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BST356 Digital Marketing
Resit Assignment Brief



























Task: Digital Marketing Strategy
Complete a report proposing and justifying a digital marketing strategy for a small or medium-
sized e-commerce business of your choice.
These are some companies you may wish to use, if you struggle to choose your own for this
assessment: Kukd, Facetheory, Ridiculously Rich by Alana, Paperclip, The Little Melt Studio.
Deadline: Monday, 27 September - Submission via Learning Central
Common areas where the original assignments failed
Justification
? The majority of the points here come from the situational analysis. It must therefore provide an
insightful discussion of the digital strengths/weaknesses of your chosen company as well as the
digital environment (e.g., competitors) it operates in. (opportunities and threats)
? Here you must identify gaps in the company’s digital performance, and these will subsequently
lead to the formulation of your digital marketing objectives and the corresponding strategy,
tactics and actions that address these objectives.

Detail
? Your proposed strategy should provide a good level of detail, discussing:
o the target customer segment and the digital channels they use;
o The online value proposition;
o How the company will be positioned in relation to its competitors?
? Tactics, use theory to frame the answer, however we expect this section to be 50% concerned
with communications and the digital channels used, consider:
o What needs to be developed before OVP is communicated, e.g., Update website.
o Which digital channels are suitable and provide good actionable detail? The
recommended communications mix must be applied to the company and cover what
and how they will be posted (e.g., which influencer, where, and what they will post).
? Actions. A clear understanding must be shown of consumer behaviour and what needs to be
done and when in order to achieve objectives.

Creativity & Suitability
? The strategy should demonstrate independent thought (creativity) rather than merely reproduce
module content with little application or creativity to the chosen company.
? The proposed tactics must be suitable to the objectives. For example, PPC is not suited to
improving ROAS since one is a search engine tool, while the other is a metric measuring the
success of advertising spending on social media.
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Report Format
Word Limit
The report should be 3,000 words long (+/-10%). The cover page, executive summary,
contents page, reference list and any appendices are not included in the word count,
however, all other content is included (including figure headings, tables and in-text
citations). Use appendices only when absolutely necessary.

Style
The report should be written and presented in a professional style appropriate for
presentation to the client.

You may create/use tables, diagrams, images and infographics to make your report
more engaging, and to communicate your proposed strategy more effectively.
In addition to the main body of the report (your proposed strategy), you must also
include:

Cover Page
Must include:
? Report title
? Your student number
? Module code (BST356) and name (Digital Marketing)
? Word count

Contents Page
A list of section headings and sub-headings with corresponding page numbers.

Referencing
Follow the Cardiff University Harvard referencing style (see guidelines on Learning
Central).
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Suggested Report Structure

Executive summary (not included in the word count) (no more than 150 words long)
A brief summary of the report. Typically, this should include the aim of the report, what the
proposed campaign consists of, the rationale behind it and how it addresses the client’s
objectives.
Introduction (100 - 200 words)

Brief and to the point. Introduces the company and its background and outlines the report
structure.

Justification (Situational analysis) (800 - 1000 words)

This part will provide an overview of internal and external analyses of the company and the
digital business environment affecting the company. In this part, you will outline any gaps in your
chosen business’ digital performance.

Strategy (400 - 500 words)

Discusses your proposed strategy, which should be based on the situational analysis, and
proposes at least two SMART digital marketing objectives based on the gaps identified in your
situational analysis.
Your strategy must also be linked to at least two of the topics covered in this module.

Examples of SMART objectives:
? Increase social media following by 20k by the end of 2021.
? Improve organic website presence on Google search results by November 2021.
? Improve paid for website presence on Google search results by October 2021.
? Increase follower engagement (e.g., re-sharing brand content, posting UGC) on
Instagram by January 2022.

Tactics & Actions (900 -1000 words)

This part outlines the details of the strategy. Here you will discuss the e-tools you plan to use in
the sequence or stages guided by the strategy and their implementation.
In this part, you may also wish to discuss the budget and resources forecasted for this strategy.

Control (200 – 300 words)

This is where you will discuss the control mechanisms and any contingency planning that should
be in place to ensure the successful execution of your plan. What are needs to be measured?

Conclusion (optional) (100 words)
Here you will provide key summary points of your digital marketing strategy.
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Resit Assignment Marking Criteria
Your report will be assessed according the following marking criteria. Please refer to the
guidance provided when completing the resit assignment.
Criterion Weighting Guidance
Proposed Digital Marketing Strategy (80% of total grade)
Justification 20% Your situational analysis should be an insightful discussion of the
company’s digital capabilities & limitations, competitors’ digital
performance and any other relevant internal and external
environments.

Your report must convince the reader that your proposed strategy
will produce valuable results for the client. Academic and industry
sources should be used to justify your arguments. You must refer to
theories covered in class and/or may identify relevant theories in
academic books and journals. Well argued, convincing reports
will be rewarded. Strategies based on assumptions or opinions
with no clear theoretical or factual underpinning will receive a
low mark.
Detail 30% The client should be able to implement your proposed strategy
based upon the information provided by your situational analysis
and proposed objectives. Detailed strategies will be rewarded.
Tactics should link to objectives and provide clear instructions for
the client what communications channels should be used. When
the tactic should be used (Action) should be provided.
Creativity 15% You will be rewarded for original, interesting and ambitious
strategies that show evidence of independent thought.
Suitability 15% Your proposed strategy must be suitable for the client e.g., the
size, context and/or the mission/vision of the company.
Quality of Report (20% of total grade)
Structure The report should have a logical structure, using headings and
sub-headings to structure content and guide the reader.
Presentation Writing should be clear and concise. The tone should be
appropriate for a professional report. Figures and tables should
have numbers and headings. Creative presentation, including
effective use of tables, images and diagrams, will be rewarded.
Sources &
Referencing
You should consult a wide range of sources, including textbooks,
journal articles, and industry sources (e.g. databases, industry
news, industry reports). You will be rewarded for both the variety
of sources and their quality.
All information must be appropriately referenced using the Cardiff
Business School Harvard Referencing style (a guide is available
under the ‘Group Assignment’ section on Learning Central).