digital marketing and social media

Task:
A digital marketing plan has been made for YCN (Yorkshire Nature Coast) After a successful growth period; YCN is now at the next stage in its development and would like a greater focus on Digital Marketing and Social Media. The existing social media is generating interest and engagement, but YCN would like to develop this further to encourage greater engagement/involvement, build repeat and new business through electronic word of mouth (eWOM).
Acting as a Digital Marketing consultant, you have been asked to prepare a Digital Marketing plan for YCN, which reflects on the information in this brief and has the following objectives:
1. Increase engagement and involvement amongst the YCN target audience, generating eWOM from social media channels. ?
2. Develop repeat business from existing customer. ?
3. Grow bookings from new customers. ?
You will need to show that you understand the market environment. A key aspect of this report is tactics, exploring the use of digital and social media marketing tools and techniques, e.g. websites, search engine optimization (SEO), PPC, email, video, social media and mobile, among others, to reach and engage the relevant target customers. Content Marketing online is particularly important, so you will need to consider specific content in addition to the media tools. Finally YCN would like your thoughts of how they should ‘bring to life’ and actually apply your plans. Market Reports?

Your Task
There is no need for executive summary, Introduction, Competitor analysis etc., please complete this plan by writing/detailing under the following headings ONLY
• – Objectives
• – Strategy & tactics detailing your digital-marketing mix, with reasons to support them?-
• Control – how you will evaluate and review the digital marketing plan
• Conclusion
Be critical and creative in your work. Make sure that your plan is integrated in a way that it is clear that your tactics flow from your objectives and are relevant to your target audience and your client.
Due to the nature of the assignment you might decide to make a number of assumptions, on which you base your recommendations. Please make sure you explain your assumptions clearly so that the marker can understand your suggestions and rationales.

Eco-Tourism
Yorkshire Coast Nature – Focusing on Nature
Introduction to Yorkshire Coast Nature (http://www.yorkshirecoastnature.co.uk)
Yorkshire Coast Nature (YCN) is a small independent nature tourism company operating in North and East Yorkshire. YCN offers a variety of activity tours, events and workshops. They provide short tours aimed at those interested in specific geography, species or photography to longer holidays where customers can experience a wide range of the species and landscapes of the Yorkshire coast.
The team at YCN are passionate about wildlife. They believe strongly in delivering eco-tourism with a direct benefit for wildlife and provide annual grants to nature conservation organisations. An example of this is the 2011 joint-funded wetland restoration and bird hide project for Thornwick and Sea Farm Holiday Centre at Flamborough Head.
Key Products
YCN offer a range of tours, events and holidays. The following are the key products:
Wildlife Safari’s (http://www.yorkshirecoastnature.co.uk/tours-events)
The Yorkshire Coast, North York Moors National Park and the Yorkshire Wolds are amazing places for wildlife with many diverse habitats and spectacular scenery. YCN’s top-class wildlife safaris are led by local experts in a small group environment. This allows time for everyone to learn and ensuring pressure on wildlife is kept to a minimum. From snakes on the moors, birds of prey and butterflies in the hidden depths of the Great Yorkshire Forest to rare migrant birds at the sandy beaches of Spurn Point and rocky cliffs of Filey, Flamborough and Bempton.

Photography Workshops (http://www.yorkshirecoastnature.co.uk/workshops)
YCN delivers high quality photography workshops and trips along the Yorkshire Coast and beyond. The workshops are delivered by experienced tutors and designed for beginners, enthusiasts and professionals.
In addition to the regular tours, events and holidays, YCN can offer bespoke products which are tailored for individual requirements.
YCN Growth and Marketing
YCN has grown significantly over the last few years and has developed through word of mouth which is an extremely important aspect of its marketing. YCN has used print advertising (in relevant magazines) and supports its business through an active twitter account (https://twitter.com/ycnature) and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/yorkshirecoastnature).
Differentiation
• YCN enables customers to enjoy natural history in a habitat they helped create through the grants and work that YCN offers to support ecology. ?
• YCN Tours and holidays are provided by local experts that live and breathe the nature and the environment around them. There is no one better to bring to bring customers up-close for unique nature experiences. ?
• Unique opportunity to tailor events, tours and holidays. ?Target Audience ?YCN customers are typically 55+ and in many cases are retired. This audience has a higher disposable income and are more likely to be ‘time rich’. This enables them to invest their funds and time into nature activities. ?The audience is likely to be fit and healthy and interested in outdoor activities like walking, travel, gardening, photography and nature activities. ?In terms of values, they are likely to be concerned about environmental issues and the impact of modern life on nature and wildlife. ?

External Influences
The growth in production of UK based nature TV programmes like BBC Springwatch (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qgm3), BBC Countryfile (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t0bv) BBC Coast (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mvlc) has created increased interest in nature and wildlife activities in the UK. Tourism growth has been seen as a result of what is called the ‘Springwatch’ effect. The following links contain articles that feature this phenomenon and provide details of increases in tourism, income and jobs in this industry:
http://bit.ly/1W32UAa http://bit.ly/1UUSYGt
Springwatch featured Bempton Cliffs in 2015, which is one of the Yorkshire coast areas that YCN covers, creating increased demand in visits to this beautiful wildlife hot-spot. http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/BBC-Springwatch-team-filming- Easter-special/story-26232649-detail/story.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02mllg4
Popular BBC programmeCountryfile also visited Bempton Cliffs in 2015, increasing consumer awareness and interest in this area: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b060dndw
Competition
Direct competitors for YCN tend to be larger nature tour companies such as:
• Nature Trek: http://www.naturetrek.co.uk ?
• The Travelling Naturalist: http://www.naturalist.co.uk ?
• Responsible Travel: http://www.responsibletravel.com ?
• Countryfile article: http://www.countryfile.com/countryside/best-wildlife- ?holidays ?
• Guardian article covering UK wildlife holidays: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2008/dec/13/wildlife-nature-holiday-uk ?In terms of location, many of the tours and holidays offered by YCN are not offered by many competitors as YCN is the only operator many of the Yorkshire coastal areas. ?The North Yorkshire Moors National Park and the National Trust provide short guided walks as in some of the areas they cover. ?Other competition comes from individual providers providing bird watching courses and in some cases YCN partner with them. ?Indirect competition comes from other leisure activities and holidays in the UK and abroad. ?