Short-Term Digital Marketing Plan for the City of London Investment Trust Plc

Short-Term Digital Marketing Plan for The City Of London Investment Trust PLC

Jack McCartney
Student ID: 33299226
BA (Hons) Marketing
Digital & Interactive Marketing
Short-Term Digital Marketing Plan for FTSE 250 Company – Individual Assignment
Neil Richardson
Word Count: 2,320
Date Submitted: 17/12/2012

Executive Summary

This report has been commissioned to provide The City of London Investment Trust with strategic recommendations on how to plan their short-term digital growth, through the development and retention of existing e-customers on their digital platforms.

Contents

Pages 6 - 7
1. Introduction

Pages 8 -9
2. Situation Analysis
2.1 Market Overview

Pages 10 -12
3. Macro-Environmental Analysis
3.1 Environmental Scanning

Pages 13 - 21
4. Micro-Environmental Analysis
4.1 Stakeholder Analysis
4.2 Company Structure
4.3 Customer Segmentation Analysis
4.4 Competitor Analysis
4.5 Distribution Analysis
4.7 SWOT Analysis
4.6 Competitive Advantage Review
4.8 TOWS Analysis

Page 22
5. Digital Marketing Objectives

Pages 23 - 24
6. Customer Development & Growth Strategy
6.1 Targeting
6.2 Positioning
6.2.1 Online Value Proposition

Page 25
7. Conclusions

Pages 26 – 30
8. Key Recommendations & Control Measures

Page 31
9. Conclusion

Pages 32 - 34
Bibliography

Pages 35 - 58
Appendices

1. Introduction
This report will be structured as a digital marketing plan that will begin by analysing The City of London Investment Trust’s (COLIT) macro and micro-environment and how they currently market themselves digitally. The report will then move onto comparing COLIT’s online presence to that of its competitors. The final section of the report will offer the company strategic recommendations that should be implemented in order to achieve the objectives stated, with a blend of McDonald’s marketing planning process and Chaffey’s SOSTAC model chosen as a suitable report framework.
The

Bibliography: 2). Chaffey et al., (2008) ‘Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice’ (4th Ed.) London: FT Prentice Hall 3) 4). Gosnay and Richardson (2008) Develop Your Marketing Skills London: Kogan Page 5) 6). Richardson, N (2010) ‘A Quick Start Guide to Mobile Marketing’ London: Kogan Page 7) 8). Otter & Wetherly (2011) ‘The Business Environment’. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 2). City of London Investment Trust Annual Report & Financial Statements (2012) Online Resources: 1). Athelney (2012) ‘Official Website’ [Internet] Available from: <http://www.athelneytrust.co.uk/shareholder_information.html> [Accessed: 5th November, 2012] 2) 5). HGI (2012) ‘Investment Trusts Explained’. [Internet] Available from: <http://www.henderson.com/sites/investment-trusts/investmenttrustsexplained.aspx.> [Accessed: 3rd November 2012] 6) 7). Invesco Perpetual (2012) ‘Official Website’ [Internet] Available from: <http://www.invescoperpetual.co.uk/portal/site/ip/products/productDetail?contentId=136c6f4edefed210VgnVCM1000002e1ebf0aRCRD> [Accessed: 5th November, 2012] 8) 9). Mintel (2008) ‘Sharedealing & Online Investing –UK – September 2008’ [Internet] Available from: <http://academic.mintel.com.ezproxy.leedsmet.ac.uk/display/413471/?highlight=true#hit1> [Accessed: 5th November, 2012] 10) 11). Moneyextra (2012) ‘Investment Trusts’ [Internet] Available from: <http://www.moneyextra.com/guides/investment-trusts-020603.html> [Accessed: 5th Novemeber, 2012] 12) 13). Stockopedia (2012) ‘City of London Investment Trust: 46 years on!’ [Internet] Available from: <http://www.stockopedia.co.uk/content/city-of-london-investment-trust-46-years-of-dividend-growth-69429/> [Accessed: 5th November] 14) 15). Trustnet (2012) ‘Stock Pickers Must Leave Their Ivory Tower, Curtis Warns’. [Internet] Available from: <http://www.trustnet.com/News/380521/stock-pickers-must-leave-their-ivory-tower-curtis-warns/> [Accessed: 3rd November 2012] Appendix 1 POLITICAL * The Government has reduced the attractiveness of its savings products to boost sales to the retail finance industry (Keynote, 2010) ECONOMIC * UK economy coming out of double dip recession after 1% growth in Q3 of 2012 (Bank of England, 2012) SOCIAL * Older consumers seem to be put off the most by volatile trading conditions (Mintel, 2008) TECHNOLOGICAL * Continued investment in technology – ‘improving online trading platforms and the analysis tools used by investors – has also probably helped to increase the appeal’ of Investment Trusts (Mintel, 2008) LEGAL * Under the terms of the Retail Distribution Review,as of 31 December 2012, Independent Financial Advisors will be ‘obliged to recommend suitable products from the entire range of those available’ (COLIT Annual Report, 2012) ETHICAL * Increasing interest in the Ethcial Investment market, with the EIRS calculating the industry at £9 billion in 2008, up from £1.5bn in 1998 (Trustnet, 2012) I 've always felt that web design personas lend themselves to email marketing and enewsletters in particular. Linking in to use of social media as well (Dave Chaffey, 2012). Appendix 6 Source: Google (2012) Source: HGI (2012)