Part I: Product
Why EJM Management Consulting Inc.?
Introduction and Executive Summary
E-Marketing plan for EJM Management Consulting Inc. is a resource management company created with the intention to
support the Greater Cincinnati area and surrounding communities. Entrepreneurs and small business owners have
the opportunity to share some of the workload with their projects. Every
business owner is in business because they had a good idea. We all know that
some of the best ideas never come to life because of obstacles. Since 2009, E-Marketing plan for EJM Management Consulting Inc. has helped more than 220 companies and entrepreneurs qualify,
create plans, and execute on good ideas.
Step 1: Situation Analysis
A
situation analysis is created with the intention of being boilerplate to a
master plan for a marketing campaign. There are two touch points highlighted
after the initial read. First, there is visibility created regarding both
internal and external factors. Both impact on the success of an
organization. Second, it creates a
picture of the organization as a whole. A situation analysis, leads to an
understanding for all factors involved in the marketing success opportunities
in full view. Leadership in an organization proceeds with the following steams
in building.
Data
collections from different platforms regarding favorability for E-Marketing plan for EJM Management Consulting Inc. over a three day period occurred to gain an understanding of what
entrepreneurs and small business owners were looking for in terms of support.
This form of market research was important to providing E-Marketing plan for EJM Management Consulting Inc. with
the insights to make us successful. The feedback overall was positive, with
over 85% of the surveyed felt that they could use such services.
We
apply an integrated support approach with the following service offerings:
Customization
E-Marketing plan for EJM Management Consulting Inc. offers a customized solution
for each client. If a project is not making their milestones, or if the
momentum is off, we will review your project plan to get back on track.
Capital
Project Management
From the definition of the project scope, we
support you to maintain tight control over your schedule and budget. Risks are considered
during the different stage gates, and reviewed to make sure that the project is
closed with maintaining its value.
Strengths,
Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT)
The following SWOT analysis provides an
overview of key strengths and weaknesses
of JM
Management Inc., and describes the
opportunities and threats that we may face.
Strengths
Work Experience
Education
Technical Expertise
Skills that are
transferable
Good network of
contacts
Low operational costs
Good database of
prospects
Clear niche
Able to turn strategic
direction quickly
|
Weaknesses
The business is small
and privately owned.
High costs associated
with customized and personal service
Lack of high volume
Lower scope of
investing in marketing activity
Need to continue to grow
reputation
Lack of headcount
Vulnerable to staff
turnover
|
Opportunities
Possible new markets
Strong economy
Rapid growth with
online use
To produce new events
Creation of new jobs
|
Threats
Global competition
New competitors
Price wars
Entrepreneurs and
small business owners with conservative spending practices
Competition mimicking
service offerings
|
Step 2: E-marketing Strategic Planning
The
Action Plan
EJM Management Consulting Inc. will address the SWOT
analysis, trough the marketing action plan.
This involves taking the plan from a written
plan, to identifying how the tactical activity fits with the rest of the
organizational plan. We identify objectives, skills, resources, and the ever
changing opportunities with the market. There are key areas to consider when
building during this phase:
§ Segmentation
§ Targeting
§ Differentiation
§ Positioning
(Strauss, 2011)
The
approach for an E-Marketing plan for EJM Management Consulting Inc., was created for
supporting a new entrepreneur. This is still an organic document that explains
how I manage and lead by business. I was able to acquire additional financial
to support me with my goals. My MOA (marketing opportunity analysis), involved
tools to support transparency with forecasting and market factor identification
for development. For new business
development opportunities, point of inquiries was created with surveys to help
match opportunities and leads. Customer relationship management (CRM) is also
at the core of this function.
Segmentation
Segmentation
identification was the technique used to pull insights from social media. I was
able to determine from insights from Facebook on my professional page, my
followers are in the range of 25-44. My core followers fall under the
categories of Millennials, Gen Y and Gen X. Their marketing personas are more
visual. Thus, the mix used for these groups are videos and imagery. Thus, we identified that there is
value to leveraging EJM Management Consulting Inc. on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, to
create opportunities for engagement.
Targeting
Targeting
is a process within marketing that highlights the consumer traits. It is based
on the product or service up for promotion. Due to the fact that vocal and
visual are traits of our top three demographics, I understood that traditional
methods since vocal and visual are the way to go with my highlighted demographic,
Millennial and Gen Y, we understood that traditional methods were not going to
be successful. Traditional forms of advertising are not in favor, for example advertising,
newspaper, radio, and broadcast television.
Millennials, Gen Y and Gen X have an expectation to hear from marketers
often. All of this access and information has left them self-empowered.
In order to execute on my brand action plan, I’ve
identified the following:
§ Brand Definition: I’ve developed a short biographical statement that
summarizes who I am.
§ Audience Building: I follow two groups daily, peer and influencer groups. I
use microblogging sites such as Twitter and Hootsuite to follow their streams
daily. The “lists” function on these platforms allows me to control exactly
what I want to view on the newsfeed. This option allows me to a
consumer-focused approach to understanding the tone of my markets.
§ Align Social Networking:
My message and information is consistent on
all my social networking sites: Hootsuite, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google
+, Klout, Instagram, Pinterest, to name a few.
§ Be a Content Master: Continuing to educate myself on trends, provides me with the
ability to create my own marketing materials for sharing on social
networks.
§ Engagement is
everything: I see the benefit to dedicating
time each day to social media management.
Positioning
For EJM Management Consulting Inc. needs to come
across approachable, knowledgeable, and willing to learn as much as I do teach.
My approach is to use different styles of tonality reflective of the different
platforms that I use.
Step 3: Objectives
Objectives are a group of goals established by a
business when they are in the process of promoting their products or services
to the market. This is achieved within a time frame. Marketing produces an
environment of least resistance to buying a product. The course text breaks an
objective down into three steps:
§ Task (what
we do).
§ Measurable
quantity (by how much).
§ Time
frame (by when).
§ (Strauss,
2011)
Some initial marketing objectives for JM
Management Inc. were:
§ To
increase sales.
§ To
improve product awareness.
§ Establish
my company within the market landscape.
§ Management
of the brand.
Once I had the tactical steps to support my
objectives, my activities were more focused. I was able to have stronger
outcomes.
A key to any successful business plan and
execution is their ability to position their brands and develop a niche for
themselves in their market place. Some goals I’ve established are:
§ Understanding
my market, as according to my analytics, the majority of my respondents are Gen
X and Millennials.
§ Visual
content generation, which is appealing to both demographics.
§ Craft
an overall image is approachable and displays my overall expertise.
§ Understand
the target audience with a communication plan allows for a concentrated marketing
strategy.
§ Continuing
to grow my expertise in resource management.
§ Retain
skilled and creative resource support.
§ Pricing
plans that are competitive to support the small business owner.
Step 4: E-marketing Strategy
An E-Marketing strategy for a business includes
the methods and the mediums of communication for a business. This is an
opportunity for marketers to choose their tools of choice. Strategies such as
the 4Ps (price, product, promotion and place) are used to determine how a
product or service is taken to the market. This is solid method for creating a
strong marketing mix. The benefit is more definition with marketing options.
The offering will then meet standards specific customer need or demand. (Strauss,
2011).
This
section of a marketing communications plan is where we establish our
communications positioning, messages, public relations, advertising, and
campaign timeline. Market segmentation methods determined that EJM Management Consulting Inc., has social media follows that range in the ages from 25-44. These
Millennials, Gen Y, and Gen Xers have a marketing persona engagement that is
visual. Thus, there is more value with leveraging platforms such as Facebook,
Pinterest and Instagram.
My
marketing mix for JM Management Inc. consists of CRM (Customer Relationship
Management), a website, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), e-mail marketing and
social networking. My accounts for social media are active for Facebook,
Google, LinkedIn, Myspace, Klout, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest, which I
manage on a daily basis with frequency. Even though I manage my social media
through Hootsuite, I treat each account individually as well.
Hootsuite
is a solid system for social media support. Not only can a user utilize this
tool to manage what others are saying about them, it offers a dashboard view of
what is occurring for multiple networks. The collaboration aspect is very
beneficial. A business owner or individual has the ability to share the load
with multiple people, with the delegation of different facets separately. In
creating campaigns, there is an ability to manage how much you spend, as
Hootsuite is flexible in pricing and offerings. There are packages that range
from $9 to $1500 depending on the need and availability of financing for the
customer. Metrics are available for daily, weekly and monthly analytics. The
free option works too, but the user needs to strictly manage from this tool to
receive the full benefits from use.
Step 5: Implementation Plan
The implementation plan for marketing activity becomes
the blueprint to communicating the company’s goods or services. This is the
part of the plan where how to accomplish objectives is established. (Strauss,
2011). Information is clear, realistic, and measurable. Stakeholders can view
this information. Marketers will have their pic of successful tactics such as
the 4Ps, relationship management tools, objective, resource, and action
planning. (DePhillips, 2010). When a
company has tried and found their magical set of tactical steps against the
strategic goals they have set for themselves, the probability of risk with
their marketing objectives is reduced, resulting in smoother outcomes.
An implementation project plan for
EJM Management Consulting Inc. consists of tools in grid format. This can happen with
Microsoft Excel or Gantt charts from Insightly. Each column represents project
areas, and each row is the tasks. An example of an implementation plan pay have
the following:
§ Task – list of project tasks
§ Percentage Completed – lists the percentage of
each task completed
§ Status – task status such as: completed, on
schedule, behind schedule, cancelled
§ Day Started – date task begun
§ Day to Be Complete – estimated date of task
completion
§ Actual Completion Date – date task was completed
§ Task Assignment – Name of task owner
§ Priority – task priority such as High, Medium or
Low
Implementation
and measurement are the final steps to any social media success plan. In order
to have strong outcomes, implementation and measurement even though important,
are overlooked. Understanding positioning and ROI on a social media investment
is no longer optional. Social media ROI is defined as a measure of the
efficiency of a social media marketing campaign. (Fontein, 2016). When a company has outcomes that are
measureable and specific, this is especially true for social media ROI. Brands
should establish goals before the start of a social media campaign. An
editorial calendar keeps me on track. I can see from an outlook’s perspective
my posting schedule. The tool of choice was Microsoft Excel. The worksheets
were created to be broken out by month to support plans for each network.
Analytics are pulled from Google, Hootsuite and Facebook to provide me with insights.
These are data driven guides that provide lots of insight, such as which
content is more sharable. This effort is one of many that are in support of
driving traffic. Anytime I explore my plans, is always a great exercise to me
learning more and refining plans.
Step 7: Evaluation Plan
Once a marketing campaign is launched,
consistent observation is key. (Strauss, 2011). Having an understanding of
tracking systems important before the electronic presence is established. Social media ROI is determined by how social media is
managed and measured during a campaign lifecycle. (Bocco, 2016). Understanding
positioning and ROI on a social media investment is no longer optional. Brands should establish goals before the
start of a social media campaign.
The tactical activity for EJM Management Consulting Inc. is
managed by CRM (Customer Relationship Management), a website, SEO (Search
Engine Optimization), e-mail marketing and social networking. I am active on
several platforms for social media, and each account is individually managed
separately and under an integration platform. Insightly an online CRM tool is
used to manage activity, workflow, roles, responsibilities, calendars, and
milestones.
Part II: Personal Brand
Lisa M. Clarke
Introduction
Our
personal brand is our message to the world, and this message talks to everyone.
In order to personal develop ourselves, advance our careers, and establish
ourselves as leaders, this is important. How we express ourselves in the effort
of establishing ourselves as who we are, what we do, and why we do it, supports
positioning ourselves for opening opportunities. The internet is a key medium for driving our
online presence, which is all tied to our social media. All of this activity
takes time and effort, keeping in mind that the end result has to be a
reflection of us.
My
E-Marketing strategy has evolved based upon my interests in marketing and
project management. In addition to being a small business owner part-time,
specializing in resource planning and marketing, I am employed full-time as a
financial coordinator for a global beauty care business. All of these roles
have allowed me to gain insight into communication and planning skills, both
equally important to marketing and e-marketing.
Step 1: Situation Analysis
A situation analysis
for our personal brand tells us where we are in our careers and life. The
current situation we are in provides us with insight to our resources, our
networks, personal finances, and brand influence. At this point we can identify
whether or not we have the skills to be successful in our goals. Most important what our plans for attack are
to achieving them.
Personal
SWOT Analysis
However, few people realize that a
personal SWOT analysis can do the same for an individual in pursuit of his or
her career goals. This analysis took things a step further for me. I was about
to consider the external factors that heavily influence the direction and
health of my career.
Strengths
True passion for the
profession
Ambiance that’s fun
and comfortable
Clear vision of the
needs of the market
Online presence to
help clients stay informed
Daily microblogging to
engage followers
Marketing communications
that lead to high customer satisfaction
Extensive experience
in the project support industry
Quick learner
Knowledge of social
media and use of social media
|
Weaknesses
Need to continue to
grow reputation
More self-knowledge of
conversion optimization
Conservative marketing
budget
|
Opportunities
Leverage the potential
to meet new friends and create social bonds
Opportunities to
publically share my experiences as a small business owner
Training for 2017
|
Threats
People with better social
media
Need for design
support for content production
Economy
|
Step 2: E-marketing Strategic Planning
Target
Market
As we build the profile to our target audience, we gain
insight to understanding to figuring out what makes them tick. Understanding
motivation is the key that unlocks doors. For the entrepreneur and small
business owner, their motivation is to grow their business. If I can help them
achieve those goals, then they’ll be happy to pay me for my services. This
furthers the objective of achieving my goals. According to the insights
provided from my Facebook professional page, my followers are in the range of
25-44. They are categorized as Millennials, Gen Y and Gen X.
Communications Positioning
Authenticity is the foundation for personal
branding. My positioning for
communication lays in the ability for me to tap into a tone that is genuine has
humility. My goal is to present myself as
an authority of my personal brand, coming across as approachable,
knowledgeable, and willing to learn as much as I do teach. I use different
styles of tonality reflective of the different platforms that I use.
Online
and Offline Assets
When we’re building a brand we have to pay
attention to our assets. This catalog includes domain names, websites, and
social media accounts. How to build assets is important to growing your
personal brand.
Step 3: Objectives
Implementing my vision and objectives can
lead to:
§ Better job opportunities.
§ Grow my client base for JM Management Inc.
§ Industry recognition.
Step 4: E-marketing Strategy
My choice of
“e-marketing strategy” is based on my interests in marketing and project
management. I have two years’ experience in marketing research, and over 20
years in either an Executive Assistant or Coordinator role. I am a small
business owner part-time, specializing in resource planning and marketing, and
a full time financial coordinator for a global beauty care business. This
assignment allowed me to get a little more insight on my communication planning
skills for marketing and e-marketing. I recognize that there is always room for
improvement. My marketing mix consists of CRM (Customer Relationship
Management), a website, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), e-mail marketing and
social networking. I am active on Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Myspace, Klout,
YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest on a daily basis. Even though I manage my social
media through Hootsuite, I treat each account individually.
Step 5: Implementation Plan
Engaging an audience is
a daily challenge for a small business. Every digital marketer has their own
approach. Mine is to utilize Hootsuite to be in several places at once for
engagement. I follow the 80/20 rule. This rule states that 80% of leads are
generated by 20% marketing effort. This rule stands true for marketing efforts
for my company and those of my clients.
In my personal brand
action plan, I’ve identified the following:
§ Brand Definition: I’ve developed a short biographical statement that
summarizes who I am.
§ Audience Building: I have two groups that I follow daily. The influencers and
the peer groups. I use microblogging sites such as Twitter to follow their
streams daily. The “lists” function on this platform allows me to control
exactly what I want to view on the newsfeed.
§ Align Social Networking:
To make sure biographical information is
the same on all my social networking sites: Hootsuite, Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Google +, Klout, Instagram, Pinterest, to name a few.
§ Be a Content Master: I continue to educate myself on being able to create my own
marketing materials for sharing on social networks.
§ Engaging is everything: Dedicate time each day to social media management.
Influencers and peers need to be engaged.
Step 7: Budget
I
believe that when we lead with strong promotion of our brands, compensation
follows. This exercise made me think about topics such as how much my brand was
really worth. Currently I charge hourly for my projects, along with expenses.
After all considered, I have to bottom-line profit after taxes. In 10 years I
would like to run my business full time, with revenues from this stream as my
primary salary. To remain competitive in the planning and project landscape, I
will continue my education with a pursuit of an MBA and joining more professional
organizations. Compensation from my full-time salary is currently 100% and
revenues from JM Management Inc. are another supplemental revenue stream. I’m
looking to increase the ratio for JM Management in 2017.
Step 7: Evaluation Plan
Every
now and then we need to audit our brands. They are organic and living things.
Sometimes as it grows and plans evolve, the path changes, and this can affect
the strategy. We are all encouraged to be lynchpins of our branding. We must
not to forget that it takes more than us to make things work. Our branding
defines our identity, and if we neglect it, we run the risk of deterioration. When
we perform brand audits periodically, we find new insights. Using surveys as a
tool for driving an audit can bring transparency to strengths and weaknesses
about a brand. Before my initial launch, this was performed internally and
externally. I was able to gain an objective to opinions to further drive
crafting my brand identity. So far, my brand health checks have been great.
Conclusion
My
philosophy to self-promotion is to remain a student of my industry. Technology
drives things to move faster than ever before, thus making it important to stay
current on trends. Brand building involves finding creative ways to stay
relevant. It is important to remember that this takes time. When one has a
system of touchpoints, such as articles, journals, blogs, and posts, they’re
keeping the attention of influencers and followers. It also pays to learn new
things, develop new skills, and to expand your knowledge. If you're not
growing, then you're stagnating, and that's the last thing you want to do as an
entrepreneur.
Many
believe that a personal brand can achieve things that traditional brands can’t.
Having a solid strategy is invaluable. Personal branding needs to be
consistent, but it also needs to extend beyond any one platform using tools
from the Social Media Trinity. Social networks such as Facebook. Twitter, and
LinkedIn, is promotion tools at our disposal. Working hard to align a presence
that is as one provides a positive outlook. This process is not free form. It
needs to o have its own set of standards to create that professional polish. We
should portray ourselves as leaders not are on campaigns to self-promoter.
References
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allbusiness.com/the-benefits-of-employee-self-reviews-2-3476551-1.html
Strauss,
J. Frost, R. (2011). E-Marketing. Publisher: Pearson
Bocco, D. (2016)
The importance of building a social media persona (and how to use that to your advantage) - FlowReader blog.
Available at: https://blog.flowreader.com/3348-2/
DePhillips, K.
(2010). 16 reasons why your business NEEDS social media marketing. Available at:
http://www.contentfac.com/9-reasons-social-media-marketing-should-top-your-to-do- list/ (Accessed: 3 November 2016).
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T., Richards, L., Ansari, S. and Conboy, W. (2015) 5 ways to reduce Touchpoints on the social media conversion
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Godin,
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/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-Godin/dp/1591844096
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Reasons Why Your Business Needs Social Media Marketing. Retrieved from http://www.contentfac.com/9-reasons-social-media-marketing-should-top-your-to-do-list/
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