JetZ Ecommerce Marketing Plan

A1: Online Business Viability JetZ introduces the first ever insole infused performance sock. This revolutionary technology reduces the incidence of injury to the foot and ankle by providing superior support to the foot arch region as well as both sides of the ankle. Foot and ankle injuries are some of the most common and debilitating injuries to athletes in all sports. JetZ performance sock is very comfortable and reduces the need for traditional taping methods as well as external bracing. There is a high incidence of blistering with traditional athletic taping. JetZ internal lining prevents blistering and hot spots. External bracing is bulky and uncomfortable. JetZ performance socks are as thin as typical athletic socks but unlike cotton or poly-synthetic blends, JetZ keeps the foot cooler and dryer.
JetZ has goals of expansion and increasing sales, but needs to do this while controlling the cost of growth. Building an online site is the company’s next step. “Going online opens another channel for selling your products…executed properly, it helps increase your revenue and profit potentials” (Elad, 2009).
The marketing team understands the necessity of developing an ecommerce marketing plan to introduce JetZ product(s) to a national audience. JetZ socks have a strong customer base in their home Midwest region with minimal local competition. Due to increasing local popularity and market demand, the marketing team is planning to move forward with the plan to develop a robust website to supplement the business strategy.
To be fiscally responsible, JetZ decided to conduct research. The market research included conducting polls and surveys with existing customers to receive feedback. Over 73% (84/115) of customers polled currently shop online. Surveys also indicated those same customers:
• Valued the convenience of online shopping
• Will continue to shop online
• Prefer shopping online.
The customer feedback analysis confirms the viability of developing JetZ’s company website.
The website benefits JetZ’s customers by giving them the option to avoid traveling and crowds associated with brick-and-mortar stores, and allow them to order products from the convenience of their home. Customers can shop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Customers can take advantage of “website only” deals and promotions, product discounts, rebates and free shipping offers. JetZ’s customers also get to view a variety of products quickly and efficiently.
The website benefits JetZ by being able to extend its marketing reach, opening up new markets and reaching new customers. Another benefit of the website is that it allows JetZ to compete with larger companies, “One of the great things about the internet is that it has leveled the playing field when it comes to competing with the big boys” (Knox, 2004). It also allows JetZ to operate effectively and efficiently with a reduced staff compared to traditional brick-and-mortar stores. These advancements are expected to increase JetZ’s customer base, increase brand recognition, strengthen customer loyalty and increase sales.
A2: Current Online Competition It is critical to identify and understand the strengths and weaknesses of key competitors by acquiring and analyzing information to make proper decisions. JetZ has very little local competition. There are less than 10 “Mom & Pop” sporting goods stores within 25 miles of JetZ’s brick-and-mortar store and none of them sell a direct or substitute product. However, the marketing team identified Eastbay.com (http://www.eastbay.com), Betterbraces.com (http://www.betterbraces.com), Activeankle.com (http://www.activeankle.com) and Breg.com (http://www.breg.com) as its primary online competitors.
JetZ needs to profile the competition by gathering relevant data such as the competitor’s: objectives, strategies, performance and its strengths and weaknesses. One of the most effective ways to analyze competition is to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses by conducting a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. SWOT is a simple and concise way to organize information so that it can be analyzed. By comparing the competition’s strengths and weaknesses it is easier to determine which company poses the greatest threat and shows where opportunities may exist. EASTBAY BETTERBRACES ACTIVEANKLE BREG
Strengths • Graphics
• Well known
• Chat
• Shopping cart
• Website search bar
• Social media links • Injury info search
• Newsletter
• Shopping cart
• Free shipping
• Social media links
• Specific target market • Newsletter
• Twitter feed
• Website search bar
• Shopping cart
• Instructional videos
• Photo gallery
• Specific target market • Customer service
• Graphics
• Free shipping
• Newsletter
• Social media links
• Specific target market
• Product quality
Weaknesses • Offers many non-competitive products
• All sport athletic gear superstore • Price point
• Too many product choices
• Product line
• Clinical “feel” to website • Not as well known
• Limited options
• Cumbersome shipping plan • Price point
• Not as well know
• Limited options
• Technical website In order to compete with these larger companies JetZ must recognize and act on opportunities and avoid pitfalls. JetZ’s site must be visually pleasing, specifically target athletic injury prevention and recovery and have user-friendly technology. An example of user-friendly technology is an efficient shopping cart and shipping distribution system. By consistently monitoring the competition and making adjustments quickly, JetZ has the opportunity for market growth and increased sales. Threats have a negative effect on the company. Threats come in many forms such as, product shortages preventing or delaying sales, lack of monitoring the competition’s efforts to lure customers away or failure to monitor technology trends. Understanding how to interpret threats will allow JetZ to quickly create and implement new strategies to keep up with market trends and competitors reactions.
A3: Online Marketing Suggestions and Strategies JetZ’s target market is a niche market. The target niche encompasses men, women and teenagers who participate in an activity that may result in foot or ankle injury. Activities such as basketball, tennis, baseball or softball, jogging, etc. all have been known to cause pains and sprains. JetZ needs exposure to enable consumers to be aware of their products and services and the creation of the website is an effective strategy.
JetZ needs to use advertising to generate traffic to the new website and provide product exposure. Traffic visiting the website accomplishes several objectives: increase brand awareness, create demand, satisfy demand and drive sales. JetZ will use online advertising, which is simply advertising on the Internet. Stokes (2013) explains, “Whether online or off, the main objective of advertising is to increase sales. Advertising also aims to increase brand awareness.” There are several tools (strategies) available to accomplish these goals. Display advertising uses banner ads and pop-ups to drive traffic. Display advertising needs to be able to: attract attention, convey a message and entice consumers to take action (Stokes, 2013). Banner ads are found all over websites, at the top, on the sides and on the bottom. Some ads, known as interstitial banners, are shown between pages (Stokes, 2013). These ads are seen by the consumer before the next page on a website is shown. Pop-ups are banners that “pop-up” when you view a webpage and are typically small windows. Another form of display advertising is a pop-under banner. These are not seen until you close a window. The problem with this type of display advertising is that most browsers today have pop-up blockers to quell the annoyance for web surfers, and it can become expensive. If a pop-up blocker is activated the consumer won’t see the ad which renders it an ineffective advertising tool. Even with the downsides of pop-up blockers and expense, JetZ will benefit from using display advertising because it inundates the consumer with brand information creating exposure. There are many payment options for display advertising: cost per impression (CPI) or cost per mille (CPM), cost per click (CPC), cost per acquisition (CPA), flat rate and a relatively new technology…cost per engagement (Stokes, 2013). There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these payment models depending on what the goal is of the advertiser. And, each of these serves specific purposes, i.e. exposure, driving traffic and targeting niche markets. Setting goals and defining your target market are tools to help determine which payment option to choose. Search engine marketing uses search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing) to help consumers find what they are looking for. There are two distinct types of search results: organic search results and paid search results (Stokes, 2013). Organic search results are generally the listings on the left-hand side of the results. These are “natural results” and JetZ will not pay for these. Organic search results need to be highly relevant to keep the consumer searching from the search engine. JetZ will benefit from organic search results as the brand becomes more known. Paid search management can become expensive so JetZ needs to budget for paid search results. JetZ will need to bid for website placement and will pay the search engine when a consumer “clicks” on the advertisement. This is why paid search management is also known as pay-per-click (PPC). PPC advertisements show up at the top and on the right-side of the browser to increase traffic to JetZ’s website. There are several reasons that JetZ’s marketing team needs to be involved in search management because, according to Stokes (2013):
1. People use search to find what they are looking for and need
2. Search industry is big
3. To be found you must be visible
4. Top of search (ranking) equals top-of-mind awareness
5. Many people have search engines as their home page, and many more…
Search engine marketing is a powerful tool that JetZ needs to take advantage of because the bottom line is JetZ needs exposure to drive sales. Without website traffic there is no need to have a website. Search engine optimization (SEO) makes it easier for consumers to find JetZ’s website. This is accomplished by “optimizing web sites to achieve high rankings on the search engines for certain selected key phrases” (Stokes, 2013). This makes SEO a very effective tool for JetZ to generate traffic (new business) to its site. For SEO to be effective JetZ will need to build a selective list of keywords (phrases) because keywords are the foundation of SEO. What is important here is to determine keywords that the target market will likely to use to find the products JetZ is offering. Among other things, JetZ’s marketing team needs to research ways to describe the company and what it offers, as well as consumer needs, and use keywords associated with the research so consumers will find the website. Another strategy that JetZ will employ is email marketing. Email marketing is very powerful because it is very low cost, can be targeted to a specific audience, you can customize emails and tailor them to advertise specific products and promotions, and it is measurable (Stokes, 2013). JetZ will benefit from adding email marketing to its marketing plan for the above reasons and because most people have and use email daily. Email is a powerful relationship building tool for both new and existing customers, this should help retain customers and increase profitability. Because it is low cost, JetZ can send out several touch-point emails when customers take specific actions like making a purchase. Once a purchase has been made, JetZ can send out confirmation emails and shipping details. Another email sent to customers will include JetZ’s newsletter. Once a customer signs up for the newsletter, JetZ can email the newsletter detailing information on new products, discounts and promotions. Because email campaigns are easy to track and analyze, JetZ will have instant feedback for its efforts and be able to make changes quickly if the desired results are not achieved.
A4: Social Media Integration Social media has changed the landscape for distributing information and varies greatly from traditional media. The advantages of social media are many; not withstanding that, consumers use social media outlets like FaceBook (http://www.facebook.com), Twitter (http://www.twitter.com) and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) to get information quickly. JetZ intends to use targeted communication to interact with customers. Links to these popular social media giants are a must on JetZ’s website. Social media will enable the company to easily market to a particular niche. Customers who visit the same site frequently can “bookmark” the site so it can be found quickly. “Social bookmarking allows like-minded people to share interesting and relevant content easily with one another quickly…[and] can dramatically increase traffic to a Web site and expose the site to many new eyeballs” (Stokes, 2013). Because the product is very specific to a certain demographic, JetZ needs to understand this demographic and its information delivery preference. JetZ will utilize FaceBook by having a FaceBook page linked to the website and vice versa. This enables JetZ to keep its customers up-to-date with company news. FaceBook is a great delivery system. JetZ will be able to post promotions, “5% coupon Friday” or “Free Shipping on purchases over $50”, to drive traffic and increase sales. There will be FaceBook only promotions which will entice customers to watch the FaceBook page for special offers. JetZ will also be able to track its customer base by the number of followers the page has. JetZ will also be able to easily gather data on product purchases by the number of “likes” linked to specific products. A FaceBook presence will benefit the customers because of its ease of use and level of comfort to the customer – FaceBook links are on most retail sites today. JetZ will use Twitter to deliver quick bits of information to its followers. The information is “tweeted” to those customers who follow JetZ and contains links to the website and FaceBook. Twitter is a great way to provide incentives as well. If JetZ is promoting a specific product or new product launch, Tweets can be sent out to keep customers informed. Tweets are a very effective way to announce special offers, promotions and discounts. Another great feature of Twitter is, JetZ followers can “re-tweet” tweets sent from JetZ to the customer’s Twitter followers. This technology has the potential to generate viral growth and expand the business exponentially. Twitter allows JetZ to keep important information and incentives in front of a large audience efficiently. Customers benefit from Twitter announcements because most smartphones have Twitter apps and Twitter can also be delivered to computers and even to the customer’s email. JetZ will also be taking advantage of YouTube to provide customer testimonials and instructional videos for its products. Videos will showcase products, their features and benefits, and real JetZ customers wearing JetZ socks. YouTube videos are easy to upload and can efficiently deliver specific content to the target audience. An example of a JetZ YouTube video will show the proper way to wear and care for a JetZ sock. In addition to being instructional, these short interactive videos are a great customer service tool. While all of JetZ’s products come with written instructions, today’s consumer demands higher levels of customer service and support. YouTube videos can provide a high level of customer service by helping customers understand the product and its features. YouTube videos are cutting edge and can help differentiate JetZ, and its products, from competitors because today’s competitive environment means that companies have to attack advertising from many angles.
JetZ will survive and thrive by deploying a diverse portfolio of marketing solutions. The company website tools and analytics will allow JetZ to be flexible by monitoring competitors and market trends. The website will provide JetZ another way to engage its customers efficiently. JetZ will benefit from the exposure and its customers will benefit from the conveniences of online shopping.

References
Elad, S. B. (2009). Starting an Online Business All-in-One for Dummies, 2nd Edition. Retrieved from books 24x7: http://mmlviewer.books24x7.com/book/id_31958/viewer.asp?bookid=31958&chunkid=284018189
Knox, T. W. (2004, October 26). Why You Need a Website. Retrieved from Entrepreneur: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/65204
Stokes, R. &. (2013). eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing, v. 1.0. Retrieved from FWK Reader: http://catalog8.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/19?e=fwk-105454-ch18#fwk-105454-ch02