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Student name: Jacqueline Becker

Student ID: 10527314

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TOP 3 Characteristics For A Magnificent Website

You never get a second chance to make a first impression – so make sure it’s a great one (Bassi, 2016). 

Websites should have a good structure and be simple and
 clear with guidance, learnability and credibility

Your website represents the digital flagship of your company. Before making a purchase, more than 80% of people will research the product/ service online (Dizon, 2018). This fact shows the importance of an outstanding website. Here are the TOP 3 Characteristics your website should have in order to create a lot of traffic:

No. 1 - Simplicity

Simplicity is the MUST HAVE of a website. The simpler a website is built, the greater is the usability for customers. A clear and logic structure with well-formatted content is important for customers to quickly scan the key parts of a page. 

No. 2 - Design

A strong homepage design can cause visitors to spend more time exploring your website and business. Your homepage design should fit to your brands business and its message. 

No. 3 - Content

Useful information and high-quality content is crucial for inquisitive people. Whether you sell designs online, take donations, or simply blog – your website and content need to be professional and trusting (Singh, 2013) 

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Fortunately, last week I came across with the Levi’s website (levi.com). I was really fascinated by the design and the good structure of the homepage. It combines all 3 characteristics I mentioned before that make a good website and I as a customer felt directly comfortable. Levi’s uses many images to show the combinability of clothing and new trends. Furthermore, the pictures form the unique design of the website and the combination with the easy-to-buy process makes it a convenient shopping process. In my opinion, Levi’s is a great example for an outstanding website concerning fashion. 

Which website do you like the best?

xoxo

Jay

References:

Bassi, K. (2016) ‚What Makes A Great Website? 10 Website Trends’, Commonplaces interactiv. Available at: https://www.commonplaces.com/blog/10-website-trends-for-2016(Accessed 6 November 2019).

Dizon, A. (2018) ‚Top 25 Essential Elements of What Makes a Good Website’, FitSmallBusiness.Available at: https://fitsmallbusiness.com/what-makes-a-good-website/(Accessed 6 November 2019).

Singh, K. (2013), ‚11 Characteristics of a User-Friendly Website’, Social Media Today, Available at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/web-design-11-characteristics-user-friendly-website(Accessed: 6 November 2019).

Images:

Bakus (2019), Web development, Gifer, Available at: https://gifer.com/en/7Cff (Accessed: 6 November 2019).

The Importance of a Lean Agile Approach for Start-Up's

Hey guys, 

did you know that approx. „75% of all start-up's fail“? (Blank, 2013)

To be honest, I was a little shocked when I heard that number. Today I’d like to talk with you about lean agile Start-up's and its importance in order to survive in competition.

A agile approach minimizes risks and respond to issues as soon as they occur

                   

Flexibility. Dynamic. Effectiveness. Flat hierarchies. Customer feedback.

All these key words describe the approach of agile methods (Planview, 2019). In order to survive in a dynamic environment, start-up's must have flexible structures with flat hierarchies in order to react to customer wishes as soon as possible. Agile teams work together on projects in real time and approvals are made on the spot. This provides a big competitive advantage compared to large, established companies that take much longer to make decisions (due to big hierarchies and a slower flow of information). With a lean agile approach companies are able to implement, adapt and innovate products very quickly and initiate change when it’s needed (Lidow, 2014).

Currently I work in a large insurance company called AXA. Most of you might heard about it and for many, insurance probably sounds boring. However, the management is aware of this old-established processes and they wanted to change something. That's why they took Google, Microsoft and small start-ups as an example to establish flexible workstations to create a start-up-like atmosphere. The goal is to be more dynamic with flat hierarchies and quick decisions and thus to win and retain customers in the long term. It works…

In my opinion a lean agile approach in start-up's is crucial in order to be able to compete with large companies that are more liquid and well-known. As you can see from my example, big companies are also aware of this and are beginning to artificially create an atmosphere similar to that of a start-up. One thing is for sure: if you don't adapt to market dynamics and customer wishes, you'll soon be bankrupt. 

Be agile, be lean and be cautious.

See you soon.

xoxo

Jay

References:

Blank, S. (2013) 'Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything’, Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2013/05/why-the-lean-start-up-changes-everything(Accessed 26th October 2019).

Lidow, D. (2014) ‘Surviving a Start-Up’s Transition from Projects to Processes’, Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2014/03/surviving-a-start-ups-transition-from-projects-to-processes(Accessed 26th October 2019).

Planview (2019) 'Agile and Lean', Planview.Available at: https://www.planview.com/resources/articles/agile-and-lean/(Accessed 26th October 2019).

Image:

Bartlett, J. (2016) 'Adopting Agile Methodology: Tips for Success', Testlodge. Available at: https://blog.testlodge.com/adopting-agile-methodology-tips-for-success/ (Accessed 26th October 2019).

AXA (no date) 'AXA Insurance', AXA. Available at: https://www.axa.ie (Accessed 26th October 2019):

SOSTAC - 6 Steps to a Successful Marketing Plan

Dear Marketers, 

glad you’re back. 

If you want to implement a digital marketing plan you should have heard about the SOSTAC Model. 

The multichannel marketing growth wheel

What’s SOSTAC?

SOSTAC consists of six core components which must be taken into account when you create a marketing plan: 

1.  (S)    Situation - Where are we now?

2.  (O)   Objectives - Where we want to be?

3.  (S)    Strategy - How we get there?

4.  (T)    Tactics - What we need to get there?

5.  (A)    Action - What we need to get there? (Details of tactics)

6.  (C)    Control - How we monitor performance?

Please note that every stage of the SOSTAC model is equally important to a successful marketing plan and its implementation and review (Chaffey & Smith, 2013). 

My opinion:

In my opinion, the SOSTAC model is a quite simple approach for large companies to coordinate and structure processes in a logical order (Chaffey, 2019). 

Cowley-Cunninghams report is a great example about Jellies and Jaffas marketing strategy and how it satisfies customer needs. As described in the report, it is always important to execute the SOSTAC model from the beginning to the end – otherwise it won’t work probably. In addition, the model is more suitable for large companies with sufficient labour, software and time (Cowley-Cunningham, 2016). Unfortunately, this limits the usability for the general public. 

Concluding, the SOSTAC model is a good tool to accompany managers throughout the process of a marketing plan. Even if the model has its restrictions, it is quite easy to understand and if used correctly, it brings a lot of added value.

But now it’s your turn…

How did you develop your marketing strategy? Did you use a suitable model or did you just go for it without a theoretical background?

I’m really curios about that! 

xoxo

Jay

References: 

Chaffey, D. (2019) ‘SOSTAC marketing planning model guide’, SmartInsights. Available at: 

https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/sostac-model/ (Accessed 25th October 2019).

Chaffey, D. & Smith, P. R. (2013). Emarketing Excellence: Planning and Optimizing your Digital Marketing. Routledge: London.

Cowley-Cunningham, M. B. (2016) ‘Jellies & Jaffas: Applying PR Smith’s SOSTAC Marketing Model to an Confectionery Start-up', ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315488492_'Jellies_Jaffas'_Applying_PR_Smith's_SOSTAC_Marketing_Model_to_an_Online_Confectionery_Start-Up (Accessed 25th October 2019).

Images:

Chaffey, D. (2019) 'SOSTAC marketing planning model guide', SmartInsights. Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/sostac-model/ (Accessed 26th October 2019).

21st century – The New Era of Consumer-Focused Enterprises

The best advertising is done by satisfied customer

Hey guys, I just read a very interesting article about consumer-focused enterprises in the digital age. 

Here are the most important facts you should know:

As Gregory Carpenter writes in his article, companies that place the consumer at the centre of their activities can gain a competitive advantage. But why does the market continue to develop to a consumer-oriented business? (Carpenter, 2013) This is due to the following reasons:

-     Digital revolution → consumers have access to information no matter where they are and what time it is 

-  Technology enables companies to reach global consumers and build up new opportunities 

-      Empowerment → approx. 2.5 billion people had access to the internet by 2011 and social media has made a significant contribution to sharing ideas, managing natural disasters and building momentum for revolution 

Emerging challenges due to a consumer-focused age

Unpredictable markets present challenges for companies that hardly adapt to this powerful consumer-focused age. As a response, companies must compete with their strongest competitors and continuously innovate and reorganize to meet customer needs. To make this work, processes, structures and organizational behaviours must be constantly reconsidered.

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Companies have to address the unique demands of local markets

As I said in my last blog, everything is about data that has to be analysed to gain insights about consumers. Because: „Consumers (...) are simply too powerful to be ignored” (Carpenter, 2013). That’s why companies have to address the unique demands of local markets to be successful. It’s all about long-term relationships with customers - companies that fail to innovate will fight to survive.

If you want to know more about the evolution of the global economy and get insights into company examples, please feel free to read the whole article here.

What about you guys? Has your consumer behaviour changed in recent years? Why?

Stay tuned.

xoxo

Jay

References:

Carpenter, G. (2013) 'Power shift: The rise of the consumer- focused enterprise in the digital age’ Elearning. Available at: https://elearning.dbs.ie/pluginfile.php/991672/mod_resource/content/1/Customer%20Focused%20Enterprise.pdf (Accessed 21th October 2019).

Images:

No author, no date 'Our Customer Focus' Newly Weds. Available at: https://newlywedsfoods.co.uk/company/our-customer-focus/ (Accessed 24th October 2019).

No author, no date 'Challenges of Transporting Goods through Sub-Saharan Africa' Concargo. Available at: https://www.concargo.com/2013/06/08/challenges-of-transporting-goods-through-sub-saharan-africa/ (Accessed 24th October 2019).

No author, no date '3d People - men, person connecting a cable. Electric plug' 123RF. Available at: https://www.123rf.com/photo_14869134_3d-people-men-person-connecting-a-cable-electric-plug.html (Accessed 24th October 2019). 

Key Performance Indicators & Metrics: 3 Things You Need To Know

„Data is the oil, some say the gold, of the 21st century — the raw material that our economies, societies and democracies are increasingly being built on“ (Tells, 2018). In my opinion this quote sums up perfectly the importance and valuableness of data. 

Worldwide, 2.5 trillion bytes of data are generated every day (Schadhauser, 2017). No wonder that it's becoming increasingly important to understand and analyze them correctly in order to improve a companies performance. But, what are KPIs and Metrics? And what’s the difference?

1) KPIS and its importance:  

Key Performance Indicators  are important to achieve key business objectives

„A Key Performance Indicator is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives“ (no author, no date). Sounds simple, but it's not. Far too often, companies blindly adopt the KPIs of others so that the outcome does not fit their own business and its goals. KPIS should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainbale, Relevant, Time-bound) to achieve the overall business objectives. The key business objective and a KPI should be intimately connected to significantly improve performance. KPI example: sales revenue

2) Metrics and its importance: 

Metrics track the status of a business process

„A Business Metric is a quantifiable measure that is used to track and assess the status of a specific business process“ (no author, no date). Business metrics should adress the stakeholders of a firm and every area of a business has different performance metrics. 

Metric example: productivity

3) Difference between KPIs and Metrics: 

Difference between KPIs and Metrics

KPIs show your business how effective you are in terms of fulfilling business obejectives whereas Metrics track the status of companies processes (no author, no date). 

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Concluding, KPIs and Metrics help us to not lose the overview in a world full of data and use them correctly to increase a companies performance. It is important that each company concentrates on its own business and selects the right KPIs and Metrics with regard to the formulated goals. 

What about your company? Which KPIs and Metrics do you use? Have you ever used "wrong" KPIS or Metrics? 

I look forward to your replies! 

Have a good time.

xoxo

Jay

References:

Tells, S. (2018) ‚Data ist he 21st century’s oil, says Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser’, The Economic Times. Available at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/data-is-the-21st-centurys-oil-says-siemens-ceo-joe-kaeser/articleshow/64298125.cms(Accessed 19 October 2019).

Schadhauser, W. (2017) ‚Where did all the data come from?’, Storage Insider. Available at: https://www.storage-insider.de/wo-kommen-all-die-daten-her-a-608824/(Accessed 19 October 2019). 

No author (no date) 'What are Business Metrics?', Klipfolio. Available at: https://www.klipfolio.com/resources/articles/what-are-business-metrics (Accessed 19 October 2019).

No author (no date) 'What is a KPI?', Klipfolio. Available at: https://www.klipfolio.com/resources/articles/what-is-a-key-performance-indicator (Accessed 19 October 2019).

No author (no date) ‚Business metrics vs KPIs. What’s the difference?’, Klipfolio. Available at: https://www.klipfolio.com/blog/business-metrics-vs-kpis(Accessed 20 October 2019).

Images: 

Godfrey (2018) 'How to select the right KPIs for your marketing program'. Available at: https://www.godfrey.com/insights/analytics/select-the-right-kpis-for-your-program (Accessed 19 October 2019).

Klipfolio (no date) 'What is a KPI, Metric or Measure?'. Available at: https://www.klipfolio.com/blog/kpi-metric-measure (Accessed 19 October 2019).

Rabold, T. (2015) 'KPIs vs Metrics'. Available at: https://www.e-nor.com/blog/general/kpis-vs-metrics (Accessed 19 October 2019).