E-Commerce Marketing Plan for a Web Design Firm

Overview of the Marketing Plan

Central to any marketing plan is the identification of the potential customer base for a company's products or services. In some cases, the match is relatively easy to make. A new filter system designed for saltwater fish tanks over 500 gallons has a relatively narrow potential customer base: high-end saltwater aficionados. With such a narrow range of possible customers, the marketing plan used by the company making the product can be equally narrow.

However, for a firm like MocFish — whose potential customer base extends to tens of thousands of other companies — the marketing plan must connect to a highly diverse range of potential customers while still making each of those customers feel valued. MocFish faces the additional challenge of pursuing significant expansion during a recession. While e-commerce has been relatively resistant to the current economic contraction, this does not mean it has been entirely immune.

MocFish will have to provide — at least in some cases — independent research to potential clients documenting how effective e-commerce strategies are within each client's own field. Moreover, MocFish depends for its income on the marketing budgets of other companies. While it is generally acknowledged as a poor business choice, the first area of a company's budget to be reduced during lean economic times is often the marketing budget. MocFish will therefore have to convince many of its customers that a recession is the right time to expand marketing, not contract it.

A key part of MocFish's task, as it markets itself to companies wishing to improve their own marketing, is to demonstrate the effectiveness of e-commerce. Data on the ongoing effectiveness of e-commerce strategies is available from a number of sources. MocFish will provide links to several of these sources on its own website. One of the most effective and cost-efficient methods for MocFish to market itself will be to provide demonstrations of the range of design capabilities it can create for clients' websites.

Building a Superior Website Product

MocFish's strategy, as it plans to expand its offices throughout its region, is to produce a product that companies find more compelling than those offered by similar firms — sufficiently more attractive that clients will believe they cannot market themselves effectively without a multilayered e-commerce strategy. MocFish is able to deliver on this along several different dimensions. Depending on the client, MocFish's offerings must be marketed in different ways. Some companies will want an emphasis on technical capability, while others will be more easily persuaded by the aesthetic qualities of the websites.

The first of these dimensions is the technical quality of its product. MocFish will provide various levels of support to client companies depending on the complexity of the system desired and the level of in-house expertise the client can supply. MocFish provides robust platforms to all its customers — platforms that allow either MocFish or designers at the client companies to develop highly complex websites. Robust platforms also reduce ongoing site maintenance costs and the time and expertise required for upkeep on the client's side. Most clients will be interested both in the finished product and in the reassurance that another company will be responsible for ongoing site maintenance.

Content Management Systems

MocFish offers some of the most capable Content Management Systems (CMS) in the industry. While this may not be something client companies initially know they need, the right CMS is key to producing the most attractive website and to supporting and growing internet sales. MocFish's CMS allows more than one individual to contribute to a site while simultaneously limiting access to only those individuals with direct contributions to make.

A CMS can also improve communication among those who update and maintain a site. Well-designed CMS platforms allow for highly effective methods of creating frequent site updates without confusion over which version is the most current. CMS design can also make it easier for a company to implement an integrated IT strategy — a direction that an increasing number of companies are pursuing.

References

McCole, P., et al. (2005). A profile of adopters and non-adopters of e-commerce in some professional service firms. Australasian Marketing Journal, 13.

Dardan, M., et al. (2005). The valuation of e-commerce announcements during fluctuating financial markets. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 6.

Kickul, J., et al. (2004). From "push or pull" to "push comes to shove": Entrepreneurs' e-commerce strategic orientation and initiatives. Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, 16.