formatted Report for Final Assignment

7/30/2019 formatted Report for Final Assignment

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Rachael Askem

Rachael Askem26th April 2013

Version 1.0


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Contents

Contents........................................................................................................... 2

Introduction..................................................................................................... 3

Situation Analysis............................................................................................. 4

General Company Information...................................................................... 4

External Analysis.............................................................................................. 7

Regional........................................................................................................ 9

National......................................................................................................... 9

Customer Analysis.........................................................................................9

Segmentation.............................................................................................. 10

Strengths:....................................................................................................11Weaknesses:...............................................................................................11

Opportunities:.............................................................................................11

Threats:....................................................................................................... 11

Objectives...................................................................................................... 12

Sell..............................................................................................................12

Save............................................................................................................13

Strategy..........................................................................................................16

i


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Introduction

The aim of this report is to provide a two-year e-marketing plan for the Red Zebra

Communications company. Smith and Chaffeys (2002) SOSTAC framework will be

utilised to offer an overall structure for the report. The plan will begin with a situation

analysis incorporating both internal and external factors, the findings will then be

summarized in a SWOT analysis. Secondly, the tangible and intangible objectives are

formulated, followed by strategies aiming to achieve the objectives set. These medium

term strategies will then be broken down into short-term tactics. Following this Gantt

charts will show how these tactics will be actuated within the proposed timeframe. Finally

a control system will be recommended which is suitable to continually review and

evaluate the actions that have been implemented.

However, although the SOSTAC will be used to offer a general framework for the report,

additional variables will be included to enhance the depth of analysis.


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Situation Analysis

The fundamental aim of the situation analysis is to diagnose where Red Zebra

Communications is now. This will be achieved by analyzing the internal and external

environments in which the company operates pertaining to e-business. This dual

analysis will be fragmented further into other areas to encompass the full spectrum of

factors that may effect the company. Initially the internal audit will incorporate a general

company analysis, KPIs (Key performance Indicators) and a site analysis. Secondly, the

external situation will be investigated with a SLEPT audit followed by a competitor and

customer analysis. Finally a SWOT framework will be utilized to compartmentalize the

data, summarise the findings and identify key issues that require addressing.

Internal Analysis

General Company Information

Brief History

Red Zebra Communications was established by Jon Johnson, alumni of UNW, in 2003


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shot copy for direct mail and e-mail campaigns, company newsletters and brochure copy

are examples of augmentation within the company portfolio. Furthermore, the company

conducts PR training workshops. The company also offers an online PR service called

Sub and Spin, this service allows people to input certain information online and Red

Zebra Communications will create a press release fulfilling the stipulated criteria. They

promise to produce a draft or inspection within two days, they also offer a distribution

service.

Current Resources: 3ms

Men (and women): Total 3 staff including proprietor.

Money: Limited funds, working from home office (Mac based)

Minutes: Limited, due to number of employees and current workload.

Key Performance Indicators

Unfortunately, data could not be retrieved that would have enabled the calculation of

Red Zebra Communications key performance indicators. When the website was


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KPIs could be determined it would allow the company to set clearer objectives, monitor

customers more closely and permit more thorough evaluation and control.

Web-Site Analysis

The Red Zebra Communications website has now been active for nineteen months. It

was designed by the Nelson based company, Kaleidoweb for approximately fifteen

hundred pounds. The website is rather small at present consisting of seven pages in

total, initially the site was developed to give the company an online presence and attract

business. At present the website is little more than an online business card and could be

having a negative effect rather than a positive effect on the company, because the

overall presentation of the site is fairly bland and the site is shallow it can be frustrating

for the user it could promote a negative message to the customer.

Up to date the site has only managed to attract SPAM and has been poorly managed.

When Kaleidoweb designed the site they provided a site management system to

maintain the site and keep it up to date. However, in the sites latest news page it is

apparent that the last entry was well over a year ago in May of 2003, thus making the

news far from latest! Poor site management like this can have a detrimental effect on


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A website evaluation was undertaken (fig. B.1.) and analysed ten key areas

pertaining to the website and compared them with a number of competitors

websites on a local, regional and national basis.

Overall the website rated fairly poorly in comparison to its competitors, with only one

other out of the seven examples scoring less. However, the sites strongest areas

were in the first impressions and scored highly on the sites initial aesthetic value,

furthermore browser compatibility was another area that the site equaled its

competitors. The site was particularly weak in site content, attractors and findability.

Theses are areas that will be addressed within the plan to enhance the overall site

ratings.

Some further research was also carried out on the companies search engine

ratings, several of the first tier and second tier crawler based search engines were

tested to see where the company was situated in the listings. Figure B.2. illustrates

the findings in more depth. In summary Red Zebra Communications would benefit

from implementing search engine optimization tactics.

External Analysis


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have a privacy policy on the website, this could prevent potential customers from dealing

with them electronically.

Economic Environment: Although the British economy has been negatively influenced by

the deflated global economy since 2000. The British economical climate has shown

signs of buoyancy since the end of 2003 and forecasts predict above average growth for

2005, (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2004).

Socio-cultural: As Red Zebra Communications is predominantly a B2B company it is

difficult to analyse consumer trends and relate them to businesses. However, ethical and

privacy issues still relate to businesses because they are very cautious about divulging

sensitive information that may.

Technological: When considering an e-marketing plan it is necessary to be aware of the

current technological climate. Along with the growth of ICT, e-commerce is also growing

The online purchases of UK businesses, excluding financial businesses amounted to

22.9 billion pounds in 2003, this was an increase of 14% from 2002, (Office of national

statistics,2004) IDC forecasts that B2B Internet commerce will double every year from

2000, amounting to more than 1.5 trillion in 2005. These trends promote that ICT is ideal


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Regional

Based on further research, there are approximately 266 Public Relations companies in

the North East, listed within online directories. Additionally there were hundreds of

indirect competitors such as marketing consultants who offered similar services to Red

Zebra Communications.

National

On a national scale there were approximately 2,300 public relations companies and

thousands of indirect competitors. This number was only an estimation due to

restrictions made by the directories. Therefore the actual figure is believed to be higher

than this.

In summary Red Zebra Communications is in a crowded market where direct

substitutions are in abundance. The Internet should be utilised to create a competitive

advantage.

Customer Analysis

Red Zebra Communications was launched to provide a PR service to businesses from

the smaller end of the spectrum. It is estimated that 90% of UK businesses are small to


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The Academy Club

Kingsacre

Spiders (website design)

Segmentation

It is difficult to thoroughly segment Red Zebra Communications customers due to limited

information and heterogeneity. In a B2B context segmentation techniques are limited

when compared with those on offer in consumer markets; however Red Zebra

Communications customers can be segmented by:

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC): e.g. Public relations and communication-

8395/74.14/1, (national statistics, 2004).

Geographic: The nucleus of Red Zebra Communications customers are geographically

situated in the North East and in particular North east. However, it cannot be overlooked

that an online presence places the company in the global marketplace automatically.

Size of companies: As we have already established Red Zebra Communications

targets small to medium sized businesses with between 1 and 500 employees.


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Strengths:

Established company with experienced and knowledgeable employees.

Small structure permitting swift change of tactics and flexible approach to work

Size of company allows close relationships with clients, thus maintaining a high

level of customer service.

One of a small percentage of small PR companies in North east with an online

presence.

Weaknesses:

Lack of resources i.e. men (women), money and minutes.

Web site is very basic and fails to convey the companys assets successfully,

furthermore Red Zebra Communications does not capitalise on the capabilities

offered by the Internet.

Red Zebra Communications is not pro-active enough in terms of analysis of

competitors and the environment, thus increasing vulnerability that could be

counteracted.

O t iti


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Some competitors websites are superior in both content and facilities offered

giving them a competitive advantage.

Objectives

The companys current offline goals and objectives are changing due to company

expansion. However, through the companys participation in this project it is realistic to

assume that Red Zebra Communications wants to enhance its business capabilities

through capitalizing on e-commerce.

The objectives set, must satisfy the SMART criteria. They will be separated into tangible

(financial) and intangible. The five Ss framework will be utilised to set coherent

objectives that correlate with the companies overall marketing objectives.

Tangible (Financial)

Sell

Red Zebra Communications Currently have a website in operation. However due to the

setup of the site and lack of maintenance, it has failed to attract clients and is failing

compared to online competitors. This subsequently means Red Zebra Communications


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Save

As previously established, Red Zebra Communications conduct the majority of their

business on a face to face basis. Although the company does use email, it is still

common practice to meet customers to access information In order to accomplish this,

thus resulting in the utilization of scarce resources, which ultimately results in raising

travel expenses and having to turn down future work due to time constraints. Red Zebra

Communications must use e-commerce to their advantage in order to save the

companys resources. The save objective is to enhance their clientele by five percent by

the end of 2005 and by a further ten percent by the year ending 2006, through e-

commerce. Figure B.2.2. offers an illustration of this objective.

Intangible

Sizzle

As previously mentioned Red Zebra Communications has not maintained their website

since it was established. This has resulted in the website being difficult to find through

search engines and low down the list of its online competitors. Although they have


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Positioning Strategy

Current Perceptual Position

This perceptual map illustrates the current position of Red Zebra Communications in

relation to some of their competitors. When Mr. Johnson was interviewed he said that

Red Zebra Communications offered a down to earth PR service Red Zebra

High

Cost

Low

Cost

High Profile

Low Profile

Blueskies

Crosston Pr

Spider media

SlingshotPR

Corns

Red Box

DCCopywriting

Innovate PR

Sweet PR


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Although Red Zebra Communications current perceptual position is in line with the

vision of the company, re-positioning the company slightly would not effect the vision but

would enhance business. Because of the nature of the PR industry some companies

may be deterred from using a company with such a low profile, thus opting to use Red

Zebra Communications competitors. If Red Zebra Communications profile is raised to

be in line with its competitors whilst still maintaining a competitive pricing strategy, this

will have a positive effect on business. The sizzle objective and subsequent tactics will

be utilized within the e-marketing plan to re-position Red Zebra Communications.

Strategy

In order to meet the objectives, it is necessary to determine a strategy that will give

direction towards effectively fulfilling the objectives. It is also imperative that there is

synergy between the e-marketing strategy and the companies marketing strategy to

ensure cohesion in the direction of the company.

It is useful to use the level of commitment to e-business impact model (figure B.4.) to


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retention, these strategies will be broken down further into short term tactics that are

more manageable to implement.

Tactics

Level of commitment to e-business

In relation to the level of commitment to e-business model, Strauss et al (2003) Red

Zebra Communications is currently operating within the activity level. This level mainly

incorporates brochure ware and e-mail and can create efficiency through cost

reductions, thus utilizing the Internet to ease the workload of the employees. . It is

realistic for the company to tactically enter the business process level and increase its

attempts to create customer retention by establishing a CRM programme. It would not

be advisable for the company to commit to e-business on a higher level but rather

optimize its commitment to the first two levels.

Internet Value Proposition (IVP)

Red Zebra Communicationss value proposition is to provide a reliable, down to earth PR


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Traffic Building

Red Zebra Communicationss limited resources need to be taken into consideration

when selecting traffic building tactics.

Registration with Search Engines

Although registration with search engines can be fairly expensive, search engine

optimization is necessary for Red Zebra Communications. In relation to the search

engine research in figure B.2. although some of the direct searches were successful, the

indirect searches brought very poor results. It is possible outsource this to a company

that specializes in search engine optimization.

Pay per Click Scheme

A pay per click scheme would produce an advert at the top or side of the all the matches

found on a keyword search and the company only pays for clicks on this advert.

Although pay per click schemes can be expensive, they can also be effective, therefore

a limited trial could be suggested and evaluated for efficiency.

Link Building


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Offline Promotion

Traffic can be directed to the website by using offline promotions. Small gifts like pens

and mugs which display Red Zebra Communications URL, along with press releases

and flyers can be used to generate traffic. A corporate event could be an effective way of

promoting the company and web site promotion could also be included within this.

Optimisation of the Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is situated in Appendix V

Suitable e-tools

As Red Zebra Communications is concerned with B2B transactions, it would be not be

practical to use e-tools such as digital radio, interactive kiosks or digital TV, because it

cannot be assumed that customers use these techniques. Similarly, the majority of

businesses that Red Zebra Communications deal with will not carry out business using

mobile technology, an exception may be PDAs that are often used for planning. It is

realistic to assume that most of Red Zebra Communications customers carry out


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Red Zebra Communications URL, thus generating traffic. These are possibilities for Red

Zebra Communications in the future or when the budget permits.

Control and Evaluation

After implementing the tactics it is important to establish a control system which is

suitable to continually review and evaluate the actions that have been implemented. This

control process can be categorized into three main stages, the measurement of key

performance indicators, diagnosis of the reason for the results, and subsequent

corrective action.

Measurement of key performance indicators: As established earlier in the report,

poor site management has restricted the calculation of important KPIs that must

be gathered in order to successfully evaluate Red Zebra Communications

progress.

Performance diagnosis: Findings are analysed in order to establish if the goals

are being met and if not, why not. In order to support this, a detailed investigation

of all factors and the conscious application of measurement tools are essential.


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Resources and Requirements

As established in the situation analysis Red Zebra Communications is limited on

resources in all three areas researches, these being men (and women), money and

minutes. This indicates that the company is not in a position to begin employing

additional staff to implement this plan. However, as stated earlier in the actions, it would

be productive for the company to take on two UCLAN student placements in advanced

fields of Marketing and IT (men) or women. Although Red Zebra Communications would

not have to pay the students, it would be a mutually beneficial agreement because the

students would trade their knowledge in return for experience that may enhance their

careers. Additional requirements that Red Zebra Communications would need to

consider when implementing this plan are mainly additional finances for search engine

optimisation, organising and staging the proposed corporate event (money). The

company would also have to find additional (time) to supervise the changes.


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Rachael Askem

Fig 6.2.1. Balanced Score Card (Red Zebra Communications)

Financial perspective

Goal Measure

Profitability/Growth By looking atfinancialaccounts/monitoringcompetitors.

Customer perspective Internal perspectiveGoal Measure Goal Measure

MarketShare/Customer

loyalty,satisfaction

By improvingthe website.Tracking

customers viathe web.

Improvemarketing,quality and

distribution.

More useof E-Mailand

electronicresourcesinstead oftravelling.

Innovation and learning perspective

Goal Measure

Innovating services and

websitecommunications.

More use of E-Mail.

Amount ofstickiness on thewebsite.

How do we look?to stakeholders?

How do customers

See us?What must weexcel at?


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Rachael Askem

Appendices

Appendix I

Evaluation VariablesRed Zebra

CommunicationsCorns

SweetPR

PWCopy

PlainwordsPostmark

PRWeb

1. FIRST IMPRESSIONS

URL 8 5 6 7 5 7 9

Download time - size ofhome page

7 8 8 8 8 7 10

Look and feel - readability 6 7 5 7 7 8 8

Need to download software * 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Home page on one screen(above the fold)

10 10 10 10 7 10 0

Unique Selling Point (USP)or Value Proposition 2 4 2 4 3 3 7

Ability to take action (Keyaction point KAP)

7 7 3 7 5 3 6

Feeling of wanting more -depth of site

3 6 1 4 4 3 8

Contact details 6 6 2 6 6 10 7

Credential validation -certifications, associations etc.

5 5 0 6 0 0 7

Statement frommanagement

0 0 4 5 0 0 8

Use of attractors 2 3 0 3 4 2 7Are you made to register to

get into site? *3 3 3 3 3 2 8

Total score for section 69 74 54 78 62 65 95

2. NAVIGATION

Ease of use 8 8 8 8 8 8 3

Site map 7 7 7 7 10 6 5

Return to Home Page from 8 8 8 8 8 10 10

0


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any page

Internal search engine 0 0 0 0 10 0 10

Internal links 0 3 0 0 0 7 10

Broken links 0 0 0 0 0

Text as well as graphiclinks (ALT tags)

0 0 0 0 10

Navigational links visible 0 0 0 0 6

Opens multiple windows 0 0 0 0 0 0


3. CONTENT

Useful information 5 8 4 8 8 10 8

Degree of substantiatedinformation

5 7 4 7 8 8 7

Level of interaction 2 4 2 3 5 5 8

Use of valuable graphics 3 5 0 6 7 5 8Use of valuable animation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Use of valuable sound 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Reviews, testimonials andcertifications

0 0 0 8 0 0 5

Content in digestible quantity 6 7 4 6 6 6 7

Up-to-dateness 0 6 2 7 8 10 10

Terms and conditions 0 0 0 0 8 10 7

FAQs 0 0 0 0 0 7 10

Availability of follow updiscussion

0 0 0 0 0 0 9


4. ATTRACTORS

Invitation to register forsomething

0 0 0 0 0 0 10

Competitions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Special offers 0 0 0 0 0 0 7

Freebies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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Breaking news 0 0 0 0 0 0 10

External links 0 3 0 0 0 7 10

Newsletter 0 0 0 0 0 10 10

Other (Specify) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0


5. FINDABILITY

Intuitive URL 8 5 7 8 5 4 10

Designed for search engineperformance

2 10 2 10 8 10 10

Intuitive keywords 5 8 4 10 4 4 5

Use of metatags 5 6 5 7 5 4 6

Advertising 3 6 0 6 5 6 7

On-line advertising 2 4 0 3 3 3 5

Off-line advertising 3 5 3 3 3 3 6

On-line recommend afriend

3 3 0 0 0 0 10

Partner and affiliate sites 0 7 0 0 3 8 10


6. MAKING CONTACT

Email and other detailsvisible

7 10 2 8 8 10 10

Response time to enquiries 5 6 5 7 5 8 5

Automatic emailresponse

0 0 0 0 0 6 7

Personal emailresponse 7 7 5 7 0 0 0

Use of online forms 4 6 4 0 7 7 10

Telephone contact numberprovided

7 10 7 7 10 10 8

Telephone call back offered 0 0 0 0 0 0 0


7. BROWSER COMPATIBILITY

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Internet Explorer (1-5) 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Netscape Navigator (1-4) 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Mac 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Resize ability 7 7 7 7 7 7 7


8. KNOWLEDGE OF USERS

Availability of utilisationstatistics

- --

0 0 0 6

Adaptive website - --

0 0 0 5

Offers based on buyinghistory

- --

0 0 0 0


9. USER SATISFACTION

Robustness/reliability of thesite

5 6 4 6 7 10 8

Clicks to completion 5 5 5 5 7 8 3

Acknowledge order/request 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Order/request tracking online 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Retain personal informationto minimise detail entering

0 0 0 0 0 0 9


10. OTHER USEFULINFORMATION

Supplier terms andconditions 0 5 0 0 0 0 0

List of products bought byyour company

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Contact details for person incharge of suppliers

0 4 0 0 0 0 0

List of career opportunities 0 0 0 0 10 10 10

Contact details for HR 0 0 0 0 0 10 8

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0

5

10

15

% Increase

In

Customers

Jan Dec

2005

2006

Jan to Dec

Increase In Overall Clientele

2005

2006

0

100

200

% Increase

In Viewing

Figures

Jan Dec

2005

2006

Jan to Dec

Increase In Website a nd Business Awareness

2005

2006

Appendix III

First Tier-Crawler Based Search Engines

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MSN

Keywords used: Red Zebra Communications

67,192 search resultsPosition: 2

Keywords used: Public Relations4,514,392 search resultsPosition: N/A

Keywords used: Copywriting229,072 search resultsPosition: N/A

Google

Keywords used: Red Zebra Communications17 search resultsPosition: 17



Yahoo

Keywords used: Red Zebra Communications16 search results

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Position: 1

Keywords used: Public Relations7,320,000 search results

Position: N/A

Keywords used: Copywriting177,000 search resultsPosition: N/ASecond Tier-Crawler Based Search Engines

Lycos

Keywords used: Red Zebra Communications3 search results

Position: 1



Ask Jeeves

Keywords used: Red Zebra Communications45,700 search resultsPosition: 10

Keywords used: Public Relations12,000,000

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Activity

Business Process

Enterprise

Pure

PlayBusiness transformation(competitive advantage,industry redefinition)

Effectiveness(Incremental sales,

customer retention)

Efficiency(Cost

reduction)

Pure dot-com

(E*Trade)

Click and Mortar(eSchwab)

Customerrelationship

management

Brochureware,Order processing

Levelofbusiness

impac

t

Source: Strauss, J., El-Anrary, A., Frost, R (2003) E-marketing. Third Edition. Pearson Education

Appendix V

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Marketing Mix

Product/Services

It is necessary to revise the marketing strategy online and identify any augmentations that are made possible through the Internet.

Red Zebra Communications is renowned for its professional service off line, therefore this should be complemented online.

An online presence offers service benefits like 24/7 access. Additionally the Sub and Spin service offered by Red Zebra

Communications is a service unique to online users, this service should be improved to capitalise on the opportunities if offers the

company in terms of resource management. Additionally, the web site should stipulate more clearly the products/services that Red

Zebra Communications offer.

Price

Red Zebra Communications regards their pricing strategy as extremely competitive. They offer a typical rate of 150 for copywriting

for a press release. Competitors offer the same service varying from 150 to 250. Red Zebra Communications is currently operating

a cost focus in order to be one of the loEast cost producers within the market. This factor has been crucial over the past few years

when surRed Zebra Communicationsl has been the main objective also allowing the company to attract customers and increase their

database. In addition Red Zebra Communications are also able to offer a slightly differentiated service due to the small scale of the

company allowing them to implement tactics relatively easily.

Place

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Red Zebra Communications currently operates in the north East of England in North east. However due to the small size of the

business, they are finding it increasingly difficult to expand due to consequent travelling to and from meetings with clients. At present

this is currently hindering their chances of attracting customers further a field. The management currently refuses to invest into

potential customers outside of the North east area as they currently do not have the resources to travel further a field. Nevertheless

Red Zebra Communications are operating on the internet however due to the make up of the website the are unable to realistically

operate on a national or international scale within this environment. In order to expand it is essential that Red Zebra Communications

turn to their internet website making it easier to be contacted, increase awareness and ultimately do business through this channel

rather than in a face to face manner.

Promotion

Red Zebra Communications are not adverse to offering sales promotions however as surRed Zebra Communicationsl and growth

remain leading objectives they are unable to offer extreme price cuts in order to do this for two reasons. Firstly it is unlikely they will

attract enough custom in order to make the promotion worth while, secondly if they did see a large amount of activity during the sales

promotion, they do not have the resources to attend to all enquiries. However a sub and spin promotion has been implemented on

the website. However this has not been a great success for a number of reasons. This is arguably due to the lack of resources the

company has, not allowing the promotion to be properly marketed. Also this may also be perceived as a risk by potential customers

as the price is not particularly low as many competitors offer similar services at similar prices. Also the websites structure does not

allow visitors to gain much information about the company and work they have done previously thus heightening the risk.

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In order for future promotions within the internet to be successful the website needs to be improved and awareness needs to be

created. However this may be possible through sales promotion. Red Zebra Communications may find it beneficial to offer discounts

to customers who contact Red Zebra Communications through their website. This subsequently will increase awareness and may

allow Red Zebra Communications to liaise with custom from outside the North east region. This can also be affordable as the money

discounted can be saved in travel costs (time and money).

People

Red Zebra Communications concentrates on targeting small businesses in the North east area. Due to their make up they rely

heavily on word of mouth, previous contacts and customer retention. However, although Red Zebra Communications feel they have

found a niche within the small business to business market they have no marketing campaign in place in order to attract those

business that have are unaware of Red Zebra Communications and what they do. This is also not helped by the amount of

competitors that appear to come before them on all of the major search engines. This also means that potential customers are more

likely to be aware of their competitors. Thus potential customers are more likely to do business with other companies even if Red

Zebra Communications can offer a more flexible and personalised service due to small nature of the business.

Process

The process of which Red Zebra Communications currently operate when doing business can be greatly improved. At present

customers usually contact the management via telephone arranging a subsequent meeting in order to gain an understanding of what

the client wants from the company. However, this process is extremely time consuming as travelling requires utilising already

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stretched resources. Although a website is available nearly all custom is made up of previous customers and contacts that operate in

this way. This process does not allow Red Zebra Communications to compete in the long term with companies of a

similar size. This is because other companies such as Atlas Translations are able to attract companies effectively from an

international background. In order for Red Zebra Communications to operate in the same way their website needs to be clear in

stating what they do and could even show potential customers examples of their work thus lowering the risk. Red Zebra

Communications must also establish a way of easily being able to conduct every piece of business through the website enabling

efficiency within their work.

Physical Evidence

In bricks and mortar transactions, customers can get a mental perception of the company by its surroundings, e.g. the interior of the

store or office. However, on the internet this is more difficult, thus customers view the website as a representation of the business,

concentrating on factors such as website layout, content and aesthetic value. In B2B transactions an image of professionalism and

reliability needs to be projected, thus it is important that the site is designed in a pragmatic manor. Testimonials are also an effective

way of conveying satisfaction on line, Red Zebra Communications currently have numerous testimonials from current or previous

clients, however this could be updated. It is also important to create synergy between Red Zebra Communications online image and

the offline activities in areas such as speed of delivery and reliability. Action

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The Gantt charts illustrate the tactics that will be employed by Red Zebra Communications to meet the e-objectives that have been

proposed for the company.

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2012 Action Plan

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Activities 2005 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecGet approval for e-marketing plan from Red

Zebra CommunicationsOffer 2 UCLAN studentplacements (1-IT Macliterate, 1-Marketing)Redesign website (ITstudent)Update of websitePlan marketing activities,research cost andcompatibility. MarketingStudent.

Run Pay Per Clickscheme with Google

Additional link buildingOrder promotional goodsand distributeRun direct e-mailmarketing campaign

Organise corporate eventat local golf club

Do a mail shot for the

eventDistribute customersatisfaction survey via e-mailCreate and distributecompany Christmas cardto customers

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2013 Action Plan

Activities 2005 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecGet approval for e-

marketing plan from RedZebra CommunicationsOffer 2 UCLAN studentplacements (1-IT Macliterate, 1-Marketing)Redesign website (ITstudent)Update of websitePlan marketing activities,research cost andcompatibility. Marketing

Student.Run Pay Per Clickscheme with Google

Additional link building

Order promotional goodsand distributeRun direct e-mailmarketing campaignOrganise corporate eventat local golf club

Do a mail shot for theevent

Distribute customersatisfaction survey via e-mail

Create and distributecompany Christmas cardto customers

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The action plan will be evaluated after the first year and this will give an indication to any amendments that will need to be made for

the second years action plan. However, if the first year is a success the plan for the next year will be repeated.

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