This task was a challenge but was one I enjoyed been able to get into a marketing mind to think beyond the obvious, I feel I did well on this given my small budget being able to think of the small business logically to spend within their means, if I was to criticise my work it would be that next time being able to get a more accurate price range for the Google Ads and Facebook ads but this requires me creating account for these which I may do for future reference for myself, I would have liked to been able to do more on the rebranding of the business visuals to make it more of an overall professional appearance.
improving a current brand
Improving a Current Brand Task 3
Improving a Current Brand Task 2 – Competitor Analysis
For the competitor analysis I have chosen to use another local dog training school so that given they have the same potential clientele to reach it is a very accurate competitor to become better than through having a better digital strategy, for this I have chosen “Dogs Playpark” (https://www.dogsplaypark.co.uk/classes).
The first major advantage that they have over “Hannabees” is that they have and established website, this gives them an incredible edge as you are able to find them through search engines rather than solely relying on word of mouth, it gives the customer the advantage of being able to check for classes and their timetables to find suitability. They also have the ability to take bookings online to save having to chase up customers for funds and also allows the customer to instantly have acknowledgment of the payment and class without having to wait on a reply from admin. It gives details on each class that is available along with their duration and price to a simple click meaning it is convenient for the customer no matter the time of day. The website also has the padlock to show to customers that the site is encrypted and secure giving peace of mind to those who are unsure on technology.
They don’t use Google Ads so a well made website with this attached to it would give “Hannabees” an advantage over its competitors as it would be higher listed on a Google search meaning it is more likely to be clicked on leading to more potential customers. They also don’t appear to have their own analytics either as there is no consent to cookies on the website meaning they have no way to track the traffic that comes to their website.
They also have a reasonably active Facebook account which is linked to the website and vice verser, their Facebook page has a more professional look to it over “Hannabees”, this is also a factor as they have more of a business branding which “Hannabees” is lacking in.
Improving a Current Brand Task 2- Budget and Tools
Budget:
I have chosen to give the digital strategy a budget of £1000 per year, as this is only a small independent business I feel that this is a reasonable sum to apply until further company growth, due to it being a small business this budget is the current maximum spend as anything under this would be saved to cover unforeseen expenses such as critical website alterations.
Tools:
Website:
The starting point for the entire digital strategy will be built for firstly developing a website for the business as it currently doesn’t have one. A web developer could be a significant amount from the budget to design and create the website but it would be of a high standard and usually comes with after support included and would not require any skills from the company to create. Where as a website builder such as Wix (https://www.wix.com) is a lot cheaper initially but requires the business to do the entirety of the work with could make it a time consuming aspect and may not be done to the same professional level.
The above image shows the rough guide on the price of hosting which is required for the website, taking one of the most expensive of HostGator at £2.29 p/m this would equate to £27.48 from the budget over the year.
The above image shows the prices for domain names from Google Domains (https://domains.google.com) for Hannabee Puppy School, as hannabeepuppyschool.co.uk isn’t available the next best option would be hannabeepuppyschool.com which is £10 per year from the budget.
The domain name and hosting would roughly take £37.48 from the budget each year before any website development takes place.
Keyword research:
For this I have used SEMrush (www.semrush.com), I applied key words related to my chosen business such as “dog training” and “puppy school” to find what variations on these generate the most online traffic,
this allows the digital strategy to pin point the most accurate listing for the website description and its contents. Although we are choosing not to use this tool initially as its an unknown cost to the company as it is charged per click on-top of the advertisement price the tools itself has given clear information of the different variations on “puppy training near me” which will be the primary wording for the Google Ads.
Google Ads:
Google Ads allows the business website to be displayed higher up on the list of results making it more likely for a customer to click on it over another, it also allows your to be able to target customers within a designated area or more “local” potential customers. It offers a variety of ad options for different needs but for our digital strategy I will only be focusing on Search Ads to begin with to keep within budget, but this will still allow the business to track how the ad is going and be able to alter the budget continuously which means that although we don’t have a specific amount from the budget per year we are able to set an amount we are willing to pay up to as you are only charged per visit to the website, I would set this budget at around a maximum of £100 for the first 4 months to be reviewed at both 2 and 4 month intervals to see if this would require increasing or not as it would also have the Facebook Ads running as the Facebook page is well established and what people already know. The Google Ads would be linked to either “dog training near me” or “puppy training near me” as they had the greatest volume of searches to create targeted advertisements.
Facebook Ads:
Facebook Ads allows the business to be advertised within a customers news feeds without having to “like” the page, it works very similar to Google Ads that it allows you to set your budget, this would be set the same budget as Google Ads of around a maximum of £100 for the first 4 months to be reviewed at both 2 and 4 month intervals to see if this would require increasing due to this been the primary method of advertisements and communication currently.
Budget Summery:
Web Domain : £0.83 (per month) £10.00 (per year)
Web Hosting : £2.29 (per month) £27.48 (per year)
Google Ads : £25.00 (per month) £300.00 (per year)
Facebook Ads : £25.00 (per month) £300.00 (per year)
Total: £53.12 (per month) £637.48 (per year)
Available : £362.52 from budget
Improving a Current Brand Task 1 – Identifying the Current Brand to Improve.
Hannabee Puppy School
I have chosen to use Hannabee Puppy School, this is a local dog training school designed for all breeds of dog and accommodating multiple classes for the different ages or requirements. They also offer dog walking and dog sitting services throughout the week, they have become a reputable company mainly through positive word of mouth and solely using their Facebook page (https://en-gb.facebook.com/hannabeepuppyschool/).
I have chosen to improve this brands digital strategy as it currently doesn’t have one, they are only present on the internet through their Facebook page, this gives them very little online presence but allows for a solid digital strategy to be developed for them to follow, this would allow for the business to increase and intern see an increase in profits over time quickly. It would also allow them more opportunities to reach more customers and make tracking things like ROI easier to follow.
Naomi Eccles 