MKT525 Digital Marketing Strategic Planning - Assignment Solution

Executive Summary

The main aim of this report was to carry out research of buyer’s persona of Dove with the purpose of developing marketing objectives and digital marketing strategies for the brand. In order to accomplish this aim, the qualitative research of Dove’s buyer’s persona has been carried out and it was found that consumer prefer to develop interaction with brand, prefer two way communication, want to co-create, want to be empowered, want to be heard, appreciate authentic brand and appreciate word of mouth communication as promotional method. Based on these highlights of buyer’s persona, three main objectives are identified for Dove which encompass; 1) to attract consumers for bringing 25% increase in sales 2) to assure customer engagement and to increase 55% retention of consumers and 3) to encourage 20% increase in reviews and word of mouth communication of consumers. The strategy statement of Dove highlights that brand wants to be trusted and respected by the consumers by offering high quality products and by addressing changing preferences of consumers. Three digital marketing strategies are recommended in this context which is based on combination of categorize, comprehend, converse, collaborate, convert and connect. Likewise, one chosen traditional marketing strategy is to contribute and convert. All of these strategies are purported to offer substantial support to stated objective of Dove.

Section One: Buyer Persona

The buyer persona allows to highlight the characteristics of an ideal customer of a brand (Winch, 2015). The research of buyer persona allows to set objectives for digital strategy, assure effective selection of appropriate digital strategy and to choose most suitable tactics for accomplishment of objectives (Urban, 2003). Buyer persona of Dove is presented in table 1.

Table 1. Buyer’s persona for Dove

Element	Dove’s customer
Who	The consumers of Dove are men, women and babies, who are middle and high income class. Dove is international brand and main focus is maintained on consumers of emerging nations. Consumer are conscious about skin and hair and seek for dependable beauty products brand.
What	Primary goal of consumer is personal care and they demand a solution which can enrich their skin, enhance their beauty and can offer moisturizer to their skin and hair. The enhancement of self-image and self-esteem is also the goal of consumers and they want to nourish their real beauty by using products of Dove. Consumer prefer product which is free from harmful chemicals, gentle on skin and is environmentally sustainable.
Where	Online: Consumers are engaged in reading beauty blogs for expert recommendations on beauty products. Likewise, they spend time on social networking sites which is major platform for beauty and self-grooming discussions. Offline: Advertisements on television, friends and families and discussion with sales representatives of skin care section in super markets.
Content	The consumers prefer content which initiates genuine discussion about personal care and uses understandable language. The openness of communication channels and ability to provide feedback is considered as core preference of consumers. The reviews of other consumers on the products are also considered as preferable by them. The storytelling approach in communication message and positive reinforcement are also linked with consumer’s preferences. The personalized (i.e. content tailored to consumer’s preferences) and less intrusive approach of communication is desired by consumers.
Channels	Facebook and Instagram are commonly used social networking sites by consumers, where two way communication is carried out. Likewise, website is considered as authentic information source. Google search is also carried out by them.
Trust touch points	Information on website of brand is considered as trusted by the consumers. The reviews of friends on social networking sites and in real life are also trusted, which shows the worth of word of mouth for consumers of Dove. Google search is also used to view top listed personal care products. Finally, retail stores and super markets are preferred by consumers.
Pain touch points	Any unrealistic claims about product’s features and use of fake images are not preferred by consumers. Unauthentic information is rejected by consumers.
Customer, consumer or influencer	The buyer persona will be a customer at initial stages, proceeding to level of consumer at next stage. When satisfied with the brand, they can act as influencer by recommending the brand to others.
‘They say’	“The personal care products should groom our real beauty” “Brands need to make authentic claims about quality of product” “We need nourishing personal care products from respectable and well reputed companies” “I always prefer products which are talked positive by people”
‘We say’	“We care about your beauty preferences” “Your self-esteem is important for us”
Keywords	Personal care, beauty care, skin nourishment, skin enrichment, moisturizing.

Based on the identification of consumers’ touch points, their journey is mapped in the table 2 given below. It has been considered that different touch points of consumers will enable them to perform different activities, encompassing; awareness, discovery, purchase, use of purchased products and creation of bonding with the products of brand (Patrutiu-Baltes, 2016).

The above mentioned customer journey mapping indicates that social networking sites play a key role in generating awareness among consumers about the brand and thus encourages them to carry out search of brand’s information on website. It encourages Dove to use these communication channels for generating awareness and to assure discovery of the products. Additionally, at third stage, the product is purchased by consumers through retail stores or super markets. When satisfied with the products, consumers also prefer to know about the reviews of others, to develop sense of subjective norms for guiding future purchasing decision making. The subjective norms indicates that consumers seek to gain conformance of their action from social group to develop sense of acceptance. When positive reviews are read by consumers, then in the next step, they will develop intention to make repeated purchase of the product which will drive their loyalty. Finally, they will provide reviews about the products, which will serve as source of earned media for Dove and company will be able to attract more consumers based on earned communication of consumers about Dove. Therefore, the mentioned cycle of consumer’s journey is offering that Dove needs to encourage more reviews for attracting and retaining consumers.

Section Two: Objectives

It has been investigated from SWOT analysis of Dove that brand is facing enormous threat from competitors and it is aimed to attract and retain new consumers with an aim of enhancing level of sales. Additionally, it has been considered from buyer persona research that word of mouth communication is considered as trusting mode for consumers of Dove and this can be incorporated in objectives of Dove’s digital marketing strategy. Based on the gaps in existing marketing and communication approach of Dove, the following key objectives are chosen for Dove’s marketing strategy;

To attract customers by using personalized content in communication with them, such that 25% increase in sales of Dove can be witnessed with 4 months of campaign launch
To get engage with consumers through two way communication for enhancing consumers retention, such that 55% consumer make repeated purchases with 6 months of campaign.
To encourage consumers for providing reviews about the brand, such that 20% increase in reviews is witnessed within 6 months of launch