Aim: This assignment aims to assess ULOs 1, 2, 3, and 4 for the unit of study.
Word limit: 3,500 words (+/- 10%) excluding executive summary, tables and references
Marks allocated: 40%
Due date: Sunday 29th May (before midnight)
Submission: Turnitin submission is compulsory.
Rubric: Refer to the Assignment 3a Marking Rubric below.
Late penalty: 10% of final mark for every 24 hours of late submission (includes weekend)
Team charter: Swinburne recommends all groups discuss and agree on a Team Charter
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The Assignment
A digital marketing plan outlines how a business will achieve its desired goals through digital marketing strategies, tactics and channels. Without a digital marketing plan, businesses run the risk of their digital marketing efforts and investments not aligning with their overall business strategy.
For this assignment you are required to develop a comprehensive digital marketing plan. Being the major assignment for this unit, it is expected that you put the concepts and tools you have learned throughout the entire course of this unit into practice.
What you need to do
1. Watch the client briefing, instruction video and review materials
Before you start the assignment, please ensure you review all of the materials provided. Watch the client briefing video, review the materials they have provided, and watch the instruction video.
2. Self-allocate into a team of 4 students maximum by no later than the end of Week 6 (Sunday, 12 September before midnight)
Spend some time networking with your fellow students in your workshop, with the goal of forming an assignment group.
Once you have agreed on your team members, you will need to self-allocate into a team on Canvas (click here (Links to an external site.) for instructions).
Please do not add yourself to an assignment group without discussing this with the other group members first.
Students who do not self-allocate into a team by the end of week 6 will be randomly allocated.
Note: No team changes can occur after the end of week 6.
3. Using your audience personas, digital customer journey maps, and digital marketing audit
This assignment requires you to leverage your findings from assignments 1 and 2. You should have multiple assignments (from each group member) which you can use as input into your situation analysis.
4. Develop a digital marketing plan
4. 1 Situation analysis
The first step involves a situation analysis. Focus on addressing the following:
- Briefly introduce the business and the industry in which it operates
- Provide a critical analysis of digital trends in the business’ broader environment (macro level)
- Provide a critical analysis of digital trends in the industry, including competitors, customers, suppliers, intermediaries, etc. (meso level)
- Provide a critical analysis of the current business mission, goals, objectives, marketing strategies, digital strategies, tactics and channels (micro level)
- Describe the business’ target audience including audience personas and digital customer journeys
- Based on your analysis, identify key areas where the customer experience can be improved using digital technologies across different touchpoints
Hint 1: You will have multiple assignments to use as input into this section, so the challenge here is about how you draw out the key points and summarise this information. Try to limit the word count here so that only the most important points are highlighted, and everything else is in summary format.
Hint 2: To structure your analyses, you should use marketing models and frameworks we have covered this semester (i.e. macro, meso, and micro analysis frameworks, digital marketing audit, audience personas, customer journeys, SWOT etc.). Which ones you use is up to you and should be determined by the client’s business and the environment it operates in.
Hint 3: You are expected to use relevant sources to provide evidence of your analysis. This can come from the materials provided by the client, your own observations, your analysis from assignments 1 and 2, as well as industry reports, articles, and academic papers.
Hint 4: The entire point of this section is to generate some insights into possible opportunities and key areas for improvement. If you get to the end of this section, and you do not have clear opportunities and areas for improvement identified, you need to go back and conduct more in-depth and critical analysis.
4.2 Establish objectives
Based on the market analysis and insight generated in step 1, you will need to formulate your digital marketing objectives.
Important points:
- Formulate exactly three digital marketing objectives
- Your digital marketing objectives need to align with your overall business goals you identified in Step 1
- Digital marketing objectives can be short, medium or long term
- Everything after this point in your plan should work towards achieving these digital marketing objectives
Hint 1: Develop your digital marketing objectives using the SMART framework: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound
Hint 2: Clearly link your objectives to your analysis and insights from step 1.
Hint 3: From this point, everything you do in the rest of the report should be designed to align to the objectives you set in this section.
4.3 Formulate strategy and tactics
Formulate one digital strategy (including tactics and channels) to achieve each objective you have outlined in step 2.
For each strategy, include the following:
- A description of the strategy, and the specific tactics and channels that will be used.
- An evidence-based justification of how this strategy adds value to the client and its customers.
- A clear and realistic action plan including specific tasks, timeframes, responsibilities, and budgetary considerations.
- A description of how this could be linked to traditional marketing initiatives to build synergy.
Your digital marketing strategies should be:
- Clearly linked to the opportunities and improvement areas identified in Step 1.
- Clearly linked to your digital marketing objectives from Step 2.
- Supported by evidence that justifies their selection (you need to provide evidence that will convince the client to implement that strategy).
- Tailored to the target audience’s persona and customer journey.
Hint 1: This assignment is about digital marketing, so please make sure you recommend digital marketing strategies. Only suggesting non-digital strategies and tactics is not acceptable.
Hint 2: Although you should reference any academic articles you use, it is expected that the majority of sources for this section come from industry reports, industry articles, online articles, materials provided by the client, and any data, graphs or charts you can find from reputable sources.
Hint 3: Use the planning tools and frameworks we learn about in your online lessons, including the planning table that allows you to summarise your objectives, strategies, tactics and channels.
4.4 Measure results
The final step involves suggested measurement of the results to determine success or failure, as well as opportunities for improvement.
For each objective:
- Choose one Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and justify, with evidence, why this is the correct metric to measure success
- Describe how and where the data for the KPI will be collected
Hint: Select metrics that we have discussed in your online lessons this semester. Your metrics should be digital marketing metrics specifically.
Recommended structure:
Your digital marketing plan should be presented in a business report format and include numbered headings, such as the following:
- Executive summary
- Table of contents
- Introduction
- Situation analysis
- Objectives
- Strategies, tactics and channels
- Performance measurement
- References
Important note: Your work should be supported by evidence from a range of sources. The more relevant evidence you provide, the better. Reports with less than five sources (industry reports, industry articles, academic papers etc.) are unlikely to be eligible for a pass. The word limit is 3,500 words (excluding executive summary, tables and references). To fit within this word limit, you should focus only on crucial information, write succinctly, and use charts, tables and graphics to present analysis and evidence.
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