Digital Marketing consultancy specialising in online strategy, trends and analysis.
Student currently studying at British Academy of Digital Marketing.
Each
of the website’s are professional in look and feel, and well laid out, making
them easy to use and navigate.The
content is also relevant, helpful and informative.
There
are blogs on all three of the websites, offering helpful information, all related
to the nature of their businesses and updated regularly.
Both
HubSpot and HelpScout make good use of gated offers, forcing users to sign-up
before providing the means of a free trail, while Sage doesn’t appear to
utilise this.
Each
also has a strong social media presence, complementing the websites with their
messaging and regularly engaging with, and answering, their audiences.
Strengths
and Weaknesses of the inbound marketing approach used by each organisation
In
terms of SEO, when searching for ‘inbound marketing’, Hubspot is the top
organic result, suggesting great SEO, with pages such as https://www.hubspot.com/inbound-marketing demonstrating this
with good repetitive, but natural, use of keywords.
However,
when searching for ‘customer service software’, HelpScout is not listed anywhere
on the first page, suggesting poor SEO. This may be due to using the term ‘HelpDesk’
instead of what I regard the more default term ‘customer service’.
When
searching for ‘accounting software’, Sage is top due to paid advertising, so
this is well optimised in their choice of paid keywords, and their product also
appears in the shopping suggestions, but there are no other organic search
results. There is constant use of the
keyword ‘accounting’, but ‘software’ doesn’t look to be used much in the
content, and there is also a lot of worldwide competition for these keywords.
HelpScout
has a good array of helpful resources, helping to support their reputation as a
credible provider of help desk tools, and they also make good use of video
content. https://www.helpscout.net/classes/
Which
organisation was best at inbound marketing, and why?
As
you would expect from an organisation specialising in inbound marketing, Hubspot
excels in it.
The
website is well laid out, is available in different languages, the blog has an informative
feel and appears to be regularly updated, has lots of free resources, is well
targeted and relevant to their buyer personas, has an approachable tone, has case
studies, a handy pop-up box for asking questions, a strong social media
presence, and an interactive training course, all designed to engage with the
customer and guide them through the sales funnel.
Examples
of how each organisation can improve its inbound marketing
I
feel the Sage blog is hidden on the website, and it is labelled as an ‘Advice
Blog’ under the header ‘Support and Training’, which I feel gives the
impression it isn’t a great way of engaging with potential customers. This is not helped by what I feel is a formal
tone across the whole site that I didn’t warm to.
I
feel Hubspot could benefit from more video content, as aside from some brief
product walkthroughs, video content doesn’t appear to be fully utilised.
However,
the Hubspot blog provides a handy indication of how long each article will take
to read, and they also have social sharing icons to assist the easy sharing of
content, as do each of the other blogs.
Sage
could make better use of SEO, as well as adding more video and engaging
content.
Task 1 Apple's Marketing Mix - the 7 P's... Product
Wide and ever expanding range of products, used to create, communicate, inform and entertain.
Apple iPhone New, 2017. Apple Products. [Online]
Available at: http://appleiphonenew.com/apple-products/#
[Accessed 05 08 2017].
Place
Apple’s own branded stores are well known and becoming commonplace around the world in the high streets and malls of major towns and cities. Apple currently have 498 stores in 22 countries.
Tryten, 2015. Apple Stores use Tryten to Secure Mac Minis.
[Online]
Available at: https://www.tryten.co.uk/news/showcase/industries/apple-stores-use-tryten-to-secure-mac-minis/
[Accessed 05 08 2017].
Price
With the iPhone seen as the original smartphone, competitors can be seen as ‘followers’, with users prepared to pay a premium based on Apple’s position in the market.
Iyer, K., 2016. Samsung Galaxy S7 vs. Apple iPhone 7:
Which one would be better?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.techworm.net/2016/01/samsung-galaxy-s7-vs-apple-iphone-7-which-one-is-better.html
[Accessed 07 08 2017].
Promotion
As a premium brand in the digital market, the expectation is for the brand to have high quality promotional material, not only through its digital channels, but in all aspects of its marketing. There should be no compromise on the quality of its brand presence.
Apple,
2017. Apple - iPhone. [Online]
Available at: https://www.apple.com/iphone/
[Accessed 07 08 2017]. People
Apple
recruit only the best people excelling in their field, or showing the potential
to.
Although
there are many Apple stores around the world, their style and branding is very
consistent and instantly recognisable.
Bono, A., 2016. For Real Now: An Apple Store May Finally
Be Opening in Buenos Aires. [Online]
Available at: http://www.thebubble.com/apple-store-buenos-aires/
[Accessed 07 08 2017].
Process
Apple
is renowned for its Keynote presentations to launch new products. This provides
the press, and the rest of the watching world, with an informative introduction
to new products.
Ewan, 2014. Here’s the primer for Apple’s super-hot
keynote (we can but hope). [Online]
Available at: http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2014/09/heres-the-primer-for-apple-keynote.html
[Accessed 07 08 2017].
Task 2
As
the phrase goes, “A company is only as good as its people”. With Apple, this is
certainly the case. From top to bottom,
the company employs only the best people in their chosen field, or those
showing the potential to climb to the top. (polster2 / Apple, 2012)
This
strive for excellence helps the company deliver market leading products and
bring them to the market with marketing campaigns and branding that is the envy
and benchmark of all other businesses.
Going
back to the company’s roots, co-founder, Steve Jobs, was the driving force
behind Apple’s success. Along with Apple’s other co-founder, Steve Wozniak,
Jobs is recognised as one of the pioneers of the microcomputer revolution of
the 1970’s and 1980’s. (Wikipedia, 2017)
Despite
Wozniak being credited for Apple’s first ever computer in 1976, the Apple I, it
is Jobs that is credited as the main lynchpin of Apple’s modern day success.
After a few hit-and-miss products, Jobs was forced out of Apple following a
power struggle in 1985. (Wikipedia, 2017)
Having
moved on to found a computer platform development company, NeXT, Jobs also
became involved in the visual effects industry when he invested in a computer
graphics division of Lucasfilm in 1986, which was to become Pixar. (Wikipedia, 2017)
NeXT
would then merge with Apple in 1997 and a few months later Jobs became the CEO
of his former company, and is responsible for much of Apple’s current product
line-up, having had the vision to design products with large cultural
ramifications, including the iMac, iTunes and iTunes Store, Apple Store, iPod,
iPhone, App Store and iPad. (Wikipedia, 2017)
This
has formed the basis for what Apple is today, and its staff are not only ‘top
of their game’, but together having the quest to keep driving Apple forward in
memory of Steve Jobs, who sadly passed away following a pancreatic tumor in
2011.
While
the ‘brains’ of the operations are locked away in the R&D department of
Apple’s new hi-tech HQ based in ‘Silicon Valley’ - Cupertino, California – the
customer facing staff are those employed in the current 498 Apple Stores around
the world.
With
Apple’s products demonstrating the latest trends and technology, the brand is
considered creative, cool and trendy, and therefore appeals to many of the
younger generation, who walk the streets listening to music on their iPhone,
chill-out playing games on their iPad, or cutting together a video on their
MacBook Pro.
It
is therefore no surprise that there is a staff bias towards the younger
generation when entering an Apple Store, not through age discrimination, but
through the knowledge of such products that they are growing up with, and the
cool and trendy kudos of working for a cool and trendy brand such as Apple.
The
look and feel of the stores support these brand values, down to the ‘college
campus’ style uniform.The relaxed and
informal outfit of a primary coloured t-shirt, jeans and baseball boots
resonates with a large part of Apple’s target audience, and allows the staff to
be approachable and a great representation of the brand.
As
already touched upon, Apple Store staff are second to none when it comes to
knowledge of the products. There is a general consumer confidence in not only
the products, but also the customer service, and this is mainly credit to the
‘Genius Bar’ staff housed in each Apple Store, who seem able to deal with any
hardware or software issue put in front of them.
Steve
Jobs himself is quoted as once saying, “It’s not the tools you have faith in –
tools are just tools – they work, or they don’t work. It’s the people you have
faith in or not.” (Oyos, 2014)
When
empowering staff, there are some other general rules for a motivated and happy
workforce, and many can certainly be said of Apple.Good customer service cannot be delivered
through unhappy employees, and when you get the company culture right,
everything else will follow, both of which I think are very true of Apple. (Oyos, 2014)
Apple are able to use the strengths of their
people for great marketing effect. Their knowledge and ability, the processes
they work to and the image they convey; the customer facing staff are some of
the main touchpoints of the brand, and it is therefore a very important role
they play in the marketing mix.
Wikipedia, 2017. Wikipedia - Steve Jobs. [Online]
Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs
[Accessed 09 08 2017].
Oyos, R., 2014. 10 Powerful Quotes from Industry Leaders
that will Inspire You to Empower Your Employees. [Online]
Available at: http://transcosmos.co.uk/blog/10-quotes-employee-empowerment/
[Accessed 09 08 2017].
