Chapter 5 Case Study 1

Louise PhilbrickNovember 28, 2006

ELC 310

Overview of Company 1• Is a manufacturer of specialty engineered products • These products serve biomedical, automotive and other

various industrial clients• C1’s clients use the products for conversion or

incorporation into other finished products• Distributes products through; distributors, resellers, and

original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)• Some areas of company 1 use an electronic data base

for automated purchasing

Overview of Company 1• Considering developing this into an Internet based

process• Corporate strategy – To be a solution provider to their

customers through continual advancement of product technology and creation of valuable relationships among all the firm’s stakeholder

• They have struggled financially for numerous quarters, due to the decentralized nature of the company

• Eight separate business each operating separately

Overview of Company 1• In 2002 a restructuring was announced, there was a

creation of two core business that focused on a market driven structure for its two core product lines

• Restructuring went well, earnings have increased, record stock prices were reported due to the restructuring and e-business strategies

• C1 doesn’t have any direct competition for all its product lines, but for each of the specialty product manufactured there is competition (small niche)

• With competition C1 made the decision to apply a differentiating strategy that their competitors have yet to realize

E-business marketing strategy• C1 focused on an integrated marketing

communications strategy for its electronic presence; to shield its powerful market share that was achieved through their former organizational structure

• The goal of the new strategy was to explain to stakeholders that its brand not only remains superior but the restructuring would lead to an organization with a stronger family of brands

• The e-business marketing goal will focus the e-components on customer relationship management, that will be supported by enterprise resource planning

• IMC starts with the customer and works backwards to determine through which credible communications should be developed

IMC strategy: four basic elements

• Stage 1 - Recognizing the company toward IMC strategy• Stage 2 - Understanding the competitive environment• Stage 3 - Brand decision making; strategic, tactical, and

evaluative• Stage 4 – Enhancing brand position within the

marketplace

Stage 1 - Recognizing the company toward IMC strategy

• C1 addressed the cross selling opportunities by intentionally repositioning its corporate character as a total solution provider across client and product classes

• If this is successful the niche competition will be less likely to obtain any of the companies market share

• Essential to achieve these goals C1 must communicate to its stakeholders with consistent branding message

• Communication channels would be through web presence, brochures, and the companies sales force

Stage 2 - Understanding the competitive environment

• C1 began their assessment by looking at the internal cost structure, the result was the elimination of duplicating processes

• C1 followed with an external assessment using a swot analysis of the companies brands, during this assessment the began to focus on its online presence

• By understanding the buyers and environment, C1 was in a position to manipulate the marketplace through their web site

Stage 3 - Brand decision making; strategic, tactical, and evaluative

• Strategic direction- the goals were to build sales through cross selling and up selling of products across industries

• this would strengthen customer relations with the firm and weaken the competition

• Tactical perspective- their web site would provide an electronic based communications that backed up the corporate strategy of a solution provider

Stage 3 - Brand decision making; strategic, tactical, and evaluative

• The web site would conquer the solution provider message by using interactive tools that permit visitors to view their products, and communicate with their company

• Program evaluation would be made easy by the internet through planning and identification of the communication outcomes, measures were recognized and observed online.

• This supplied C1 with customer data for improvements to the site

Stage 4 – Enhancing brand position within the marketplace

• If the first three strategies are successful that would improve the companies brand position and marketplace

• The new website was introduced at one the largest trade shows, online activities have guided some site improvements

• The feedback from the sales force is very optimistic with a continual inflow of request for additional online features

Primary Stakeholders• Customers and Investors • Customers were focused on (online target audience) because

of the need to present the new brand image• Promotion of the site increased the number of customers

visiting the site, allowing them to experience C1’s new brand image

• Investors were also focused on with personal section directed towards them on their site, this section details C1’s financial performance

• In addition to these primary stakeholders C1 is also developing resource for its employees

Value bubble-attracting• Attraction to the web site is done mainly through trade

shows, sales force, and brochures • Once a customer has visited the site, they are monitored• C1 enhances the site based on the customers interaction

with the site• When the customer enters the site they are asked to

register; C1 can collect significant information (location of customer, direct or indirect customer, if they are already a customer or a potential one)

• For investor to be attracted to the site; C1 needs to build traffic to the site, PROMOTE –public relations coverage, and a brick and mortar presence

Value bubble-attracting technologies

• Macromedia Flash – animation software• Logotoon – animated cartoon takes no more than 15

seconds and doesn’t repeat itself • Shockwave Flash files –are small double files made up

of flash source code files• Java applet – is a type of internet lingo it allows web

designers to easily update what appears in the scroll window

• Cascading Style Sheets – keeps the load speed for the pages short, on high speed connections load time is 3 seconds

Value Bubble - Engaging• To engage the customer stakeholder C1 initiated the first

online design studio in its industry, this allowed the customer to design a customized product, the product was then sent to the C1 staff and a relationship was formed

• To engage the investor stakeholders C1 has to make the site easy to navigate, with accurate an dup to date financial information

• Interactive tools that accomplish engagement; press releases, chat sessions, and financial calculators

Value Bubble – Engaging technologies

• C1 site has several links and a selection of drop down menus

• C1 used Java script • They also had to make sure that their site was cross

browser compatible

Value Bubble- Retaining• To maximize retention C1’s site must be updated with

new tools regularly, C1 announced these updates through emails targeted to the customer, and through trade shows

• C1 added new features to target and retain the investment stakeholders, these were announced in the same way

• Retaining technologies- the site is easy to navigate the menu bar always stay at the top of the page as you navigate

• Cold fusion technology, works together with a graphic interface and develops a code, the cold fusion middleware then access the data base to see whether the search terms match

Value Bubble – Learning• This phase gains information about the visitor by their

actions on the site, by following the features most commonly used they are able to evaluate the studio and make the needed updates to their site

• Once the information is collected it allows C1 to communicate and target with its customers and investor in the manner that they prefer

• Learn technologies- the site uses Cold fusion for this stage also, they use microsegmentation to learn about the site visitor

• Links with comments and products can be used to find out detailed interest of the site visitor

Value Bubble - Relating• This stage allows the stakeholders to realize that the

company has their best interest at heart, and can meet their needs through the electronic storefront

• When C1’s online customers used the site C1 took that information and acted on it , C1 made changes to their site that benefited the customer

• The information gathered about the investor was also put to use, C1 designed electronic new letters customized to the investor

Value Bubble – Relating technologies

• Relating technologies for this stage are like that of the learning stage; there are a number of different ways to contact C1 and this makes the visitor feel connected with the company

• There are toll free numbers for the product that allow the visitor to be connected with the correct personnel they need to speak with

• E-mail • Face to face• On the phone

Perceived success• I believe they have accomplished their

corporate strategy• They might need work in the retaining

stage• Instead of using email as a last resort it

should be used first because it is the simplest of them all then it should be followed up my phone and person to person