Task – 2

2a. How EE limited and O2 apply various elements of the extended marketing mix to the marketing planning process to achieve business objectives

One of the strongest competitors of EE limited is said to be O2. Both the organisation have sufficient consumer base and operate at the same level. However, EE Limited is slowly losing the market due to their insufficient innovation that they should have implemented in their products or services. In order to achieve their objectives, both the companies are using their own techniques in marketing and trying their level best to gain market dominance. The introduction of technology in these organisations has boosted the popularity with appropriate marketing techniques. Companies are trying to attract the consumers using the social media platform and other sources of communication to gain consumers (Dibb and Simkin, 2013, p. 233). The learner includes the marketing mix components and discusses the marketing strategies put forward by both the organisation.

Marketing Mix Components

EE Limited

Place

Price

Psychological Pricing

Economic Pricing

Product

Mobile services, broadband facility, tablets, phone and accessories

Insurance services for mobile and tablet. Mobile broadband and mobile services.

Promotion

Online marketing, Print Advertisement.

Celebrity Endorsement, Digital media, advertisement

Physical Evidence

Has customer service centres

Process

Quality complaints

Excellent customer services

People

UK Consumers

UK consumers and mainly youth

Both the organisations are operating in UK and therefore are dominating the UK market. However, there are certain issues when compared to O2. The advantage for EE limited in this matter is that O2 is presently only operating in UK and therefore EE has the benefit of expanding to new markets that can help the organisation to benefit in terms of business. Based on the market conditions, EE Limited can expand to Asian countries like India, China, and Japan to gain market dominance. Apart from that, the pricing factors for both the companies are considered to be same, only the pricing strategies are different. EE limited is using psychological pricing for their consumers which is helping them to retain old consumers. However, on the other hand, the organisation is failing to attract new consumers because they are unclear about the product prices.
Apparently, organisations are not able recover the manufacturing costs that are affecting the revenue or sales of the company. In this matter, EE limited must change their pricing strategies to attract the consumers. Using price skimming strategy can help them to recover the manufacturing and slowly lower the price of their products and services to retain the consumers at a later stage. Both the organisation provides same products and services to their consumers and the only difference is the price. O2 products and services are slightly on the higher scale when compared to EE limited. This creates the advantage for the company to gain consumers in the market if they launch new products.
Both the organisation promotes their product heavily to gain visibility in the market. However, O2 seems to be on the higher side when it comes to visibility because O2 has celebrity endorsement on their side while EE has not taken any such steps. The importance of celebrity endorsement is gaining quite the importance as it helps them to attract new consumers (Lambet al. 2011, p.151) Apart from that, EE has reportedly received many complaints in relation to their call service quality. The consumers are not satisfied with the services they are getting and this is leading to negative consumer base. It is essential for the company to understand the pulse of the consumer needs and provide them with solutions as soon as possible.
In addition to this, EE limited has failed to attract the present generation. The youth demand internet facilities at a reasonable cost which, the organisation fails to provide them. Even though the organisation is claiming that they have the best internet facility in UK, the results speaks something else. Therefore EE Limited has to amend these minor errors in the business products and services to ensure smooth functions of the business. O2 is successful in attracting the youth as they provide a bundle of offers for their esteemed clients. The consumers of UK are cautious of the environment and support the cause of reducing carbon footprint.
Both the organisation has reportedly performed similarly in the last three financial years. However, EE is not making much profit as compared to O2. The primary reason for this is due to the lack of marketing and promotion of the products or services. The organisation uses the traditional form of advertising and promotion and therefore fails to achieve the general youth. EE limited has a limited approach on the social media and therefore they are more prone to suffer loses in the business unlike O2 who is performing adequately well.

Financial Year Ending March

EE (2016 £m)

O2 (2016 £m)

EE (2015 £m)

O2 (2015 £m)

EE (2014 £m)

O2 (2015 £m)

Capital Expenditure

432

501

589

596

626

603

Operating Cash Flow

478

506

498

527

619

779

Operating Profit

606

723

632

519

462

596

Operating Cost

4423

5219

4832

6006

5726

7215

EBITDA

1019

1201

1203

1112

999

1003

Depreciation and Amortisation

656

683

622

571

630

641

Revenue (Without Transportation)

2.78%

2.98%

3.75%

3.83%

1.83%

2.82%

Revenue

5772

5896

5147

5668

6691

6854

Based on the information provided above, it is clear that EE limited has to strategize completely in a different way and adapt to new different styles of marketing to ensure that they are able to attract the new consumers. Since EE limited has been in the market place for a long time, it can be said that they have to change the marketing style of the business and promote their product in a more efficient and fluent way to attract the attention of the consumers. With appropriate marketing strategies the organisation can perform well. Apart from that, they have to look forward to their service quality and other important aspect of the products and services that they are catering to.

2b. Produce a marketing plan to meet EE’s marketing goals and objective including the elements of marketing mix

Executive

In this competitive business world, organisations are striving to achieve market dominance through their product and services. Companies are using various marketing planning and promotional gimmicks to attract the new consumers and retain the old consumers of the organisation (Nathet al.2010, p. 319).However; many organisations have evolved over the time, but are not able hold the consumers for long due to inappropriate communication pattern. In this segment of the assignment, the learner discusses the internal and external factors of the organisation and develops a marketing plan that can help the organisation to come with a good marketing plan that can help them to gain back the position in the market.

Company Overview

Everything Everywhere (EE) Limited is said to be the UK’s most advanced communication organisation. Presently, the organisation is owned by British Telecom (BT), and presently, many consumers have said to change to EE after the collaboration with BT. The organisation started its business operation in the year 2010 and has its headquarter in Hatfield, United Kingdom. The organisation has presently more than 15000 employees under their wing. Being one of the fresh companies in telecommunication industry, EE has gained immense popularity in the marketplace. The organisation is said to provide the consumer out of the box services to the consumers and therefore are more likely to succeed in the business (EE.co.uk, 2016).

Objectives

The main objectives of the organisation are to provide the consumers with the best network, best services to the consumers and maintain a healthy relation with the consumers. EE believes in building an advanced digital support for the Britain. They are aiming to provide outstanding services to the consumers through the nearest service centre stores and assist them online as well. However, the primary objective of the company is to create a trust among the consumers and the organisation to maintain a healthy relationship. The organisation believes in building the trust of the consumers, providing them digital services at an affordable price. These are some of the basic objectives of the company that they aim to fulfil for their consumers in UK.

Current Marketing Situation analysis

The present market condition of EE limited in UK is considered to be weak due to the rival companies like O2, and Vodafone. Both the organisation has been in the industry for a long time and therefore has a more polished approach towards the consumers. Under such circumstances, the organisation has to understand the potential of market and devise appropriate strategies to ensure that they sustain the market competition (Churchill and Iacobucci, 2006, p. 633). With the help of internal and external analysis of EE Limited, the learner discusses the flaws in the marketing and business operations of the company.

Internal Analysis

Based on the performance of EE Limited in the recent years, it is seen that the organisation has an effective organisational structure and an effective employee base that are highly motivated. The organisation has shown immense financial performance in recent years and therefore has managed to sustain the market competition.

Financial Performance of EE

SWOT Analysis of EE in UK

Strength

Weakness

Opportunity

Threat

Has the largest 4G consumers base in UK

Low Brand recognition

New services to the consumers by launching new products and services

Competitors like Vodafone, O2 and others.

The only UK operator to provide security app on smartphone to protect consumer’s privacy when the device is stolen.

Lack of roaming facility on 4G services

Expand to different marketplace.

Free Wi-Fi coverage

Wide Coverage

Consumers dissatisfaction

Creating more consumers in post-paid services

-------------------------

Presently the market of EE is in a weak condition as they are not able to provide appropriate services to the consumers. It is important for the company to understand the demand of the consumer and provide them the services they seek. However, the quality of the services isconsiderably poor for which the consumers are slowly leaving the company. Another aspect of the company is that they are not able to provide 4G roaming facilities to the consumers that the competitors are providing. Therefore it is highly important for the company to amend their loopholes and develop new strategies that can help them to sustain in the market. Despite being the best service providers, the organisation fails to provide after sales service to the consumers for which the consumers are not able to stand with the organisation. Negative publicity is also affecting the growth of the company.
Therefore based on the internal analysis of EE, the organisation has many flaws that fail to attract new consumers and retain the old ones. As there are many cities in the London that provides free Wi-Fi services to the citizens of the country, EE is facing tremendous challenge in this regard and therefore has to come up with a proper solution like developing something reasonable that can attract the consumers.

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External Analysis

The external analysis consists of political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal aspects of the organisation.

Political Aspect	Based on the political points of the UK government issues related to customer satisfaction and monitors the network coverage in rural areas. Under such circumstances, EE has both positive and negative factors. For example, the government can identify the customer satisfaction rate by segregating the companies to draw out the appropriate results for each company. On the other hand, new areas in UK can also add as a benefit for the company when collaborating with them (Rustet al. 2004, p. 111)
Economical Aspect	The economy has started to recover after the recession and is presently under observation to monitor the spending power of the consumers in UK. It is likely to happen that the producers will be facing a high degree of struggle in the future.
Social Aspect	The consumer buyer behaviour is considerably different. After the recession, the UK has slowly managed to move up and therefore has indulged in the use of smart phones (Slateret al. 2010, p.553)The consumers of UK are very conscious about the environment and do not use wireless devices much
Technological Aspect	Telecom industry is making their best effort to improve their network coverage by delivering quality network services to the consumers (Shankaret al. 2010, p. 113) Under such circumstances it can be rightly said that EE is on the positive side, since the organisation has opened after the recession and their technology is new, the rate of success is considerably high.
Environmental Aspect	Consumers have the power to discontinue their contract with the telecom providers without serving any notice (Lamberti and Noci, 2010, p. 141). This has resulted in a huge drop in the roaming rates recently.
Legal Aspect	The government has strictly informed the organisation to reduce their carbon footprints and make devices and plans that are favourable for the environment.

Table4 – PESTEL analysis of EE

The factors discussed above are somewhat favourable to the organisation since they are new and have scope to expand to new markets within the domestic boundaries. This can benefit the organisation hugely if they can devise a proper business strategy and improve their products and services.

Strategy

Since the organisation is new to the industry, it is necessary for the company to market their brands as much as possible. A refined approach in this matter would be favourable for the organisation. Since the organisation has an excellent product and service, they have to look towards the after sales service that can help them to regain the trust of the employees. The organisation can change their pricing strategy and come up with new products that can attract economic wagers as well (Verhoefet al. 2010, p. 252)EE Limited has to ensure aggressive marketing techniques that can draw the attention of the consumers. It is necessary to understand that with the presence of strong competitors in the market, EE has to develop out of the box thinking ideas to gain market visibility.

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP)

Based on the market research, it is viable to say that segmentation of the organisation has been operating inappropriately. Since the organisation is very much in the market, the target audience should be the youth. Apart from that, the organisation has to ensure that they are able to provide the consumers products that are reasonable and affordable. It is essential for the organisation to select their market appropriately (Hartlineet al. 2000, p. 37) This can help them reduce the errors and gain stability. The target consumers are the young generation. Coming to position of the company, EE has a pioneered in the fields of 4G services but are not able to provide roaming services in 4G which is a deal breaker for many consumers. Hence it is crucial for EE limited to improve their services for the consumers. This will help them to strengthen their position in the market.

Marketing Objectives and proposed strategies based on the marketing mix

Based on the discussions above, the statements are clear that the organisation has to alter or modify many areas in their business, mainly the products and services along with marketing and promotion of the company. The need to do so is because the presence of strong rivals likes Vodafone and O2. Hence, using the marketing mix, the following changes can be made in the business operation.

Increase the rate of satisfied consumer by end 2017
Improve 4G services and increase subscribers by 2017
Develop or modify the present services with a new alternative
Improve marketing strategy

Tactics and Actions

The organisation has to look after the consumer satisfaction segment and build more alternatives to increase satisfied consumers. A positive consumer can help the organisation to gain new consumers through word of mouth publicity (Hoffman and Fodor, 2010, p. 41). On the other hand, the organisation uses public relations as the main medium of promotion which is slowly getting obsolete in this technological era (Vanet al. 2010, p. 254)EE should enter the digital media and use the power of internet to their advantage, as all consumers are mainly present in the virtual world, EE can promote their product and services through online marketing.

Control

This will also help the company to reduce cost in the advertisement. In addition to this, EE can start online services for the consumers for their feedback and suggestion. This can help the company to understand the needs of the consumers directly without having to invest in research and development. As discussed above in the pricing strategy segment, changing the strategy price skimming can really help the company to recover the manufacturing cost and then lower the prices for their consumers (Teece, 2010, p. 177). This becomes beneficial for both parties. These are some of the viable solutions and plans that can help the company to regain position in the market.

Budget

EE limited has been working on their budget in relation to the marketing and promotions of the product. It has been noted that through advertisement, the brand has gained popularity to specific area. However, with the help of celebrity endorsement, the organisation can expand its brand to a newer public. In addition to this, the organisation actively supports campaign on environmental issues and indulges in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Presently, the organisation has started to invest in different modes of advertisement to gain popularity and brand recognition among the consumers of UK.

Financial Performance of EE 1

Conclusion

The report constitutes of information that has been discussed carefully using various models to develop a proper finding. After elaborating the issues, the learner has understood the need of marketing and promotion of an organisation. The report discussed all the areas of business and has been framed accordingly by understanding the matter clearly about the organisations and their efforts to retain the market.

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Reference List

Books

Churchill, G.A. and Iacobucci, D., 2006. Marketing research: methodological foundations. New York: Dryden Press.
Dibb, S. and Simkin, L., 2013 Marketing essentials Cengage Learning
Hair, J.F., Wolfinbarger, M.F., Ortinau, D.J. and Bush, R.P., 2008 Essentials of marketing research McGraw-Hill/Higher Education
Lamb, C.W., Hair, J.F. and McDaniel, C., 2011. Essentials of marketing. Cengage Learning.

Journals

Hartline, M.D., Maxham III, J.G. and McKee, D.O., 2000. Corridors of influence in the dissemination of customer-oriented strategy to customer contact service employees. Journal of Marketing, 64(2), pp.35-50
Hoffman, D.L. and Fodor, M., 2010 Can you measure the ROI of your social media marketing?. MIT Sloan Management Review, 52(1), p.41.
Lamberti, L. and Noci, G., 2010. Marketing strategy and marketing performance measurement system: Exploring the relationship. European Management Journal, 28(2), pp.139-152
Nath, P., Nachiappan, S. and Ramanathan, R., 2010The impact of marketing capability, operations capability and diversification strategy on performance: A resource-based view. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(2), pp.317-329
Rust, R.T., Lemon, K.N. and Zeithaml, V.A., 2004 Return on marketing: Using customer equity to focus marketing strategy. Journal of marketing, 68(1), pp.109-127
Shankar, V., Venkatesh, A., Hofacker, C. and Naik, P., 2010 Mobile marketing in the retailing environment: current insights and future research avenues. Journal of interactive marketing, 24(2), pp.111-120