Case study:
In order to direct decision-making, a relatively young cosmeticscompany, which sells a range of organic and eco-friendly beautyproducts, decides to investigate the impact of their marketingstrategy. As the company is only five years old, there has beensignificant investment in advertising and marketing their brand. Inorder to assess the impact that their marketing initiatives havehad, they have implemented a four-month survey-research project inorder to determine how their customers heard about their brand.Each customer was asked to complete a five-minute survey uponmaking an online order. The results were analysed, and it wasdetermined that the customers heard about the company through thefollowing means:
- 17% through word of mouth.
- 20% through organic online search.
- 11% through print advertising.
- 46% Google AdWords (online advertisements in Facebook, Googlesearches, etc.).
- 6% radio advertising.
These results were compared to the amount of money spent ontheir three means of advertising: Google AdWords, magazine printadvertisements, and radio advertising. Furthermore, the researcherscompared their marketing approach to that of other cosmetics andholistic-living companies.
As the money spent on print advertising accounts for nearly 40%of their marketing spend, and radio advertising for 15%, the returnon investment is very low, and thus a new strategy is needed. Afterinterpreting all the data, the researchers suggest that the companyshould vastly reduce spending on print and radio advertising, andincrease their investment in online advertising, including GoogleAdWords and Facebook advertising. Furthermore, with a shift infocus towards digital marketing, the company might need tore-structure their marketing department, and consider employing adigital marketing manager.
Answer Template:
Having read the case study, write a paragraph of 500 words inwhich you address the following:
- Based on the case study, suggest possible business areas thatdemand further attention or investigation in order to gain maximuminsight into the ways the company can reach its sales targets whileminimising their marketing spending.
- Given the research findings, briefly discuss any new questionsthat may have arisen.
- Briefly discuss two ways in which the company should monitorthe impact of the recommendations. Your answer should explicitlystate the specific business areas that might need to be monitored,and outline ways in which they can be monitored.
