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Question: Discuss About The Journal Direct Digital Marketing Practice? Answer: Introduction This article discusses the reason for the failure of Billabong in both sales and digital marketing perspective. It discusses the methods that can be used by the company to promote itself to its target market. It evaluates various digital marketing platforms like Facebook, instagram and Google search engine optimization. Reasons for the failure of billabongs The chief reasons for the failure of the company Billabong is the inefficient marketing policy that it adopted in the year 2012. The company dealt with its financial losses by reducing the allocation of fund to the digital marketing of the company. This has been the humongous mistake that has led the further reduction in sales of the company. Though the company designs product for all age groups but the chief target of the company is the 12 to 25 year old age group (Weber 2009). This particular age group constitutes the largest chunk of customer base in the online market by reducing the online marketing by reduction of the budget the company lost a significant amount of client. Moreover there are competitive brands that are continuously trying to lure away the customers of the company. The second issue of concern is the poor condition of the online platform of the company. There are numerous unsatisfied online customers of the company using the company website. The e -commerce department is unable pay the foreign customers their due refund which is creating a bad image of the company in the market. The target customer group of a company is active in the social media and tend to communicate their views in the social media platform. As a result the bad word regarding the performance of the company in the social media is going to spread like wildfire tarnishing the image of the company even more. Target customer and the lack of ability of Billabong to satisfy the customer digitally The company caters to the need of the children who are going to surf for the first time using a mini board to the older generation trying to buy a dinner jacket but the main target of the company are the sports loving age group. The ages between 12 to 25 years of age are the ideal age group of the company. The promotional strategy of the company involves this age group. Billabong is unable to satisfy their target customer group as they have reduced their digital advertising budget. This age group makes 40 per cent of the customers who respond to digital marketing advertisement. The reduction of budget has impacted the digital marketing which has in turn impacted the expectation of the target customers. The lack of service that is provided by the companys website is also responsible for the dissatisfaction of this group of customers. Facebook as a digital marketing strategy Facebook is one of the most cost effective and penetrative means of online advertisement. Facebook has a huge reach as there are large amount of people in this platform. The advertising cost in Facebook is very affordable. Billabong is already suffering from lack of funds of advertising in such case Facebook can prove to be an effective means of digital platform for the advertisement of the company. Facebook also provides the ability to measure the amount of viewership received by the advertisement as well as the opinions of the customers in the comments which makes the advertisement in Facebook a two way communication process. The catching of the customer eyeball is also done through the advertisement in the facebook (Meadows-Klue 2008). Facebook also provide the international exposure as the services of this platform can be done in any part of the globe. There are no extra charges in advertisement done by the company in the global scenario. The company has also launched a campaign called the Isurfbecause campaign as a social media advertisement campaign. Facebook can serve as a proper platform for this campaign. Thus Facebook can be considered as a perfect media for digital marketing of Billabong. Changes in the Facebook promotional strategy Billabong has an effective presence in Facebook but there are certain changes that can be introduced in their method of promotion in Facebook which can help the digital marketing of the company Facebook live is a method that can be used by the company to promote events in the isurfbecause campaign. Reading messages of the numerous viewers in the interactive session brings a different level of connection between the brand users and the brand The company can also make celebs in the field of sports to like comment or share the Facebook page of the company. These are some of the marketing techniques that has not been used by the billabong as of yet. Instagram as a digital marketing strategy Instagram is one of the most recent tools of social media that can also serve as a effective tool of digital marketing. There are various reasons for using instagram as a digital marketing tool. Instagram is method to reach the customers while on the move as it is a mobile based social media platform. Using of instagram also helps the company to promote itself in a very new manner by using various features of instagram like behind-the-scene photos, time lapse videos and various specific themes of instagram. The using of hashtag is also a whole new concept introduced by the social media. Hashtag are used by instagram so that the customers can specifically find the company. Not only does it make the company information easily available but it also helps the company to promote the business. Instagram also helps to conduct a research of the market to find out the number of times the hashtag has been viewed. There are additional apps that help the customers to understand the number of fol lowers and the extent of the interaction of the viewers with the company posts. The hashtag search engine has been reinvented by the instagram helping digital promotions (Chaffey 2016). Changes in instagram promotional strategy There are various creative methods that can be introduced in instagram to promote the company in the digital marketing field. The Isurfbecause campaign can be promoted through a story in which live interactions can be done to people in the beach A series of promotion can be done through instagram in which people can be asked to post their Isurfbecause video and get chances to win something. Selfie contests are one of the most viral instagram promotional methods which can be incorporated by Billabong to digitally promote their products. Again celebrities can be used in promotional methods in instagram These sorts of messages can be promoted by taking instagram as a medium of promotion. Search engine optimization as a digital marketing platform The company can use various types of digital marketing platform but the most effective is the Google. Google still has 1.2 trillion searches done each year which is an astonishing number and thus can be considered as a strong tool of promotion. This market can be tapped by keeping all the necessary information in the fingertips of the users of google. The company should use the most varied amount of keyword inputs done through search engine optimization. SEO should be effectively done by the company to promote its brand. The new users search only keywords regarding the sports which can lead to suggestion of Billabong and also lead to Isurfbecause campaign. Advertisements and videos and links to Facebook and instagram page can also be provided to the users once they enter the billabongs page. Information regarding online purchase of billabong products and nearest store locations should also be found through the search. This is a method of involving new users into becoming a user of the Billabong product from where various loyalty programs can help the users to become repeat purchasers of the Billabong product. Brand affiliation can also be created through constant involvement in various online activities (Chaffey et al. 2013). It has been seen that Google is much more accessed by people for searching out for products or service than any other digital platform. Billabong has not been focusing much on this aspect of online advertising as a result it can be seen that searching for various surfing related key word doesnt always lead to the page of billabong. That is why it can be considered as a method which can be used by the company as a tool of digital marketing. Conclusion In conclusion it can be said that Billabong can use digital marketing to redeem its image in the market. The various social media platforms like Facebook, instagram, Google search engine optimization can serve as effective means of communication with the new and existing customers of the company. Reference List Chaffey, D., 2016. Global social media research summary 2016.Smart Insights,8. Chaffey, D., Smith, P.R. and Smith, P.R., 2013.eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and optimizing your digital marketing. Routledge. Facebook.com. (2017).Billabong. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/Billabong/ [Accessed 23 Sep. 2017]. Instagram.com. (2017).Billabong (@billabong) Instagram photos and videos. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/billabong/?hl=en [Accessed 23 Sep. 2017]. Meadows-Klue, D., 2008. Opinion piece: Falling in Love 2.0: Relationship marketing for the Facebook generation.Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice,9(3), pp.245-250. Weber, L., 2009.Marketing to the social web: How digital customer communities build your business. John Wiley Sons.