Assignment 7

Unit 4: Digital Marketing Channels

Task 1: Email Marketing Best Practices:

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Intro:                                                                                                                        

Email marketing has been with us since 1978 and remains a key part of our digital world. Today, it is as important as ever. An excellent email marketing strategy allows people and companies to build a relationship directly through an inbox anywhere in the world at the press of a button.

Welcome/Personalize Emails:

Getting a new subscriber/customer who has opted in is great. Keeping them interested in your brand and services is paramount. Sending them a warm welcome email thanking them for signing up is good. Tell them a little about yourself and what to expect from you and how often you will be in touch regarding what your brand does and offers. This is a great start with no heavy sales approach. The first thing they will see is the subject line so make it appealing and personal, as the client has an option to open the email or not. Putting the name of the receiver in the subject line can help the open rate. “Dear John”, is far better than “Dear subscriber/customer”. An email from the senders name is also more personal than from X company, especially if other messages have already been opened. My name represents my brand. It has been reported that as many as 68% of email users say that the sender name is the most important factor in their decision to open an email (or not). (Elmes, 2019) A great personalized subject line must be matched by unique content for that individual. This will help keep the customer interested and not hit that unsubscribe button. Sending content that has the senders email signature is great as looks more professional, personal and gives the brand more recognition.

Segmentation:

Segmenting your customers is a great way to make it more personal to them and helps me know what to write to each client and target specifically to suit them individually. Splitting clients into various categories will help you understand which content is appropriate for each segmented client. By knowing your customers, you can then write things like “based on your previous experience/purchase history or from what you told me already you may like this” etc. By doing this you separate the individual customer and is vital to keeping a friendly relationship going. Because you are sending emails that suit the customer the open rate will be higher meaning a better CTR. The reward is that The Call To Action button is more likely to be pressed and guide them exactly to where you wish the customer to go to next.

A/B Testing:

A very important part of best practice in email marketing is the A/B Test method. By sending out two sets of email campaigns with subtle differences is a major way to learn and improve our which areas work best. These changes to your email campaign will indicate which works best for you and your customers open rate. Examples of this could be changing the subject line, images, plain text messages, or sending at a certain time of day. An email from “Terry” personally rather than the company name can have big impact. Addressing email to the receiver “John” rather than “customer” would potentially help a better open rate. This will help conversion rates and importantly for the company see what is working or not. Using an analytics tool, you see which sets of emails are opened and which have a better CTR is a great indicator. These tests have proven to be hugely beneficial for many companies. One of the most famous results of this was in 2012 when President Obama used the A/B Testing format which became a major success to his presidential campaign. His digital team ran approximately 500 tests, resulting in a 49% uplift in donations & raising $690 million in funds. (Cooke, 2021).

Mobile friendly:

Today, 81% of all emails are now opened and read on mobile devices. an email that isn’t optimized for mobile 80% delete the email immediately! (MacDonald, 2021) Those statistics are very high as everyday more people are reading emails from their mobile phone as we carry it everywhere, we go daily. Emails must be a compatible for all devices so people can read and see the images sent especially if delivered by the HTML format. If it is not optimized, then 80% of mobile users will deleted it and this would be bad for everybody. Plain text emails are easier to read on mobile devices. Ensuring a responsive email design is in place is imperative so it can be opened on all mobile phones. The subject line on mobiles needs to be short as well as the pre header text. The CTA button or link size must to be visible due to the screen size. The best way to check this and other elements of the email is to test it by sending an email to your own mobile. This way to can see how your subscribers will view it on the mobile.

Email Marketing Mistakes:

No Welcome Email:

You never get a second chance to make a first impression!
Sadly, many companies leave a bad first impression when they get a new customer/subscriber they don’t follow it up with a simple welcome email. They should be aware that the first email is the most read email. The customer is expecting it as they have engaged with you by subscribing and signing up. Too many companies make the mistake thinking they have a customer and immediately send out a promotional email which can comes across as intrusive, generic and certainly not personal. This sales pitch can irritate and result in losing a customer as quickly as they signed up. Sending an email with “Dear customer”, is not personal but using the clients name will gain attention because it to personal to them. Not telling the subscribers what to expect or who you are is cold and not personal to them.

Poor subject lines and content:

47% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line alone. (Fernandez, 2021)
This can have an immediate adverse effect on a new subscriber. Imagine losing half your new subscribers because you messed up on the subject line alone. You could have excellent relevant content but was never read because the subject line did not connect or appeal to your audience. Too many companies send a generic non personal subject line. This is a disaster for any email campaign. Customers want an intriguing subject line personal to them and professional. Similarly, pushing sales with no rapport within all content will lose customers, as well as bad grammar will be frowned upon. Mobile phones need less words and if the subject line and content is too long, the wrong size, or not enabled to show content images, you will lose you customers. Like the welcome email putting a name in the subject line will get my attention and has a better chance to be opened. A badly written subject line could be classified as spam and lose your client forever.

Text:

1. Elmes, S. ( 2019) Sender name or subject line: Which one matters most? Our Blog – [Online] Phrasee. Available at: https://phrasee.co/blog/sender-name-or-subject-line-which-one-matters-most/ Accessed 29 March 2021
2. Cooke, S. (2021) We look back at Obama’s years as president…of split-testing – [Online] Neuro Web Marketing. Available at: https://neurowebmarketing.co.uk/look-back-obamas-years-president-split-testing/ Accessed 29 March 2021
3. MacDonald, S. (2021) THE SCIENCE BEHIND EMAIL OPEN RATES (AND HOW TO GET MORE PEOPLE TO READ YOUR EMAILS) – [Online] SuperOffice. Available at: https://www.superoffice.com/blog/email-open-rates/ Accessed 29 March 2021
4. Fernandez, M. (2021) Best Email Subject Lines to Boost Your Email Open rates: [Online] Optinmonster. Available at https://optinmonster.com/101-email-subject-lines-your-subscribers-cant-resist/ Accessed 29 March 2021

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

UNIT 2: INBOUND AND SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Assignment 5 Task 2:

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Best Practice Examples of Content Marketing:

Drawing people in is one thing, but Excellent Content Marketing will help keep the consumer on your Web pages
Image source: Neha Jain (2018)

Notes from my Presentation on YouTube:

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Good afternoon, 

In today’s digital marketing world, Excellent Content is required not just for travel websites but for all websites. Today I will talk about 4 key areas explaining why I believe these are the most important areas of content marketing from my findings in Task 1.  

1.  PODCASTS:

Podcasts are listened to on smart phones, radio, YouTube, smart TVs and in our cars. Lisa Nand from the big Travel Podcast has excellent travel content that is discussed with well-known celebrities. The Podcast website has detailed information of who the guest will be and teasing headlines of what will be discussed in the Podcast. But also tells up of upcoming guests and links to past Podcasts we can listen to. This online content is engaging with the consumer even before a word is spoken.   All this content is free, and the listener hears about various travel destinations in a relaxed environment. A relationship between listener and the Podcast brand is created and is current and relevant. So, a simple format with engrossing content here captivates us, just by talking about fun times memories can engage us more. The Podcaster has also asks the audience to participate with questions and answers about guests so importantly making them part of the Podcast and increasing a loyalty base.   

2. BLOGGING/VLOGGING:

Bloggers/Vloggers can increase the awareness of a brand with subtle advertising. It’s very effective in our world of nonstop digital marketing and its open 24/7. One great form of blogging content are free stories and testimonies encouraged by the likes of The Travel department. They ask people to tell travel Stories that have fun and interesting content on their website and post the best ones. They have guest bloggers who share wonderful content. This enhances their reputation and gets us talking about their brand as we check out options while staying on their Website. Top blogger experts Like Lost LeBlanc encourages us to be inspired by stories and tips while guiding us to know more. This a great way of sharing ideas and comes across as a tried and tested result. This is mastering a niche content in a friendly manner. Viewers see great images and amazing video content as they consider opportunities.   Some of the Bloggers also have a Questions & Answers section to guide us as with further information, which is great, as knowledge is key here.                                                        

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3. IMAGES & VIDEOS:

This is one of the most important forms of content for all websites and social media, not just the travel Industry. In task One just look at the pictures on the Lonely Planet and Trip Advisors Websites. It’s not just a picture for the sake of it or another beach. It is top grade HD Images with excellent Video content. Top quality content is imperative and must captivate us, get our full attention and want us to see more. As well as computers and laptops these must be compatible on smart phones. As half the world access the internet on their mobile devices. Lonely Planet show detailed visual content with just one click and information links beside each destination. This gives us a real feeling of a one stop shop. While, Trip Advisor also have a feature button so we can read about the images and videos in any language in the world. All this content with full on images are on the first page.  

4. EBOOKS:     

So many websites miss out on this content marketing product. The fact is eBooks can be stored on all electronic devices. It is there to read anytime you want at home or in your pocket. eBooks have that personal touch and it can Educate and Inspire us. Lonely Planet are a great example of using eBooks and many companies could learn from them. Their eBooks content are so detailed. Not just guidebooks with facts but also for Niche markets specific for everyone across our diverse world. Brochures in Braille, Gay Pride holidays, Allergies and Dietary requirements to name a few. Too many other companies just give generic information and it’s not good enough. Their content also includes shared blog stories and a frequently asked questions sections to guide and help the customer journey. This to me is a content marketing dream.   

Thank you for listening.      

Link to my SlideShare with more information and Images below:    

https://www.slideshare.net/secret/lXAeVRHQ4RQEx

 Link to my Video Pitch on YouTube:          

https://youtu.be/bDvFdcs1cGU  

          

Image 1: Jain, N (2018) Smart Growth Marketing Agency – ISMART COMMUNICATIONS BLOG -7 Reasons Inbound Marketing is so Important for Your Business – [Online] Available at: https://www.ismartcom.com/blog/7-reasons-inbound-marketing-is-so-important-for-your-business [Accessed 15 December 2020]

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UNIT 2: INBOUND AND SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Assignment 4 Task 1

The importance of personal branding:

Intro: Your personal brand is how you promote yourself. It is the unique combination of skills, experience, and personality that you want the world to see you. It is the telling of your story, and how it reflects your conduct, behavior, spoken and unspoken words, and attitudes. (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2020)

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is famously quoted as saying, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”.  (Castrillon, 2020)  

Personal branding is important now as people can see, identify, built relationships, in your brand and area of expertise. Audiences will judge me by my personal content and area of expertise. This must be eye catching and interesting as first impressions are everything to stand out from similar online brands. This will help connect me to my audience and promote my brand on a regular basis. Sharing thoughts, personal images, and my unique experiences with a purpose of the audience wanting more can only enhance my goal and my image. Important to be smart phone friendly so you do not lose potential new audience who mostly access their social media on the internet with this device. Standing out, be credible, being authentic and different will draw people to your brand. It will get you known, talked about, gain new followers, listeners and importantly brand awareness.

How to use social media for personal branding:

Posting top quality unique content, brilliant photographs, and especially with video popularity now on all social media fields. Using many platforms can bring a brand to bigger audiences it is no harm to ask them to share your stories and get people interested in your brand.  Exciting personal content online certainly enhances your brand and helps people feel as if they know you.  have a link to your brands website on all social media. Interacting with audience on these platforms can open many doors. Ask your audience of their impressions of you on social media and how it can be improved. Because the content is so important as we learn from mistakes as well as learn new ways to promote your brand. Social websites must be updated regularly with fresh interesting information with a positive outlook. Podcasts on social media are very popular and gives you a chance to talk about your passion and personality.  

Good examples of using social media for personal branding:

Entrepreneur and established internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk regularly asks people on social media for questions to assist them in anyway he can. By doing this he interacts with his audience daily and gains more followers on his social websites and always has a link to his website, blogs, and podcasts.    

https://www.facebook.com/gary/videos/372188944168503/      Facebook(2020)    

This video above is a perfect example of how to brand yourself. This is Gary Vaynerchuk  on Facebook before he goes onto Good Morning America tells his followers he will be answering tons of questions live on air. He asks his followers to leave a comment. Tells everyone on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to watch the show and asks us to get all family members to watch too. All this while reading comments by his audience and mentioning his Podcast as well. He tells everybody “he just loves to help”. A truly amazing way to engage the audience and his brand.  Podcasts are also a great way to enhance your brand through listeners. People listen to your voice, passion and engage on what you have to say. Using a webcam some Podcasts can be visual too. On YouTube there are many Podcasts that people listen to and of course all these accessible on computer, tablet, and smart phones.                                     

 

                                         

Image above shows the rise in familiarity with the concept Podcasting in the US since 2006. 75% of all America are fully aware of Podcasts and its importance on social media. The Infinite Dial (2020)

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Gary Vaynerchuk engages here on a one on one basis and gains trust and loyalty.  Gian Pepe (2019)

He has numerous podcasts, videos, and blogs and the above is a great example of a nice personal touch. Considering the popularity of this guy he still has time to follow somebody back who followed him. This post will be liked and shared and highlight his personal brand even more.  His use of his stories, quality images, video content, and numerous excellent Podcasts on all social media makes sure each one is maximized to full potential and his personal brand.   

Gary posts some of his videos on Facebook with subtitles so people can read it as an amazing “85% of Facebook video is watched without sound”. Sahil Patel (2016)  It is no surprise that I am now one of the millions following Gary Vaynerchuk now. This for me is personal branding at its very best.    

Text Sources

Influencer Marketing Hub (2020) What is Your Personal Brand – What is Personal Branding (Free Personal Branding Health Checker) – [Online] Influencer Marketing Hub. Available at:  https://influencermarketinghub.com/what-is-personal-branding/ [Accessed 30 September 2020]

Castrillon, C. (2020) What is a personal brand? – Why Personal Branding is More Important Than Ever – [Online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2019/02/12/why-personal-branding-is-more-important-than-ever/#5c115f924085 [Accessed 30 September 2020]

Patel, S. (2016) – 85 percent of Facebook video is watched without sound – [Online] Digiday.   Available at: https://digiday.com/media/silent-world-facebook-video/  [Accessed 30 September 2020]   

 Image/Video Sources:   

Video 1: Facebook (2020) Gary Vaynerchuk – [Online] Video available at: https://www.facebook.com/gary/videos/372188944168503/                            [Accessed 1 October 2020]                                            

 Image 1: The Infinite Dial (2020) The Podcast Host – Podcast Stats in 2020: Latest Industry Growth & Listening Trends – How Many People Know What a Podcast Is. [Online] Image available at: https://www.thepodcasthost.com/listening/podcast-industry-stats/          [Accessed 30 September 2020]                          

Image 2: Pepe, G. (2019) JUMPER MEDIA – Gary Vee’s $100 Million Dollar Genius Brain + His Entire Playbook – 1 on 1 Communication at Scale – [Online] Available at: https://jumpermedia.co/gary-vaynerchuck-playbook/ [Accessed 30 September 2020]

 

 

 

    

 

Unit 2: Inbound & and Social Media Marketing

Assignment 3 Task 1

Brands chosen are Aer Lingus and Ryanair respectively. For this assignment I have picked two brands within the same industry. They both have their head offices in Dublin. They are very well known internationally and have millions of people using their services every year.

Approach to Inbound Marketing:                                                                                       Ryanair:        

Their website is full of eye-catching advertisements to attract new and old customers. It is easy to navigate and tempts us into buying extras like insurance, car hire, and hotels. They have an online and phone chat messaging services. They advertise daily On Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and promote all new deals and link everything to their website.    

Aer Lingus:                                                                                                                       

Their website is basic and does not pressure the customer with many advertisements or catchy headlines. It is easy to navigate around their site. They promote some latest offers as well as a few partners offers. They are on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram but rarely advertise or promote business.                                       

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Inbound Marketing Approach used:  

Ryanair:       

Their website is excellently presented with numerous options and deals enticing the attention of customers. They offer cheap deals everywhere and try make it a one stop shop. They promote nonstop on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Ryanair excel on social media sites with their catchy adverts mixed with fun videos. Their weakness is that they try sell you everything all at once on all platforms. The bombardment of advertisements can appear overpowering and annoying to a person just looking to book a flight.             

Aer Lingus:        

Their website is an easy to use and they have a strong loyal customer base. They advertise their latest offers and promote their partners car hire, holiday, and hotel options. They offer a loyalty programme to reward customers for flying with them. Their weakness is the severe lack of advertisements. Their website flights offer, and partner offers are very basic. They do not stand out, and not in any headline banner. They are rarely active on Twitter or Instagram. Their Facebook page has not had a post since June!

Which Organization Was Best and Why? Ryanair:     

This company is the clear winner here because they advertise brilliantly everywhere. They use social media platforms to its maximum potential. Customers see a hook price and are also tempted with top quality images and videos. They have over 482k Twitter and 700k Instagram followers while Aer Lingus has 265k Twitter and 156k Instagram followers. The reason I believe is Ryanair upload flights and adverts every day on social media while Aer Lingus do little or nothing. Ryanair promote on all sites while Aer Lingus rarely uses or promotes on any social website.

How Each Organization Could Improve:      

Aer Lingus  

They can dramatically improve by advertising regularly on all platforms. Their own website needs to promote more destinations and video content. They need to keep up with their rivals and promote their brand through video and adverts on all social media networks.

Ryanair:      

They can improve their website by not trying to sell everything all at once. Customers are bombarded with too many products. The customer should able to book a flight only and skip all the add-ons. Meaning a regular client can book again with a fast track service.

Evolution of Digital Marketing

Assignment 2 Task 2

Guidance notes for video pitch on Digital Technology:

Introduction:                                                                                                                                 Hello and welcome to my presentation about Digital Technology and how audiences use this technology and the impact it has had in our lives.        Google it!                                                                                                                                          How many times have we head those famous two words? If we need to know an answer or find a solution those two words have helped us get what we search for on the internet. All thanks to Digital Technology.

Access:                                                                                                                                                The internet is accessed on a computer or laptop device by a service provider. It is access on smart phones by mobile data technology in which we are currently on 4th generation with 5g not far away. An astonishing 4,648 billion people access the internet today. Only 25 years ago it only 16 million people had access to the internet. 

Devices:                                                                                                                              Technology has evolved so much that other devices that are used to access the internet are smart TV’s, cameras, watches, game consoles even some cars and home appliances. 

Search:                                                                                                                                   Searching on the internet is easy. A person can type in what they wish to look for in the address bar and a search engine like Google will get results in seconds. 

The three main types of searches are Informational, Navigational, and Transactional also known as Do, Know, and Go. 

1. Informational is a general search with plenty of choices you could type in cars, dogs, or sports and will give plenty of options to view.

2. Navigational is a more direct search where you know exactly what you are looking for e.g. a specific airline, YouTube, or your favourite band. 

3. Transactional is simply buying something like a ticket, a bill, or downloading a movie.

Buy:                                                                                                                                                       Buying online have never been easier- With access at your fingertips you can buy items nearly everywhere in the world. eBay, Amazon, and numerous other companies are competing for your business to buy the likes of books, health and beauty products, electronics, clothes, homeware, toys, and many more items.

Video:                                                                                                                                                          We are spending more time on the internet. A lot of this time is spent watching videos. We watch movies by the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney. We have access to movies, box sets, TV shows, as well as live streaming of concerts or sporting events. Today YouTube is the most popular video channel online and has five billion videos viewed every single day. Content marketing is big online now with bloggers and vloggers sharing video experiences of products and services they have had with brands. This can make brands more visible and can stimulate interest in their products. Social media posts are also used to share videos with our friends. Most websites now have video adverts which are important for marketing as companies battle against each other for our business. The videos show off their products and it is cheaper to advertise online compared to TV, radio or newspapers. 

Trends:                                                                                                                                                          In last five years of digital technology we are using our smart phones more to access the internet than computers or laptops. We have increased our viewing of all kinds of videos content, and this is growing every year. It has become a major part of our internet life and is important for the business world as they can advertise and promote their goods. The internet speeds are getting faster to meet consumer demands. Kids are using the internet as much as adults. We are buying more online as we can see products and compare prices with competitors. Socially we are using digital technology to message friends, share photographs, stories, and videos. As a result of this we are not speaking to each other in person as much as we did in the recent past. 

Summary:                                                                                                                                           The impact of digital technology on the world has been incredible. The advancement over a short period of time to reach nearly 60% of the world is astonishing. It is here to stay and will continue to evolve. We are using it daily and is part of our life now and forever. It has become a necessity for consumers and for businesses around the world as we must all try to keep up with the ever-changing advancing world of Digital Technology.

We are using technology so much that we are not speaking as much, we are tired from looking at our phones and computers which can result in less sleep and exercise. Sadly, some companies will go out of business as they cannot compete with major online competitors who are more technically advanced.  

However, we are learning more about digital technology all the time. Adults, teenagers, and kids are using the internet every day. there are more jobs in this sector than ever before. We are sharing more experiences together with our friends as technology continues to bring the world closer to one another.

To sum up, Digital Technology is the present and the future, the world must embrace this wonderful innovation and learn from it and use it to our best ability without totally losing our human voice and touch. 

Google it!

Link to YouTube Video pitch:

https://youtu.be/YwS-7jgUkaY

Link to SlideShare presentation for Assignment 2 Task 1:

https://www.slideshare.net/secret/1dxarD5nbTA2dL 

 

A Review Of Amazon’s Extended Marketing Mix

Product

Amazon have a vast range of products that can be easily accessed on their websites and sell all their product online. Originally the company started off selling nothing but books, their products now include Kindle, Phones, Tablets, Music, Video, Convenience Stores, Electronic Devices, Web Services and many more items.

The first of millions of books sold by Amazon. Image source Garber (2012)

Place

Amazon is a global brand and has its presence across the world through its online store.  The consumers buy and sell products from the website Amazon.com. Once a customer places the order the products this is recorded and stored at Amazon’s fulfillment centers. These are huge warehouses constructed by Amazon in strategic locations to reach even the remotest of places around the world.

The Internet is where Amazon thrives all over the world. Image source Pixabay (2014)

Price

Amazon can alter their prices by the thousands per day, their counterparts only reach the hundreds range. This overload of price changes is one that many people may not even notice, but it keeps Amazon ahead of the pack in more ways than one. (Shichor, 2017) Amazon also let you know if an item you purchased has gone down, you can get the difference within 7 days so making it attractive to customer care and happiness.

Amazon also have a price checker options that gives an email notification sent to the customer when a product they like has dropped in price. Image source Johnson (2019)

Promotion

Amazon is predominantly an online business and emails customers regularly with promotions and deals to reward loyalty. Amazon promotes itself on social media the likes of twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and many blogs around the world. Amazon also offer discounts through holiday seasons which proves very popular with customers.

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi promote Amazon’s Alexa in a 90 second ad during the 2020 Superbowl. A humorous look at life was like before the virtual assistant which became available in 2014. Image source AdAge (2020)

People

Customer focus and happiness has always been a major priority for Amazon. They have expert staff working in the customer services department to assist customers with any issues or concerns that they may have during the buying and selling process. Customer obsession has always been important for the company from the start and continues to be the major drive to keeping the Amazon customer happy and loyal.

Amazon ask customers to do surveys regarding their service standards and this is something that has always been important to get customer feedback. So if a service was good or bad so they can review and look to improve the customer journey going forward. Image source Patel (2020)

Process

Amazon makes sure that all its products are always available and have systems to let them know when item levels are low. This ensures all products are available to every customer or potential new customer. They have a state of the art technology to support day to day orders and provide tracking services telling the customer the current location of their item. They have a very easy to use website and always online web help to assist the customer through the sales journey whether on the phone, email or website.

The now famous Amazon one-click which made the process of retaining the customers name, address, and payment information so it would make it easier and quicker for the customer to buy future items. Image source GeekWire (2017)

Physical Evidence

Amazon’s biggest physical presence is its website. As it is an online retailer the place of service is its website and apps which very user-friendly and built with great design. Amazon’s warehouses and fulfilment centres present in all countries of its operations are the largest one can ever find. It has a logo which is very well resembling what Amazon stands for, i.e. an arrow from a to z which implies one can buy anything on Amazon. Its packages also sport this logo. (MBA Skool 2019)

Easy access to Amazon on social devices anywhere in the world. Image source Well Kept Wallet (2019)

An overview of Amazon’s Marketing mix: People

Introduction

Amazon started in 1994 by Jeff Bezos the founder and CEO of the company selling books from his garage in Seattle. The company is now the most valuable brand in the world. Jeff Bezos said the ‘secret sauce’ to Amazon’s success is an ‘obsessive compulsive focus’ on customer over competitor (Premack, 2018)

Effectiveness of Amazon

Amazon is one of those brands everybody has talked about whether it’s the funny catchy advertisement on a billboard, a brilliant TV, or social advert that has everybody talking about it. Amazon has surpassed 150 million Prime subscribers globally. (Keyes, 2020) These are people paying an annual subscription to Amazon Prime which shows great loyalty to the company and not only get free movies, TV shows, and music but also free same day delivery in certain areas. Amazon is a predominately an online company they send quite a lot of emails to customers but instead of a generic message they send a more personal one that has suggestions to help buy more products like ones they have already purchased. The set up of an Amazon online account is very easy in order to attract new customers.

They were one of the first companies to even put a review system on their site in 1995. Perhaps even more remarkably, when one small feature was added to their review platform, Amazon began to earn (at least) $2.7 billion each year. That magic addition was the simple question, “Was this review helpful?. (Miller, N.D)

Amazon is now hugely popular with the teenager market so making future long-time customers happy. In Piper Jaffrey’s semiannual Taking Stock With Teens survey, the majority of teenagers reported Amazon.com as their top online shopping destination. (Chochrek, 2019)

Amazon has a dedicated customer service and technical team which it reachable by email, live web chat and directly by phone. Amazon also has a help page on Twitter and people can see how their sales service is progressing and getting answers to any questions that they may have. In 2019, The American multinational e-commerce company, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, employed 798,000 full and part-time employees. (Clement, 2020)

Amazon has not always had good feedback from some staff working within the company. There has been complaints of work conditions and long hours resulting in some strike action taken in 2019 days after Amazon says it will promote staff internally.

Amazon will invest over $700 million to provide upskilling training programs for one in three of its employees across the U.S. Programs will help Amazonians from all backgrounds access training to move into highly skilled technical and non-technical roles across the company’s corporate offices, tech hubs, fulfillment centers, retail stores, and transportation network, or pursue career paths outside of Amazon. (The Amazon blog dayone, 2019)

Amazon says the coronavirus outbreak caused a surge in online shopping, and now the online giant is adding 100,000 new full-time and part-time positions across the United States to keep up with the demand. The jobs will be Amazon’s fulfillment centers and its delivery network. ( Duffy, 2020)

Amazon also has millions of followers on social websites like Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Amazon interacts with people, and they respond to questions regarding service enquiries and they also upload some lighthearted videos. As of 2020, Amazon was the most valuable brand in the world with an estimated brand value of about 221 billion U.S. dollars. (Guttmann, 2020)

Conclusion

I my opinion Amazon has treated customers exactly the way the CEO Jeff Bezos has always said was important to him and Amazon as a company. The company has shown that they have learned to listen to staff to improve conditions, wages, and importantly also give their loyalty a reward by being able to gain higher skills to improve their promotional prospects within or indeed outside Amazon. These reasons help to make Amazon valued as the number one most valuable brand in the world.

Reference Image List

Image 1: Garber, M (2019) Here Is the First Book Ever Ordered on Amazon. Image available at https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/here-is-the-first-book-ever-ordered-on-amazon/264344/ [Accessed 16 April 2020]

Image 2: Pixabay (2014) Image available at https://pixabay.com/photos/amazon-notebook-laptop-mobile-447034/ [Accessed 16 April 2020]

Image 3: Johnson, C (2019) ‘The best apps to track prices at Amazon, Walmart and more’. Image available at https://clark.com/shopping-retail/best-price-tracker-apps-amazon-walmart/ [Accessed 16 April 2020]

Image 4: AdAge (2020) ‘Amazon pokes fun at ‘fake news’ in Super Bowl ad about life before Alexa’. Image available at https://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/amazon-pokes-fun-fake-news-super-bowl-ad-about-life-without-alexa/2231966 [Accessed 16 April 2020]

Image 5: Patel, N (2020) ‘How satisfied are you with the customer service of Amazon’? Image available at https://neilpatel.com/blog/compete-against-amazon/ [Accessed 16 April 2020]

Image 6: GeekWire (2017) ‘Amazon’s ‘1-Click’ patent expires today, and soon you’ll be able to accidentally order stuff across the entire internet’. Image available at https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazons-1-click-patent-expires-today-soon-youll-able-accidentally-order-stuff-across-entire-internet/[Accessed 16 April 2020]

Image 7: (2019) ’10 Ways to Get Amazon Prime for Free’. Well Kept Wallet. Image available at https://wellkeptwallet.com/amazon-prime-free/ [Accessed 16 April 2020]

Reference Text List

Shichor, S (2017) ‘Amazon Pricing Strategy and the Pressure on Competitors’, 18 Knowledge Group, available at https://18knowledge.com/blog/amazon-pricing-strategy-pressure-on-competitors/ [Accessed 16 April 2020]

MBA Skool, (2019) ‘Amazon Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy’, available at https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/services/17022-amazon.html [Accessed 16 April 2020]

Premack, R (2018) ‘Jeff Bezos said the ‘secret sauce’ to Amazon’s success is an ‘obsessive compulsive focus’ on customer over competitor’, Business Insider Singapore, available at https://www.businessinsider.sg/amazon-jeff-bezos-success-customer-obsession-2018-9 [Accessed 16 April 2020]

Keyes, D (2020) ‘Amazon has surpassed 150 million Prime subscribers globally’, Business Insider, available at https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-surpasses-150-million-prime-subscribers-2020-2?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 17 April 2020]

Miller, G (N.D) ‘Four Keys To Amazon’s Marketing Success (And How To Improve Them)’, Annexe Cloud, available at https://www.annexcloud.com/blog/four-keys-to-amazons–marketing–success/ [Accessed 17 April 2020]

Clement, J (2020) ‘Number of Amazon.com employees from 2007 to 2019’, Statista, available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/234488/number-of-amazon-employees/ [Accessed 17 April 2020]

Chochrek, E (2019)’Teens Are Shopping on Amazon Just Like the Rest of Us’, footwearnews, available at https://footwearnews.com/2019/business/retail/amazon-teenagers-shopping-survey-1202854336/ [Accessed 17 April 2020]

Amazon (2019) ‘The Amazon blog dayone‘, ‘Press Release Amazon Pledges to Upskill 100,000 U.S. Employees for In-Demand Jobs by 2025’, available at https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-pledges-upskill-100000-us-employees-demand-jobs-2025 [Accessed 17 April 2020]

Duffy, C (2020) ‘Amazon hiring 100,000 new distribution workers to keep up with online shopping surge caused by coronavirus’, CNN Business, available at https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/16/tech/amazon-shipping-coronavirus/index.html [Accessed 17 April 2020]

Guttmann, A (2020) ‘The 25 most valuable brands worldwide 2020’, Statista Price and Alerts, available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/264875/brand-value-of-the-25-most-valuable-brands/ [Accessed 17 April 2020]