeal to new customers, by increasing their state of awareness.

According to Nash (1994) Strategy is the one area that needs to be mastered and understood,

so everybody in the company knows who the objectives are aimed at and what is going to

happen. This means looking at targeting, segmenting and positioning and how we are going

to achieve those objectives. The majority of people that shop at Scented Willow are buying

gifts or treating themselves. This could mean it is more of an affordable luxury item.

Scented Willow aims at 15+, which shows them that they do not want to put the price up as

they could lose customers that cannot afford more expensive products. Nguyen et al (2007)

CRM focuses on building long-term customer relationships that add value. A CRM is an

information system that tracks the customers interaction with the company. Its main focus is

retaining and gain new customers, this may include improving and creating new methods of

marketing to send out the correct message. I think that one of the main focuses that Scented

Willow is going to have to think about when improving the marketing how much can they

afford to spend. As it is only a small business they are not going to be able to afford more

expensive marketing such as TV adverts.

There has been an increase in the amount of small businesses using E-marketing as a way of

gaining custom and selling products (OToole, 2003). So far Scented Willow only offers the

chance to order products like the gift baskets online and then picking them up in store. As

they do not offer orders on any other products or delivery, they are creating a barrier between

them and the places outside of Ripley. If Scented Willows offers the chance for people to

order products online and get them delivered, there is a chance that more people would do

this, as there is an increase in online shopping. This will also add to the database as they will

have to fill out details when making a purchase, this is going to open them up to a wider

audience and increase in product/store awareness.

They could also offer loyalty cards to customers, each person that would like loyalty

card would have to do is fill out their details which they will be able to add to the database.

Comment [d42]: Who are they?

Comment [d43]: It?

Comment [d44]: During interview Bec

would tell the reader that you had carried ou

primary research, which is important

Comment [d45]: Improving

Comment [d46]: delete

Comment [d47]: reference?

Comment [d48]: Of what?

Comment [d49]: Well referenced

Comment [d50]: good

Comment [d51]: source?

Comment [d52]: Do you think they could

price ranges for different market segments?

Comment [d53]: Argues that

Comment [d54]: CRM what?

Comment [d55]: Can you reword this se

Comment [d56]: For what reason?

Comment [d57]: Probably true but more

reach?

Comment [d58]: Note change

Comment [d59]: true

Comment [d60]: other

Comment [d61]: citation?

Comment [d62]: Only if it is set up?

Comment [d63]: unclear sentence


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There may also be a way of tracking the number of purchases made through the loyalty card

and the most frequent buy, so they can let the customer know of any offers on products they

may be interested in.

By improving the database they will be able to send forms or e-mails to their

customers to ask their opinion on the type service they give. By getting this feedback it is

going to allow the company to see where improvements can be made and show the customers

that they care about their opinions.

They could also occasionally put an ad in the local newspaper, so there is more

chance of people reading this. They could try offering out leaflets to people when handing

the receipt or have them on the front counter. This is an affordable method of promoting the

products in store and showing people what they could get in a future purchase.

To help the customer retention they could use FRAQ from small database, by using the

information on those people to see how often they purchase and if they are worth sending

offers to. See appendix 3 Table 1.

This is looking at what communication tools are going to be used, how and when the strategy

should be done. To do this they could use of a Gantt chart, http://www.ganttchart.com/this

clearly lays out the timescale for a project. See Appendix 4 Table 2 for example.

By having detailed action plans it will help bring the tactics to life. Scented Willow is going

to consideration who, when, what, where and how. For example when designing leaflets

does the company involve an outside company such as an agency or do it all by themselves.

When keeping control Smith et al (2004) this will involve monitoring, measuring and

controlling. Scented Willow will check on each different aspect to make sure each aspect is

running smoothly. This will help them see if improvements need to be made.

Conclusion

In conclusion we can see that Scented Willow has already got good custom and good

marketing techniques, however, there are different areas in which they could improve to

make them stand out more and attract/retain customers. It is clear to see that Scented Willow

believes in good CRM and Good management skills is a way of running a business correctly

and keeping happy customers.

Comment [d64]: add an extra column an

the data?

Comment [d65]: But you say that people

read the magazine?

Comment [d66]: good

Comment [d67]: note change

Comment [d68]: explain this pls what d

do?

Comment [d69]: What is?

Comment [d70]: good

Comment [d71]: ?

Comment [d72]: In house?

Comment [d73]: This does not fit the rem

of the sentence. Please proof read your wo

sense.

Comment [d74]: How?

Comment [d75]: Why caps?

Comment [d76]: Becky overall a good

that can be improved. See what you think. J


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References

Books

Linton, I, 1995, Database Marketing know what your customers wants, London: Financial

Times Management, pages 2

Nash, E, 1994, Direct Marketing, Strategy/Planning/Execution, 3rd

Edition, New York:

McGraw Hill, Pages 16 - 18

Smith, P,R and Taylor, J, 2004, Marketing Communications: An integrated approach,

London: Kogan Page, Pages 36 42

Ibid page 50

Tapp, A, 2008, Principles of Direct and Database Marketing, Harlow, England: Pearsons

Educated, Page 4

Journals

Harris, A, and Lessick, S, 2007, Libraries Get Personal: Facebook Applications, Google

Gadgets, and MySpace Profiles,Library Hi Tech News, Volume: 24, Pages 30-32Ingham, T, 1994, How to Implement Management by Objectives in the Workplace, The TQM

Magazine, Volume: 6, Issue: 4, PagesNguyen, T, H, Sherif, J, S and Newby, M, 2007, Strategies for successful CRM

implementation,Information Management & Computer Security, Volume: 15, Issue: 2, Pages

102-115

Sharp, B, 1989, Direct Marketing The Database,Marketing Intelligence & Planning,

Volume: 7, Issue: 1/2, Pages 19-21

OToole, T, 2003, E-relationships emergence and the small firm

Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Volume: 21, Issue: 2, Page 115-122

Websites

All things local, 2010, All things local [Internet], available from:

http://www.allthingslocal.co.uk/, [ Accessed 05/12/2010]


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Clicky media, 2010, Clicky Media [internet] Available from:

http://www.clickymedia.co.uk/2010/08/uk-facebook-statistics-for-august-2010/[Accessed

05/12/2010]

Gantt Charts, 2010, Gantt Charts [internet], Available from: http://www.ganttchart.com/

[Accessed 05/12/2010]

Scented Willow, 2009, Scented Willow, Beautiful, natural gift [internet] Available from:

http://www.scentedwillow.co.uk/[Accessed 03/12/2010]


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Bibliography

Books

Jobber, D and Lancaster, G, 2009, Selling and Sales Management, 8th

edition, Harlow,

England: Pearsons edition limited.

Yeshin, T, 2006, Advertising, London: South-Western Cengage Learning

Journals

Bull, C, 2003,Strategic issues in customer relationship management (CRM) implementation,

Business Process Management, Vol. 9, issue 5, pages 592-602

Website

10 under CreativeCommons non-commercial sharing, 2008, SOSTAC Model of Marketing

step by step [internet] Available from: http://corporateskills.co.uk/project-management-

skills/sostac-model-marketing/ [accessed 03/12/2010]


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Appendix 1

Questionnaire to Scented Willow

Can you tell me a bit about your business? What do you do?

It is a small local business in Ripley Sells gift type items ( like bath stuff, candles, Trinkets and more)

Who is your target audience?

15+

Do you focus more on customers, reputation or profit?

Reputation and customers are the main focus. Profit is the last thing we focus

on.

How is your business currently doing?

I am very happy with my business at the minute; there is good custom and

making a good profit.

What type of marketing do you use currently?

Ad in the local magazine called All Things Local Emails Facebook page Website Word of mouth

How do you attract more custom?

I have offers that run throughout the whole year and offer discount for gold

and B - line cad holders.

How does direct marketing affect your business?


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I dont really use direct marketing; however I do send emails out to people

telling them about offers and new products

Do you have a customer database storing their details?

Yes, but only from when I have asked them for their details. It is a very

specific database and I do not use an outside company.

What type of information do you have on your database?

Name Address Email address

That is the only information that I collect for the database.

How do you collect the data?

Ask people in store

Do you think good management is important?

Yes very

If you could improve on your marketing you use now, what would you do?

I am happy with the marketing I do now

If I could change something, I would like to get more people interested in

going on my email database. This is because a lot of people can be very

sceptical and unsure about it, thinking they are going to get pestered all the

time and bombarded with emails on rubbish.


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Appendix 2

Photos of what the shop and what they offer. Taken from their facebook page.


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Appendix 3Table 1 - FRAQ - This can be used at Scented Willow from the specific database the company gets

Frequency This means how often a product is brought

(days, weeks, months). Scented Willowcould use the database they have to follow up

on how often that person buys a product and

what it is.

Recency This means the most recent purchase.Scented Willow will be able to see what date

of the last purchase and how long ago it was.

Amount The average value of the purchase thatcustomer makes. This is going to help

Scented Willow see which of their customers

is spending the most and who is not.

Category The segment that the product comes under.Scented Willow sells a range of gifts, so it

will be a good idea to keep an eye on what is

sold and what is not doing so good.

If a person is buying a lot of goods regularly, then they will be good people to target and to

send offers to as they are more likely to look at the offers and return.

If a person does not buy a lot or only purchases every so often, these people are probably not

the main focus for the company as they may not even read the offers and even if they do they

may not act on it.


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Appendix 4

Table 2 Gantt chart

Activity Jan Feb March April May

Improve

website

X

Do loyalty

cards

X X X X

Feedback X X

Newspaper X X

Leaflets X X

This will help Scented Willow see how long they should do certain aspects of the project for and in

what order. For example the loyalty card is something they could carry on for however long they

want them. Whereas gaining feedback maybe an occasional thing every so many months, so not to

annoy/pester customers.

UoD GRADE = C

sd sample assignment _grade c_ - direct &_ relationship marketing 2010-11

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