ASSIGNMENT/PROJECT FRONT SHEET for all CIM Level 3, 4 and 6 modules CIM Membership Number: CIM40018532 Module Title: Digital Marketing Planning Level: CAM Diploma in Digital Marketing (L4) Accredited Study Centre: Home Learning College Candidate Declaration: “I confirm that I have applied, to all tasks, the CIM policies relating to (please tick relevant boxes to confirm): • Page/Word count*  • Plagiarism  • Collusion  *dependant on the requirements of the brief. This assignment/project is the result of my own independent work/investigation except where otherwise stated. All other sources are referenced and a bibliography is appended. The work submitted has not been previously accepted in substance for any other award and has been submitted in accordance with the set template requirements. I further confirm that I have not shared my work with other candidates”. Tick to confirm  I hereby give consent for this assignment/project, if accepted, to be used by CIM for the dissemination of best practice and, or, other appropriate purposes, on the understanding that the assignment/project is anonymised. Tick here to opt out  Abstract Attracting new customers with the aid of digital channels and techniques has now become a crucial activity, which contributes to the progress of organization. In order to examine and assess the importance of online customer acquisition, this piece of work focuses on the search engine and mobile marketing channels that Premier Inn takes advantage of. The briefing paper, presentation and reports below contribute to the development of the company’s overall12-month digital marketing plan. Premier Inn Online Customer Acquisition via Search Engine Marketing and Mobile Channels (Briefing Paper – Task1) Produced by: Digital Marketing Assistant Produced for: Digital Marketing Manager Date: 30th May 2017 Word count: Page count: 2 xA4 company profile Contents Page No table of contents entries found. 1. Organisation profile and background Premier Inn is a UK based hotel chain that operates in different locations nationwide, including city centres, suburbs and public landmarks (e.g. stadiums, airports, and tourist attractions). (REFERENCE) According to the online Value Proposition (REFERNCE Theory) on the official website, Premier Inn’s brand promise is to give the service users ‘a good sleep, night after night after night’ (REFERNCE). As a consequence, the company is continually expanding and envisions having 85,000 rooms by 2020 (REFERENCE). Although few hotels are already running overseas, further developments are predicted, targeting 50 international hotels by 2018 (REFERENCE). 1.1 Name and type of organisation Premier Inn was established in 1987 as ‘Travel Inn’ by Whitbread (REFERENCE). The name Premier Inn derives from the merge occurred in 2004 between ‘Travel Inn’ and ‘Premier Lodge’ – formerly known as ‘Premier Travel Inn’ (REFERENCE). With the aim of competing with Travelodge, Premier Inn is currently leading the hospitality industry in the UK that operates within. Being one of the major brands within Whitbread Group PLC is an advantage for Premier Inn. It gives the company an edge over other players in the market, particularly in terms of administration and management, as they share matching visions. Premier Inn operates both offline and online, focusing majorly on quality of the service, customer confidence and industry standards. Great example of B2C business, the value hotel chain deals directly with consumers focusing on creating engagement with the brand. Premier Inn trades under the umbrella of its parent company as a private business, even though it represents a division of the larger cooperation. The logistics strategy of the business is straightforward: the offline operations are mainly available for the physical use of the core services; whilst the online element is used to create an avenue for the customer to interact with the brand. 1.2 Size of organisation With its head office located in Bedfordshire - East of England, Premier Inn can boast of over 750 hotels across the United Kingdom and Ireland, equalling around 65,000 rooms (REFERENCE). The company employs almost people, and due to this figure it can be categorised as a . Since part of the business is run overseas (e.g. India, Dubai, Germany), Premier Inn does not fall within the category of national business, but it has to be classified as international. ry How many hotels, how many rooms, how many employees, how many customers per year (how many of these use website). Facts about Premier Inn finance and 1.3 Range of products and services Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is well used by the company to promote and enhance key services and products available for the potential and existing customers. The main services offered by Premier Inn are breakfast, online booking, and choice of room (price, quality, bigger room, size and type of bed) restaurants, launch and reviews. Additionally, the company offers products such as . Premier Inn’s bedrooms all have an attached bathroom, TV with Free view, and Wi-Fi internet access. All hotels comprises of a bar and restaurant, either inside the building, or next to it, offering and serving a wide range of dishes. All these facilities and services are offered at a very cheap price Brand being intended as , Premier Inn owns various brands, including . 1.4 Customer base and digital target audience Family, business and leisure. Value tourist, on the go, 1.5 Main competitors and market position As recorded in a research recently carried out, the business was awarded a BSI (Brand Strength Index) of 88.7 out of 100 (REFERENCE), beating rivals such as Holiday Inn and Hilton and showcasing the brand’s relevance in the industry. The section will conclude with a short web presence analysis, which will help to understand the current SEM and mobile activity of the company. Premier Inn is the UK's largest hotel chain and is part of the UK's leading hospitality company in the FTSE100, Whitbread PLC. With over 750 hotels and more than 65,000 rooms across the UK and Ireland, we have grown rapidly, and have been named the UK's top rated hotel chain by the Which? Hotel Chain Report 2015 and 2016. We have set ambitious growth plans and by 2020, we plan to increase the size of Premier Inn to around 85,000 UK rooms, as well as expanding our international presence to 50 hotels. Not only are we growing, we're also innovating, and have developed and introduced our new high-tech band, hub by Premier Inn, which represents the most significant format modernisation in UK hotels in many years. The first hotel, which opened on St Martin's Lane, Covent Garden in November 2014, has already won awards for its innovative technological design, and was awarded a BREEAM 'Outstanding' rating, currently the only hotel in the UK to have achieved this. At Whitbread, we are fully committed to growing legendary brands through building a strong customer heartbeat and innovating to stay ahead. We are dedicated to our core values; being genuine, confident and committed, and are proud of our winning teams, who make every day experiences special for our customers. 2. Outline of digital elements that impact the digital customer experience (200 words) Focusing on acquisition through mobile and SEM, this part will incorporate principal features of the elements that influence the digital experience that Premier Inn’s customers go through. The section will start with a short summary of the digital experience in regards to Premier Inn (30 words), and, based on the four ‘I s’ framework described by Finn, it will also identify and appraise the key elements that influence it within a table similar to the one below: Digital element Function Premier Inn Digital Costumer Experience Added value for acquisition Description of the digital element’s function How does it work/impact Premier Inn’ Costumers? Convenience for acquisition Description of the digital element’s function How does it work/impact Premier Inn’ Costumers? Customisation for acquisition Description of the digital element’s function How does it work/impact Premier Inn’ Costumers? 3. Evaluation of the benefits of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) A description of SEM will be given and analysed in terms of attracting new members. Then advantages and disadvantages of search engine marketing will be assessed at this stage, flexibility, creativity and responsiveness being the principal evaluation criteria. Statistics obtained through research will be used to back up each identified benefits. To discuss the benefits of Premier Inn’s SEM in regards to online acquisition, this section will be based on the opportunities enjoyed by the company through digital marketing campaign, and include the business’ the helpful method of tracking digital customers’ behaviour. To enable this, this section will assess the power given to the digital consumer, referencing the criteria aforementioned. Criteria Digital Marketing Channel/Tool Premier Inn SEM Flexibility WoM Social Networks SEO Creativity Integrated campaign Online Advertisement Onsite display ads Responsiveness E-mail marketing campaign Automation marketing Analytics With the aim of assessing and evaluating how SEM benefits Premier Inn, the table above judges the specific digital marketing tools used by the company in relation to the 3 main criteria. The importance of WoM, social networks and acquisition will be highlighted at this stage in order to review Premier Inn’s acquisition, retention and loyalty strategies and tactics. These elements will then lead to the complete evaluation of Premier Inn’s search engine marketing in terms of flexibility, creativity and responsiveness. Task 2 (Format: report) - Front cover (see above description): - Contents page 1. Introduction (30 words) Few words will be spent to outline of the topics that will be treated in the report (e.g. alternative digital revenue models, and use of mobile marketing models). 2. Recommendations of TWO methods Premier Inn should use to generate online revenue (220 words) The broad concept of generating online revenue will be explained. 2.1 Affiliate revenue (cost per acquisition) It will examine recommendation of affiliate revenue, particularly cost per acquisition, which Premier Inn should use in generating revenue online. Justifications based on stats, quotes and facts will be given as backup, confirming the reason why this choice is valuable for Premier Inn. 2.2 CPC Advertising on site It will examine the second recommendation of onsite advertising, cost per click in particular, which Premier Inn should use in generating revenue online. Justifications based on stats, quotes and facts will be given as backup, confirming the reason why this choice is valuable for Premier Inn. This section will conclude with a short set of reasons why other online revenue-generating methods are not appropriate for the company. 3. Assessment of Premier Inn’s use of SEM for new customers acquisition (220 words) The current website design will be evaluated based on its suitability for purpose and audience. This section will equally analyse the scope of the website, as well as the opportunities associated to Premier Inn taking on board the innovative ‘new technologies’. The assessment will provide the current situation of Premier Inn’s SEM activities in regards to acquisition of new customers, taking into consideration both paid and organic ads. 4. Appraisal of TWO opportunities for Premier Inn to reach the target audience via mobile channels (300 words) This section will be used to provide a detailed critique around two key opportunities that Premier Inn will exploit in order to reach the target audience, through mobile channels. It will open with a description of the ideal target audience and references to the full persona sketch, which will provided within appendices. 4.1 Opportunity 1 – Chat The responsiveness of this opportunity will be described to show the fit with Premier Inn’s mobile marketing strategy. With the help of RACE framework, this opportunity will focus on generating new customers. 4.2 Opportunity 2 – Social Networks (C2C) Description of Social Networks based on consumers to consumes will be helpful for Premier Inn’s mobile customers acquisition, based on the marketing audit Task 3 (presentation – 6 slides) - Cover slide - Contents page 1. Slide 1 – Introduction (agenda slide) 2. Slide 2 – Analysis of the ‘holiday seeker’ digital behaviour Target audience preferences (table to be used). SAY, SHOW, SHARE concepts to structure the answer. 3. Slide 3 – Use of mobile technology and emails (infographics will be used to present this) 4. Slide 4 – How does ‘Travelodge’ use mobile channels to acquire new costumers? 5. Slide 5 – Differences and similarities between Premier Inn and Travelodge’s mobile channels choice (measure effectiveness of mobile channels for customer acquisition in both) 6. Slide 6 - Summary To finalise, this slide will go over key finding about Premier Inn’s use of mobile channels for new and potential costumers’ acquisition. - Speakers notes (100 words per slide) - Bibliography and references - Appendices -Appendix A – Customer Group Audit - Appendix B – Travelodge Digital Presence and acquisition tactics. Task 4 (format: report – 1600 words) - Cover slide - Contents page 1. Introduction (50 words) A brief context will be created to ensure the aim of the report is discussed. The introductory section will be used to briefly outline the 12-month digital marketing planning, with focus on increasing customer acquisition. 2. Evaluation of TWO digital players (400 words) This section will appraise the applicability and reliability of two digital players that are relevant to Premier Inn and its target audience, stressing on the development of digital campaigns. After selecting the two relevant digital players (Airbnb and TripAdvisor), an evaluation of their influence on Premier Inn customers will be carried out, as there is a conflict of interest in the audience targeted (share of customers model, 5 porters forces framework). Airbnb and TripAdvisor will be compared in relation to User Generated Content (UGC), online advertising opportunities and online revenue generation. 3. Impact of digital marketing campaign on ‘People’ and ‘Physical Evidence’ (700 words) The impact of Premier Inn’s digital marketing campaigns will be discussed in this section, focusing on the ‘People’ and ‘Physical’ Elements of the extended marketing mix. The implications of digital marketing on the human resources of the company will be evaluated, and its impact on the way the service attributes are explained in a virtual world. The extended marketing mix will be defined, however the impact of digital marketing campaign will be evaluated in regards to the ‘people’, ‘process’ and ‘physical evidence’ elements only. 4. Recommendations for measuring the effectiveness of using SEM and mobile channels (370 words) A list of software providers and suitable digital marketing analytics services will be proposed for Premier Inn to measure the effectiveness of its chosen SEM and mobile marketing approach. Each digital marketing analytics service proposed will be justified, to back up the choice. As mobile and search channels remain the focus, all the software providers suitability will be judged against these. - Conclusion (50 words) Summary of the report to wrap-up the content and the key recommendation based on findings mentioned across the whole task 4. - References and Bibliography (Harvard referencing) - Appendices (optional)