The Importance Of Digital Marketing For HMV

Advantages of Digital Marketing for HMV

In the modern world, digital marketing has become a common phenomenon. In the words of Mooney and Slobodian (2016), digital marketing can help companies to continue marketing transactions using the internet. In the case of HMV, the adoption of digital marketing can help the retail company in numerous ways. Thus, HMV need to understand the importance of digital marketing over the traditional marketing in the modern world. Some of the advantages include:

Global reach: It has been seen that HMV is famous in the UK and has over 128 stores in the country (Hmv.com 2018). However, the company needs to expand its brand in areas other than the UK. Digital marketing can help the company reach to people across the globe and can enable the company to find new markets. In the digital age of mobiles and stereo phones, the use of gramophones for listening to music has lessened. Hence, digital marketing can help HMV to gain a significant growth in the market and enjoy the success it once had in the music entertainment industry.

Lower cost: Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick (2016) are of the opinion that a proper digital marketing strategy can help in reaching the right customers. Digital marketing can filter the number of customers that exist in the market and ensure that companies selling a particular brand can gain access to the customers. HMV can use the digital marketing strategy to music lovers and ensure that the customers do not have to endure traditional marketing methods for searching songs in the website. This can help the company to reach out to the customers and increase its reputation in the business market.

Measurable results: Perhaps one of the biggest importances of digital marketing is that the results can be easily tracked and recorded. The use of web analytics and online metric tools can help HMV to establish an effective campaign. Detailed information about the reactions of the customers can be obtained by analysing the responses of the advertisement. Any new records developed by HMV can be easily identified with the help of analysing the responses of the customers. The exact amount of money that HMV can make with the application of digital tactics can be analysed by digital marketing.

Personalisation: In order to be effective in the digital world, it is necessary that HMV maintain personal website and a customer database. With the help of the database of the customers, HMV can identify the people that have visited the websites (Armstrong et al. 2015). This can provide an opportunity for the company to identify its target market and ensure that products are sold at a low cost to the people. The customer profile can be refined by analysing the sales and visits to the websites. This is one technique that is absent in the traditional marketing facility as the number of visitors in a physical store cannot be determined.

Global Reach

Openness: Involvement in the social media can help management of HMV to build loyalty of the customers. This is mainly because of the fact that the interaction with the customers can be increased with the application of digital marketing. Following the activities of the customers by using the Facebook or Twitter page can help in understanding the mentality and the reactions of the customers towards music. The favourite and passion of music of the customers can also be determined with the application of social media as a means of digital marketing technique.

Increased rate of conversion: With the application of digital marketing, customers have the potential to purchase more as the chances of purchase increases. Traditional marketing require people to visit the stores and make purchase with a probability of failing to purchase due to the product being out of stock. However, with the application of digital marketing, HMV can reach customers and ensure that the customers do not get deprived due to absence of products (Ryan 2016). 

Pay-per-click or PPC is used in the modern day world for online advertisement of products. HMV can design an effective PPC by ensuring that the goals of the business and the target markets are identified. At the same time, it is necessary to estimate the budget initially before implementing the technique. In the case of designing SEM, HMV need to ensure that it is made as per the convenience of the customers. The customers look for business that has an attractive yet convenient method of search (Leeflang et al. 2014).  Hence, the designing need to be done keeping in mind the convenience of the customers.

At the same time, HMV need to ensure that the online display of the products is guaranteed so that the people can be familiar with the type of items that are sold by HMV. The designing of the online device need to be such that customers can get to see the products as soon as they visit the website. According to Tiago and Veríssimo (2014), HMV can develop video advertising campaign by analysing the reactions of the customers and ensuring that the video is not too long. It needs to make the video advertisement reach the target market.

HMV can conduct a thorough research of the market and pinpoint the customers it wants to continue doing business. The application of SEM can help HMV understand the customers that are into the product. One of the manner in which the SEM can be implemented is by creating advertisements. The application of the advertisement campaigns can be based on the reactions provided by the customers. According to Charlesworth (2018), every SEM has different search engines and customers could be targeted based on the responses it provides in the market. Search Engine Marketing can help HMV by identifying the rate at which customers visit the site and view the advertisements. The SEM can be useful to analyse the customers via the social media network. The advertisement of the products can be displayed in the social media so that the reactions of the customers can be assessed. 

Lower Cost

According to Urban, Gosline and Lee (2017), content marketing is another form of modern marketing technique that can help in attracting the customers. Some of the ways by which content marketing can be used to attract customers involve:

Easier navigation of content: Most customers do not like to continue to search for the products after visiting a website. The complicated method of conducting navigation can provide complications to the manner in which the potential responses of the customers are made. Hence, putting tags and categorising the items provided by the HMV can help it to attract customers.

Create relevant content: Getting straight to the point is preferred more by the customers than beating about the bush (Moran and Hunt 2014). The contents of HMV need to be to the point and short so that customers can understand the product in one glance. However, the content need to be vivid so that every point related to the products is provided for the convenience of the customers.

Make the content shareable: In the modern world, word of mouth is considered as an old-fashioned way of promoting a business with the help from the customers. Thus, HMV need to make the content shareable so that the customers can refer the product to others. This provides an excellent opportunity for spreading the products and ensures that HMV can expand its market beyond the local boundaries.

Thus, after keeping the application of SEM in mind, it can be said that certain laws and guidelines need to be followed by HMV. These laws and guidelines are related to the legal guidelines promoted by the UK Government. From example, the Data Protection Act of 1998 need to be strictly followed so that HMV does not leak out any personal data of the customers.

According to Pan (2015), social marketing and email marketing cover about 96% of the success tasted by business organisations. In the case of HMV, the use of email marketing and social marketing can help it to attract customers and engage them in the activities of the company. The advantage is that both the forms of marketing can help in retaining the existing customers and at the same time ensure that the old customers are engaged in investing for a long-term with the company. Therefore, the advantages of both the forms of marketing can be analysed keeping in mind the important role it plays in the business market.

Advantages of Email Marketing	Advantages of Social Marketing
According to Yang, Shi and Wang (2015), Email marketing has a wide reach in terms of audience. This can be done in a small amount of time and allows customers to immediately provide their responses about the message sent via the email. The sending of an email requires the use of minimum software and minimum knowledge of computers.	Social media marketing can help in increasing the brand awareness of a company. This particular advantage is similar to the benefit provided by the Email marketing. HMV can implement both the strategies so that the company can evolve itself in the market (Terrance, Shrivastava and Kumari 2017). However, in this case it is necessary to create social media profiles to follow the customers.
Email marketing can help HMV to gain a return on investment. According to Ledford (2015), email marketing is more cost effective than traditional direct mailing. This is because in the case of direct mailing, HMV need to expense certain amounts for the delivery of the messages. However, in email marketing, links can be embedded in messages and ensure that the website is driven by the company.	The search engine rankings can be improved with the application of social media marketing. Aswani et al. (2018) stated that SEO is important for creating higher page rankings so that the customers can visit the website and gain knowledge about the company. At the same time, it can help in increasing the interaction between the customers and HMV.
Email marketing helps to improve the brand awareness. Latest reports have seen that with the age of digitalisation, the use of gramophones and records have lost its importance in the market. Therefore, it is necessary for HMV to implement the email marketing so that it can reach the customers and improve its brand awareness.	Social marketing can also help in increasing the rate of purchase. With the help of social marketing, HMV can gain a positive impression in the marketing. The customers and the brand interact with one another by sharing the content and likewise provide feedback about the manner in which HMV can improve its production in the business market.
It can help in customising the data of the customers. Email marketing can help in customising data, so that target market can be mailed the specific contents. For example, HMV can send email to people preferring rock band about the latest metal collections that the company have to offer. This can help in categorising the market and ensure that customers are targeted based on the preferences it has.	Social marketing can help in increasing the satisfaction of the customers. This is because with the help of social marketing, HMV can understand the impressions of the customers. The increased interaction with the customers can help them to understand the level of demand that the customers have about the products.

Measurable Results

Table: Advantages of Email Marketing and Social Marketing for HMV

(Source: Created by author)

Thus, after the analysis of both the forms of marketing, it can be said that HMV can use the social marketing approach to ensure the business expands. This is because in the modern world social media is the most popular form of marketing media that can help in analysing the target customers. According to Swirsky et al. (2018), the interaction with the customers can be improved with the help of social marketing more than email marketing as a mass of people can be reached with clear emphasis of the intentions of the company. Customers can understand the promotional method used by the company and the feedback provided can help HMV to improve its business.

In order to ensure that the website of a company is in an optimised state, it is necessary that companies conduct a website optimisation test. According to Kannan (2017), in the modern world, the website plays an important in connecting to the customers. Without a proper website, organisations cannot function properly as customers check the websites to verify the legality of a company. In the case of HMV, the website of the company can help in providing people knowledge about the type of products it sells. Hence, website optimisation techniques can help HMV to improve the quality of the website performance. The techniques include:

Image optimisation: One of the biggest challenges that customers face while visiting websites is that of the images displayed in it. Image optimisation helps in understanding the image displayed in the websites clearly. The manner in which this can be done is by providing the right code for the display of image. In the case of HMV, about 64% of the company’s website is weighed by image (Hmv.com 2018). Therefore, it is necessary for the company to ensure that the images are optimised by using the Optimus WordPress PlugIn along with the APPI to focus on the images provided by the company. 

Reduction of HTTP requests: While fetching data, the browser uses the HTTP, which acts as a respondent factor between the host and client. This is bad for a company as more HTTP requests can make the websites slower. Hence, it is important for HMV to reduce the excess HTTP requests so that the website can speed up and customers do not have any problems while visiting the sites. HMV can ensure that such a thing can be avoided by ensuring that the Javascript is made in line with the browsers. The use of CSS Sprites can help the HMV to reduce any caches coming in the websites. At the same time, 3^rd party plug-ins can be reduced so that external requests can be reduced.

Personalisation

Minimise the use of CSS and Javascript: Removal of unnecessary characters is required for the optimisation of websites. In the case of HMV, the company can reduce the use of CSS and Javascript that are not required. The loading of some of the scripts of CSS and Javascript can help it to speed up the website. According to Sharma and Shah (2017), some of the characters that are required to be eliminated from the website include white space characters, new line characteristics, comments and block delimiters. Thus, the load times can be reduced and amount of codes required for gaining request from the servers are analysed.

Develop a critical path and render blocking of resources: To understand the speed of the websites, it is necessary to understand the materials that are blocking it. This blockages causes delay in the load times of the pages. The render blocking resources like HTML, CSS and Javascript can be the cause of blockage of the software. Therefore, HMV can use a few techniques that can help the website to remain optimised. For example, proper use of CSS files is required so that CSS resources can be rendered by lessening the amount of CSS in the website. At the same time, West, Ford and Ibrahim (2015) stated that the Javascript could be used to synchronize the level of files with the CSS and prevent any foreign bodies from entering sites. Thus, by using these techniques, HMV can help in ensuring that the website of the company remain optimised and the script are executed properly for the conducting proper customer satisfaction. HMV can also use boosters that automatically speed up the website after it detects any type of potential harmful material.

One of the features of digital marketing is that it is a fast mover (Reimers, Chao and Gorman 2016). Hence, it is necessary for organisations to measure the success of the digital market and the plans associated with it. In the case of HMV, the company need to apply certain tools and measures that can help it to analyse the success of the digital strategy that have been used. As discussed earlier, HMV can benefit by using social marketing and thereby maintain its position in the UK. Certain tools are necessary that can help HMV to measure the success of the strategy. Some of the tools include:

HubSpot: HubSpot is considered as an all-in-one digital marketing plan. It helps in approaching the inbound marketing and automation. HMV can use this tool to analyse the logistic process it undertakes and ensure that a systematic campaign and monitoring of the process takes place. The features of this tool include the ability of HMV can monitor all its digital strategies such as the performances of the social media channels, pages and websites. HMV can compare the results with the competitors and keep track of the whole process that highlights the certain areas. HMV can also monitor the rankings and the amount of traffic it is receiving by identifying the specific key words required for digital marketing.

Openness

Google analytics: This particular software analysis tool is considered to help to monitor the software more loosely. It is the most used web analytic tool in the internet. HMV can get the basic version free of cost but 360 analytics needs to be used using premium pay service. The business owners of HMV can help in designing the analytics software so that business owners may find it comfortable to use the web analytics software. According to Brock et al. (2016), HMV can use this tool to analyse and report data based on pay-per-click responses. This is because HMV directly links its PPC campaign with the AdWorld. HMV also uses e-commerce for sales performance. 

Hootsuite: Hootsuite is used for managing multiple social media. HMV can use various social media channels in order to understand the effectiveness of the digital marketing strategy. Some of the social media figures that HMV uses include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Apart from this, as observed by Todor (2016) Hootsuite contains certain inbuilt reporting tools that can help HMV to continue monitoring its progress in the society. One of the major capabilities of Hootsuite is that the software helps to analyse different marketing segments that are discuss about the company. This information can be useful for HMV to analyse the sentiments of the customers and focus on creating brand awareness. This can be related to determine the success of the social media digital marketing approach used by HMV.

Mixpanel: According to Shaw and Hamilton (2016), the application of mixpanel is to understand the mobile devices used by HMV. One of the drawbacks however is that digital marketing has not caught up to the mobile application. The working on mobiles is different as compared with the functions available in PCs. Therefore, this can be considered as a technology that is still at the developing stage. However, with the emergence of smart phones, this particular software can be used to be implemented in the mobile phones. It is also a very simple method that can be used for carrying out tests in websites and applications. Hence, HMV can identify the new plans directly without having to bother about the consequences that had occurred using earlier plans.

Theaker (2017) is of the opinion that the digital marketing strategy can be incorporated after analysing a variety of tools. In the case of HMV, it has already been seen that the application of various tools can help the organisation understand the requirements. However, it has been seen that the company does not have a proper task or plan that can help it to incorporate digital marketing strategy. Wagner III and Hollenbeck (2014) also observed that about 46% of the brands do not have proper digital marketing strategy, while 16% of the companies do not have an idea about implementing the strategy. HMV also need to incorporate certain plans so that it can help in the effective conducting of business in the market.

Increased Rate of Conversion

The tasks that are required to be followed include:

Organisations need to know its objectives: HMV need to set defined objectives that can help the company to make effective plans. According to Welch (2016), it is necessary to define the overall objectives and mission of a company before incorporating it any type of digital marketing strategy. The objectives need to be aligned with the digital marketing strategy and the company need to form alliance in the online efforts made by the organisations. The objective of HMV is to ensure that the company abides by the rules and regulations set up by the British Government and help in the expansion of the company outside the colony of UK (Hmv.com 2018). Thus, knowledge of the objectives can help HMV to align its digital marketing strategy in a proper manner.

Set and measure the KPIs: Watson et al. (2015) is of the opinion that KPIs are important as it helps in identifying the capabilities of an organisation. In the case of HMV, the KPIs of the organisation are the sales figures that are held accountable for the growth or decline of the country. In the modern era, the sale of the gramophones can be considered as a huge loss however, switch in strategies by the company can help in measuring the digital marketing activities. Comparison can be made that highlights the previous strategies as well as the current marketing strategy adopted by the company.

Analysis of the past: Taking into account the past mistakes can help a company like HMV to implement the digital marketing strategy effectively (Zablah et al. 2016). However, arguments can be made that states that in the past the development of digital strategies was not as modern as in today’s world (Zhao 2016). HMV can choose a time that can help the company to analyse its past and compare it with the present strategies. This can help in its growth and ensure that similar mistakes are not made. One such past mistake that HMV can improve upon is the inability to adapt to the continuous changes in the business market. 

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