Archives for September 2011
Mind Your P’s & S’s | 4 Critical Managerial Ingredients of E-Marketing
Here are the four critical managerial ingredients of e-marketing from the 4S model with their explanation:
1. SCOPE: Defining the main strategic issues which currently are limited by the online presence. This scope will always change and evolve as the site grows and technology increases. Those issues include, but are not limited to markets, competition, customer profiles, effects of the online operation to the brick and mortar, effects on internal processes and identification of the role the online presence will take as a whole.
2. SITE: Defines the operational aspects of the online presence. The site must attract the target customer and be an effective interface between the firm and the customer. Must meet automation demands versus man power alone. Must have a feel of a virtual experience that allows the customer the freedom to interact, while being private, and yet gain loyalty.
3. SYSTEM: Technical factors which undermine the security and safety of both the customer transaction and the company’s image, margins and time commitment in an fully integrated online presence is not to be lightly considered. Technology today often aids the customer friendly field with the initial cost of building, maintaining and modifying being seemingly high until the full marketing plan both internally and externally are allowed to move cohesively.
4. SYNERGY: The online presence and the company’s network must be integrated. Duplication of archaic systems to avoid added expenditure simply adds to expenses elsewhere. Synergy will maximize market impact and effect traditional methods to an exponentially positive degree. This then requires:
• Front Office Integration: The virtual world and the traditional world must be seamless in undivided in the marketing plan. If not, the plan will never have the internal support needed for launch and growth.
• Back Office Integration: The back office processes must be integrated immediately simultaneously. Existing back off ice organizational will most likely need upgrading. If not, the virtual experience by the customer will be lost or questioned.
• External Integration: Banking, inventory control systems, purchasing, logistics and R&D may be items the business outsources in part or in full and integration with those systems is critical. Management must continually monitor for economies of scale and efficiency while not sacrificing the balanced scorecard, metrics being managed or the virtual feel by the customer.
In summary, the strengths of the 4S web marketing mix are that it identifies the critical strategic, operational, and technological issues of a great online presence. With a fairly low entry level, the constant upgrade of technology to maintain the customer feel demanded today, the integrated approach ends up making massive improvements in collaboration both internally and externally with vendors. In sectors where conditions change quickly this educational and managerial tool shows great value if continually monitored. Lastly, on a positive note as viewed by some, marketing managers now become high level strategists and not just tacticians.
The limitations of the 4S web marketing mix are that it is primarily developed for Business to Consumer (B2C) applications. Business to Business (B2B) applications may or may not be able to use or gain from the mix method depending on what products or services are being offered. The firm’s knowledge of online consumer behaviors needs to be top-notch in order to optimize the web element of the overall marketing plan. This knowledge may not be available internally. That knowledge internally may be laden with the traditional 4Ps mix which do not take into account factors unique to online marketing and its integration needs.
Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC
Content derived from publications and interaction with by Dr. Efthymios Constantnides at the University of Twente.
Mind Your P’s & S’s | 4 Critical Managerial Ingredients of E-Marketing
The steps in the 4S web marketing mix was developed in the late 90′s, as an educational tool, but has proven quite suitable as a process for designing a new web site, (like we are), or for evaluating and improving an existing one. This is a spin on the “4Ps Marketing Mix” framework to adapt to today’s virtual world. The concept is to enable e-commerce full integration of all virtual activities into the physical strategy of the company, its marketing plan and its organizational process.
Here are the four critical managerial ingredients of e-marketing from the 4S model with their explanation:
1. SCOPE: Defining the main strategic issues which currently are limited by the online presence. This scope will always change and evolve as the site grows and technology increases. Those issues include, but are not limited to markets, competition, customer profiles, effects of the online operation to the brick and mortar, effects on internal processes and identification of the role the online presence will take as a whole.
2. SITE: Defines the operational aspects of the online presence. The site must attract the target customer and be an effective interface between the firm and the customer. Must meet automation demands versus man power alone. Must have a feel of a virtual experience that allows 
the customer the freedom to interact, while being private, and yet gain loyalty.
3. SYSTEM: Technical factors which undermine the security and safety of both the customer transaction and the company’s image, margins and time commitment in an fully integrated online presence is not to be lightly considered. Technology today often aids the customer friendly field with the initial cost of building, maintaining and modifying being seemingly high until the full marketing plan both internally and externally are allowed to move cohesively.
4. SYNERGY: The online presence and the company’s network must be integrated. Duplication of archaic systems to avoid added expenditure simply adds to expenses elsewhere. Synergy will maximize market impact and effect traditional methods to an exponentially positive degree. This then requires:
• Front Office Integration: The virtual world and the traditional world must be seamless in undivided in the marketing plan. If not, the plan will never have the internal support needed for launch and growth.
• Back Office Integration: The back office processes must be integrated immediately simultaneously. Existing back off ice organizational will most likely need upgrading. If not, the virtual experience by the customer will be lost or questioned.
• External Integration: Banking, inventory control systems, purchasing, logistics and R&D may be items the business outsources in part or in full and integration with those systems is critical. Management must continually monitor for economies of scale and efficiency while not sacrificing the balanced scorecard, metrics being managed or the virtual feel by the customer.
In summary, the strengths of the 4S web marketing mix are that it identifies the critical strategic, operational, and technological issues of a great online presence. With a fairly low entry level, the constant upgrade of technology to maintain the customer feel demanded today, the integrated approach ends up making massive improvements in collaboration both internally and externally with vendors. In sectors where conditions change quickly this educational and managerial tool shows great value if continually monitored. Lastly, on a positive note as viewed by some, marketing managers now become high level strategists and not just tacticians.
The limitations of the 4S web marketing mix are that it is primarily developed for Business to Consumer (B2C) applications. Business to Business (B2B) applications may or may not be able to use or gain from the mix method depending on what products or services are being offered. The firm’s knowledge of online consumer behaviors needs to be top-notch in order to optimize the web element of the overall marketing plan. This knowledge may not be available internally. That knowledge internally may be laden with the traditional 4Ps mix which do not take into account factors unique to online marketing and its integration needs.
Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Content derived from publications and interaction with by Dr. Efthymios Constantnides at the University of Twente.
Using Metrics Management in a Viral Business World-Part I
The Balanced Scorecard is well –known as a strategic planning and metric management system that is used in business, industry, government and non-profit organizations worldwide. The primary purpose of this system is to align an organization’s business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, optimize both the internal and external communications, and monitor financial, operational and organizational performance against the stated strategic goals. While originated, by Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton, as a performance management framework that stressed more of the non-financial performance measures as opposed to traditional financial metrics in aims of helping managers to better view and understand organizational performance, one must ask, in a much more technology-based interaction between companies and potential customers, where should the focus for performance measurement lie and how does that focus shift based on a company’s desired mode of integration with its customers and constituents?
In the traditional business economy, metrics management helps to propel an organization from simply recording agreed upon performance metrics to using said information to drive action plans for the organization by key department and manage to goals on a daily basis. 
Properly applied metrics management is meant to provide feedback around the internal business practices and the external results and outcomes in aims at continuously improving business performance and operational results.
A brief review of the key categories of performance metrics lead to an understanding for not only which types of metrics are critical for measuring, but the relative importance of each metric to the organization given their strategic objectives. The most traditional metrics that companies understand, are measured by, and resonate with are financial or “money”-related metrics. The financial landscape of metrics management that keeps a constant pulse on profit and loss performance, cash management and risk profiling has always and will be critical for organizations to understand where they stack up vis-à -vis their competitors. However, as technology continues to change the dynamics of social interaction, other metric landscapes will become increasingly important.
-The business operations landscape allows managers to have an understanding as to how efficiently and productively different processes are performing, and gives them the ability to identify problems in process flows and address said problems as quickly as possible.
-The customer landscape has become increasingly important over time. Businesses continually increase focus on understanding customer requirements and developing initiatives aimed at driving customer satisfaction in aims at driving and improving customer affinity and loyalty. If a company is unable to meet its customer’s needs then the customers will certainly seek out other solutions. A leading indicator of failing overall business performance is an inability to satisfy customer needs and an inability to succeed along the customer landscape of metric performance.
-As we move forward into the technology-based business economy, what has become apparent is that the learning and growth landscape for metrics management has become critical for companies looking to create and sustain a long-term competitive advantage. This dimension is not only critical for companies looking to build on their core asset, employee knowledge of their respective business, and more importantly, knowledge of the needs of their customers and clients. This will be the separating dimension for business leaders going forward.
-But in this new technology-based viral economy, what are the right metrics and what are the dimensions that companies should be looking to compete in? What are the correct social media metrics? What are the best social media platforms to employ and how does that change based on product, service, channel of distribution, manufacturing process, etc.? Twitter? Facebook? AOL? Myspace?
-Stay tuned because at Viral Solutions, we have a perspective. And depending on your individual business situation, a perspective can change your individual approach to business success going forward. See you in our next E-Zine!
Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC