CIM Level 6 Diploma in Professional Marketing

Transcription

1 CIM Level 6 Diploma in Professional Marketing Digital Strategy (2203) April 2016 Assignment The assignment comprises THREE compulsory tasks Task 1 is worth 8 marks Task 2 is worth 37 marks Task 3 is worth 55 marks Total marks available 100 Candidate guidance: Answer all tasks The available marks are shown alongside each part of the task Read all tasks carefully before attempting them Refer to the Digital Submission Guide The Chartered Institute of Marketing 2015 VERSION

2 Scenario: Online branding and content marketing In the role of Marketing Manager you have been asked to develop a new digital strategy in the form of a digital marketing plan. This should be produced for your own organisation, or a suitable organisation of your choosing. The digital strategy, and overarching digital marketing plan, will specify how your chosen organisation should respond to the dynamic digital marketing environment, with a particular focus on both the online brand identity and content marketing. The senior management of your chosen organisation has asked you to underpin the digital marketing plan with research into the external environment, key customers and the internal environment. Guidance notes: This assignment consists of THREE separate tasks, but they are linked as part of the process to respond to changes in the organisation s digital marketing environment. Whilst it is helpful to include an introduction and summary in the report, these should be brief, with the main focus being on the content outlined in the assignment provided. EIGHT marks will be awarded for the introductory recording, which will form part of your assignment, using the headings supplied as guidance. It is good practice to acknowledge all sources/methodologies/applications using the Harvard referencing system. Good Practice Guidelines for Assessment Production The recommended page/word count limit for this assessment has been set by the examiners as being suitable for candidates to produce a concise, professional document that covers all of the assessment criteria covered by the brief. Submissions that exceed the recommended page/word count limit are likely to contain irrelevant material that can restrict the emphasis on key points relevant to the brief/task and may result in marks not being awarded. Equally, submissions that are below the recommended page/word count limit are unlikely to contain sufficient detail to gain high marks. Page 2 of 8

3 TASK 1 INTRODUCTORY RECORDING Assessment criteria covered in Task 1: AC1.2 Please refer to the module specification for assessment criteria details. Required: Using the introductory recording guidelines, produce an audio or video file that provides a background to your chosen organisation, and justifies the approach you have taken to the assignment. (8 marks) (Total 8 marks) (Recommended minute count limit 6 minutes) Page 3 of 8

4 TASK 2 RESEARCH PORTFOLIO Assessment criteria covered in Task 2: AC1.1, AC1.2, AC1.3, AC2.1, AC2.2, AC4.1, AC6.2 Please refer to the module specification for assessment criteria details. As Marketing Manager you have been asked to prepare a research portfolio. The research portfolio should contain key information from a digital marketing audit and present the rationale for the digital marketing plan in Task 3. Required: (a) An analysis of key emerging themes in the external marketing environment that may impact on future approaches to online branding and content marketing in general. (b) TWO customer personas containing key geo-demographic information as well as a specific focus on digital behaviour developed from secondary research. (12 marks) (10 marks) (c) An internal appraisal of the chosen organisation s approach to content marketing. There should be a clear focus on the online brand identity as well as the short- and long-form content used in social media and on the organisation s website. (15 marks) (Total 37 marks) (Recommended slide count limit 20 slides) (Recommended limit for speaker notes 100 words of speaker notes per slide) Page 4 of 8

5 TASK 3 REPORT Assessment criteria covered in Task 3: AC1.3, AC2.1, AC3.1, AC3.2, AC3.3, AC3.4, AC4.1, AC4.2, AC4.3, AC5.1, AC5.2, AC5.4, AC6.1, AC6.2, AC6.3, AC6.4 Please refer to the module specification for assessment criteria details. As Marketing Manager you have been asked to produce a report for the Senior Management Team (SMT) in your chosen organisation that determines key strategic options for the organisation. It should be based on findings from Task 2, with a specific focus on the organisation s online branding and use of content marketing. Required: (a) Conduct a TOWS analysis that identifies key strategic options for the chosen organisation, with a focus on the online brand and content marketing. (10 marks) (b) Produce a digital marketing plan, with a focus on a content marketing strategy, that justifies the marketing and strengthening of the online brand. Your plan should include: an outline of key objectives recommendations for a digital strategy focused on online brand identity and content marketing an explanation of the recommended digital marketing mix justification of how this mix will support your chosen organisation in improving its content marketing and strengthening the online brand. (4 marks) (8 marks) (7 marks) (6 marks) (c) Produce a statement of what resources will be required in order to successfully implement the digital marketing plan, including an outline budget and schedule. (10 marks) (d) Produce a mind map, or suitable visual, that identifies the key digital marketing measurement tools that can be used to monitor the performance of the digital marketing plan against the objectives set. (10 marks) (Total 55 marks) (Recommended page count limit 10 pages) Page 5 of 8

6 TASK 1 INTRODUCTORY RECORDING GUIDELINES Recommended minute count limit: 6 minutes In order to introduce the chosen organisation and purpose of this assignment, candidates are required to produce an audio or video recording. A useful approach would be to utilise the computer s webcam and microphone to make the recording. Note that the recommended time frame is six minutes for the recording. The video presentation/audio recording should be clear and professional for the benefit of the Senior Management Team. Candidates should not include professionally produced company advertisements, as their Senior Management Team will already be aware of this material. This should be the candidate s own work. If candidates do not have access to a webcam, then an audio presentation is acceptable. Candidates are being assessed on their ability to handle digital media to communicate key messages in the context of their assessment. For Digital Strategy this is a video or audio file. If slide shows or animations are used for the video, then they too must be produced and delivered by the candidate. CIM is assessing candidates from around the world so the files are not being judged on the quality of spoken English but on the quality of the actual content. For the organisation background part of the recording, the following headings must be included: Organisation name Type of organisation, for example, profit or not-for-profit, local, national, global, and type of legal entity Size of organisation in terms of turnover and/or number of employees Range of products and services provided Customer base, for example, B2B/B2C Summary of the main digital tools and technologies used for marketing, with brief reasons why these are used Main competitors Candidates then need to state the main approaches they have used for the assignment, for example in terms of research, intelligence gathering etc., with brief reasons why these approaches were used. Other information relevant to the assessment may be included to assist the examiner in understanding the organisation within the recommended six minute count limit. Page 6 of 8

7 TASK 2 RESEARCH PORTFOLIO Recommended slide count and speaker note limit: 20 slides and 100 words of speaker notes per slide This task requires candidates to first examine changes in the digital marketing environment that present opportunities and challenges in the external environment, with a focus on their potential impact and influence on the future of online branding and (digital) content marketing. The development of customer personas requires marketers to create a fictional character based on research drawn from existing secondary data. The persona will provide a detailed representation of a key segment within the target audience that goes beyond the basic geo-demographics and considers behaviour, influence, preference and decision-making. In order to make better-informed digital marketing decisions relating to objectives, strategy and tactics, the collection and analysis of external and internal data is vital. Guidance notes: External data can be gathered from a variety of secondary sources, for example, market reports, news websites, websites of similar organisations or competitor websites. There are also plenty of sources of credible secondary data linked to customer behaviour, as well as digital needs and wants such as ComScore, Nielsen and Google s Consumer Barometer. There will also be sources specific to different countries, for example, Ofcom in the UK. The internal data should be sourced from the chosen organisation and be relevant to online activities, with a focus on the current online brand and approach to content marketing. This task requires candidates to produce presentation slides with speaker notes. The slide must be half a page of A4 and the speaker notes no more than a half a page of A4 and a recommended limit of 100 words. Guidance on inserting presentation slides into text documents is available on the CIM Learning Zone. It is good practice to acknowledge all sources/methodologies/ applications using the Harvard referencing system. Page 7 of 8

8 TASK 3 REPORT Recommended page count limit: 10 pages For the digital marketing plan, candidates will need to use the information gathered in Task 2 and conduct a TOWS analysis that identifies key strategic options, with a focus on online branding and use of content marketing via digital means. This TOWS analysis will provide the foundation for the digital marketing plan developed for the rest of Task 3. All the substantive components of a digital marketing plan should be included, and it is recommended that this is structured around an accepted framework. Guidance notes: When producing the digital marketing plan, candidates should adopt a formal style by writing in the third person. The digital marketing plan needs to be well structured, concise and clear. It is important that the plan follows a clear digital marketing planning structure and that each stage is clearly labelled. Focus on online branding and identity, along with short- and long-form content, through relevant strategic and tactical recommendations is paramount. All recommendations should be justified and offer synergy with key findings from the TOWS analysis, the customer personas and other sections of the digital marketing plan. There is no requirement to create any specific digital marketing content for the plan (such as blogs, web content, social media posts or advertising), but theoretical and practical knowledge as to what constitutes content marketing in a digital context is key. BIBLIOGRAPHY Guidance notes: A bibliography, covering all tasks and following Harvard format, should be included at the end of Task 3. APPENDICES Guidance notes: Appendices to support the tasks, where appropriate, are to be included. Page 8 of 8