Murphy - Bridport Bay Inn

Bridport Bay Inn E-Marketing

Plan Noah Murphy

M: 0422 040 340

[email protected]

15th October, 2015

Bridport Bay Inn E-Marketing Plan ii

Executive Summary This report explains the need for an improved E-Marketing strategy for Bridport Bay Inn (BBI), and outlines the recommended new strategy, with a series of changes necessary to achieve BBI’s marketing goals. A competitor analysis reveals how BBI can exploit its competitive advantage towards its target markets against its direct competitor, Bridport Hotel (BH), and how it can strengthen its weaknesses to avoid losing market share to BH. It is recommended that BBI develop a presence on social media, through a Facebook page, Facebook advertisement and a blog on Blogger. This report also highlights a number of layout and programming issues that affect the function of BBI’s official website, and provides solutions as to how to correct them. These changes are developed into SMART objectives (Meyer, 2003), and E-Metrics are used to measure their success.

Table of Contents

Noah Murphy (Clothesline Marketing Solutions®) ................................................... i

Executive Summary ..................................................................................... ii

Bridport Bay Inn E-Marketing Plan .................................................................. 1 1.0 Situation Analysis ........................................................................................... 1

1.1 E-Marketing Strengths & Weaknesses ................................................................................. 2 1.1.1 Website Weaknesses ................................................................................................................ 2 1.1.2 Website Promotion Weaknesses ................................................................................................. 3 1.1.3 Strengths ................................................................................................................................. 4

2.0 Strategy Formulation ....................................................................................... 4

2.1 Goals ................................................................................................................................ 4 2.2 Target Marketing Strategy ............................................................................................... 5 2.3 Marketing Mix Objectives & Strategy ............................................................................... 6

2.3.1 Product ................................................................................................................................... 6 2.3.2 Place & Promotion ................................................................................................................... 7

3.0 Strategy Implementation ................................................................................. 10

3.1 E-Metrics ........................................................................................................................ 10 3.2 Budget ............................................................................................................................ 10

4.0 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 11

M: 0422 040 340 [email protected]

Bridport Bay Inn E-Marketing Plan 1

Bridport Bay Inn E-Marketing Plan Noah Murphy (Clothesline Marketing Solutions®)

1.0 Situation Analysis

Bridport Bay Inn’s (BBI) current online presence is deficient, and does not adequately capitalise

on the opportunities presented by digital marketing. With an effective eMarketing campaign,

BBI can drastically increase its brand awareness, improve its brand image, create long-term

relationships with customers and generally leave customers with a more positive brand

experience. Sitting in the ideal location by the beach, with US Golf magazine’s 35th best golf

course in the world (Bridport Bay Inn, 2015) a few minutes away and beautiful walking tracks

and vineyards to explore, BBI is in prime position to fulfill its mission statement “to be the

retreat of choice after a beautiful day in Bridport” (Mark Ford, personal communication, August

3, 2015). But there is one main competitor for the patronage of visitors to the area, and that is

Bridport Hotel (BH), 200 metres along the same street.

There are opportunities for BBI to exploit its competitive advantage however, in that BH rooms

do not have their own facilities and charge based on number of people, rendering the hotel

unsuitable for families, and anyone who wants their own facilities to be able to prepare their own

meals and use their own bathroom. This opportunity forms the basis of BBI’s targeting strategy,

discussed in Section 2.1. But BBI also possesses a number of critical weaknesses that must be

corrected to stay competitive in the Bridport accommodation and dining industry.

mailto:[email protected]



1.1 E-Marketing Strengths & Weaknesses

1.1.1 Website Weaknesses

BBI’s official website is riddled with issues that impinge on its function as an informational,

promotional and transactional tool (Chaffey, Ellis-Chadwick & Chaffey, 2012). The most

obvious of these issues are programming errors; as illustrated by Figure 1, some of the photos

and videos in the ‘Accommodation’ section do not display, which is a crucial error because

visitors to the site need to see what the rooms look like if they are to book them before arriving.

Another significant issue with the site highlighted by Figure 1 is that it is difficult to navigate.

There are two separate tabs for ‘Accommodation’ and ‘Book & Pay’, so that once the consumer

has looked through the units and chosen one, they then must go to the ‘Book & Pay’ tab and find

this unit again in the list.

Figure 1: BBI Website Navigation & Functionality Issues



Furthermore Figure 2 reveals that there are two sets of tabs: one across the top of the page and a

vertical list at the bottom. These two sets have some of the same links, but also links that are

unique to that set, making for a confusing and inconsistent layout. Weinstein (2014) states that

poor site navigation is a key contributor to site abandonment, or what Chaffey, Ellis-Chadwick

and Chaffey (2012) identify as a high bounce rate, and with BBI’s website currently recording a

58% bounce rate (Google, 2015), it is vital that the site’s navigation is improved.

1.1.2 Website Promotion Weaknesses

Additionally to these issues with the website is the lack of a Facebook page promoting the

company and its website. Hayes, Page and Buhalis (2012) claim that social media is a vital tool

for any firm pursuing long-term relationships with clients via an E-Marketing campaign, and is

also unparalleled in its ability to cost-effectively generate traffic for the firm’s official website,

making it a perfect tool to achieve BBI’s marketing objectives. BBI’s E-marketing campaign is

Figure 2: BBI Site Layout Issue



stagnant; nothing is leading the target markets to the website except for a flawed Search Engine

Optimisation (SEO) strategy (Chaffey et al., 2012).

A Google search for ‘accommodation Bridport tasmania’ displays BH, but only displays BBI’s

bottleshop, Cellarbrations. Searching ‘restaurant food bridport tasmania’ reveals BH on page

one, but does not display BBI at all. BBI’s keywords evidently focus on its function as a pub,

showing up on page one for ‘pub Bridport Tasmania’, but it is essential that BBI use the

keywords of ‘accommodation’, ‘restaurant, and ‘food’ as well, otherwise anyone searching

online for accommodation or dining in Bridport is likely to turn to BH, as that is what is

presented to them. With no Facebook presence and a flawed SEO strategy, BBI’s website is

totally isolated (Chaffey et al., 2012).

1.1.3 Strengths

It must be noted however that BBI’s website has a number of strengths. Chiefly, it provides

customers with the opportunity to book online. Secondly, through pictures, descriptions, prices

and availability charts, it allows website visitors to research the units themselves without having

to register their interest with the company. This is another significant competitive advantage over

BH, which has no information about the actual accommodation, encouraging website visitors to

call their number or send them an email to enquire. This puts pressure on curious researchers,

who might feel guilt for contacting the company without serious intentions to book (Solomon,

Russell-Bennett & Previte, 2013).

2.0 Strategy Formulation

2.1 Goals

The redevelopment of BBI’s E-Marketing campaign bears three basic goals in mind:

- Increase brand awareness



- Create long-term relationships with customers

- Increase sales

It is essential that BBI specify its target segments in order to give its E-Marketing campaign

direction (Chaffey et al., 2012) in achieving the above goals.

2.2 Target Marketing Strategy

The following target markets have been selected adhering to Chaffey, Ellis-Chadwick &

Chaffey’s (2012) criteria; they are profitable, sustainable, accessible and of adequate size, with a

particular focus on accessibility. That is, BBI will target these segments because their desired

product characteristics already align with the benefits presented by BBI and its consequent

benefit-based position in the market (Chaffey et al., 2012) and thus this target marketing strategy

requires no brand repositioning, which Hooley, Piercy and Nicoulaud (2012) explain can be both

expensive and risky. The secondary target market has been identified considering BBI’s

proximity to US Golf Magazine’s number 35 golf course in the world (Bridport Bay Inn, 2015).

Figure 3 and 4 illustrate the target markets and their characteristics.

Primary Target Market

Demographic 35-50 years old. Married, with 1-3 children. Income: $75-110K p/a. They are not rich but able

to afford travelling to Tasmania. The figure is capped at $110K because the rooms are cheap

and not luxurious.

Geographic Sydney or Canberra, which are cities within driving distance.

Psychographic They value family, as they would want their children to stay in the same room as them on a

holiday, and serenity, as BH is a renowned ‘party’ location.

Behavioural They have used a travel app within the last month, meaning they might be planning a trip.

They like to research a holiday thoroughly and like to book ahead.

Figure 3: BBI Primary Target Market



Secondary Target Market

Demographic Male. 40-55 years old.

Product Own golf clubs. Subscribed to Inside Golf or Golf Digest.

Social Have friends who play golf.

Income $70-95K p/a, as golfers who could afford the luxury rooms on the golf course would most

likely stay there.

Geographic Sydney.

Psychographic They value nature, ocean views and friends.

Behavioural They have used a travel app within the last month, meaning they might be planning a trip.

They like to research a holiday thoroughly and like to book ahead.

Figure 4: BBI Secondary Target Market

2.3 Marketing Mix Objectives & Strategy

Focusing on these target markets, eight E-Marketing objectives have been drafted to achieve the

aforementioned basic goals, each altering aspects of BBI’s current marketing mix strategy. The

only unaffected aspect of BBI’s marketing mix will be price, as it is already set ideally for its

position in the market (Chaffey et al., 2012).

2.3.1 Product

1) Conversion rate: Increase the site conversion rate from 2.1% (Google, 2015) to 8% in

three months. This will be achieved by correcting the issues with the website discussed in

Section 1.1.1. The two separate tabs for ‘Accommodation’ and ‘Book & Pay’ will be

combined; the units displayed in the ‘Accommodation’ section will be clickable links to a

booking form. This will have a ‘Sales’ benefit (Chaffey et al., 2012), by guiding



consumers towards booking their room. It will also have an intangible ‘Serve’ benefit, by

allowing visitors to obtain value easier and faster (Chaffey et al., 2012).

2) Bounce rate: Decrease the bounce rate (Chaffey et al., 2012) from 58% to 25% in six

months, by correcting the site issue mentioned in Objective 1.

2.3.2 Place & Promotion

3) Keyword rating: Achieve first page ranking in a Google search for each of the following

key words: ‘Bridport’, ‘accommodation’, ‘restaurant’, ‘food’ and ‘pub’. This will be

achieved by adding the keywords of ‘accommodation’, ‘restaurant’ and ‘food’ as

discussed in Section 1.1.2, and renaming the internal ‘Our Bistro’ link that SEO Site

Checkup (2015) deems to not be SEO friendly due to its inclusion of symbols. It will be

changed from ‘www.bridportbayinn.com.au/our-bistro’ to

‘www.bridportbayinn.com.au/restaurant’, which is also a more general keyword than

bistro for SEO crawlers to find.

4) Channel source: each month attract at least 30 website visitors sourced from the Google

channel, to confirm that BBI’s improvements to its SEO strategy are having a significant

positive impact on site traffic.

5) Develop a Facebook page, linked to the website for integration (Chaffey et al., 2012), with

300 ‘likes’ in one year. BH currently has 1,229. The first step to achieve these 300 ‘likes’

is to purchase a Facebook advertisement aimed at the primary target market, pictured in

Figure 5 as a template.



Advertising on Facebook will be a highly effective means of direct communication

(Chaffey et al., 2012) for BBI, as the advertisement will only be delivered to Facebook

users who match the characteristics of the target market. This will be continuous as

opposed to a campaign (Chaffey et al., 2012), as historically the inn has had excess supply

throughout the year. As the page gains popularity through attention created by the

advertisement, posts will be made on the page encouraging people to visit the website and

see the available units. Both the posts on the page and the paid advertisements will use

Perceptual Objective Advertising (Hooley et al., 2012), aiming to improve BBI’s

perceived benefits of convenience and comfort, as this is what both the primary and

secondary target markets desire, and what differentiates BBI from BH (Chaffey et al.,

2012). The posts will also have the general aim of generating conversation and attention to

the page, such as asking members of the page what their favourite thing to do in Tasmania

is. This will deliver a ‘Speak’ benefit, by developing a long-term relationship with

customers through communication (Chaffey et al., 2012). It will also have a ‘Serve’

Figure 5: Facebook advertisement template



benefit, as it gives customers a platform to ask questions and have their complaints heard,

and a ‘Save’ benefit, by directing people to the website much less expensively than by

traditional media (Chaffey et al., 2012).

6) Channel source: Attract at least 30 visitors to the website sourced from the Facebook

channel (Chaffey et al., 2012), to confirm that the utilisation of social media is having a

positive impact on site traffic.

7) Brand visibility: achieve at least 500 impressions of BBI’s Facebook advertisement every

day. According to Facebook’s (2015) Ad Management, the advertisement is expected to

reach 520 to 1400 people every day, so this objective should be attainable. It is also easily

measurable as Facebook (2015) sends performance reports to advertisers.

8) Increase the email database from 48 to 150 addresses in one year. This number will

naturally increase by the additional traffic generated by the other objectives. There will

also be posts on the Facebook page encouraging people who have ‘liked’ the page to also

subscribe to emails on the website, if they wish to receive the latest information about

availability and events at the inn and events nearby. This will have both ‘Speak’ and

‘Sales’ benefits, as people who are thinking about a holiday will be reminded of BBI, and

people who weren’t thinking about a holiday might consider it after seeing a particular

event happening at BBI. It is also a great platform for Sales Promotion, in conjunction

with the Facebook page, if BBI chooses to use this strategy to control demand (Lovelock,

Wirtz & Chew, 2012) in the future.

9) Establish a blog on behalf of BBI on Blogger, which receives 12 reader comments a

month. The blog will post weekly articles about activities to do near BBI, BBI news and

general current affairs in Tasmania, with the intention of generating conversation and

consequently brand awareness (Sanusi, 2014). The number of reader comments will

measure the level of conversation generated.



3.0 Strategy Implementation

3.1 E-Metrics

The progress of these SMART objectives will be monitored with E-Metrics (Chaffey et al.,

2012). Once the issues with the website are rectified, the conversion rate will be calculated each

week using a server-based log file analysis, as this E-Metric is low cost and BBI only requires a

basic measurement (Chaffey et al., 2012). The server-based log file analysis will also be used to

measure channel source (Chaffey et al., 2012). The SEO friendliness and keyword ranking will

be measured using SEO Site Checkup, and bounce rate will be measured using Google

Analytics.

3.2 Budget

This e-Marketing campaign will incur minimal costs. The website design changes will not cost

anything as they will be implemented in-house by BBI’s owner who previously worked in Web

Design, and no server upgrades are required for the minor changes. The log file analysis will be

conducted using www.webalizer.org, a free program. The required budget for Facebook

E-Marketing Plan Budget

Expense Cost p/a ($)

Facebook advertisements 1825 (recommended)

Facebook page 0

Website design changes 0

Server-based log file analysis 0

SEO Site Checkup 0

Google Analytics 0

Contingency rate (10%) 182.50

TOTAL $2007.50

http://www.webalizer.org



advertisement to achieve the brand visibility objective is $5 per day, costing $1825 per year.

Finally, both SEO Site Checkup & Google Analytics offer free versions, which are sufficient for

BBI’s required E-Metrics.

4.0 Conclusion

BBI’s current E-Marketing campaign is both stagnant and flawed. Strategies to generate traffic to

the website are virtually non-existent, and anyone who finds the website is presented with a

number of barriers to their easy navigation of the website. The proposed E-Marketing plan will

solve these issues; namely by creating a Facebook page which develops a relationship with

customers and leads them to the website, a blog for stimulating conversation, and by altering the

website to improve its flow, and therefore its informational, promotional and transactional value

(Chaffey et al., 2012). The accomplishment of the objectives drafted will ensure BBI’s success in

the Bridport accommodation and dining industry.



References

Baer, J. (2015). How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to your Blogging Strategy. Retrieved 9

October, 2015, from http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-

measurement/how-to-match-10-key-success-metrics-to-your-blogging-strategy/

Bridport Bay Inn (2015). Things to do. Retrieved 4 August, 2015, from

http://bridportbayinn.com.au/things-to-do

Chaffey, D., Ellis-Chadwick, F., & Chaffey, D. (2012). Digital marketing. Harlow: Pearson.

Facebook (2015). Facebook Ads Manager. Retrieved 12 August, 2015, from

https://www.facebook.com/ads/manager/creation/creation/?act=63460507&pid=p1

Google (2015). Google Analytics. Retrieved 3 August, 2015, from https://www.google.com/analytics/web/provision?et=&authuser=#provision/SignUp/

Hayes, S., Page, S., & Buhalis, D. (2015). Social media as a destination marketing tool: its use

by national tourism organisations. Current Issues In Tourism, 16(3), 211-239.

doi:10.1080/13683500.2012.662215

Hooley, G. J., Piercy, N., & Nicoulaud, B. (2012). Marketing strategy & competitive positioning

(5th ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited.

Lovelock, C., Wirtz, J., & Chew, P. (2012). Essentials of services marketing (2nd ed.).

Singapore: Pearson Education South Asia.



Meyer, P.J. (2003). What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

[EBL version]. Retrieved from

http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Attitude_Is_Everything.html?id=C2V0OwAAC

AAJ&redir_esc=y

Sanusi, A. (2014, June 25). How to write a successful blog that also promotes your business. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2013/apr/30/how-to-write-a-business-blog

SEO Site Checkup (2015). Toolbox. Retrieved 9 October, 2015, from https://toolbox.seositecheckup.com/apps/seo-checkup#

Solomon, M., Russell-Bennett, R., & Previte, J. (2013). Consumer behaviour. Frenchs Forest,

N.S.W.: Pearson Australia.

Weinstein, M. (2014). Why People Leave Your Site and How To Fix It - CPC Strategy.

Ecommerce & Retail Search News and Strategies. Retrieved from

http://www.cpcstrategy.com/blog/2014/03/cart-abandonment/

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