Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing

Individual Assignment – June 2021

Contemporary Marketing for Sustainability
(CMS)
Examination /Assignment Registration 29th & 30th of May 2021
Period

Examination / Assignment Registration 31st May to 03rd June 2021

Grace Period

Assignment Submission Period 26th and 27th of June 2021

Assignment Acceptance time period Weekend and Weekday from 9.00am to 4.00pm

GUIDELINES

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 • Assignment Submission:
▪ You are required to register for examinations / assignments within the above given
period. Assignments will not be accepted if you have not registered for the
exam/assignment.
▪ Assignments should be submitted to SLIM within the Assignment Submission Periods
indicated above.
▪ Assignments will not be accepted after the late submission period under any
circumstances.
▪ SLIM will issue an acknowledgement slip upon the submission of your assignment and
it must be retained by the student as proof of submitting the assignment.
• Assignment Cover Page:
▪ Attached cover page format should be used, printed in the relevant colour (Stage 1-
Blue/Stage 2-Green/ Stage 3-Pink).
• The Assignment Marking Sheet should be attached after the cover page followed by the
Assignment checklist & declaration form.

IMPORTANT NOTES
• If you have not submitted the assignment your results for the respective subject will
appear as “Fail” in the final grading.

• If you are a student of an Accredited Study Centre, you can submit the assignment to the
accredited study centre and presentation date and time will be notified to the accredited
centre once all assignments received to SLIM.

• Refer Student deliverables indicated below for specific details about assignment
submission and presentations.

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Assignment Topic:
HeartLand Tea – Building a Digital Strategy

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BACKGROUND

You are the newly hired Ecommerce Manager HeartLand Tea, reporting to the GM – Sales and
Marketing. Heartland Tea is a tea manufacturing company based in Sri Lanka and provides high
quality Ceylon Tea, including different varieties and flavours. While the company has been in
business for the last 50 years and is one of the largest exporters of Ceylon Tea, Heartland has
been providing tea as a raw material to other foreign tea manufacturers who sell under their
own brands. After much deliberation, Heartland has now decided to launch their own tea brand
and use Digital as a channel to introduce it to the world focusing first on brand awareness
building and then with a focus on ROI for their online tea shop.

As the Ecommerce Manager, you are tasked with launching the new brand and identifying the
markets in which to first start your advertising campaigns. The company has realised that while
markets such as Iran, Russia and China are key Ceylon Tea drinking markets, there are several
challenges in marketing to those countries. Online platforms such as Google and Facebook are
blocked in Iran and China and language barriers increase investments in creating and
maintaining websites for those countries. As such, as the first phase of your marketing efforts
the company would like to focus on an English only strategy and focus on countries and regions
where there is enough of an online audience researching and purchasing on English based
websites.

While Heartland has over 40 varieties of teas, they can be primarily categorised as Black Tea,
Green Tea, White Tea and Flavoured Tea. While Black Tea is used in most blends people and is
the most consumed type of tea, Heartland is also starting to see a greater interest in Green Tea
as more people look at switching to healthier life styles and associate Green Tea with significant
health benefits such as weight loss and detox. Each blend of tea can tell its own story,
Chamomile Tea to help you relax, English Breakfast tea associated with mornings and Flavoured
Teas that can be used to make Iced Tea to beat the heat.

Heartland Tea strongly believes they offer the best Ceylon Tea. Due to the care taken in
manufacturing and producing the finest quality tea they are generally more expensive than
other Ceylon Tea brands available in foreign markets. These brands mix Ceylon Tea with lower
grades of tea from Kenya to reduce the cost. Only Heartland Tea and similar Sri Lankan brands
provide pure Ceylon Tea with the lion seal provided by the Sri Lankan government.

When launching the new brand Heartland Tea, the company believes they should first identify
the markets that drink tea and have a special affinity to Ceylon Tea. The GM then believes you
should establish a certain degree of brand awareness and then begin product level marketing to
drive sales and ROI. As the core strategy is centered on Digital, the company is forgoing
traditional market research methods and are more interested in markets with demand online. A

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possible template for success lies with two of the company’s competitors,
www.zestaceylontea.com and https://shop.dilmahtea.com/ both Sri Lankan brands that have
successfully forged an online business serving foreign consumers directly.

TASK ONE
The GM has asked you to help identify which markets to target first and then to help build a
digital marketing strategy.

a. As your strategy will be purely on Digital Channels, how would you conduct research on
digital channels to select your key markets? List the tools and techniques and how they
will be used for research.
b. Using the SOSTAC or any other model you are comfortable with, how will you address
the necessary steps in building a digital strategy / plan, benchmarking yourself against
your two main competitors?

Guideline Note 01

• The objective is to understand the student’s understanding of conducting research

online to build an effective digital strategy. For example, traditional methods such as
Questionnaires and market surveys will not work when you are based in Sri Lanka and
trying to target someone in the USA via Digital Advertising. As such the student is meant
to list and elaborate how they would use tools available online for understanding trends
and demand online. A working knowledge is not required, merely a description of how
these tools can be used for researching the potential for marketing tea.
• The final model used is not relevant, the objective is to understand how the student will
take a structured approach to build a digital strategy from setting goals to planning
activities. As the case study references two competitors, the student can look at what
the competitors’ have done on their websites, social media profiles etc. to justify the
goals and objectives set for HeartLand Tea.

TASK TWO
It is important to understand your customer. Those that are of a middle income, drinking tea
daily may not buy from HeartLand’s premium tea range for daily consumption but for special
occasions only. The online range of HeartLand’s provide price-based entry points for different
types of consumers.

a. Looking at HealthLand’s competitor’s tea ranges as a benchmark, create two online tea
buyer profiles. You can use the research done on task one as well. In simple, who will

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 buy tea from HeartLand tea online and why?

b. In terms of converting competitor customers to purchase Healthland tea, recommend

and justify 2 key differentiated approach compared to your competitors
c. Prepare a digital marketing activity calendar for 2019, considering the holidays, target
audiences, tea varieties available, types of messaging and similar.

Guideline Note 02

• This is a segmentation exercise. HeartLand Tea products may not be relevant to

everyone. The student is asked to look at the two main competitors listed and
understand how they have categorized and segmented their products on their websites.
Based on that understanding, the student is asked to create potential buyer profiles
while elaborating their reasoning for same. If the correct research tools were identified
in Task One, the student may also have a better idea of who HeartLand’s consumers are.
• This is a positioning / USP identifying exercise. The student is asked to compare the
competitors with HeartLand’s brand and justify why someone should buy HeartLand’s
Tea. The differentiators do not need to be factual, the student is free to define what
HeartLand tea stands for.
• The students are asked to create an activity plan. Pick a source market, identify the
holidays / seasons and similar and elaborate on what HeartLand tea should do. For
example, Tea as a gift can be promoted during Christmas. Look at the Social Media
profiles of the competitors to understand what they have been doing to get a better
understanding.

IMPORTANT:

Please refrain from copying-and-pasting information from the Internet or another source and
make sure to reference your work according to the Harvard referencing format.

Word Allocation for each task

Task Content Weightage

Task one (Words – 1500-1750) 50%
Task two (Words – 1500-1750) 50%
Total ( word count 3000 – 3500) 100%

Note: Please refer the given assignment marking scheme for marks allocation.

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 Assignment checklist & declaration

This document is intended as a guide to check and improve your assignment. Review your
assignment together with the specific guidelines and criteria (marking schedule) that are
mentioned in the programme handbook given to you.

You are expected to confirm that your assignment fulfils the below requirements. Please
tick (√) in the cages as necessary.

Student Name
Registration No ( As per registration book )
Cover page with relevant colour code of the stage
Stage 1 – Blue
Stage 2 – Green
Stage 3 – Pink
Assignment checklist & declaration form ( This sheet)
Assignment marking scheme is attached
Assignment sheet is attached
Table of contents
Body of the assignment
References
Course fee paid in full (coaching/registration/exam and membership)
Exam registration completed

I am fully aware that any misleading information provided in the above checklist will lead
to the rejection of my assignment.

I, the undersigned, confirm that I have read and understood the statement about
plagiarism which is outlined in the students’ handbook. I confirm that the work that I have
submitted accompanying this report is wholly my own, and that any quotations or sections
of text taken from the published or unpublished work of any other person is duly and fully
acknowledged therein.

Signature: _________________ Date: _________________

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 Assignment Marking Scheme
June 2021
Subject Contemporary Marketing for Sustainability (CMS)
Student Registration Number

Marks
Criteria
Allocated Awarded
Aligning to the purpose of the assignment 20

Some of the answer addresses to the purpose of the question 1-5

This has addressed the purpose of the assignment 6-10
Has addressed the purpose of the assignment coherently 11-15
This has addressed the purpose of assignment comprehensively 16-20
Clarity of expression 20

An attempt to organize in a logical manner 1-5

Satisfactory showing of logical manner and organization 6-10
Shows higher level of Carefully and logically organized 11-15
Shows coherent structure with clearly expressed ideas 16-20
Using examples/evidences 20

Shows a little use of examples 1-5

Some use of examples. Some evaluation attempted 6-10
Some use of examples. Well evaluated 11-15
Shows appropriate examples are fully and reliably evaluated 16-20
Critical analysis of concepts, theories, conclusions 20

Demonstrates limited evidence of critical analysis 1-5

Demonstrates some critical analysis of relevant theory 6-10
Demonstrates application of theory through critical analysis 11-15
Demonstrates application of critical analysis well integrated 16-20
Following assignment guidelines 20

Limited follow-up of assignment guidelines 1-5

Some level of follow-up of assignment guidelines 6-10
Good display of adherence to assignment guidelines 11-15
Excellent adherence to assignment guidelines 16-20

Total
100

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 Special Remarks

Signature of the Examiner

Contemporary Marketing for Sustainability (CMS)

Assignment Topic

Student Name
Reg. No.

June 2021 Examination

Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing

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 Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing

Task 1.

A) How would you conduct research on digital channels to select your key markets?
List the tools and techniques and how they will be used for research.

The traditional way of marketing brands, products and services make use of either indirect or
direct methods of reaching out to targeted customers. These methods are clear-cut and very
straightforward which need to invest money, perform a set of actions, and get results. The
business and marketing landscape have drastically changed in recent years however. Traditional
methods that were effective before may not be as effective in this current market powered by the
complexities – and the vast wealth of opportunities – by the Internet.

That is why it is very important that Heartland tea and product range shall establish and maintain
a very strong online presence to be competitive enough to reach out to targeted audiences.
Traditional marketing rules does not necessarily apply in current scenarios. However, there are
new markets and new doors of opportunities made available – that are only accessible through
digital marketing channels. But with several Internet marketing tools available, which among
these tools are the best and are worthy enough to focus on while they bring Heartland Tea closer
to the business goals. Following are the steps to be followed for the research in order to analyze
the market for Heartland Brand.

1. Market Research
2. Industry outlook
3. Target customers

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4. Compare your competition
5. Additional data
6. Analyze findings.
7. Action.

Not all digital marketing tools are applicable or will work with heartland brands. We need to
perform a carefully planned set of actions that will enable us to learn, test and measure the
results and performance of the digital marketing tool or tools that is suggested herewith.

1. Email Marketing

When business perform lead generation and other marketing strategies, they collect contact
information like phone numbers and email addresses from potential customers, including
permissions to send them updates and other information through email. Email marketing is one
of the most effective digital marketing channels that can give businesses and ROI of up to 4,300%.

Many businesses with in-house digital marketers use email marketing, with up to 66% rating this
tool as excellent for delivering ROI. This is why up to 56% of business highlighted that they are
planning to increase email-related marketing activities by 2014. Examples of emails sent include
emails for brand building, conversion, and newsletters.

2. Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)

Paid advertising channels like Pay-Per-Click advertising deliver highly targeted traffic of potential
customers within a very short period of time. This method however is driven by home much
business is willing to invest in bidding and placing ad placements, as well as how much they are
willing to pay for acquiring one customer.

Still, advertising budget is still within the control, enabling company to set how much they have to
spend for a day, a week or a month running PPC ads. The effectiveness of PPC ads rely on how
well the company choose keywords for targeting potential customers as well as optimizing the
visual and contextual information in ads.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

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Almost all people using the Internet are familiar and are making use of search engines to look for
anything there is they want to know or are searching for. In fact, up to 93% of online experiences
happening to these people usually begin by using a search engine. People use search engines to
look for information about a brand, product or services, and up to 59% of search engine users
each month find a local business to satisfy a particular need. SEO involves several activities like
keyword research, making use of both on-page and off-page optimization, linkable assets
creation, organic link building and other related activities

4. Display Advertising
Many people visit blogs, forums, and other websites that are interesting or useful to them. Digital
marketers can reach out to these potential customers by placing relevant display ads on these
third party sites. These include banners, boxes, interactive ads, video ads, interstitial ads, overlays
and other similar ads that are linked to a landing page or website.

Display advertising creates greater brand awareness as well as generate highly targeted traffic
that may convert into leads or sales. Payments for these display ads are usually based on Cost-
Per-Impression (CPM) which is usually more cost-effective compared to the Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
scheme typical of PPC advertising.

5. Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social media is definitely one of the most phenomenal thing to happen in the digital arena that
business owners and digital marketers can leverage on to create brand awareness for their
products and services. Through Social Media Marketing (SMM), digital marketers can reach out to
highly targeted potential customers through direct and person-to-person engagement.

The number of social media users continue to grow each day and is expected to increase by up to
26% more this 2015. Businesses and digital marketers continue to ride the bandwagon and more
than 50% are planning to increase their SMM budgets this year. Digital marketers however should
select the most appropriate social network to promote their kind of business to a particular kind
of targeted audience. A simple guide is listed below:

Facebook – You can reach out to almost any kind of general consumer, you just need to learn in
what groups and pages your targeted customer stay frequently go to at Facebook.

Twitter – If you’re trying to develop a new business and would want to reach out to early
adopters, then Twitter may be for you, particularly in generating fast brand awareness.

LinkedIn – Reaching out to professionals, business owners and other Business-to-Business (B2B)
leads and targeted customers, then LinkedIn would be the perfect social network for you.

Google+ – This is another good social network for reaching out to early adopters of new
businesses as well as reaching out to the B2B and general social media user. Business owners

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should however learn how to make a good presence at Google+ as this may be a great factor that
will influence how SEO will behave in the near future.

Pinterest – This social network is great if you’re focusing on visuals for promoting your brands and
products. Majority of users are also women so if these are your market, then SMM on Pinterest
will be good for your business.

6. Content Marketing
Content is at the heart of every digital marketing campaign and is the one major element that will
remain constant despite the many changes that occur in the marketplace. With good, high-quality
and very relevant content, your website and other Internet marketing real estate will generate
considerable inbound traffic from highly targeted audiences – all of which can be potential
customers. Up to 73% of digital marketers in the B2B arena are increasing content marketing
activities this 2014. Content includes text, graphics, videos, and other related materials people are
looking for and are very interested in.

7. Affiliate Marketing
If the business need to reach a wider and more global audience, we need not hire someone from
other locations. All we need to work with are affiliate marketers who can do the job for certain
percentages in commissions when they sell heartland products – a perfect example of the pay-
per-performance online business model. Global e-commerce sales exceeded 1.2 trillion dollars
last 2013 according to eMarketer, with affiliate marketing doing its share to boost this market up.
Forrester on the other hand predicts affiliate marketing to reach levels of up to $4.5 billion by the
year 2016.

8. Online Public Relations

Online PR can be considered a part of Content Marketing in general for the main principle is to
create promotional content that will be used for generating branding and creating traffic through
exposure in online PR networks. Some of these channels are free to join while some require some
joining/subscription fees before the company could publish press releases.

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B) how will you address the necessary steps in building a digital strategy / plan, benchmarking
yourself against your two main competitors?

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