Strayer University Marketing Discussion

Please respond to both of the discussion responses and the question below the responses. I have included the initial discussion question for your reference. Please use in-text citation and include a reference list. I total there should be three answer coming back to me.

Initial Discussion Question:

Digital Marketing Channels

NOTE: At the start of your discussion post, remind your peers of the company and product/service you have chosen for your marketing campaign.

Identify one competitor already in the marketplace with a similar product or service to yours. Respond to the below prompts:

• What competitor did you identify and what product or service do they offer?
• Which channels do they use to promote their product or service?
• Do you think that their messaging is effective? Why or why not? Give examples.

Choose at least two digital marketing channels to promote and market the product or service chosen for your marketing campaign. Think through how you would leverage these channels, using the questions below to guide you:

• What two digital channels did you choose and why?
• How would you use those channels?
• Create a brief” story” or idea to promote your product or service to customers

Post your initial response by Wednesday, midnight of your time zone, and reply to at least 2 of your classmates’ initial posts by Sunday, midnight of your time zone.

Discussion Response No. 1:

Marjeana Lightfoot

Digital marketing is the fastest and most modern method of marketing. However, both traditional and digital marketing should both be present in order to reach the target audience . While digital marketing tactics need to be deployed at all stages of the product’s lifecycle, marketers should use traditional tactics too, to optimize their hybrid marketing mix. The more places that your target audience positively interacts with your brand, the more likely they are to purchase your products. By integrating both digital and traditional tactics into your marketing campaign, you have a high likelihood of getting your products in front of the right audiences at the right time. As Kotler states, digital marketing is not meant to completely replace traditional marketing; the two should coexist across the product lifecycle and the buyer journey.

The marketing plan that I chose to expand on is Verizon® offering home and business internet services in more rural areas.

What competitor did you identify and what product or service do they offer? The competitor that I chose is t-mobile, who began their 5G internet services in April 2021.

Which channels do they use to promote their product or service? The marketing channels include Website, Search Engine Optimization (SEO). T mobile began talk of 5G home internet dates back to 2019, when the company was making its case to the Federal Communications Commission why it should be allowed to acquire Sprint. It claimed that gaining access to Sprint’s network would be a necessary step in offering high-speed in-home wireless internet. According to the company, this would allow T-Mobile to offer an alternative to the dominant ISPs and bring faster internet to underserved rural areas. Before the ink was dry on the deal, T-Mobile started piloting the service over its existing LTE network. It started small, as an invitation-only deal for 50,000 households. As of March 2021, the pilot included 100,000 households. The company made the announcement via live stream.

Do you think that their messaging is effective? Why or why not? Give examples. I think their messaging was effective because on the live stream T-Mobile® announced that 30 million homes were eligible for service at that time and 10 million were in rural areas. T-mobile also began home internet service less than one year after the merge with Sprint

Choose at least two digital marketing channels to promote and market the product or service chosen for your marketing campaign. Think through how you would leverage these channels, using the questions below to guide you:

What two digital channels did you choose and why? The two digital channels that I would utilize would be SMM (social media Marketing) and emails. These two channels would be used to attract new customers for mobile service in addition to internet services in extended rural areas.

How would you use those channels? I would begin my running promotions to existing wireless customers offering a bundle package for wireless and home internet service. I would also reach out to former customers with a promotion to return to the company offering the lowest internet services.

Create a brief “story” or idea to promote your product or service to customers. I would begin my story by letting the consumer know of my experience with the only internet service provider in my area. I would then let them know we (Verizon®) are now offering high speed service in their area and that we can offer high speed internet service that is better than the service they already have. I would go through a price comparison and offer the consumer a free trial for 15 days to try our high speed internet home services.

Discussion Response No. 2:Bottom of Form

Catherine McGuire

Digital Marketing Channels

No business plan is complete without examining the competition; likewise, no marketing campaign is veritable without differentiating one’s product or service from similar entities. I’ve chronicled my company’s mission, program, and campaign proposal for the past two weeks, so it is apt that I now analyze my primary competitor’s promotional channels to select my best digital marketing campaign with an adjoining story.

My primary competitor is Fairfax County Schools’ Transportation department which predominantly offers diesel-fueled bus services and gasoline-fueled vans to public schools and their related activities. FCPS is renowned for its website, which publicizes information on everything to do with Fairfax County Schools; the transportation page includes several links for miscellaneous information. I observed two specific features relevant to my Fairfax Alternative’s Every Student program:

• FCPS currently uses eight electric school buses and plans to receive ten additional EV buses this summer: for comparison, the FCPS fleet numbers over 1520 school buses. The Fairfax County Joint Environmental Task Force (JET) has set a goal for FCPS to fully transition its entire fleet to electric or zero-carbon alternatives by the year 2035.
• FCPS Transportation currently uses a Bus Delay Notification System, which announces delays to specific bus routes on its website, mobile app, and email. The Here Comes the Bus Mobile App offers real-time bus location and text or email notification alerts (FCPS, 1)

FCPS Transportation promotes its services on its website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram to a limited degree. I believe that Transportation’s message is partially effective because Instagram offers little details, and both Twitter and LinkedIn advertise outdated information. For example, FCPS Transportation’s latest tweet is dated April 25, 2018, and FCPS on LinkedIn promotes a year-old post with outdated recruiting information; I replied to the LinkedIn post to alert readers that their information is outdated.

As enlightening as this exercise has been, reviewing FCPS Transportation’s promotional channels leaves me more than a bit disgusted. True to its old-school style, FCPS concentrates most of its information on one source, its website, and scatters random breadcrumbs across all major social media platforms. I find this method to be negligent, half hazard, and true to its take-it-or-leave-it style.

The two digital marketing channels I’ve selected for Fairfax Alternative are a comprehensive website replete with thorough details on the Every Student program and Facebook, where limitless conversation is welcomed.

For my Fairfax Alternative website, I’ll introduce my company vision and mission in a fetching bio/about section and block out prevalent aspects of the Every Child program with assorted fields and links. I’ll be sure to include a Q&A section and a live chat room so that no one feels absent from vital knowledge. The Fairfax Alternative Facebook page will include most of the factual content of the website; however, I’d like to experiment with engaging visuals which support the advertisements’ story.

I see much room for expanding the stories attributed to Every Student. They include:

• A mother or father speaking about their child’s asthma and alarm at learning that exposure to diesel fumes increases the chances of their child having an asthmatic episode or might even damage the child’s lungs.
• Narration explains that we can choose our children’s transportation provider and support environmental responsibility by selecting Every Student’s mission to eradicate harmful environmental emissions and leave a greener planet for our children.
• A child explaining that they no longer have to worry about hearing their parents’ concerns for their safety because registering daily for the Every Student school bus allows Mom and Dad to see precisely when they reach their doorstep.

Fairfax Alternative’s Every Student program was created to provide real solutions for ongoing problems relating to public school transportation. We cater to families who want to make practical decisions to change how we teach and protect our children, now and hereafter. We are a non-profit that seeks to operate as a co-op, building a community of families who believe that we have the power to choose, and those choices can have a long-lasting positive effect.

Discussion Question No. 3:

Hello Lashundra and thank you for posting early in Week 4. True to what you stated, much of marketing has gone digital through websites, SEO, social media, display advertisements, etc. In fact, one source of marketing information, Statista, predicts that by 2026, companies will be spending about $800 Billion dollars on digital marketing. If you were to choose an influencer for GE refrigerators, who would it be?

Thank you in advance for your reply, Lashundra.

Source: Statista. Accessed July 26, 2022.

Dr. Mark

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