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E-Business Marketing
Professor: Ann Schlosser, Ph.D. |
Office:
304 Mackenzie Hall
Office
hours: Wed. 5:30-6:30 pm and by appointment
EBIZ 501 Web site: http://us.badm.washington.edu/ann.schlosser/ebiz501
“If
you have an unhappy customer on the Internet, he doesn’t tell his six
friends, he tells his 6,000 friends.”
– Jeff Bezos, President of Amazon.com
Course
Objectives
The Internet has become
an integral part of consumers’ buying experiences, from pre-purchase to
post-purchase consumption. Consequently, it is also becoming an integral
part of companies’ marketing efforts. There are a number of statistics
reflecting this, from the growth in the number of users and number of
commercial web sites, to the volume of transactions. At the same time, in
the wake of the dot-bomb, it has become clear that not everything the
Internet touches turns to gold. In fact, creating value on the Internet has
proven to be more difficult than at first thought. Marketers find themselves
confronted with job requirements, such as data analysis and usability
testing, that weren't part of their training and expertise. Compounding this
is that consumers often think and behave differently on the Internet than
they do in traditional media environments. Though the Internet is capable of
providing marketers with rich, detailed pictures of consumers, there are
risks to this as well. Moreover, the Internet is no longer confined to the
desktop computer—it can now appear on cell phones, PDAs and kiosks, making
it an everywhere and anytime marketing tool.
All of these factors and more make Internet marketing one of the most
challenging but also most interesting and creative aspects of modern
business.
The
overarching objective of this course is to critically analyze current
Internet marketing practices and to explore new frontiers. The course begins
with an examination of fundamental concepts of Internet Marketing, followed
by the impact of the Internet for the marketing mix and customer retention.
Additional objectives are to expose you to local individuals and businesses
involved in Internet marketing, and to provide a setting where you can test
your ideas for using different Internet marketing tools.
Course
Requirements
Working
in a group is an essential part of this course as it is in many business
situations. Your group
preferences will be collected on the first day of class.
From these, I will assign everyone to a group to complete the group
components of the course requirements.
Although I expect that all members will contribute equally to the
group projects, to account for any differences in members' contributions to
the group work, I will distribute a within-group peer evaluation at the end
of the course. Your responses
regarding each member’s performance will be used to adjust the group
component of each individual’s grade.
|
Assignment |
Percent
of Final Grade |
Graded
as
a(n): |
Prepare
and Deliver as a(n): |
|
Marketing
Analysis and Strategy Report Initial and Final
Presentation* |
15% |
Individual |
Group |
|
Final Written Report |
20% |
Group |
Group |
|
15% |
Group |
Group |
|
|
15% |
Individual |
Group |
|
|
20% 15% |
Individual Individual |
Individual Individual |
*All presentations are graded at the individual level.
Thus, every group member should participate in delivering the
presentation and in answering questions in order to receive a grade.
You cannot be graded if you are absent from the presentation or do
not speak (that is, your grade for that presentation will be zero).
Marketing Analysis and Strategy Report
The
key to developing a winning business plan is to analyze (and emphasize) the
market. This is especially
critical in the post-crash era of the Internet economy, during which it has
become obvious that success does not come from “all things Internet.” An
in-depth understanding of the market requires conducting a market analysis,
industry analysis, competitive analysis, company analysis, and customer
analysis, from which you can make informed choices regarding the marketing
mix and the proper effectiveness metrics.
These are the components of this report.
The outline for this report is:
1.
Executive Summary
a.
Objectives
b.
Company summary with mission
c.
Product/service concept and keys to success
2.
Market Summary (Note:
for this section, you must conduct primary and secondary research)
a.
Market analysis (segmentation, demographics, market needs, market
growth, market trends)
b.
SWOT analysis (based upon industry analysis, competitive analysis,
company analysis, customer analysis)
3.
Market Strategy
a.
Positioning statement
b.
Product strategy
c.
Promotion strategy
d.
Price strategy
e.
Place (if relevant)
4.
Evaluation and Control
(based upon a contingency analysis)
This
report should focus upon a new product
that delivers value through an
innovative way of using the Internet. The
key goal here is to back up the strength of your idea and concept based upon
your in-depth market and situational analyses (section 2).
The claims presented in the market summary section must be backed by
sound evidence – i.e., primary and secondary market research rather than
speculation or anecdotes. From
this summary, the marketing strategy is developed.
The strategies of this section should be actionable and follow
directly from the information you gathered for the market summary.
In the final section (“Evaluation and Control”), you should
discuss how you will track the results of your implemented proposal.
What will you do if you are exceeding or falling short of your goals?
In this section, you should also identify internal and external
challenges that may lie ahead and what you will do if they arise.
Initial
Presentation. Halfway through the course, you will present your research
findings for the second section of your plan.
This is your opportunity to gather feedback about your market and
situational analyses (e.g., is there a segment or competitor that you
overlooked?) and the preliminary conclusions you have drawn.
This feedback should be incorporated into your final report and
presentation. Before your
presentation, you should give me a hardcopy of your slides.
I prefer that you print your slides as handouts with 3 slides per
page.
Final
Presentation.
This presentation should open briefly with information contained in the
first two sections of your report and then concentrate upon the market
strategy and control. This
20-minute presentation should be formal with questions taken only at the end
of the presentation. As with
the initial presentation, you should give me a hardcopy of your slides with
3 slides per page.
Final Written Report.
The final report should not exceed 15 double-spaced pages of text with
12-point font and 1" margins. With
endnotes and appendices, tables and/or figures, the complete report should
not exceed 20 pages. Your
report should include a schematic of your product, including how it works
and the value it delivers.
For
each of the following assignments, you should email to me a slide that
contains the main points you want to address during class. This file should be emailed to me no later than 1:00 pm
on the day the assignment is due.
1.
Customer
scenario analysis. Develop a
customer scenario for a specific shopping occasion with which your group is
very familiar (avoid using any of the scenarios used as examples in
Seybould’s article). From
this scenario, propose a Web strategy.
2.
Using experimental
design to test your ROI. Develop
a full-factorial experimental design with at least two different variables
with at least two levels each. Take
an existing Internet marketing communication (a Website homepage, banner ad,
email message, etc.) and alter the attributes within it (avoid using the
examples provided in Almquist and Wyner’s article). For instance, for an
email message, you might vary the format (text versus HTML) and the subject.
For an online customer service bot, you might vary the gender and
salutation. Identify your dependent variable – that is, the variable you
are trying to change (e.g., response rate) and make some predictions.
Be mindful of potential interactions.
Often people tend to look only for main effects.
3.
(Re)designing an Internet advertisement. Design a
new or redesign an existing Internet advertisement, considering all factors
such as placement, size, technology, etc.
You will need to make trade-offs among these variables. Rarely will
you have the budget for the biggest, most eye-popping advertisement featured
on prime real estate—and even if you could, it may not be the most cost
effective route for you to take. You
should choose whether to focus on the latest trends in creative, size or a
prime location and justify your decisions.
Consult online media kits for the restrictions you must work under
(e.g., some sites prefer that your banner be 25K maximum).
For sample media kits, see: http://advantage.msn.com/HOME/HOME.asp
(MSN has one of the best media kits I’ve seen and I recommend using their
site for this assignment – be sure to check out their MSN Profiler), www.boston.com/mediakit
and www.redherring.com/mediakit.
4.
Usability analysis.
Do a usability study of a Web site of your choice with a sample of 5
users. From this analysis, make
at least 4 recommendations, using the problem/solution format of Exhibit 11
of the Sothebys.com case.
5.
Building a virtual community for cancer patients.
The Virtual Worlds Group of Microsoft has teamed up with the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to develop a virtual community for their
pediatric cancer patients– a place called “Hutchworld.”
You have information about their initial attempt.
How should they redesign this virtual world in a way that would meet
their objectives?
Case Presentation and Response.
Each
group will present their analysis of a case.
To allow you to schedule your work well in advance, presentation
assignments will be made at the beginning of the quarter, as groups are
formed. Note that the
presentation is to be a summary of your case analysis and recommendations, not
a summary of the case itself. Furthermore,
the recommendations should be specific and stated in actionable terms.
In presenting your analysis you should adopt the perspective of a
management consulting team.
Before
each presentation, you should distribute a copy of your slides to me.
Print your slides as handouts with three slides per page.
Presentations should be 15 minutes long uninterrupted.
At the end of the presentation, you should take questions and address
any concerns raised by the group representing the company.
The
group representing the company (i.e., responding) will be randomly selected
on the day of the presentation. As a member of the responding group, you
should adopt the position of a marketing manager representing the company.
In this role, you must be prepared to ask thought-provoking questions
of the consulting group during their presentation. This is graded at the
individual level, so be sure to ask a question during class. After class,
you should meet as a group and decide whether you would hire this team and
why. Did their strategic plans
differ from those you initially advocated? If so, did they persuade you to adopt their proposal?
Why or why not? You will present your decision during the next class period.
Be critical and constructive. This
should be a learning opportunity for both teams rather than a battle of
wills and egos.
Exam.
An exam covering the topics studied during the first two sections of the course (fundamental concepts and the implications of the Internet for the marketing mix) will be given in class on February 19th. The exam will consist of short-answer and essay questions as well as some calculations. Students have the entire course period to complete the exam.
In-class
discussion is an essential part of this course. It is crucial that you
attend and be thoroughly prepared for every class.
In each session you will be expected to share your individual views
with the class. You will be
evaluated on how effectively you raise and respond to questions, on how
well-tuned your comments are to the currently unfolding discussion, and on
how effectively you take into account the comments and analyses of your
classmates. The substance of your contributions rather than the amount of
"air time" you consume will factor into your grade.
Be succinct when making your point.
I also welcome any Internet marketing examples that you feel are
relevant to the course readings. Thought-provoking
examples that illustrate concepts effectively and generate a good discussion
will be evaluated most favorably.
Required Readings.
The
required readings can be found in either
- The class course
pak
- Online at the
hyperlinks given
The
learning objectives for the assigned readings can be found at the end of
this syllabus.