Question

Using the RACE digital planning model, examine how local digital marketing companies can effectively plan their online marketing campaign and further discuss how the planning can help them in gaining competitive advantage. Support your answer with relevant examples.

Answer 1

RACE digital planning model was designed to help digital marketers to plan and manage their digital marketing activities in a structured manner. It summarizes the online and multichannel marketing activities that and gives a simple framework to help small and large businesses to take advantage of the opportunities by way of digital marketing.

RACE digital planning model comprises of Reach, Act, Convert and Engage.

REACH. Reach involves reaching to the prospective customers that is building awareness of the brand of the products and services on other websites and channels and by driving visits to different web presences or social media pages. It aims to maximize reach and create interactions using different paid, owned and earned medias.

ACT. Act is the short form for Interact. It is the another stage and generating leads is a big challenge for online marketers. In this stage, the persuading site visitors or prospective people to take the next step are involved. The prospects are persuaded to the next after reaching the site or social networks.

CONVERT. This is conversion to sale which is happening either online or offline. It involves getting some prospects to take the next step which turns them into customers who are willing for making payment. The payment can be either online or offline.

ENGAGE. This is long-term engagement that is, building a long-term relationship with first-time buyers. Building customer loyalty also is in this stage. Customer engagement is measured by repeat sale and sharing content through social media. Measuring the percentage of active and satisfied customers also is done in this stage.

RACE covers digital marketing activities across the customer lifecycle. Companies are required to invest time and budget in planning to connect with customers. Thus the companies can build competitive advantage over the competitors.

RACE helps the companies in reviewing the performance of online marketing and taking actions to improve the effectiveness of the strategies adopted.

Examples: Google analytics and Facebook insights helps in RACE model