Digital Marketing Strategy and SMART Goals

Intro to the Course

Agenda

  • Intro to the course
  • Marketing trends and the digital marketing strategy
  • Break
  • SMART goal setting framework

About Us: Instructors

Martina Pocchiari
  • Assistant prof of marketing @ Esade Barcelona
  • BSc Economics and Business @ University of Bologna
  • MSc Marketing Management – Digital marketing and analytics @ Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Marketing research consultant @ Nielsen
  • PhD Empirical Quantitative Marketing @ Erasmus University
  • Assistant prof of marketing @ NUS Business School Singapore
Verena Schoenmueller
  • Assistant prof of marketing @ Esade Barcelona
  • BSc Economics and Business @ University of Mannheim
  • MSc Business Administration @ University of Mannheim & ESSEC
  • PhD Business Administration @ University of Basel
  • Postdoc Marketing Department @ Columbia University
Rohini Gajria
  • Teaching assistant @ Esade
  • BBA Internation Business, Pune university
  • MSc Marketing Management, Esade
  • Content Creator
  • Marketing intern @ Comisio
  • Sales Representative @ Learnx
  • Marketing Coordinator @ Flatwhite Studios

About You

  • Bring a name tag to class.
  • Participate actively: talk and engage.

About the Course

  • Success = active engagement + critical thinking + class material + homework
  • Everything in English
  • Syllabus and mandatory readings: available on Moodle
  • Course slides: posted after class (unless specified otherwise)
  • Goal: to develop marketing-knowledgeable and digitally-savvy business leaders.

Course Overview

  1. The digital marketing strategy and SMART goals
  2. Know and evaluate channels
    • Paid: Digital advertising
    • Owned: SEO and content marketing
    • Earned: UGC and social media
  3. Measure and maximize value creation opportunities

Assessment Methods

  • Individual assessments:
    • Exam: 30%
    • Class participation: 10%
  • Group project: 60%
    • Peer evaluation

Exam Details

  • Questions about the mandatory readings, case studies, and class material
  • In-person
  • Multiple choice, time limit 60 minutes
  • Graded 0-10

Attendance and Class Participation

  • Attendance: Minimum 80% attendance to be eligible
  • Class participation: Active class involvement during discussions, with questions, comments, experiences, opinions
  • Monitored and graded

Class Participation Grading

Graded [0,10]:

  • 0 = no contributions (e.g., consistent absence without context, very few questions, very few comments, below-par class involvement)
  • 5 = limited contributions (mid-point: superficial or passive participation, thoughts or comments unrelated to class contents, opinions not well-thought or well-documented)
  • 10 = excellent contributions (max points: deep questions, well-researched, well-documented class contributions; references to class material, demonstrated intellectual curiosity)

Class Participation: Laptop Policy

Strong preference for no laptops during class due to:

  • Science reasons:
    1. Students with open laptops remember less lecture content
    2. Online content interferes with the learning process
    3. Decreased ability to balance attention
      *Sources: https://web.stanford.edu/class/linguist156/laptops.pdf
      *
  • Class dynamics:
    1. Alienating discussions
    2. Decreased engagement and personal connections
    3. Distracting noises
    4. Multitasking

Peer-evaluation

Peer-evaluation of teammates based on:

  • Autonomy and initiative
  • Cooperation
  • Quality and depth of contributions
  • General contribution

Final Group Project

  • Initiate and supervise a digital marketing strategy for a real brand or product
  • A list of brands will be provided; choose only one.
  • Receive indications between week 1-10 to work on a section of the digital marketing strategy in the syllabus and in class

Final Group Project: Instructions

  • Instructions are in the syllabus and slides.
  • Define marketing objectives, customer journey, SMART goals, KPIs
  • Evaluate whether paid digital advertising is part of the marketing strategy for the company. Decide about channels and budget allocation. Link to the SMART objectives.

Final Group Project: Tasks for Next Class (Week 4)

Paid digital marketing: Display and mobile ads

  1. Which stage of the customer journey should you target?
  2. Define a budget estimate for your campaign. It should be realistic and data-driven.
  3. Choose and define target audience using relevant criteria.
  4. Choose channels and draft the media plan:
    • Make assumptions about channel performance and media consumption in your target audience; reference sources of information and data to back up these assumptions.
  5. Connect all the above to your SMART goals

Final Group Project: Output

  • Video recorded presentation: 10 minutes
  • 10 Slides excluding title and references
  • Detailed campaign report: 5 pages excluding title and references
    • A4 paper, 1.5 line spacing, 12pt times new roman, 2cm margins
    • Plain design = OK
    • Report is graded (rubric-based, on Moodle)

Report Structure (on Moodle)

  1. Explain the choice of brand (not graded)
  2. Illustrate campaign objectives, SMART goals and KPIs
  3. Illustrate general media plan in connection to the SMART goals, competitor analysis
  4. Report of 1 in-depth channel strategy (only choose one of the following channels):
    • Current state of brand’s digital display & mobile ads + proposal for new campaign
    • Current state of brand’s digital SEO + proposal for SEO campaign
    • Current state of brand’s digital UGC + proposal for UGC campaign
    • Current state of brand’s digital content + proposal for content marketing campaign
  5. Biases, inclusion, representation & privacy, identity, safety: threats and mitigation
  6. Conclusions (not graded)

Grading Rubric Example

Grading Scale: Insufficient = 0, Sufficient = 1, Good = 2, Exceptional = 3

  • Campaign objectives, SMART goals and KPIs:
    • Insufficient (0): SMART goals are absent or irrelevant for business objectives. SMART dimensions are not explained or met. KPIs are not explained or unrelated to the SMART goals, or factually wrong. The SMART goals mention no expectation for how the KPIs will change after the campaign. Quantitative benchmarks are not mentioned, unrealistic, or factually wrong.
    • Sufficient (1): One-two SMART goals are mentioned (brand vs revenue goals, awareness, conversion, etc.); goals are in loosely aligned with business objectives. All or some of the SMART dimensions are met. KPIs are explained, are loosely related to the SMART goals; the SMART goals mention an expectation for how the KPIs will change after the campaign. Quantitative benchmarks are mentioned but loosely researched.
    • Good (2): One-two SMART goals are mentioned in connection to class material (brand vs revenue goals, awareness, conversion, etc.); goals are in alignment with business objectives. All the SMART dimensions are met. KPIs are explained, are related to the SMART goals; the SMART goals mention a realistic expectation for how the KPIs will change after the campaign, quantitative benchmarks are mentioned.
    • Exceptional (3): One-two SMART goals are well-researched and explained in connection to class material (brand vs revenue goals, awareness, conversion, etc.); goals are in alignment with business objectives. All the SMART dimensions are met and are explained carefully. KPIs are explained, are closely related to the SMART goals, the SMART goals mention a realistic expectation for how the KPIs will change after the campaign. Quantitative benchmarks are well-researched and explained.

Final Group Project: Attention Points

  1. Sometimes, less is more
  2. Focus, explain, clarify
  3. Think critically from the POV of different stakeholders
  4. Reference class material, mandatory readings, connect concepts across classes

Final Group Project: Key Dates

  • Week 5: mid-course check-in about your progress
  • Q&A forum opens February 27 9:00
  • Q&A forum deadline March 6 23:59
  • Answers to the Q&A in W5 class
  • Week 10: delivery of final presentations and reports
  • Q&A forum opens April 24 9:00
  • Q&A forum deadline May 1 23:59
  • Answers to the Q&A in W10 class
  • Final project delivery: May 9 23:59

Marketing Simulation: Week 9

  • Executing a media plan
  • Using analytics to make informed decisions
  • 1.5 hours simulation (5 runs – years) + 30 minutes debrief
  • Mandatory readings and preparation:
    • Background Case Reading
    • Data Exploration (open three days prior to class)
    • Trial run (open three days prior to class)
  • More details in the week before (session 8).

Forming Groups

  • Random assignment
  • If you don’t have a group: please let us or Rohini know asap
  • Everyone should put equal effort in the group work
  • An evaluation of your work by your peers is reflected in the final grade

Choose One Brand and Identify One Business Problem

  • Freemium players (Grammarly, Dropbox, Spotify)
  • Old school staples (Dove, Old Spice, Pampers)
  • Societal challenges (Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil)
  • Modern finance (Revolut, Robinhood, Trade Republic)
  • Inspirational youth (Glossier, Reformation, Drunk Elephant)
  • Choose one from this list!

Brand Choice Submission

Deliver via email to Rohini Gajria (rohinihiren.gajria@alumni.esade.edu):

  • Team name
  • Team members (names, student ID, student email)
  • One brand from the list
  • Deadline: February 14 23:59

Recap of Grading (Weights in %)

  • Class Participation (0-10) 10%
    • In class participation (0-10)
    • Attendance (min. 80% of classes)
  • Final Exam (0-10) 30%
    • In person
    • Multiple choice, 60 minutes
  • Final Group Project (0-10) 60%
    • Recorded presentation
    • Slides
    • Project report (graded 0-10)

Expectations: Instructors

You can expect from the instructors:

  • Competence: preparation for class, follow-up if unable to answer immediately
  • Intellectual honesty: critical thinking about marketing practices and a high intellectual standard
  • Collaboration: positive, respectful, welcoming environment, open to feedback and ready to give feedback

Expectations: Students

The instructors will expect from you:

  • Competence: preparation for class, responsibility, independence, punctuality
  • Intellectual honesty and thought leadership: deliver original work (no plagiarism or forging)
  • Contribute to team-work, adopt critical thinking
  • Collaboration: ask when unclear, clarify expectations, be open to feedback and ready to give feedback (to us, to yourself, to your peers)

Course Expectations

You can expect from the course:

  • Content-based: examples, real-life/practical applications (still lots of content)
  • No single, 100% right answer at the end of a class
  • A tiny bit of math & stats & technicalities (averages, conditional averages, percentages, AI & tools)
  • Critical thinking about marketing as a business discipline
  • Your input is important!

Introduction to Digital Marketing

What is Digital Marketing?
  • Digital Marketing is a process: "Using of digital or social channels to promote a brand or reach consumers."
  • This kind of marketing can be executed on:
    • the internet,
    • social media,
    • search engines,
    • mobile devices
    • and other channels
  • It requires:
    • new ways of marketing to consumers and
    • understanding the impact of their behavior
Official AMA Definition of Digital Marketing
  • Digital marketing is the use of digital or social channels.
  • Digital marketing is used to promote a brand or reach consumers.
  • Digital marketing requires new ways of marketing to consumers and understanding digital consumer behavior.

Digital and Social Channels

  • Paid: Channels belonging to third parties, convey content in exchange for compensation (e.g., Digital Advertising, Social Media & Influencer Marketing)
  • Owned: Communication channels that an organization owns and operates under their complete control (e.g., Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Content Marketing)
  • Earned: Third-party content that is completely separate from the company or brand (e.g., Reviews, User-Generated Content)

Media Planning

  • Balance between channels requires a media plan.

Reach and Promote: DM Figures (2023-2024)

  • Spain:
    • 96% of the population use the internet
    • 5+ hours/day
    • 39 million social media users
    • 1.5 hours/day
  • US Adults:
    • 97% use internet
      • 97% of 18-29
      • 98% of 30-49
      • 96% of 50-64
      • 88% over 65
    • 70+% use some type of social media

Digital Marketing: Budget Changes

Expected budget change in the next 12 months (Global averages):

  • Digital Channels:
    • Social media: 72% increase
    • Search: 66% increase
    • Video (Online/mobile): 65% increase
    • Display (Online/mobile): 63% increase
    • Email: 53% increase
    • OTT-TV/CTV: 53% increase
    • Podcasts: 52% increase
    • Streaming audio: 50% increase
    • Native advertising: 46% increase
  • Traditional Channels:
    • Out-of-home: 45% increase
    • Direct mail: 42% decrease
    • Linear TV: 41% decrease
    • Print: 40% decrease
    • Cinema: 40% decrease
    • AM/FM radio: 38% decrease

The COVID Era

Digital Opportunities:
  • >80% more open to digital consumption experiences (CMO Survey 2021)
  • New attitudes towards digitization
  • More cross-border collaboration, remote work, digital trade
Digital Threats:
  • Variation in digital literacy
  • Cross-country differences
  • Demographic differences
  • Supply-chain vulnerabilities
  • Unsatisfied, impatient consumers
  • Adjusting for unexpectedness
  • A distressed customer base: anxiety, uncertainty, caregiving, work mobility, etc.

The AI Era

AI Opportunities:
  • Speed, efficiency, outsourcing tasks
  • Automation
  • Content creation
  • Copyediting
AI Threats:
  • The “Parrot Effect”
  • Intellectual property concerns
  • Environmental responsibility

Digital Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing: Usage

  • Digital:
    • 96% of the population in Spain use the internet
    • 5+ hours/day
    • 39 million social media users in Spain
    • 1.5 hours/day
  • Traditional (In 2023, in Spain):
    • 82% of the population watched television
    • 81.4% saw an outdoor advertisement
    • 54.3% listened to the radio
    • 24.5% read print magazines

Traditional Marketing Approach

  • Channels print, TV, radio, outdoor ad, catalog,
  • Price fixed, geo cluster, price tiers,
  • Product physical/experience mix, packaging, labeling,
  • Locations retail, brick and mortar, direct, networked

Traditional and Digital Marketing Compared

  • Channels: Online/offline mix
  • Price: Static, dynamic, auctioned, personalized, group-buy
  • Product: Created, co-created, crowdsourced, experience, NFT
  • Location: E-commerce/physical mix, social media store

Traditional + Digital Marketing Definition

  • the activity, set of institutions, and processes
  • for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings
  • that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large (AMA, marketing definition, 2017)

Traditional + Digital: Creating Value

  • Value for Customers:
    • Brand equity
    • Relationship equity
    • Satisfaction
    • Identity
    • Utility
  • Value for Firms:
    • Acquisition
    • Retention
    • Profitability
    • Sales, Profits
    • Growth rate
  • Value for Society:
    • Sustainability
    • Inclusivity
    • Fairness
    • Culture
    • Morals & Values
Digital Technologies and Channels
  • Digital Marketing Strategy

Marketing to Digital Consumers

  • Digital marketing requires new ways of marketing to consumers and understanding digital consumer behavior

Digital Marketing Strategy

  • A digital marketing strategy is a process made up of:
    1. Marketing goals achievable through digital channels
    2. Evaluation and plan of the digital channels
    3. Tactics (instruments) to achieve the goals on each channel
    4. Value-maximizing use of digital channels (for consumers, firms, society)
Components of a Digital Marketing Strategy
  • Goals
  • Channels
  • Tactics
  • Value creation/maximization

Common Goal-Setting Frameworks

  • SMART framework
  • Digital customer journey framework

Common Digital Marketing Goals

  • Revenue goals (e.g., Meet a certain sales quota, sell certain # items per unit of time, onboard X% new clients, etc.)
  • Brand (equity) goals (e.g., Improve customer satisfaction with brand, improve opinions against competitor, improve top-of-mind recall time, etc.)

Brand Building vs Conversion

  • Brand building is upper-funnel marketing with broad reach and a long-term focus that drives future sales by influencing consumer perceptions.
  • Conversion is lower-funnel marketing with narrow reach and a short-term focus that drives immediate sales by influencing consumer purchases.

Common Digital Marketing Goals

  1. Awareness
  2. Lead generation
  3. Conversion
  4. Retention (maximize) or churn (minimize)
1. Awareness

Making consumers aware of the brand. Examples:

  • How many unique users talk about the brand online?
  • How many unique people associate the brand with the product category?
  • How many people report brand as top-of-mind?
2. Lead Generation

Onboarding new (potential) consumers. Examples:

  • How many new unique users visited the website?
  • How many new users followed the social media page?
  • How many new people signed up to website?
3. Conversion

Transforming a potential customer to a paying customer. Examples:

  • How many website visitors have completed a purchase?
  • How many website visitors have put items in their cart?
  • How many website searches end up in a sale?
4. Retention (Maximize) or Churn (Minimize)

Keeping customers engaged or preventing them from abandoning the brand. Examples:

  • How many users are returning to the website?
  • How many users leave the website and never come back?
  • On which page of the website do they interrupt the session?
  • How many customers only complete one purchase and do not return to purchase again?

Digital Marketing Goals : Revenue/Brand

GoalRevenue or brand?
AwarenessBrand
LeadBrand + revenue
ConversionRevenue
Retention or churnBrand + revenue

Common Goals: Awareness

  • Traditional channels of awareness have changed since 2020.
  • Fewer people use physical stores
  • More people shop online
  • More brands are available online
  • Consumers more impatient, less attentive
  • Difficult to create and maintain awareness

Common Goals: Lead and Conversion

  • Companies want new leads for potential future sales.
  • Goal is to move leads to conversion.

Common Goals: Retention and Churn

  • “It is cheaper to retain an old customer than to acquire a new one.”
  • Customer acquisition costs continue to rise.
  • McKinsey & Co.: reducing churn could increase earnings of a typical U.S. wireless carrier by nearly 10%.

Common Issues with Churn/Retention Rates

  1. When you measure it, it’s already too late:

    • Noticeable increase in % churn → ~6 months too late to influence CRM
    • Better idea: churn prediction models

  2. Don’t stop at the number

    • % churn is an indicator of human behavior. What human needs are behind consumers’ decision to churn?

  3. No one-size-fits-all

    • A 1% churn has different implications for different businesses
    • That’s where benchmarking (and a DMS) is important

  4. High churn is diagnostic of acquisition issues

    • If customers leave frequently, maybe they are not the right customers for your company

  5. Contrasting churn with retention tactics

    • Typical churn decision:
      Offer retention promotion when PR[retention | promotion] > 0
    • Better decision criterion: Profit lift
      Profitfromretentionintervention+perspectivecashflows+thecostoftheinterventionProfit from retention intervention + perspective cash flows + the cost of the intervention
    • Profit lift > 0: intervention increases PR[retention | promotion], and/or post- campaign revenues, enough to compensate for the intervention cost

SMART Goals

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Actionable
  • Relevant
  • Time-based
1) Specific goals
  • From: I will be healthier!
  • To: I will take a 30-minute walk three times a week, at least 4000 steps, starting January 1st 2025
  • From: Our digital marketing needs to increase overall sales for the company
  • To: We need to increase sales and profitability by increasing traffic to our most profitable product website, through content creation on social media and search engine rankings
2) Measurable goals
  • From: We need to grow brand awareness in our market through digital channels
  • To: We need to increase baseline recall rates among random samples of website visitors by 5% compared to last quarter
3) Actionable goals
  • From: We need to increase revenue from social media by 20% in Q4
  • To: Given our average quarterly revenue growth rate of 5%, we aim at increasing revenue from social media by 6% in Q4
4) Relevant goals
  • From: We need to increase newsletter subscribers by 1000 customers
  • To: Our business needs to reach and convert more unique customers. We need to increase newsletter subscribers by 1000 unique customers among high-conversion demographics
5) Time-Based goals
  • From: We need to increase newsletter subscribers by 1000 customers
  • To: We need to increase newsletter subscribers by 1000 unique customers among high-conversion demographics, within 3 months

Other Frameworks

  • RACE framework: Reach, act, convert, engage
  • AIDAR framework (also called marketing funnel): Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action, Retention
  • Flywheel framework: Attract, Engage, Delight
  • McKinsey's consumer decision journey: Awareness, Familiarity, Consideration, Purchase, Loyalty
General Pattern of frameworks

Different frameworks follow the same pattern:

  1. Follow customers on digital customer journey
  2. Develop, adapt, evaluate goals along the journey

Key to designing the digital marketing strategy: understanding the digital customer journey.

What We Learned

  • Digital marketing is the use of digital channels to promote/reach/sell and create value, which requires new ways of marketing to digital consumers
  • Digital marketing strategies start from setting goals revenue/brand, common marketing goals
  • There are several frameworks that support the creation of a digital strategy, such as the SMART framework

Preparing for the Next Class

  • Send team members + brand choice to Rohini by February 14th
  • Week 2: Channels – Principles of digital media planning
  • Group project tasks:
    • Define overall business problem, marketing objectives, SMART goals, KPIs

For Your Group Project

  1. Think about overall business priorities.
    • Example: Scoot is all about spontaneous discovery, building connections and creating fresh experiences.
  2. Define ONE-TWO SMART goals in connection with these priorities.
    • Campaign goal: increase customer engagement with community-building posts on Scoot’s primary social media channel (transform this into SMART)
  3. What KPIs should we define to measure campaign success?
    • Example: likes, comments, shares, reposts, social mentions, positive WOM, etc.

Terminology

  • Strategy
    • Identify goals
    • Includes tactics, with plans and guidelines to execute them
  • Tactics
    • Steps or actions needed to achieve those goals
  • Campaigns
    • Execution of marketing strategies across all digital channels
    • Marketing tactics used to execute campaigns often vary by channel, audience, and other factors