Taylor St. Baristas: Estimating Current Situation
Estimation of the current situation is a vital step for understanding the online marketplace and finding ways to use social networks for marketing purposes. Taylor St. Baristas is a chain of coffee shops. As for now, it is a network of nine shops located all over London and one in New York (Taylor St. Baristas: Cafés n.d.). The company was founded in 2006 (Michelman 2006). Taylor St. Baristas coffee shops offer a wide range of coffee products. Besides, there is an option for buying coffee beans and learning how to brew coffee because café-based barista trainings are a common practice (Taylor St. Baristas: FAQs n.d.).
Primary risk for Taylor St. Baristas is the fact that it operates in a highly competitive business environment and its business model and the scope of products and services are easily imitable. As for now, its primary competitors are both influential coffee shop chains such as Starbucks and Costa Coffee and smaller coffeehouses located close to the company’s operating cafés. Nevertheless, several significant advantages make Taylor St. Baristas a notable company. For example, it was the first coffee shop in the United Kingdom to serve camel milk coffee. Moreover, the company’s website provides valuable information for brewing coffee using different techniques and coffee machines. Finally, there is an opportunity to order coffee beans and receive delivery overnight (Taylor St. Baristas n.d.).
Nevertheless, Taylor St. Baristas should pay significant attention to marketing tools. Because younger groups of population are the driving force of modern business, the company should focus on targeting these consumers. Keeping in mind that their lives are closely connected to social networks, stress should be laid on using social networks as marketing tools for reaching a central goal of the company’s development – increasing online customer acquisition.
Still, the best option for estimating the current situation of a company at the marketplace is to conduct SWOT analysis because it represents all threatening gaps that might be filled with the firm’s strengths (see detailed information in Table 1 below). This analysis will be used as the foundation for designing digital marketing strategies that will help Taylor St. Baristas increase online customer acquisition.
Table 1. Taylor St. Baristas SWOT Analysis.
Developing Digital Marketing Objectives
As it was mentioned, the primary goal of Taylor St. Baristas is to increase online customer acquisition. It will both help to make the brand more recognizable and contribute to customer loyalty thus leading to higher profits. For reaching the set objective, digital marketing will be chosen. There are several reasons for selecting it and preferring digital tools to traditional advertisements. First of all, the focus is made on younger social groups, who integrated social networks and the Internet in their everyday life. Moreover, this group of consumers seeks recommendations online believing that the opinions of other people are more trustworthy than traditional advertisements (Smith 2014). For this reason, they browse different websites and social networks to find new places to visit. Finally, digital marketing tools are dynamic and can be easily adapted to the needs and interests of the targeted population based on feedback. Also, it is easier to estimate their effectiveness, especially if compared to traditional advertising techniques (Schulman 2016). Because Taylor St. Baristas is recommended to choose Millennials as a target population, digital marketing is the best option (see additional information in Table 2 below).
Table 1. Digital Marketing SWOT Analysis.
(Bawab 2014; Kaufman & Horton 2014; Thomas & Housden 2010)
As for developing digital marketing objectives, the central goal might be broken down into two targets – attracting more visitors and estimating the effectiveness of the strategy used to reach the goal.
Designing Digital Marketing Strategy
According to recent studies, not all digital marketing strategies are equally appealing to Internet users. For example, younger consumers and Millennials prefer well-designed websites containing only useful information to pop-up advertisements, e-mail updates, and un-closable windows (Smith 2011). Keeping these findings in mind, Facebook is the best option for Taylor St. Baristas. There are several reasons for choosing Facebook among other social networks. First of all, the volume of posted information is unlimited. Unlike Twitter where twits are limited by 140 symbols or Instagram where more attention is paid to a posted picture instead of the text, Facebook does not impose any limitations. Moreover, Facebook is the most popular social network among Millennials, as they spend around 1,000 minutes per month for checking updates and communicating via using it (Wu 2016). In addition, there are around 1,6 billion active Facebook users per month (Statistics and facts about Facebook 2016). For example, there are only 40 million active users of Instagram and 305 million users of Twitter (Statistics and facts about Instagram 2016; Statistics and facts about Twitter 2016). It means that there are high chances of targeting the necessary population group and increasing online customer acquisition.
The foundation of the digital marketing strategy is posting interesting and relevant information using a customized Facebook page. The primary objective is to highlight the uniqueness of Taylor St. Baristas and point to its advantages compared to primary competitors to attract more customers and increase revenues. It means that communication and selling strategy is chosen (Cantoni & Danowski 2015).
Tactical Mix for Reaching Strategic Objectives
Implementing communication and selling digital marketing strategies requires following unique tactical steps that are less time consuming and can be easily estimated over smaller periods. To achieve the set objective, the following tactics are recommended:
- Posting a photo from different cafés once a day;
- Updating news once a week;
- Organizing ‘happy hours’ and special campaigns once a month.
The first proposition is to post one photo a day depicting cafés located all around London and in New York. Because the focus is made on targeting Millennials, the idea is to show them spending time in Taylor St. Baristas coffee shops. It is worth mentioning that the emphasis should be made on demonstrating that the place is appropriate for both work and entertainment. That is why it is recommended to photograph those who work together with those who came to communicate. Also, taking pictures in the morning and during busy hours is advisable to prove that this café can be both cool and busy.
Another tactic is to update news once a week. It should be noted that news post might cover changes in menus or notify of opening new coffee shops. On the other hand, they might be replaced by sharing peculiar facts about the network or recommendations for preparing coffee. Of course, it is imperative to remind of an opportunity to purchase coffee beans and overnight delivery.
Finally, monthly ‘happy hours’ and special campaigns announced via Facebook are effective for attracting more customers. The idea is to offer a discount or free coffee to one, who posts the best selfie mentioning Taylor St. Baristas or writes a correct answer to the question about coffee shops. It would make Facebook users more active because they might feel personal benefits in becoming a follower and a customer of a café. However, it should be stressed that these campaigns should be unexpected for followers even though conducted on a timely basis.
Recommending Actions and Control
Bringing the recommended strategy and tactical mix to life requires taking decisive steps as well as introducing strict control measures. First of all, it is imperative to find financial resources to fund the project. They can be taken directly from the budget and income of the company because it is the investment in the future development. Moreover, redirecting income to fund the implementation of the digital marketing strategy is more beneficial and time-effective than searching for external aid of investors (Chaffey & Smith 2013).
Furthermore, it is necessary to find a person, who would be responsible for content posted on the Facebook page and estimating the effectiveness of the project. This individual should have enough knowledge and be skilled in using social networks. Also, online PR managers should be acquainted with digital marketing strategies so that they are altered to meet the requirements of the social environment and become a tool for reaching the central business goal (Ryan 2014).
Speaking of the implementation of the digital marketing strategy, it is imperative to note that the most important aspect is designing appropriate control and measure techniques to know whether it is effective. There are several tools that can be used for measuring productivity. First of all, it can be estimated by interactions, i.e. the number of comments posted on Facebook wall and reposts made. Second, likes and dislikes are also useful because they can be deployed as a tool for collecting feedback concerning both content and the company itself. Third, attention should be paid to the number of followers because they are potential information sharers and customers. Fourth, mentions signed by hashtags or posted directly at the wall should be tracked. Finally, the effectiveness of the introduced strategy can be measured by Facebook by viewed page impressions, i.e. visiting a page (Facebook 2015; Fyson 2014; Schulman 2016).
To sum up, digital strategy implementation will be made up of two stages. During the first one, Taylor St. Baristas is recommended to allocate funds for hiring an online PR manager and creating a customized Facebook page. This phase will imply adding interesting facts and updating news. It should be limited in time to launch the project as soon as possible. That is why one month is a timeframe for stage one. As for the second step, it relates to designing and implementing the system for measuring the effectiveness of the digital marketing strategy. It will be started directly after completing stage one. Timescale for learning different assessment tools, choosing appropriate ones, and collecting data to analyze performance is one month as well.
Executive Summary
Situation
Because Taylor St. Baristas operates in a highly competitive business environment and its products and services are easily imitable, there is a risk of being outperformed by competitors either because of a better reputation or due to lower prices. That is why it is imperative to design and introduce an effective marketing strategy that would help improve brand image and make it more recognizable.
Objectives
The central business goal is to increase online customer acquisitions. It can be reached by achieving two digital marketing objectives – attracting more visitors and measuring the effectiveness of the implemented strategy. Focus will be made on targeting Millennials and younger groups of population.
Strategy
Facebook is selected as the target social network. Posting the latest news and sharing interesting facts using a customized page together with collecting customer activities for further analysis is the foundation of the chosen digital market strategy.
Tactics
To bring the proposed digital marketing strategy to life, the following tactical mix is proposed:
- Posting a photo from different cafés once a day;
- Updating news once a week;
- Organizing ‘happy hours’ and special campaigns once a month.
Actions
Finding budget resources to fund the project and hire a highly professional online marketer is the first step to bringing tactical mix and digital marketing strategy to life. This person will be responsible for Facebook page content and analyzing customers’ feedback as well as measuring the effectiveness of the selected marketing strategy. The timeframe for the implementation of the project is two months – one month for allocating funds, hiring a professional marketer, and adding necessary information to Facebook and one more month for choosing measurement determinants and initiating data analysis procedures.
Control
Control measures are determinants for estimating the success of the project. Focus should be made on such indicators as the number of followers, comments, shares of publications, mentions, likes and dislikes, viewed page impressions, and interactions.
References
Bawab, H 2014, How to work with a digital marketing agency, Magic Logix, Carrolton, Texas.
‘Camel milk … in your coffee’ 2014, Daily Mail, p. 21.
Cantoni, L & Danowski, J A 2016, Communication and technology: handbook of communication science, De Gruyter Mouton, Berlin, Germany.
Chaffey, D & Smith, P R 2013, E-marketing excellence: planning and optimizing your digital marketing, Routledge, New York, New York.
Facebook 2015, The value of viewed impressions, Web.
Fyson, C 2014, Helpful digital marketing objectives for your business, Web.
Kaufman, I & Horton, C 2014, Digital marketing: integrating strategy and tactics with values, Routledge, New York, New York.
Michelman, J 2006, ‘NYC: London’s Taylor St. Baristas is opening a café in Midtown’, Sprudge, Web.
Ryan, D 2014, Understanding digital marketing, CPI Group, London, United Kingdom Schulman, J 2016, ‘Measure and manage your digital marketing strategies’, Image Source, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 36-38.
Smith, K T 2011, ‘Digital marketing strategies that Millennials find appealing, motivating, or just annoying’, Journal of Strategic Marketing, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 489-499.
Smith, K T 2014, ‘Longitudinal study of digital marketing strategies targeting Millennials’, Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 86-92.
Statistics and facts about Facebook 2016, Web.
Statistics and facts about Instagram 2016, Web.
Statistics and facts about Twitter 2016, Web.
Taylor St. Baristas n.d., Web.
Taylor St. Baristas: Cafés n.d., Web.
Taylor St. Baristas: FAQs n.d., Web.
Thomas, B & Housden, M 2010, Direct and digital marketing in practice, A&C Black, London, United Kingdom.
Wu, B 2016, Facebook Inc. is still the most popular social platform among Millennials, Web.