As part of the TOURISTIC project, the partnership is currently developing training content for teachers, educators and volunteers working or supporting disabled people by helping them develop Digital Skills applied to the design of innovative commercial services and products in Online Accessible Tourism, creating new skills pathways and labour opportunities for disabled people in Europe, supporting ICT-based teaching and assessment practices and promoting the transparency, validation and recognition of skills and competences acquired through OER.
INQS, as part of this process, is responsible for developing the curriculum for Module 4: Commercial awareness & inclusive marketing communication. As part of this, INQS has been examining the use of resources to help utilise Tools for digital marketing and social media.
A key element in any approach for a digital marketing strategy – be it on social media or using other digital tools – is to start with the people, not the platform! Forrester (2007) has a good acronym to help think this process through called POST – which outlines the order in which you should think about your digital strategy for your customers:
- People
- Objectives
- Strategy
- Technology
As outlined in the learning material for this unit, when making a decision, a customer will typically follow a specific set of steps and being aware of these is important:
- Identify Needs & Wants
- Search for Information
- Evaluate Choices
- Select Source of Purchase & buy goods or service
- Use goods or service to evaluate experience
If you think about the 5-6 steps involved in a customers decision-making, you can think about establishing an online presence in relevant online spaces. Every type of customer will be different so there is no specific set of tools or resources that will work for you for every customer – it is important to do your own research ( and gather data directly from your customers if at all possible) to learn where they go online to identify needs & wants, to search for information, to evaluate choices, etc. and to make sure you are present there.