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6. Marketing Strategy
6.1. Objectives – acquisition, retention, referral and revenue
BX’s limited marketing resources must be spent solely for the measurable objectives of (1) acquiring new BX BSUs, (2) retaining existing BX BSUs, and (3) getting referral to potential BX BSUs. The ultimate objective of any marketing efforts is to increase revenue for BX.
In particular, BX needs to deliver sufficient marketing messages to BSUs to the extent that:
For acquisition: BSUs are interested in what BX has to offer, as can be evidenced by the numbers of site visit, newsletter sign-up and membership activation.
For retention: BSUs are confident BX provides better user experience, as can be evidenced by more than one site visit from the same BSUs.
For referral: BSUs are willing to share BX with their friends, as can be evidenced by the viral coefficient.
For revenue: BSUs are convinced BX saves them time and money, as can be evidenced by their willingness to pay for the business services ordered.
6.2. Marketing tools
For each of the following identified objectives, multiple marketing tools will be employed, with emphasis being placed on those tools that can yield high volume, high conversion, and/or low cost.
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For acquisition: search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), internet ads, magazine ads, billboards, flyers, public relations etc.
For retention: social networks, email marketing etc.
For referral: social networks etc.
For revenue: official website etc.
6.3. Online tools
In light of BX’s limited resources, instead of opting for the traditional marketing methods, majority of BX’s marketing efforts will be devoted to the following online tools in order to generate worldwide awareness of the BX platform:
Search for relevant key words on search engines (such as Google, Bing, Baidu etc.):
SEO: BX will attempt to rewrite the content on the BX platform to organically achieve a higher ranking for BX’s official website on the search engine result page.
SEM: There are several types of paid online advertising campaigns (such as pay-per-click (CPC), pay-per-action (CPA), and pay-per-impression (CPI)) that can be utilized to promote the visibility of BX’s official website. The objective is to have the search engines purposely include BX’s official website on the search engine result page.
Place targeted internet ads on social networks:
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In light of the dominant business-to-business nature of the BX platform, it is will more cost-effective if BX’s advertising dollars are spent to display the internet ads only to the social network members who meet the targeting criteria. A good example is to use LinkedIn Ads45.
Visit the official fan page on social networks for tips and updates:
For all announcements: Facebook46, LinkedIn47, Google +48.
For short announcements: Twitter49, Sina Weibo50.
For demonstration and testimonies: Youtube51.
Send emails to potential and current BX BSUs, especially those who have subscribed to it on the BX platform, in the attempt of maintaining and extending the relationship with them.
Visit BX’s official website52 to experience its various offerings, such as:
E-commerce enabler.
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User-generated content: discussions, feedbacks, testimonies, reviews etc.
Share with friends:
‘Share’ button: Post a link of the official website on own social networks for others to see.
‘Email’ button: Send an email message about BX to friends.
Online real time Q&A.
When using the aforementioned online tools, BX will attempt to collect, measure and analyze every aspect of the internet traffic generated by BX’s target audience (such as hit, page view, visit, bounce rate, exit rate, duration, active time, frequency, click path etc.) using search analytics tools (such as Google Trends53) and web analytics tools (such as Google Analytics54, Alexa55 etc.). As part of BX’s viral marketing initiatives, BX will constantly identify individuals with high social networking potential (such as industry bloggers) and convert them to become evangelists for the BX platform.
6.4. Printed tools
When the resources permit, BX will magnify its marketing efforts to include the following more traditional marketing tools:
Periodic publications:
53 http://www.google.com/trends/
54 http://www.google.com/analytics/
55 http://www.alexa.com/
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Major business magazines (this list is by no mean exhaustive): Business Week, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, Money, Red Herring, The Economist, Wall Street Journal etc.
Industry journals (this list is by no mean exhaustive): law society, bar associations etc.
Billboards located in certain locations (this list is by no mean exhaustive):
Golf courses, driving ranges, tennis courts, country clubs, marinas, international airports, international train stations etc.
Flyers at certain locations (this list is by no mean exhaustive):
Central business districts, major business conferences etc.
6.5. Public relations
BX will direct some of its marketing efforts on selected public relations (PR) events:
Press releases and featured profile on major technology news and blogs (this list is by no mean exhaustive):
Techcrunch56, Mashable57, GigaOM58, VentureBeat59, Readwrite60 etc.
56 http://techcrunch.com/
57 http://mashable.com/
58 http://gigaom.com/
59 http://venturebeat.com/
60 http://readwrite.com/
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Road shows in strategically-selected cities (this list is by no mean exhaustive):
Major trade shows/exhibitions, product launch/demonstration events etc.
Event co-host or co-sponsor (this list is by no mean exhaustive):
Startup events, business networking events, ‘Starting Business in ___’ seminars, business model contests, community projects etc.
6.6. Road shows
In order to create exposure among Target BSUs, BX will attend major trade shows/exhibitions and organize product launch/demonstration events in most-populated61 or strategic cities. The 3-year road show itinerary is as below:
For 2013: Road shows in selected Asia countries: Taipei, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Wuhan, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Yangon, Dhaka, New Delhi, Lahore, Karachi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, Jakarta, Manila.
For 2014: Road shows in selected Middle East, Europe, and Africa countries: Dubai, Doha, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Sofia, Bucharest, Budapest, Warsaw, Kiev, Moscow, St.
Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Milan, Zurich, Paris, London, Dublin, Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Casablanca, Lagos, Kinshasa, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Cairo.
61 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_proper_by_population
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For 2015: Road shows in selected North America and Latin America countries: Vancouver, Toronto, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Austin, Mexico City, Caracas, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Lima, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle.
6.7. Regional marketing offices
In the event that BX has secured substantial funding for major overseas expansion initiatives, BX will establish 12 regional marketing offices, as below, to support its worldwide marketing campaign:
For Taiwan, Japan, Korea: Taipei.
For China, Hong Kong, Macau: Shanghai.
For Southeast Asia: Singapore.
For Oceania: Auckland.
For South Asia: Mumbai.
For Middle East: Dubai.
For Africa: Cairo.
For Europe: Zurich.
For North America (except USA): Toronto.
For USA: Los Angeles.
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For Latin America (except Brazil): Santiago.
For Brazil: Sao Paulo.
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