Answer to Question 1
Student answers will vary, but should include the following:
Elements that will be in the proposal include the (1 ) business goals, or vision, or mission statement, (2 ) identification of the target audience, (3 ) description of the marketspace, (4 ) a strategic analysis or SWOT analysis, (5 ) the content to be included, (6 ) a development timeline, and (7 ) a budget. Other recommendations that the student should mention include using social, local, or mobile marketing.
Answer to Question 2
A one-year e-commerce presence timeline might include the following phases, activities, and milestones. Phase 1/Planning, in which an e-commerce presence would be envisaged and personnel developed, with a milestone of creating a mission statement; Phase 2/Website development, in which content would be acquired, a site design developed, and hosting arranged for the site, with a milestone of creating a website plan; Phase 3/Web implementation, in which keywords and metatags would be developed, search engine optimization strategies deployed, and potential sponsors identified, with a creation of a functional website as the milestone; Phase 4/Social media plan, in which appropriate social platforms and content for products and services would be identified, with the creation of a social media plan as the milestone; Phase 5/Social media implementation, in which a Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media presence would be developed, with a functioning social media presence as the milestone; and Phase 6/Mobile plan, in which a mobile plan would be developed with options for porting the website to the mobile platform considered, and with a mobile media plan as the relevant milestone. Phase 6/Mobile plan might also be the first phase for a firm that wanted to employ mobile first design.