Olugbenga Banjo

B2B MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS IN EMERGING MARKETS

Content marketing in digital channels: A case study of the United Arab Emirates
B2B MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS IN EMERGING MARKETS
Content marketing in digital channels: A case study of the United Arab Emirates

Olugbenga Banjo
Bachelor’s thesis
Autumn 2013
Degree in International Business
Oulu University of Applied Sciences

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ABSTRACT

Oulu University of Applied Sciences

Degree Programme in International Business
Author(s): Olugbenga Banjo
Title of Bachelor’s thesis: B2B marketing communications in emerging markets: content market-
ing in digital channels.
Supervisor: Helena Ahola
Term and year of completion: Autumn 2013
Number of pages: 48

With the ever increasing online community and opportunities, digital marketing is fast becoming
the mainstream in the field of marketing. At the same time marketers have to be up-to-date with
the current digital trends in order to be able to improve themselves and make valuable contribu-
tions to their organisations. The significance of digital marketing thus should make any thoughtful
organisation want to plan for, perform, evaluate and improve its digital marketing endeavours
where necessary, in order to take advantage of the opportunities available. This importance
therefore necessitated this research.

This thesis was commissioned by Koodiviidakko Oy, a Finnish company producing digital market-
ing software. The focus of this research is on business to business digital marketing in a digitally
emerging market, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the case study. A broad literature re-
view of the concept of business to business (B2B) was performed, touching on aspects such as
organisational buying behaviour, decision making unit and relationship marketing. Also discussed
was B2B marketing communications from two dimensions; channel and relationship. Further-
more, the report examined the concepts of content marketing, digital marketing and digital mar-
keting channels which are important concepts relevant to the thesis subject matter. The research
was both qualitative and quantitative with analytical tools used to gather statistical data on the
commissioner’s digital marketing channels. The results gathered from the research showed that
the commissioner’s digital marketing efforts in the UAE are on the right track but more needs to
be done especially in the areas of customer acquisition, customer conversion and measuring re-
turn on investments. Finally, based on the findings, recommendations were made, that the com-
missioner could employ in order to improve its digital marketing.

business-to-business marketing, digital marketing, content marketing, relationship marketing

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all I would like to thank God for the successful completion of another chapter of my life.
Furthermore I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my family for their endless love
and support.

Likewise, I would like to thank my supervisor for her guidance and advice throughout the course
of this thesis.

I would also like to thank the management and staff of Koodiviidakko Oy for the opportunity and
assistance given to me in making this thesis. Particularly, I would like to thank the head of the
marketing team for her patience and time.

I am highly indebted to my teachers not just for their teaching but also for their support and guid-
ance. My gratitude also goes to other non academic staff particularly at the international planning
office for their support.

And to my colleagues too numerous to mention I appreciate your pieces of advice, cooperation,
friendship and the challenge you have brought to the programme which have spurred me on.
Thank you all.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
BRICS = Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
B2B = Business to business
B2C = Business to consumer
CMI = Content marketing Institute
CTR = Click through rate
DMU = Decision making unit
EMEA = Europe, Middle East and Africa
HTML = Hyper text markup language: the main markup language for creating web pages
OBB = Organisational buying behaviour
Opt-in = Option to be put in mailing list
OR = Open rate
PPC = Pay per click
PR = Public relations
RM = Relationship marketing
ROI = Return on Investment
SEM = Search engine marketing
SEO = Search engine optimization
SERP = Search engine results page
UAE = United Arab Emirates
URL = Uniform resource locator

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Contents
ABSTRACT 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 4
1. INTRODUCTION 6
1.1 Research Purpose and scope 7
1.2 Research Questions 8
1.3 Research Methods 8
2 LITERATURE REVIEW 9
2.1 B2B Marketing 9
2.2 Relationship Marketing 16
2.3 B2B marketing communications 18
2.4 Content Marketing 20
2.5 Digital Marketing 22
2.6 Digital Marketing Channels 23
2.7 The United Arab Emirates (UAE) 26
3 RESEARCH METHODS AND DATA ANALYSIS 28
3.1 Methodology 28
3.2 Data gathering method 28
3.3 Data Analysis and Results 31
4 CONCLUSIONS 39
4.1 Recommendations 41
4.2 Research questions restated 42
5 DISCUSSION 44
5.1 Suggested further research 44
REFERENCES 46

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1. INTRODUCTION

In today’s business world, the need to perform and measure the effectiveness of digital marketing
in an organisation has never been more imperative. More than ever before, the digital community
is continually increasing. Staggering statistics such as: the over one billion Facebook registered
users, the over 5 billion average daily searches on Google worldwide and the ever growing num-
ber of people who use digital devices either fixed or mobile, are numbers that cannot simply be
ignored by marketers. Additionally, the significance of information and communication technology
to business and industry should spur any serious organisation to engage in digital marketing.

The term digital marketing has been defined as the use of internet and digital devices by market-
ers, to help them reach a host of potential customers globally. This aspect of marketing holds
many new opportunities. It has opened customers to a broader selection of products, services
and prices from different sellers and has completely transformed the way marketing is being de-
livered.

However, digital marketing has also become more challenging with the continuous introduction of
new technologies. New tools and marketing channels are continually emerging. Consequently,
organisations and marketers need to keep up not just with the latest, but also the most efficient
marketing tools and channels. This is why the need to monitor the effectiveness of an organisa-
tion’s digital marketing efforts and to seek new methods if necessary is vital.

The commissioner for this research is Koodiviidakko Oy, a medium sized Finnish company based
primarily in Oulu, Finland, but with operations in Scandinavia, Russia, the Baltic region and the
Middle East. The organisation’s marketing communications are basically business-to-business. In
addition, digital marketing channels serve as the primary marketing channel for the organisation.
Apart from the significance of digital marketing to businesses, making digital marketing channels
the primary channel is understandable, since the organisation’s products are software to be util-
ized for marketing communications, which are predominantly online. The organisation’s digital
marketing activities are not a standalone as they do relate to some other aspects of marketing.
These other aspects include relationship marketing, business-to-business (B2B) Marketing and
Content Marketing. Attempt will be made to explore these other areas of marketing. Most notably
the nature and dynamics of B2B marketing, features of a good content, marketing communica-

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tions and categories of relationship marketing will be examined. Furthermore, digital marketing
channels such as online advertising, search engine marketing, social media marketing, email
marketing, online public relations, affiliate marketing and blogs will be explored. The issues in
cross-cultural marketing will also be highlighted particularly in reference to the market of the case
study to be examined.

There will be need to familiarize oneself with the marketing activities of the commissioner in order
to obtain firsthand information for the research work. Books, blogs, internet articles, previous re-
search conducted in the area of digital marketing and industry releases are among other sources
of information that will be perused. Furthermore, quantitative and qualitative data on the market-
ing efforts of the organisation will be made available for analysis. Finally, the organisation’s cur-
rent digital marketing channels and activities will be evaluated and recommendations made on
ways of improvement.

1.1 Research Purpose and scope

The purpose of this research is to examine the effectiveness of business to business digital mar-
keting channels in a digitally emerging market, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the case
study. The research is being executed to help the commissioner in its marketing efforts in emerg-
ing markets particularly in the United Arab Emirates. It will attempt to provide useful information in
the use of digital marketing channels in an emerging market and how it compares to a more de-
veloped market like Finland. The research will also attempt to enhance the marketing communi-
cations of the organization. The recommendations that will be made after the evaluation of both
used and unused digital marketing channels could help improve and serve as a guide when in-
vesting in the most effective marketing channels and tools. In addition, it is hoped that the study
can be used as a reference point when considering which digital marketing channel to use in a
technologically emerging market.
The scope of this thesis is limited to online marketing and marketing that is done using digital
technology to reach customers through the internet. Even though the organisation utilizes other
marketing channels like personal selling using the phone, direct sales, participation in fairs and
some other offline channels, the research did not cover all of these other channels. Another as-
pect not covered also is market entry research, the commissioner had earlier decided on the
market which serves as the case study for this research and had also started its marketing and
sales operations in the market. Consequently, market entry strategies and theories of internatio-

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nalisation will not be examined in this research. Since the commissioner is a B2B company, the
focus is on B2B marketing, although a B2C organisation may find some of the information in the
research relevant and useful.

Furthermore, when emerging markets are generally mentioned, the belief is that the economically
emerging markets of the BRICS nations are being referred to. For the purpose of this thesis,
emerging markets refer to digitally emerging markets. Consequently this does not only refer to
some or all of the BRICS nations but also some other nations of which the UAE could be said to
be part of.

1.2 Research Questions

This research attempts to answer a number of questions, however, the main research question
that is to be answered is how effective or productive is the organisation’s B2B marketing commu-
nication in digital channels in the United Arab Emirate (UAE). Other notable questions in relation
to the study are as follows:
What are the returns on investment for the digital channels in use?
Should some current channels be discontinued?
If some current channels are to be discontinued, which ones should they be and why?
Should the organisation use additional digital channels?
If new channels are to be used, which ones should they be and why?

1.3 Research Methods

The method that will be used for information sourcing will be mainly books, both hardcopy and
electronic formats and internet sources, with a large part of the internet sources coming from
blogs and articles written by specialists in this field. The choice of internet sources was ideal be-
cause of the up to datedness nature of the information that can be obtained on the internet and
particularly such sources of the internet as stated above. Interviews with the marketing executives
and acquaintance with the digital marketing procedure of the commissioner will provided the
foundation of information about the commissioner’s marketing activities, past, present and future.

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2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 B2B Marketing

B2B Marketing is the practice of an organisation identifying and satisfying the needs of its busi-
ness customers. There are various reasons for which organisations may buy goods and services
from one another. Some of these reasons may be for internal use in the production process, to
help to create own products or to sell as finished products to consumers. However, the funda-
mental reason of any business transaction by an organisation whether their products and servic-
es are offered to consumers or other organisations is to create value. The market in which these
organisations buy and sell goods and services from one another is termed B2B market and this
market has been identified to be significantly larger than that of the consumer market commonly
referred to as Business to Consumer (B2C) market. (Fill and Fill, 2005)

Differences between B2B and B2C markets

According to Fill and Fill (2005), the major difference between B2B markets and consumer mar-
kets is that the buyers in B2B markets do not consume the products they buy themselves while in
consumer markets, consumptions of products are made by the individuals who make the pur-
chases. Similarly, Van Weele (2010) stated that the buying objective for a B2B market is to ena-
ble production, while for consumer market it is to satisfy personal need. In addition, Fill and Fill
(2005), identified a number of characteristics of a B2B market such as derived and inelastic de-
mands, high risks and nurtured relationships. They also added that the two main characteristics
differentiating the two markets and guiding marketing strategies are first, the intended customer;
which happens to be an Organisation in the case of B2B and individuals for a B2C and second,
the anticipated use of the product to create value and achieve organisational goals for a B2B
buyer as against personal usage for a B2C buyer. Van Weele (2010) was of the same opinion as
he also identified these characteristics as well as those of: large product and market knowledge
and rather inelastic price.
Van Weele (2010, 23) went further to state a number of main differences between Industrial
(business to business) markets and consumer markets especially with regards to purchasing.

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Table 1: Differences between Industrial markets and consumer markets

Aspect Industrial market Consumer market

Buying objective Enable production Personal need satisfaction

Buying motive Mainly rational Also emotional

Purchasing function Professional buying Consumers

Decision making Many persons involved, much Often impulsive, without consult-
discussion ing others

Characteristics Negotiations, intense interaction Often without negotiation, little

interaction

Product and market Large Limited

knowledge

Order size Often large Mostly small

Demand Derived demand, may fluctuate Autonomous, relatively stable

strongly

Price elasticity Rather inelastic Rather elastic

Number of customers Mostly limited Very large

Spread of customers Sometimes large geographic Large geographical spread

concentration

Source: Purchasing and Supply chain management (Van Weele A. J., 2010, 23)

Organisational buying behaviour (OBB)

According to Webster and Wind (1972), Organizational buying, is “the decision making process
by which formal organizations establish the need for purchased products and services and identi-
fy, evaluate and choose among alternative brands and suppliers”. (cited in Fill & Fill 2005, 113)
Organisational buying behaviour is the process involving all the stages or phases of how organi-
sations procure products and services. Some of these stages often require key decision making.
Organisational buying behaviour does not only involve the buying of goods and services but also
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includes the management and development of interorganisational relationships. It is a vital part
of external relationships which an organisation develops. Organisations buy products and servic-
es from one another on a continuous basis and as such the handling of the resulting relationships
is an integral part of the organisational buying process. (Fill & Fill, 2005, 113)

Similarly, organisational buying behaviour can also be seen as a collection of internal and exter-
nal variables and model that describe how organisations reach purchase decisions. The buying
processes or the stages by which organisations procure products and services has been identi-
fied to include purchasing needs determination, supplier selection, appropriate price determina-
tion, terms and conditions specification, contract or order issuance and expediting to ensure on
time delivery and payment. (Van Weele, 2010)

Decision Making Unit

In a formal organisation, a purchase decision is not made by a person but by a group of people
who seek to identify the importance of the task, and try to arrive at a decision that is in the best
interest of the organisation. This group is referred to as the decision making unit (DMU).
According to Van Weele (2010), the decision making Unit are all those individuals and groups
who partake in the purchasing decision-making process, and who share common goals and are
jointly liable for the risks arising from the decisions made. Likewise, Fill & Fill (2005) pointed out
that contrary to how it sometimes appears to be, organisational buyers are not the only individu-
als involved in the purchase decision process. Van Weele (2010, 28) had identified five members
of the decision making unit namely: Users, Influencers, Buyers, Decision makers and Gatekee-
pers. Fill & Fill (2005, 115-116) discussed the same five decision making unit members but also
added a sixth member namely Initiators.
The initiators are the group of individuals who request for the purchase of an item and set the
purchase decision process in motion. This group could also be another member of the decision
making unit or any other group in the organisation.
The users are the people who will use or work with the product once it is procured. The role of
the users is a continuous one and their opinions are important in the product specification and
selection process. The users may sometimes be the initiators.
Another group identified is that of the Influencers. This group usually helps set the technical spe-
cifications and also assist in the evaluation of alternatives and selection processes. They are able
to affect the outcome of the purchasing process through solicited or unsolicited advice.

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However, the buyers as the name suggests are the purchasing managers. They are the individu-
als responsible for negotiating prices and deals as well as placing the orders with the suppliers.
Another important buying group identified is the decision makers. This is the group of people
who make the actual purchase decisions. They are the ones who actually determine the supplier
to be selected. It might be difficult to identify the decision makers in an organisation as there
might not be any formal authority to make a purchase decisions. Decision makers could vary ac-
cording to a number of factors like the buying situation or the amount involved. The decision mak-
ing roles for products of high value or with strategic importance are usually left for top manage-
ment, while a the decision making power for a product of straight rebuy or routine buying might
be left the purchasing manager.
The gatekeepers constitute the sixth group that has been identified and they are composed of
the people who have control over the type and flow of information to and from other members of
the decision making unit and the suppliers.
It is possible to have multiple influencers in a particular purchase decision process who might
need to be marketed to, even though they are not part of the actual decision makers. Van Weele
(2010, 28) attests to this observation by rightly pointing out that influencers have effects on all
the purchase decision making stages from identification of need to supplier selection.

In Addition to the members of the decision making unit, Van Weele, (2010, 282-283) has also
identified three levels of purchasing decision in organisational buying: the strategic level, the tac-
tical level and operational level. He stated that:
The Strategic level covers purchase decisions that impact the market share or market position of
the organisation in the long run. And decisions in this situation reside primarily with the top man-
agement.
The Tactical level covers activities pertaining to purchasing function which affects products,
process and selection of supplier.
The Operational level involves all activities associated with ordering, expediting and monitoring
and evaluation of suppliers.

The Decision Making Process

It has been pointed out by Fill and Fill (2005), that buying decisions vary in terms of a number of
factors, namely the value of purchases, type of relationship with the supplier or seller, strategic
impact and the nature of the product or service. However, for a seller organisation or supplier,

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marketing planning is easier when the decision making habits and the requirements of the cus-
tomers are identified. Hence, there might be need for a seller organisation in a B2B market to
create different marketing campaigns according to customers buying situations.
Van Weele, (2010, 31) has specified three types of purchasing situations. The first is a new task
situation in which a completely new product is being purchased by an organisation for the first
time from a seller that has been previously unknown to the buyer. A major characteristic of this
situation is the high uncertainty regarding the outcome of the transaction. The second situation
which is termed modified rebuy is when an organisation purchases a new product from a known
seller or it purchases an existing product from a new seller. In any case, either the product or the
seller was not previously known before the transaction. The degree of uncertainty here is mod-
erate with regards to the outcome of the transaction. The third purchasing situation identified is
straight rebuy, in which case both the seller and the product are known. Fill & Fill (2005) also
noted these buying situations and further stated the information requirements and alternative so-
lutions associated with each situation. In the new buy situation it was pointed out that a lot of in-
formation is required and there are no past experiences to rely on whereas in the modified rebuy
situation, more is information is required but past experience is useful, while little or no informa-
tion is needed for the straight rebuy situation. Perhaps the level of risk involved in each of these
three situations clarifies the distribution of the amount of information needed in each of these sit-
uations. It was further explained that for the new buy situation, alternative solutions are unknown
because they do not exist; buying decision requires new solutions for a modified rebuy and alter-
native solutions are not required for a straight rebuy situation.

The concept of decision making process can also be viewed from customer information sourcing
point of view. This approach suggests that the purchase information that buyers are researching
changes as they go through the buying process. A 3-step decision map showing 3 decision stag-
es of B2B customers based on information needs gives a different dimension in the understand-
ing of the decision making process.
Stage 1: What is the problem: Customers are sourcing for suppliers and information on a broad
level. Customers may or may not have an idea of what the solution to their problem will be.
Stage 2: How to Fix the problem: Customers are evaluating available options that might meet
their requirements. There might be a shortlist of viable alternatives.

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Stage 3: is the Supplier Right: There is a solid understanding of how the available options meas-
ure up and the decision maker is committing to one option. Questions are being managed and
relationships are being created and managed with various stakeholders.
Armstrong, S. (2011). B2B Buyer decision map: Understanding decision stages. Retrieved
28.06.2013 from http://www.brainrider.com/better-content-blog/b2b-buyer-decision-map/

Figure 1: What B2B customers want to know

Source: Armstrong, S. (2011). B2B Buyer decision map: Understanding decision stages. Re-
trieved 28.06.2013

This approach seemed to have compressed the entire purchase process into 3 stages and may
appear to have oversimplified the purchasing process. This could result in the loss of relevant
information at some point. However, the benefit of this approach in understanding B2B deci-
sion making in organisational buying behaviour, is that it could easily help content marketers to
develop and tailor contents for customers at each decision making stage. Since the customers’
needs can easily be identified and understood based on the stage, the creation and sharing of the

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specific information needed by the customers will boost customer conversion and be ultimately
beneficial for an organisation.

As a result of the usually complex decision making process in a B2B market involving several
individuals, who are also well-informed, it is important for B2B marketers to display a high level of
know-how in his or her interactions with the customers.

Influences on OBB
Four major influences on organizational buying behaviour had been identified as follows:
Internal influences: This relates to issues such as centralization or decentralization of purchase
structure, purchasing policies internal restructuring or change in ownership. Fill & Fill (2005, 125-
128)

External influences: The key external factors that influence organisational buying behaviour are
identified as political, economic social and technological. These factors arise from the organisa-
tion’s external environment but may impact the kind of decisions reached in the stages of the buy-
ing process within an organisation. Fill & Fill (2005, 125-128)

Individual Influences: This relates to the individuals making up the membership of the decision
making unit. Their individual perceptions and sometimes personal relationships with some suppli-
ers contribute to the decision making and buying processes. Furthermore, the dispersion of pow-
er within the unit can determine the kind of decisions that are made. Some individuals will be
more powerful than others and there may be undue influence within the unit. Fill & Fill (2005, 125-
128)

Relationship influences: organisations often develop relationships in the course of buying and
selling. The nature of such transactional relationships and the communication style will influence
buying decisions. The behaviour of a decision making unit maybe be observed to be constructive
and cooperative if the existing relationship is trusting, mutually supportive and the perspective is
long term (a relational structure). Conversely, a decision making unit’s purchase behaviour may
be viewed as courteous yet distant if the relationship is formal, unsupportive and short-term
based (a market structured-based relationship). Fill & Fill (2005, 125-128)

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 Internal:
Purchasing structure
Purchasing policies
Levels of authority

Relationship forces:
Individual:
Nature of exchange relationships
Perception of personal conse-
Communication style
quences
Influences Global/national dimensions
Control over information flow
Personal friendship

External:
Political
Economical
Social
Technological

Figure 2: Major influences on organizational buying behavior

Source: Business to Business marketing: relationships, systems and communications. (Fill & Fill,
2005, 126)

2.2 Relationship Marketing

One important feature distinguishing B2B markets from B2C is the creation of personal relation-
ships. It is not uncommon for B2B organisations to have customers or suppliers that have been
committed and loyal for several years. Creating personal relationships is even more significant in
emerging markets where the concept of branding is still emerging, little free information culture
and quality problems exists. (Harrison, Hague and Hague, 2013)

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Earlier theories on organisational buying behaviour had stated that buyers are passive and seller
active. This earlier theories were founded in the stimulus-organism model which assumes that the
buyers which are passive only react to what the seller has to offer and more so in a submissive
and unquestioning way. This notion had however been successfully challenged and supplanted
by a counter notion that business buyers are active problem solvers seeking effective and effi-
cient solutions. This was the result of shifting the attention of B2B marketing away from products
or transactions and to the collection of linked events and its characteristics - relationships. (Fill &
Fill 2005, 145-147)

Based on the kind of relationship, two main marketing perspectives have been identified: transac-
tional marketing and relational marketing.
Transactional marketing places products at the centre of transactions and price is the main
means of completing the exchange. This viewpoint sees no previous history of exchange existing
between parties and no future exchange is anticipated. Organisations see each other as adversa-
ries and competition is imminent. This approach is largely associated with the 4Ps of marketing.
Relational marketing is centered on the idea that there is a history of exchanges and an antici-
pation of future exchanges. It is seen to be long term and a form of bond envisaged to exist be-
tween the buyer and the seller. Also, both the buyer and seller seek each of their goals in a mu-
tually rewarding way. Relationship marketing is based on this approach.
(Fill & Fill 2005, 143)

Egan (2004) had pointed out that RM is a relatively new but important topic among marketing
practitioners and academicians. He further noted that despite the substantial interest, it has not
been easy to come up with a single generally accepted definition for RM.
One of the first definitions of RM was given by Berry (1983) as “attracting, maintaining
and...enhancing customer relationships”. (Cited in Egan 2004, 22)

Grönroos (1994) also indicated in his definition that one of the objectives of relationship marketing
is not only to create and cultivate customer relationships but also to terminate them when neces-
sary in a manner rewarding to all stakeholders. His definition has been lauded by some writes as
the most complete and concise definition. In his definition, he stated that the objectives of RM are
to: “identify and establish, maintain and enhance and, when necessary, terminate relationships

17
with customers and other stakeholders, at a profit so that the objectives of all parties involved are
met…” (Cited in Egan 2004, 24)

Categories of Relationship
Organisational relationships have been divided into four groups namely classic, special, mega
and nano relationships. These four groups can be classified into two broad categories namely,
Market and Non-market relationships. Market relationships are the relationships that exists
between customers, competitors, suppliers and all other groups or aspects that directly contribute
to a market’s operations. On the other hand, non-market relationships encompass all other orga-
nisations that do not directly influence market relationships. (Gummesson, 2002)
Egan (2004, 35-38) took a different approach in his categorization of relationships. He identified
four categories based on the parties involved, the knowledge base, the amount of motivational
investments committed and the level of the relationship. The four relationship levels identified are:
Organisational, Learning, Motivational investments and Higher-level relationships.

2.3 B2B marketing communications

One of the main objectives of business organisations is to make profit through sales to custom-
ers. To make the sales, an organisation need to be able to fulfill its marketing objective of identify-
ing and satisfying customers needs effectively and for this to happen, there needs to be a com-
munication link between the organisation and its customers. This has made marketing communi-
cation an important concept in both B2B and B2C markets. Furthermore, Fill & Fill (2005) also
pointed out that the need to establish and maintain suitable relationships and the duty to inform
customers of their products and services are valid reasons why organisations need effective
communication. Hence, B2B marketing communications provides is a means by which an organi-
sation communicates with other organisations in relation to itself, its products, services and
brand, with the intention to create dialogues and develop relationships. (Fill & Fill 2005, 268-269)

Channel-based marketing communications

Fill and Fill (2005, 288-289) had stated that a combination of four aspects of communication gave
rise to a channel -based communication strategy. These four aspects are frequency, direction,
modality and content.

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Frequency
Too much information in terms of recurrence or total volume can burden the audience and have a
negative effect on them, however too little or erratic information dissemination can also damage
the prospects for favourable results. Consequently, it is important for management to assess and
decide on the desired levels of communication.
Direction
This refers to the path of communication in a communication network. This could be unidirectional
a largely one way communication (usually where one organisation is much more powerful than
the other) or bidirectional where the communication flow is a two process (equally powerful orga-
nisations).
Modality
This refers to the method used to disseminate information. This can be either formal and regu-
lated or planned examples being meetings and written information or informal and spontaneous.
Content
This signifies the actual message or what is being said. This can be in various forms but it needs
to be relevant and valuable to the receiver in order to achieve any desired objective.

Relationship-based marketing communications

As relationship evolves into different stages, marketing communications can perform different yet
important roles at each stage. These roles could be to differentiate, reinforce, inform or persuade.
(Fill & Fill, 2005, 293)

Table 2: Relationship roles of marketing communications

Relationship stage Role of marketing communications
Acquisition Differentiation to establish position
Information about product features and organisational credentials
Persuasion to stimulate behavioural action

Development Organisation becomes more open

Differentiation and information provision
Boundaries of relationship become more established.

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Retention Knowledge provision and information sharing becomes more regu
larised and a common part of the relationship.
Reinforcement messages based on reinforcing and reminding are
used to provide trust and commitment and support relationships.

Decline Discrete relationships resort to persuasion in order to extract the

remaining value from relationship.
Source: Business to Business marketing: relationships, systems and communications (Fill & Fill,
2005, 293)

2.4 Content Marketing

According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), “Content marketing is a marketing technique
of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly
defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action”.
(Content marketing institute, http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/ re-
trieved 14.06.2013)
Content marketing is an ongoing process with the intention of enhancing or changing consumer
behaviour. The main idea of content strategy is that when organisations give consistent and valu-
able information to customers, they (the organisations) will eventually be rewarded in turn with the
customers’ loyalty and business. (Content Marketing institute, retrieved 14.06.2013)
Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick (2012) shared a similar view to the above definition of content market-
ing pointing out that its aim is to engage and then encourage customer interaction or action. The
features below can be garnered from their definition of content marketing:

Content marketing can be in plain text, rich media, audio or video formats;
Its aim is to engage customers and prospects;
It can be channeled through different platforms;
It is not only static but also dynamic thereby encouraging interaction.
(Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012, 44)

20
Features of a good Content
Compelling message
For any online or digital marketing endeavour to succeed, the content has to be compelling.
Compelling content creates results. In fact to buttress the importance of content in digital market-
ing, Frick, (2010) stated that “compelling content is at the heart of any online strategy”. The cap-
tions of the messages for example email newsletters should draw attention and interest and not
be too long. Compelling messages help drive traffic to websites. Frick (2010, 5)

Context
With the array of digital devices now available to consumers, it is important for content creators to
know the platform on which the messages they create will be delivered. This is a way in which
content creators can write for people while keeping the machine in mind. The specifications for
the channel or platform of delivery be it mobile, or web should be considered. Uniform resource
locator (URL) structure that is friendly to search engines should be created. The right file format
should be selected as well as the right way to encode the message for maximum user expe-
rience. All the peculiarities or distinctive features of each platform should be maximized to full
advantage. Messages with tiny text on mobile phones no matter how appealing they appear can
be a frustrating experience to the users they are being delivered to as against a message with
more legible texts. Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick (2012, 43-56)

Relevant
A beautifully well-crafted message or content will be worthless if it is not directed at or received by
the customers to whom it is useful and relevant. It is simply tantamount to a waste of resources
by the organization creating the content, as the return will be none. This situation can be avoided
by listening and understanding to the users for whom the messages are meant. A simple market
research or listening to the online community, for example ones customers, competitors custom-
ers and blogs then responding to them by creating contents they want to see or hear. Frick (2010,
6-7)

Consistent
The effectiveness of contents should be consistent and convey a sense of professionalism. It is
not enough to write an inspiring and useful content at the beginning only to allow it become lack-
luster and with different voices much later. Users are always looking for the right content online

21
either for entertainment or education and they will stay with the ones they deemed best for only
as long as they thought it to be so. Frick (2010, 9)

Creative
Contents just like a product or an organization must constantly and continually evolve in order to
remain relevant. Regular updates with fresh contents are necessary for driving traffic. Chaffey &
Ellis-Chadwick (2012, 57-75)

Actionable
The goal of creating contents is not just to make the target audience simply consume the content,
but to also ensure that they (the audience) are engaged and they take action. The particular ac-
tion which a content seek from its audience should be one that fits into the main objective or goal
of an organisation for performing marketing and creating the content. The goal could be to make
more sales, to create and maintain customer relationships or to create awareness.
The particular action required of the audience could be to share the content, to download a file or
request for more information about an organisation or its products or services. Chaffey & Ellis-
Chadwick (2012, 57-90)

Nature
Are contents only text or do they have videos, images, PDF or Flash. A long winding text might
not be so appealing to most users especially decision makers to whom time is of great value.
There is the need to be brief. The nature of the content created would improve its reception by
users. Images and videos could be put to effective use for the purpose of brevity. A picture it is
said is worth a thousand words. Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick (2012, 43-44)

2.5 Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing is the use of the Internet and other digital devices for marketing purposes. Chaf-
fey and Ellis-Chadwick, (2012, 10) had defined it as “the application of the internet and related
digital technologies in conjunction with traditional communications to achieve marketing objec-
tives”. Computers (both laptops and desktops), tablets and mobile phones are examples of digi-
tal technologies. Digital marketing encompass a wide area of marketing that uses technology in
one way or the other and it comprises Web or online Advertising, Mobile Advertising, social media
marketing, managing company online presence, e-mail marketing and partnering with other web-

22
sites. In digital Marketing, communications with customers are aided by interactive services and
content. These communications are realized via different digital technology platforms. Chaffey &
Ellis-Chadwick (2012, 12-13)
Additionally, Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick (2012) identified 3 main types of media channels that mar-
keters need to pay attention to in the formulation of digital marketing strategy and influencing po-
tential customers’ online. These three types of media are: owned, earned and paid media. Ac-
cording to them, Owned media is media owned by the organisation’s brand and it includes: web-
sites, Blogs and social presence; earned media comprise of publisher editorial, influencer out-
reach and word-of-mouth, while the paid media covers paid search, display advertisements and
affiliate marketing.

2.6 Digital Marketing Channels

Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Marketing is the promotion of an organisation or brand in search engines through
the attainment of a high position in search engine results pages (SERPs). This is achieved by
ensuring that the organization or brand is ranked high on the SERPs when a range of relevant
keywords are searched for by users and encouraging them to click through to a destination site.
The aim of search engine marketing (SEM) is to increase the visibility of an organization or brand
in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and encourage click through. The two key tech-
niques of search Engine marketing are search engine optimization (SEO) which is done to im-
prove results from the natural or organic listings i.e. the main search result section on a search
engine and paid-search marketing, which uses pay-per-click (PPC) to deliver results from the
sponsored listings within search engines. Paid searches are paid for by the organization making
the advertisements based on the number of clicks the advertisement gathers, while for the search
engine optimization; there are no charges for clicks generated from the search engine. It is not
uncommon that when customers either businesses or individuals seek a product or service, they
turn to the computer to search. Thus, it is not surprising if organisations devout a lot of resources
to search engine marketing to enhance their online presence and visibility.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is the process of attracting website traffic or attention via social media
sites. The aim is to reach and engage current and potential customers. Its focus is usually on the
creation of contents that appeals to readers and encourages them to share it with others in their

23
networks. Therefore, social media marketing is a form of marketing driven by word-of-mouth and
resulting in earned media and not paid media. It can also be used as a medium for traditional
broadcast where organisations send out messages to its customers. There are currently a lot of
social media networks with some having generic focus while others have specific focus or com-
munities. Some of the notable social media networks are Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Orkut,
Tumblr and Twitter, with Facebook being the most common social media marketing channel to-
day.

Online Public Relations

This is the management of the awareness, understanding and reputation of an organisation or
brand, primarily achieved through influencing exposure in the media. Online public relations have
the capability to facilitate faster and more effective PR by driving online visibility of press release
to various websites and blogs. It involves maximizing of positive comments of an organization as
well as responding swiftly to the negative comments. Online public relations generate favourable
mentions of an organisation, its products, brand or website on third-party websites that are pre-
sumed to be visited by its targeted audience. By so doing, online PR will be used to raise the
awareness of a brand, product or organisation and generate backlinks important to a company’s
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) effort. Dave Chaffey (2008, 305) had identified that online PR
consists of four areas namely: attracting visitors through search, engaging and dialoguing with the
visitors, building campaign buzz and coming up with defensive/crisis responses.

Online Advertising and interactive displays

Display advertisements are paid advert placements using graphical or rich media as units within a
web page to achieve goals of delivering brand awareness, familiarity, favourability and purchase
intent. Many advertisements encourage interaction through prompting the viewer to interact or
rollover to play videos, complete an online form or to view more details by clicking through to a
site. Interactive displays in online advertising can be in the form of banner ads, sponsorships or
pop-ups.

Email Marketing
Email marketing is simply the sharing of marketing content over email. Email marketing can be
used to strengthen the relationship between an organisation and it current customers as well as
reach and acquire new customers. The emails sent are usually used to advertise, solicit sales,

24
build customer loyalty or brand awareness. Professional email marketing should have the follow-
ing characteristics:

• Be written with immense attention, professionalism and checked for errors;

• Be requested by the recipients or consented to receiving it (opt-in);
• There should be an option for the recipients to decline further emails if the need arises (opt-out);
• Conform to regulations and requirements (note that there could be regional or country specific
requirements especially if the business seeks to attract customers internationally).

The most distinguishing feature of professional email marketing from spam could be said to be
opt-in. Perhaps the problems associated with spamming especially the frustration and dissatisfac-
tion of customers have been one of the main reasons why organisations needed to create opt-in
email marketing. The problems related with spamming have given rise to new regulations on data
protection with opt-in requirement. The major regulation in this category is the 2002/58 Directive
on Privacy and Electronic Communications of the European Union. Although this law serves as a
complement to the data protection Directive existing before it and has since been amended by
Directive 2009/136.
(Liana technologies, http://www.lianatech.com/news/liana-technologies-blog/article/the-era-of-
spam-is-over.html, retrieved 17.06.2013)

Online partnership
Online partnership is a symbiotic arrangement that consists of affiliate marketing, online sponsor-
ships, co-branding and link-building. It proclaims that parties (mainly organisations) perform mar-
keting tasks in common for mutual benefits. In link building for example, an organisation can ask
partners (suppliers or customers) to place the link to it website on their websites while it also do
the same for such organisations in return. This would help the organisation in link building.

Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is a commission based arrangement where referring sites (publishers) receive
a commission on sales or leads. It is a performance-based marketing in which an organisation
(“merchant” or “retailer”) signs up individuals or companies (“publishers” or “affiliates”) who mar-
ket the company's brand or products for a commission. Good affiliate options open to an organi-
sation could be bloggers, review sites, and other field experts. Affiliate marketing is usually used

25
to promote websites whereby the referrer (affiliate) will be rewarded for visitors, subscribers or
customers acquired through its efforts. If effectively executed, affiliate marketing is a useful tool
for customer acquisition.

Blogs and other Online Publications

Online publications are publications, which are formatted and generated in an electronic environ-
ment. They can come in various forms such as HTML or PDF formats. One of the advantages of
this type of marketing channel is that the publications are available nearly any time to the users
and there are no printing or mailing costs. Another name for this channel is electronic publica-
tions. A Blog is an example of online publication but with few distinctive feature of its own. A blog
can be defined as “A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links”.
(Marketing terms.com, retrieved, 17.05.2013) It can also be simply a journal or diary that is made
available on the web. It can be created and maintained by one or several persons or an organisa-
tion. Some organisations usually create regular blogs mainly on their websites on particular sub-
jects or topics they feel will be of interest to potential customers. They use this medium to attract
target customers and sometimes advertise their company’s product to them.

2.7 The United Arab Emirates (UAE)

With a population of about 8 million (2010 estimate) and a culturally diverse society with expa-
triates from diverse backgrounds and languages making up more than 50% of the population, the
UAE stands out as the most welcoming nation to foreigners in the Middle East. Unlike most coun-
tries in the Middle East, the UAE is not just a tourist destination, but could also be a religious or
business destination. In the UAE, even though Arabic is the official language, English is however
considered the language of business and it is widely spoken. Modesty in dressing is expected as
well as patience in doing business or negotiating deals in the UAE. Generally, the subject matter
of business deals is rarely discussed at first meetings, as these meetings are usually spent on
small talks. The first couple of meetings are used in establishing relationships and gaining the
trust of the Emirati. All year round, there are an astounding number of conferences, tradeshows
and exhibitions in the UAE. As a matter of fact, the UAE’s share of exhibitions in the whole gulf
cooperation council is more than half and these events cut across various industries.
(Morrison T. & Conaway W., 2011, 231-234)

26
Also, noteworthy of Emiratis is the identified main expectations of Arab audiences during presen-
tations stated to be personal touch, rhetoric, liveliness and eloquence with welcomed interrup-
tions. This is in contrast to the expectations of Finish audiences who will be looking out for mod-
ernity, quality, technical information and modesty. (Lewis, 1999, 105) However, despite these
differences, Lewis (1999) noted that Arabs would still welcome associates who are without the
perceived arrogance of western nations.

Digital Marketing in the UAE

In the UAE as well as in other Arab countries, online advertising is very low and most advertising
still go through traditional marketing channels. This is partly due to the fact that broadband pene-
tration is still low when compared to the western world and the majority of the online community is
made up of the youth. This is not to say that the rate of broadband penetration is not improving in
fact it is growing quite well. In fact, the UAE has one of the highest broadband growth rates in the
Middle East. And as broadband penetration increases both in the region and the country, it is ex-
pected to in turn cause strong increase in internet usage development. Also, the benefits of
search have not been fully taken advantage of, as it is not yet developed largely due to lack of
awareness of its value. (Arab media outlook 2009-2013, 67-69)

27
3 RESEARCH METHODS AND DATA ANALYSIS

This chapter will attempt to present to the reader the methods used for collecting the required
data used in conducting this research as well as analyzing them.

3.1 Methodology
The research is both quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative aspect focuses on using pre-
designed analytical tools to measure and generate statistical details about the effectiveness of
the organisation’s present marketing channels. On the other hand, the qualitative part seeks to
explore and identify why some channels might be more suitable than others and address such
areas that may not have been captured or omitted by the quantitative research. This is especially
with regard to the marketing channels not currently or marginally in use by the organisation.

The commissioner’s digital marketing channels examined are as follows; twitter, email newslet-
ters, and search engine marketing. These channels are the ones currently in use by the organisa-
tion for its marketing activities. The tools used in examining these channels are Google Analytics,
Bitly, keyword searches and LianaMailer.

3.2 Data gathering method

The articles used in the quantitative researches were created between the months of April and
June 2013. The email newsletters and tweets are also from the same time period as well. Hence,
in the data analysis part of this research, the month of April represents the first month or period;
May represents the second month while the third month is represented by June. The author had
taken part in the creation of these articles which also always form the basis of the email newslet-
ters. The reason for using the articles created in this period was because the themes for these
articles were specifically agreed upon earlier by the marketing team as the current direction to
take for this particular market being research.
Five articles, five email newsletters and ten tweets were examined and analysed for the purpose
of this research. The articles and tweets used were selected on a simple random basis.

Primary data
The commissioner currently uses various tools in measuring its marketing activities. Some of
these tools measure parameters that are unique to a marketing channel. These tools will be used

28
for measuring and analysing the marketing channels. Also, interviews were conducted with a few
digital marketing practitioners.

Secondary data
Furthermore, desktop research was conducted in order to corroborate the quantitative data ga-
thered. The interviews and desktop research help expatiate further on some aspects of consumer
behaviour of the target market.

Twitter
In online marketing as well as in twitter, “clicks” is an important metric measured. This is because
it suggests how many of the targeted audience really have an interest in the content posted.
Hence, clicks are a major component in the analysis of the commissioner's marketing activities in
twitter. But mere clicks are not enough; therefore, further analysis was made to determine the
origins of the clicks as well as observing variations if any, over the period under survey. Also, a
comparative study and analysis was done between tweets in Finnish, targeted at audiences in the
Finnish market, where the commissioner’s business is already established and tweets in English
which was targeted at English speaking audiences including that of the Emirati Market. Also
noteworthy is the fact that the tweets are only those tweets for contents generated internally with-
in the commissioner’s organisation and do not include retweets that takes the audience to other
websites.

Another data briefly examined was the “saves”. The saves represent how many users have
saved, as a bitmark, the long URL of the webpage which the commissioner wants the audience to
read by clicking on a link (the shortened version of the URL) in twitter, possibly for onward shar-
ing to others via a social network or file for personal usage. A bitmark is a URL that is saved like a
smart bookmark and filed in a bitly profile, with attached data such as clicks, saves and shares.
Buck, S. (2012). Retrieved 25.06.2013 from http://mashable.com/2012/05/30/new-bitly-how-to/

Email Newsletters
In email newsletters, the important metrics measured are Bounce Rate, Unsubscribe Rate, Open
Rate, Click through Rate and Conversion Rate. Perhaps the most important metric of all is Click
through rate. Monitoring email Click through rate is at the centre of email marketing analytics,

29
because it shows the relevance of the message sent and how convincing any offer or call to ac-
tion is.
While the Open rate of a newsletter might be important for revealing the interest in the sender
and subject lines of the email, there are some flaws associated with it that can make it an unrelia-
ble metric when it comes to measuring recipient’s real interest in an organisation’s email market-
ing campaign. This error is as a result of the way in which the number of opened emails is tracked
which is via the download of a certain pixel of an image embedded in the email sent. Therefore,
when the pixel that the software counts fails to download from the web into a recipient's email
reader, even if the recipient have opened and read the email, it will not count as opened. This
would usually occur if recipients’ mail systems block images or the messages are opened on mo-
bile devices that use text formats by default, as this does not download the images in emails.
Volpe, M. (2008) http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4214/Email-Open-Rate-Metrics-
Why-Falling-Why-Unreliable.aspx Assessed 25.06.2013

Google analytics
Google analytics is a free tool for analyzing web traffic. It can help an organisation to identify
which pages are most important to their clients and prospective clients. It shows an organisation
what drives the most traffic and makes the most money for the organisation. It can reveal among
other things the visitors’ information for example location and new or returning visitor as well as
source of traffic e.g. search engines, emails or from other websites. It can also disclose the kind
of content or information people looked at on the organisation’s webpage i.e. what pages on an
organisation’s website are looked at, the ones with the highest views and ones with highest
bounce rates.
There are four main traffic sources in Google analytics and they are: Search traffic, referral traffic,
direct traffic, and campaigns.
Search traffic is traffic from search engines. They are the traffic resulting from visitors clicking on
an organisation’s link from search engine results. Search traffic could originate from two sources;
organic or paid.
Referral traffic is a traffic originating from a link from another site.
Direct traffic results from someone typing an organisation’s URL into a browser. It could also
come from a bookmark.

30
Campaign traffic can come from various sources like social media share, banner ads, emails
newsletters etc or any other source designated as such. In the case of the commissioner, the
email newsletters have been designated as campaigns.
http://www.bluecloudsolutions.com/blog/google-analytics-explained/ Assessed 25.06.2013.

3.3 Data Analysis and Results

Total number of tweets
The total numbers of tweets in English for the three periods examined were 4, 7, and 4 respec-
tively. This represents 27, 46 and 27% of the total tweets respectively. While the figures for
tweets in Finnish were 6, 3 and 6 representing 40, 20 and 40 respectively for the same periods
(Tables 3 and 4).

Table 3: Total number of Tweets (English)

Period N %
1 4 27
2 7 46
3 4 27

Total 15 100

Table 4: Total number of Tweets (Finnish)

Period n %
1 6 40
2 3 20
3 6 40

Total 15 100

Note that the figures for both tables 1 and 2 represent only the tweets for contents generated in-
ternally within the commissioner’s organisation.

Total number of clicks

The total numbers of clicks for tweets in English for the three periods examined were 10, 35, and
7 respectively. This represents 19, 67 and 14% of the total clicks for tweets respectively. While for
the same periods, the figures for the clicks of tweets in Finnish were 93, 89 and 148 representing
28, 27 and 45 respectively (Tables 5 and 6).

31
Table 5: Total number of Clicks (English)
Period N %
1 10 19
2 35 67
3 7 14

Total 52 100

Table 6: Total number of Clicks (Finnish)

Period n %
1 93 28
2 89 27
3 148 45

Total 330 100

Click Tweet ratio

The total average click per tweet ratio for tweets in English is 3.4:1 while that of the tweets in Fin-
nish is 22:1 (Table 7).

Table 7: Click Tweet ratio

Period English Finnish
1 5:2 31:2
2 5:1 89:3
3 7:4 74:3

Average Ratio 3,4:1 22:1

Most popular tweets by Period

In the first period examined for posts in twitter, it was found that the most popular tweet gathered
5 clicks and 1 save for tweets in English, while the most popular Finnish tweet gathered 34 clicks
and 2 saves. The topic that was most popular among readers in English was about pictures in
Newsletters. The second period posted a better result for the English tweets with the most popu-
lar tweet gathering 9 clicks and 1 saves among the audience. The result also reveals that there
were tweets with 8, 5 and 3 clicks with 2, 1 and 3 corresponding saves respectively posted in
English for the second period. Whereas the most popular Finnish tweet collected 37 clicks and 2
saves and it also appeared in the second period. The most popular topic for the English readers
was about Email spam while other similarly popular topics include how to grow an email list, an

32
ecommerce post about reasons for “shopping cart abandonment” and a career as a Chief Market-
ing Technology Officer.
In the third period, the English tweet with the highest number of clicks was about ways to com-
pose and send newsletters boasting 3 clicks and 2 saves while the Finnish tweet with the highest
number of clicks accumulated 29 clicks and 2 saves (Tables 8 & 9).

Table 8: Most popular tweets by Period (tweets in English)

Period Topic n %
1 Pictures in newsletters 5 29
2 Email spam 9 53
3 Composing & sending a newsletter 3 18

Total 17 100

Table 9: Popular tweets by Period (Finnish)

Period Topic n %
1 Advertising and high quality content 34 34
2 E-commerce 37 37
3 E-commerce measurement 29 29

Total 100 100

Geographic distribution of clicks for tweets in English

With regards to the geographical origin of clicks of the tweets in English it was found that the
most number for a single location which is 7 (13%) came from Finland followed by that of the
UAE which is 5 representing 10%. Other nationalities like the UK, USA, Italy, the Netherlands and
Denmark make up a combined total of 10 clicks representing 19%. The remaining clicks make up
an invalid figure of 30 clicks an example of this are clicks from the commissioner’s office (Table
10).

Table 10: Geographic distribution of clicks for tweets in English

Location N %
Finland 7 13
UAE 5 10
Others 10 19

33
Email newsletters:
Delivery rate
The total mailing recipient list for the Emirati Market shows 168, 252 and 951 for the first, second
and third periods respectively. Of these newsletters mailed, 159, 236 and 922 were successfully
delivered representing 95%, 94% and 97% of the total sent respectively. Therefore the bounce
rates are 5%, 6% and 3% respectively for the three periods (Table 11).

Table 11: Email Newsletter delivery rate

Period N %
1 159 95
2 236 94
3 922 97

Total 1317

Open rate (OR)

When the number of recipients who opened the newsletters sent was observed, it revealed that
27 recipients representing 17% of successful deliveries opened the newsletters in the first period,
55 recipients representing 23% opened them in the second period while 194 recipients
representing 21% did the same in the third period. Comparing with a mailing list of similar size, in
the Finnish market, for the same periods, show open rates of 24, 24 and 23 percent (Table 12).

Table 12: Open rate

Period N OR (%) Finnish Market OR (%)
1 27 17 24
2 55 23 24
3 194 21 23

Total 276

Click through rate (CTR)

With regards to the click through rate, showing how many of the recipients actually clicked on the
links in the newsletters, 6 recipients (4%) clicked on links in the first period, 16 (7%) clicked in the
second period while 40 (4%) acted similarly in the third period The clicks referred to here is the
number of unique clicks only and does not include multiple clicks by the same recipient. When

34
compared to mailing lists of a similar size, in the Finnish market, for the same periods, the click
through rate for the Finnish Market list shows a corresponding 2, 2 and 10 percent (Table 13).
This result revealed that the average CTR for the UAE market which is 5% for the three periods
under consideration is slightly higher than that of the average CTR for the Finnish market with
4.67%. Note that the Finnish market has a similar mailing list size and the results considered are
for the same periods.

Table 13: Click through rate

Period N CTR (%) Finnish Market CTR (%)
1 6 4 2
2 16 7 2
3 40 4 10

Total 62

Google Analytics:

Overall Traffic Source

In all, 3472 visits to the organisation’s website were recorded for the entire period under consid-
eration and the overall traffic source shows that 33% of all traffic originated from Search Traffic
while 32% representing 1121 people originated from Referral Traffic. The figure for Direct Traffic
was 1060 people signifying 30% of all traffic and 160 people representing 5% of all traffic came
from Campaigns (Table 14).

Table 14: Total traffic source

Traffic source N %
Search Traffic 1131 33
Referral Traffic 1121 32
Direct Traffic 1060 30
Campaigns 160 5

Total 3472 100

35
This shows that more people are visiting the company website and knowing about its services
online, through the search boxes of search engine pages than they are doing through referrals
from other sites or by searching through typing URLs directly into the search bar of browsers.

Traffic source by period

A further breakdown of the traffic sources by period revealed that 38% of all traffic sources were
from referral Traffic, 31% were from Search traffic and 31% from direct traffic sources for the first
period. There were 440, 382 and 414 searches for Referral Traffic, Search Traffic and Direct Traf-
fic sources respectively for the second period while the third period indicated that the most traffic
source was Search traffic with 40% followed by Direct Traffic with 29% and Referral Traffic with
22% (Table 15, 16 & 17).

Table 15: Traffic source by period: period 1

Traffic source N %
Search Traffic 402 31
Referral Traffic 487 38
Direct Traffic 392 31
Campaigns 0 0

Total 1281 100

Table 16: Traffic source by period: period 2

Traffic source N %
Search Traffic 382 29
Referral Traffic 440 33
Direct Traffic 414 31
Campaigns 89 7

Total 1325 100

Table 17: Traffic source by period: period 3

Traffic source N %
Search Traffic 347 40
Referral Traffic 194 22
Direct Traffic 254 29
Campaigns 71 8

Total 866 100

36
Search traffic source (organic and paid)
A further breakdown of the search traffic source reveals that of the total search traffic figure of
1131, 101 visits representing 9% of total search traffic are from paid sources while 1030 are from
organic search sources (Table 18).
Table 18: Breakdown of search traffic source
Search traffic N %
Organic 1030 91
Paid 101 9

Total 1131 100

Geographical distribution of source of traffic

A detailed look at the visitors to the organisation’s pages revealed that 1422 visitors representing
41% of the total visitors came from Finland, 869 representing 25% came from the UAE while 210
representing 6% visited from the China (Table 19).

Table 19: Traffic source Location (Top 5 only)

Location Visits (n) %

Finland 1422 41
UAE 869 25
China 210 6
UK 187 5
USA 163 4

The table above shows some degree of popularity and interest from the market considering the
population of the UAE (less than 10million). The UAE was able to beat China; another country in
which the organization operates into securing second place, despite the latter’s teeming popula-
tion and market size.

Page visits
The average number of pages visited or viewed by visitors from the UAE was 3.86 per visits,
while the 1422 visitors from Finland visited an average of 4.95 pages each. It was also observed
that the Finish visitors stayed longer on the web pages than visitors from other countries. The
average time spent on the organisation’s page by visitors from Finland was 5 minutes and 45
seconds, while that of the visitors from the UAE was 2 minutes and 17 seconds (Table 20).

37
Table 20: Location and Page visits
Location Pages/visits (n) New visits (%) Average visit duration (min: sec)
Finland 4.95 33 05:45
UAE 3.86 79 02:17
China 3.79 60 02:32
UK 3.11 73 02:17
USA 2.82 75 02:07

Page content Information

Of the over 14,600 page views, 11,000 are unique page views, while Information about the orga-
nisation’s products and information about the company are at the top of the search pages viewed
the most.

38
4 CONCLUSIONS

The research shows that twitter is a very important marketing tool in the UAE and the organisa-
tion will do well by ensuring more original content are produced in this channel. However, there
are challenges to be to be faced and overcome; like the dynamic nature of this tool which needs
to be carefully monitored, analyzed and taken advantage of. It should be remembered that a
great number of tweets are produced each second of each day and as such the organisation
needs to be able to identify the right time and day to send its tweets to reap maximum benefits.

The organisation’s top priority with regards to marketing is to make sales. If the commissioner is
to ensure that marketing euros spent are bringing in returns in form of sales, there should be a
way to directly link sales to specific marketing efforts. This will help to show how rewarding cer-
tain online marketing campaigns and channels are. It can also reveal interesting data such as
showing the gap between the clients that became “hot leads” and eventual sales made from such
leads over a certain period of time.

Like in most developing markets where trust and competence is of greater concern, relationship
marketing is key for this market and as such should form a major part of the commissioner’s mar-
keting strategy. Also, one of the findings identified is the lack of awareness of the marketing prac-
titioners in the market that they will need to use some digital marketing tools. Therefore for the
commissioner to achieve its main marketing objectives, it will need to tailor some of its marketing
efforts towards educating the market.

The results gathered from the source of traffic to the organisation’s website had shown that there
are more visitors to the website from search engine page searches. This search source is inde-
pendent of the organisation’s searches originating from newsletter campaigns which have been
categorized under the heading “campaigns”. Likewise, searches or visits originating from other
websites which are collectively referred to as “Referral Traffic” could be said to be independent of
the Search traffic source to some extent. Both these traffic sources (Campaigns and Referral) are
not only online traffic sources but also major ones for the organisation. Therefore it could be in-
ferred that a lot of the search traffic are resulting from traditional offline marketing campaigns like
tradeshows, word of mouth or advertisement in print or electronic media which are serving as
catalyst or support for search engine traffic sources independent of other online sources. Another

39
search source similar to search traffic in terms of being mostly independent of other online
sources and relating to offline sources is direct traffic and constitute 63% of all searches for the
data observed. Of course some of this traffic could as well be as a result of campaigns seen from
newsletters or in other websites, but they were not resulting from a direct link clicked on from
these other online channels. This probably demonstrates that traditional marketing activities are
offering some form of support for the digital marketing operation of the organisation.

The organisation currently collects data on current keyword searches in the case market but
needs to do more when it comes to using the data especially using such keywords in the contents
it produces. There is need to integrate the keyword results more into the marketing strategy in
order for it to yield more returns. For instance, email marketing contents generated should make
more use of identified top keywords in email marketing. Likewise, same should be done for other
areas of the organisation’s product or content category. Also, keywords can be combined with
other keywords to form new keywords which can be used to gain higher ranking in searches. Fur-
thermore, the commissioner can do a research into keyword searches (Keyword Research) of the
UAE to know more about what people are searching for. Pandora, Google's adwords search and
yahoo's keyword selection tool are examples of software that can be used.

Content timing is important especially in the case of tweets and newsletters sent out. If not well
timed they could easily get lost in the crowd of thousands of information that the audience receive
every day. Finally but equally important is that there might be the need to produce content in the
native language of Arabic for all the channels being used or proposed for use in the market. From
the research by Arab media it was observed that there is a yearning for Arab content in the coun-
try. Nevertheless, decision makers of foreign owned organisations operating in the country espe-
cially western nations would still prefer English language. In view of this, there would still be a
need to continue to target this market with contents in English.

Also, the research had shown that paid search proved to be a fairly productive marketing avenue
for the organisation, as it was observed to form 29% of search traffic source for the third period
and 9% of total search traffic examined. It was also very visible in the top category for most online
marketing search terms in the UAE. But while the organisation features prominently in the Paid
search category for much of the search terms observed; it was conspicuously missing from the

40
first pages of organic searches. There is clearly more work to be done to improve the visibility of
the organisation in this area.

4.1 Recommendations
Email Newsletter Marketing
With regards to the email newsletter marketing channel, it will be beneficial to be able to make
some ROI measurements in future. These ROI measurements could be:
Conversion per sales rate: Conversions or clients gained/Number of sales made
Sales per email sent: No of sales made from newsletter sent/No of mails sent and delivered
Average Customer Conversion period: Average time it takes clients from receiving a newsletter to
subscribing and becoming a customer
Total return on Digital marketing investment: Profit made on sales/Digital Marketing cost
Although, it was observed that it is difficult to measure the ROI for newsletters, especially sales
per mail sent OR business relationship started/generated per mail sent because the feedback
channels are varied and not all can be captured via the measurement software. A client, who be-
came interested in a product as a result of reading a newsletter, could simply pick up the phone
and make a call to any of the phone numbers made available on the organisation’s website or
send an email for inquiries or fill the feedback form available at the end of the newsletter.

Webinar
Webinar is a service that makes web event or conference simultaneously available to people in
different locations. Webinars can be used to engage current customers as well as subscribers to
the webinar. Interesting webinar topics coupled with a good presenter will not only engage during
the web conference but also help create awareness about the organisation and the webinar
events. Questions asked or issues raised by participants at a particular webinar could serve as
topics of discussion for future webinars. This way, participants will contribute to the organisations
future marketing messages as well as the creation of products and services they would like to see
in the future.

Wikipedia
Due to the popularity and high ranking of Wikipedia on search sites, it can be used to increase
inbound links to the commissioner's website. Although it may be difficult to create a Wikipedia
page that directly talks about the commissioner's organisation, this could still be achieved indi-

41
rectly. An example is creating a Wikipedia page on "Email marketing in Finland" or "Digital mar-
keting in Finland", while the name and brief information about the organisation can be mentioned
under a subsection in the article with the link to the company's website provided.

4.2 Research questions restated

In the beginning of this research, based on the purpose and scope, some questions were identi-
fied that the research attempt to answer. These questions are restated below:

How effective or productive is the organisation’s B2B marketing communication in digital chan-
nels in the United Arab Emirate (UAE)?
What are the returns on investment for the digital channels in use?
Should some current channels be discontinued?
If some current channels are to be discontinued, which ones should they be and why?
Should the organisation use additional digital channels?
If new channels are to be used, which ones should they be and why?

With regards to the first and main research question, the results gathered from the research
showed that the commissioner’s digital marketing efforts in the UAE are productive but need im-
provement in certain areas. Consequently, suggestions are made for additional ROI measure-
ments for email newsletters, better use of keyword searches, timing of tweets and general con-
tent timing to help improve the effectiveness of the commissioner’s B2B marketing communica-
tion in the UAE.

Through the clicks in the tweets, the open and click through rates for newsletters sent and the
traffic sources, breakdown of search traffic source and location of traffic source in Google ana-
lytics, the data gathered and analysed for the digital channels revealed some information about
the return on investments for the channels examined and thereby answered the question on re-
turns on investment.

The next two questions about if a marketing channel be discontinued, which ones and why if any
was answered by the fact that the results also show a sustained level of (and in some cases in-
crease) in the parameters mentioned as measured above and some others, therefore, it was not
advised that these channels be discontinued even though they are not perfect yet.

42
However, it was suggested that the commissioner use additional channels and some of the sug-
gested channels are Webinar and Wikipedia. These channels are selected based on their merits
and believed compatibility as explained with the commissioner’s line of business. This answers
the last two questions.

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5 DISCUSSION

The balance of power in marketing has been altered by digital technology. Now than ever before,
there is a lot more control resting with the customers. They are increasingly managing the pur-
chasing process, deciding on the marketing messages they see and even contribute to the devel-
opment of products they would like to see in the future. Additionally, CMI had pointed out that the
effectiveness of traditional marketing means is dwindling. This is because consumers have be-
come adept at shutting off advertisements through traditional marketing be it online or offline.
Nevertheless, offline marketing activities have been seen to be important to some aspects of
online marketing particularly search traffic and as such, their contributions should not be ignored
especially in the UAE where trade events are abound and relationships are highly valued.

Due to the ever-changing nature of the Information Technology, the internet and societies as well,
the relevance of this research may not last long. However, the facts identified and put forward in
this research should ensure that similar results are produced given the conditions that existed in
the market examined, coupled with the current level of development and usage of digital channels
and technology, and thus make this research useful.

In the course of the research, the author had been introduced to a whole new world of marketing
which to him is virtually not in existence while still within the four walls of the classroom. He had
experienced first-hand how digital marketing is being performed and became familiar with some
of the challenges (both technological and otherwise) faced by the practitioners. Lessons had
been learnt particularly with regards to content creation, content format and analytical tools. Addi-
tionally, the author is now conversant with the rise of a new role for marketers in organisation; this
role is termed chief marketing technology officer (CMTO). This is a role for a new breed of mar-
keting professionals whose responsibilities are partly that of traditional marketing and partly IT.
These new marketing practitioners do have a better understand of technology than the traditional
marketers and then use their expertise in technology and analytics to analyse and present market
data from various channels in order to enhanced their organisation’s advantage in responding to
customer needs.
5.1 Suggested further research
This research had studied the UAE market only. It might be appealing to extend the research to
other markets other than the one examined; perhaps another digitally emerging market.

44
Additionally, in the course of this thesis, it was discovered that for the market examined, offline
marketing activities like trade shows and Exhibitions, Public Relations and an ongoing relation-
ship could be key to achieving a successful digital marketing. In view of this, it will be interesting
to study and know how, and to what extent offline marketing activities support online or digital
marketing.

45
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