State 2 benefits of digital marketing AND 2 examples of how digital marketing can be valuable for

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Question:

State 2 benefits of digital marketing AND 2 examples of how digital marketing can be valuable for Clif Bar, using information from the case study.

Here is the case:

Clif Bar & Company is an American company that produces organic foods and drinks. Their leading product is Clif Bar, a granola bar. In 1991, they launched three flavors of Clif Bar: double chocolate, apricot, and date oatmeal (Clif Bar, 2020). They are about to launch a berry flavour. For the purposes of this case study, the primary target audience is millennials, males and females, between the ages of 22 and 38 years old. They are health conscious, active and on social media platforms regularly, surf the internet, and shop regularly online. The two key competitors for Clif Bar are KIND Bar and Larabar - both similar businesses shaped around granola bars, with larger marketing departments and marketing budgets than Clif (KIND Bar, 2020) (Larabar, 2020). This digital marketing plan is for January - December 2021.

Clif Bar: Digital Marketing SWOT
The following is only PART of a digital marketing SWOT for Clif Bar, created for the purposes of this case study. Parts of the SWOT are done well and some parts are not.

Strengths	Rationale	Sources
Strong social media following	More social media followers on major social media (Instagram, Facebook) than top 2 competitors. Clif: Instagram 163K vs. 141K KIND and 94.2K Larabar. Clif: Facebook 298K vs. 125K KIND and 205K Larabar.	(Clif Instagram, 2020) (Clif Facebook, 2020) (KIND Instagram, 2020) (KIND Facebook, 2020) (Larabar Instagram, 2020) (Larabar Facebook, 2020)

Website security

Facebook

Strong versus the competition. Security is important when more people are online.

Clif has less Facebook engagement vs. Larabar and KIND. Facebook is a growing social media platform.

(Hubspot Website Grader, 2020)

(Clif Facebook, 2020) (KIND Facebook, 2020) (Larabar Facebook, 2020)

Weaknesses	Rationale	Sources
Website needs improvements	Clif's website grader score (64) is higher than KIND (57), but lower than Larabar (82) and needs improvements. The site has some navigation but could be easier to use. Performance (9 out of 30) is their weakest area.	(Website Grader, 2020) (Clif Bar, 2020) (KIND, 2020) (Larabar, 2020)

Weak online reviews vs. competition	Only 44% of customers gave Clif Bar a 5-star rating. Larabar and KIND got more 5-star ratings on Amazon (78% and 82% of customers respectively). 70% of global consumers indicate they trust online reviews.	(Amazon Clif Bar, 2020) (Amazon Kind, 2020) (Amazon Larabar, 2020) (Nielsen, 2019)
Fewer marketing resources and funds	Versus competition, Clif Bar spends 25% less on marketing on average and has fewer marketing staff (by 5 people).	(Clif Bar, 2020) (Nielsen, 2019)

Clif Bar: Digital Marketing Objectives

The following are some of the digital marketing objectives for Clif Bar in this made-up digital marketing plan. Some objectives and some rationale are well written - and some are not.

Gain 100 new 4 or 5-star ratings (to 60% of customers) for Clif Bar on Amazon by the end of June 2021.

Currently, only 44% of customers gave Clif Bar a 5-star rating on Amazon (Amazon Clif Bar, 2020). Whereas, Larabar and KIND got more 5-star ratings on Amazon (78% and 82% of customers respectively) (Amazon Kind, 2020) (Amazon Larabar, 2020). By gaining online reviews, it will help increase the chance of the consumer trying and buying a product, which will increase sales.

Build more online social media presence and engagement, creating better hashtags for Twitter and gaining 50K followers by the end of February 2021.

This will help CLIF Bar get better social media presence than just Facebook and Instagram. Facebook and Instagram are strong platforms, but Twitter can be used to share news, new ideas and events that are different. More people are turning towards social media. Better hashtags that align with content ideas can help boost engagement more on Twitter than Clif has right now.

Increase Clif Bar's Instagram followers to 175K by May 2021.

Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms worldwide amongst millennials (PEW Research Center, 2019). By continuing to increase followers, it will continue to solidify Clif's leadership on this platform versus the competition. Currently Clif's Instagram followers are 163K vs 141K for KIND and 94.2K for Larabar (Instagram, 2020). An increase to 175K by May is reasonable considering the efforts in this digital plan.

Increase the Clif Bar's Website Grader score to 75 by June 2021.

By increasing this score it helps the sub-scores as well and keeps Clif competitive. Adding companie bios, frequently asked questions and more visuals to the website can help. It's cluttered and needs to be simplified with better navigation. The fonts and colour scheme should be cleaned up and promotions more prominent on the landing page (Hubspot Website Grader, 2020).

Increase Facebook likes per post by the end of the third quarter 2021.

Currently Clif's Facebook average engagement per post is 100, lower than both KIND (300/post) and Larabar (200/post). Increasing their engagement to 250 is achievable given the initiatives in this digital marketing plan. Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms worldwide amongst millennials (PEW Research Center, 2019).