Background
It is essential to note that developing an effective digital marketing strategy requires comprehensive planning and measurement competencies in today’s digitalized business environment. The given portfolio work project will primarily focus on applying the SOSTAC model to the organization of interest, MSH Brands, with an emphasis on incorporating a social media strategy.
The plan will address each SOSTAC element, including situation, objectives, strategy, tactics, action, and control. The digital marketing strategy for MSH Brands is to establish a robust and comprehensive sales funnel through the website, endorsements, and social media platforms within three years, with subsequent capitalization on its results.
Situational Analysis
Customers
It is critical to analyze the current situation regarding customers, intermediaries, and competitors to create a successful digital marketing strategy for MSH Brands. The key product of interest is Quick Bite Meals, which appeals to the customer through its quality, healthiness, and affordability as a pet food. The target market comprises pet owners of all ages. It is stated that active pet owners of all age groups represent 67% of the total United States population (Morelli et al., 2021).
In the case of average household income, the values range from $20,000 to $100,000 annually, indicating that the pricing strategy must align with the product value (Statista, 2022). These individuals often own pets for companionship and socialization. Therefore, since the demographics of the potential customer base are somewhat diverse, the appeal must be centered around the common and shared points of appeal of Quick Bite Meals: price, quality, and health factors (Schleicher et al., 2019). Such diversity among the target audience necessitates using the most popular social media platforms to ensure the most significant exposure.
Intermediaries
For intermediaries, MSH Brands has established a reliable reputation among retailers through its core competencies in production and distribution. In other words, there are no foreseeable problems with its distributors and other players along its supply chain. Its products can reach customers and provide a competitive edge in the distribution network alongside its competitors. Thus, digital marketing efforts can solely focus on the product without concerns about its inability to deliver it. In addition, MSH Brands’ other two competencies include an outstanding reputation for providing safe, healthy, and affordable pet products, as well as high-quality and recognizable branded pet products.
Competitors
MSH Brands’ largest competitors are Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Mars Pet Inc., and Nestle Purina PetCare. Although the pet food market is oversaturated with over six hundred products competing against Quick Bite Meals, the industry, valued at $30 billion, is expected to grow by 5.2% by 2023 (Applebaum et al., 2020). However, MSH Brands has a strong competitive edge over most products since they have been tested and guaranteed safe by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the veterinary board (Thomas & Feng, 2020). Thus, it has an appeal of quality and healthiness for pets, which many pet owners value due to a rise in pet humanization and anthropomorphism (Jander, 2019). Therefore, there is a growing demand for high-quality pet foods.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition’s web presence is primarily established through its official website, while its social media presence is limited to Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. The website is relatively well-designed and convenient, with two pet food categories on the landing page: cat and dog foods (Hill’s Pet Nutrition, 2022). The brand has 76,300, 2,105,299, 22,300, and 1,017 followers on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, respectively (Hill’s Pet Nutrition, 2022). Thus, their social media presence is mainly dominated by their Facebook page, followed by the average number of followers on Instagram, and a relatively weak presence on TikTok and Twitter.
Mars Pet Inc.’s digital presence is supported by its website, as well as social media profiles on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The company has 21,800, 84,554, and 10,500 followers on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, respectively (Mars, 2022). The company is largely absent from TikTok, indicating a relatively weak digital presence, particularly on social media platforms. In other words, Hill’s Pet Nutrition is far more active online than Mars Pet Inc.
Nestle Purina PetCare’s online presence is represented by its official website, as well as social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. The firm has 145,000 followers on Instagram, 1,896,763 on Facebook, 60,800 on Twitter, and 14,600 followers on YouTube (Purina, 2022). The competitor’s digital presence is comparable to Hill’s Pet Nutrition, especially on Facebook. Instagram’s number of followers is substantial as well, and the use of YouTube can be dismissed since it has a low impact.
Objectives
The primary objective is to establish a robust online presence, promote the new product, and raise awareness of Quick Bite Meals’ exceptional quality and ease of use. Specific, measurable goals for the digital marketing strategy can be divided into two points. First, MSH Brands will pursue increasing and maximizing its traffic and website visit numbers on its official webpage, which will require an investment in Google Ads. The measurable element is its Google Search results positioning, to show up at the top of the list.
Secondly, MSH Brands will launch a social media marketing campaign across all major platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and Twitter. This will increase access to a broad audience since the target market is diverse. The measurable aspect is the number of followers, which should ideally be larger than that of the competitors on all platforms.
MSH Brands aims to significantly outperform its competitors in online presence and activity. The company must become highly recognized and digitally dominant, especially on social media. It has the highest number of followers on Facebook (over 2,105,299) compared to Hill’s Pet Nutrition and more followers on Instagram than Nestle Purina PetCare (over 145,000). TikTok (over 100,000) presents a unique opportunity to monopolize, as the competition is either weak or absent.
Strategy
Short Term
In the short term (<1 year), the digital marketing strategy will aim celebrity and influencer endorsements, as well as establishing the main platform pages. The emphasis will be placed on the main official website rather than social media since the number of followers will be too low to make significant marketing advancements. A significant investment will be allocated to Google Ads to consistently rank at the top of Google Searches in both commercial and regular sections.
The website must publish interesting articles, blogs, and informative pages optimized with search engine optimization (SEO) alongside outstanding design features. Influencers and prominent celebrities in the pet care and pet ownership domains will be contacted on social media. They will be sponsored to promote Quick Bite Meals and post links to the main website.
Medium Term
For the medium term (1-3 years), the digital marketing strategy will shift its focus from endorsements and the main website to social media. A heavy investment will be allocated towards increasing the number of followers on all leading social media platforms, specifically Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. The latter three are top priorities since they are the most significant and most relevant marketing platforms, which competitors partly dominate. By the end of the third year, MSH Brands must have a higher follower count on all platforms than its rivals.
Long Term
In the long term (over 3 years), the digital marketing strategy will focus on capitalizing on the gains made to date. Quick Bite Meals will be aggressively promoted and pushed to generate a significant return on investment. The key sales drivers will be social media platforms, redirecting users to the official website, where Quick Bite Meals can be purchased.
Tactics
Based on the digital marketing strategy outlined previously, it is critical to differentiate between various techniques. The first and widest section of the sales funnel will be Google Ads and partner influencers or celebrities redirecting potential customers to either the official website or social media pages. The second and wider section comprises social media pages with links to the main website (Appel et al., 2020). The third and narrowest section will be the official website, where the sales will be made.
The technique used for the first sales funnel section will include sponsorships and events. Influencers and celebrities will endorse Quick Bite Meals since the company will sponsor them. Google Ads will use the same referral tactic for the most popular and relevant blogs. They will communicate with their audiences about MSH Brands’ deals and organize events related to pricing and distribution strategies.
The approach used for the second sales funnel section will be social media and advertising. The social media pages will feature entertaining, engaging, and educational content about pets, with integrated advertising of Quick Bite Meals serving as the promotional strategy. Some posts will promote the product by discussing its benefits and advantages, constituting the product strategy.
The tactic used for the third sales funnel section will be the website and its convenient design features to ensure easy buying, ordering, and purchasing. Quick Bite Meals must be displayed with a quick-buy button, where the customer’s experience is focused on convenience.
Action
Firstly, the project plan will secure the necessary resources and investments from MSH Brands for the first three years. Management must be aware that these funds might be substantial, but they will be recouped after three years through aggressive capitalization and substantial gains in digital presence. Secondly, the leading website must be established with a competent team of web developers and web designers. The platform must be fine-tuned with an emphasis on quick and convenient buying of Quick Bite Meals, and the product’s strengths must be immediately accessible and displayed.
Thirdly, the marketing team must identify and contact the most popular and trusted pet owners, pet bloggers, and pet influencers. Partnerships and endorsement plans must be established to ensure that Quick Bite Meals’ key advantages are accurately communicated over other products. Fourthly, a substantial investment will be required in Google Ads to generate significant traffic to the website, and the web development team will need to optimize it to ensure it appears at the top of search results.
Fifthly, the marketing team will need to organize interesting events, fundraisers, and other activities related to the pet topic. For example, MSH Brands could raise awareness about the importance of rescuing rather than buying pets. It could build animal shelters for abandoned pets and use them to promote its brand. After a year, the shift will need to be made towards social media pages, where the follower count should reach reasonably large numbers.
The marketing team must generate promotional, educational, engaging, and entertaining content on all social media platforms. For instance, YouTube could focus on educational videos, whereas TikTok could focus on entertainment. Facebook will also be the primary social media platform, with a focus on engagement, while Instagram will be utilized to promote products. Essentially, the strength and uniqueness of each social media platform will be utilized to advertise Quick Bite Meals.
Seventhly, by the third year, all sales funnel sections will dial up the advertising and promotion of the product to capitalize on the online presence gains made up to this point. It is possible that some social media pages or marketing tactics could be abandoned if they are proven to be non-impactful or ineffective.
Control
It is worth noting that several key control metrics will be used to measure progress and evaluate the gains made with the digital marketing strategy. The first control metric in the first three years will be follower count. It will directly showcase how the digital marketing strategy is advancing on the social media marketing front. The second metric is website traffic, as it will showcase the number of visits made to the place of purchase.
However, the third metric will focus on total product purchases, as many sales are made through local stores and distributors. It is the most critical control metric, which is expected to reach its highest level by the end of the third year. The fourth measurable metric will be the number of orders in local shops and through distribution channels. The given measurement is looking for an increase in product orders and inventories at local suppliers as a positive indicator of a successful marketing strategy. However, it is difficult to determine how the digital marketing strategy will manifest its gains since it could increase sales through the website, local stores, and distribution channels.
The fifth and final control metric will be the overall revenue compared to the expenditure cost on advertising and product promotion. A successful marketing strategy will minimize expenditures on gaining new customers while increasing the company’s gains. The follower metric will always be relevant, especially after the first year, which means it will be constantly monitored. Its increase will mean everything is going as planned, with the final desired outcome being higher followership on all platforms than the competitors. The website traffic will also be constantly tracked, and it will always need to increase. Any halt or reduction in visits will result in a deviation from the plan.
The other three control metrics will be monitored quarterly, but they will become most relevant and critical only after three years. In other words, followers and traffic will become less of a priority compared to online and offline purchases, as well as revenue versus costs. The main reason is that the first three years will focus on building the sales funnel rather than using it. After it has been built, it will be utilized to the maximum in an aggressive promotional and advertising manner.
References
Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R., & Stephen, A. T. (2020). The future of social media in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48, 79-95. Web.
Applebaum, J. W., Peek, C. W., & Zsembik, B. A. (2020). Examining U.S. pet ownership using the General Social Survey. The Social Science Journal, 1, 1-10. Web.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition. (2022). Hill’s Pet Nutrition: Premium pet food backed by science. Web.
Jander, M. (2019). Humanization of pets, pet products resonates within creative market. Pet Age. Web.
Mars. (2022). News media contacts. Web.
Morelli, G., Stefanutti, D., & Ricci, R. (2021). A survey among dog and cat owners on pet food storage and preservation in the households. Animals, 11(2), 273. Web.
Purina. (2022). Stay in touch. Web.
Schleicher, M., Cash, S. B., & Freeman, L. M. (2019). Determinants of pet food purchasing decisions. The Canadian Veterinary Journal, 60(6), 644-650. Web.
Statista. (2022). Mean dog owner household income in the United States from 2006 to 2016. Web.
Thomas, M., & Feng, Y. (2020). Risk of foodborne illness from pet food: Assessing pet owners’ knowledge, behavior, and risk perception. Journal of Food Protection, 83(11), 1998-2007. Web.