Unit 2 Marketing and its application Assignment

Unit 2 Marketing and its application Assignment

Task 1

Power point presentation

Q 1 The concept of the marketing, including the current and the future trends

Note: Marketing is the set of the management activity, a set of the processes to create, communicate, deliver, and also the exchange of the offerings that use to have the strong value for the customers, clients and the society with the great satisfaction they need(Brassington & Pettitt, 2012). The current trends of the marketing are as below:

• Attracting the new set of customers by offering the superior product and services
• Sustaining the current market position with the continuous growth of the production by offering the desired satisfaction to the customers
• The maximum usage of the digital marketing activities with the greatest commercial impact(Kotler, 2013)

The future trends of marketing are as below:

• The increase in the complexity of the purchasing decision of the customers due to the effect of the digital marketing principles
• The complete digital transformation for offering the best product and service along with the strong brand establishment.
• The perfect set of the marketing activities implemented by the organisations are strongenough to cope up with the current and the future trends of the marketing concept associated with the organisations(Kotler, 2013).

Q 2 Overview of the different marketing processes

Note: The four important marketing processes are: Situational analysis, marketing strategy, Marketing mix decisions, and Implementation and control over the strategy.

• Situational analysis: the identification of the opportunities that the organisation have is identified with the help of the 5C analysis (company, customers, competitors, climate, and collaborations), PEST analysis, and the SWOT analysis(Groucutt & Hopkins, 2015).
• Marketing strategy: The strategy is involved with the identification of the market segmentation, identification of the target audience to offer the desired product or services, and the proper positioning of the products or services to the market with different marketing activities(Groucutt & Hopkins, 2015).
• Marketing mix decisions: the selection of the major 4Ps of the marketing in terms of selection of the product, price, place for the position and also planning for the promotional activities to create the strong brand value over the target population in an effective manner(Groucutt & Hopkins, 2015).
• Implementation and control: With the change in the market need, the market mix use to get change. This is celled the controlling and the perfect implementation of the marketing strategy.

Q 3 The key roles and responsibilities of the marketing manager at EE Limited

Note: Being into the position of the marketing manager, below are the core roles and the responsibilities of the marketing manager at EE Limited:

• Conducting the market research to understand the basic requirements of the customers of the market from the organisation. It uses to help the organisation to create the niche market for its product and the service offering. It is also related with the understanding of the move of the competitors in the market(Jobber & Chadwick, 2012).
• Development of the marketing strategy based on the results of the marketresearch is another important role that the marketing manager should have in EE limited. The marketing strategyshould be strongenough to meet the aim and objectives of the organisations(Jobber & Chadwick, 2012).
• Customer relationship management is another important role of the marketing manager of EE limited to deliver the required satisfaction to the customers
• The employee management by offering the expected motivation also is the important role so he will be able to retain the asset of the organisation in terms of the workforce
• Identification of the new business opportunity is also the role of the marketing manager of EE limited(Mcdonald & Wilson, 2011).

Q 4 Influence of the roles and responsibilities of marketing and the interrelation with other functional departments of EE Limited

Note: The interface between the marketing role and the other various business functions are based on the two different dimensions such as development of the business plan and the perfect incorporation of the marketing plan with the other departments with the cross functional communication opt get the desired business output.

• Development of the business plan: For the perfect development of the marketing planning, it is important to coordinate the marketing component with the other functional departments of EE limited so that the marketing plan should be consistent with the other functional activities that the EE limited is required to be performed.
• Incorporation of the marketing plan: the incorporation of the inputofthemarketingactivitiesshould be properly communicated among the other departments so that they will be develop their individual strategies in the functional unit like financial , production , procurement  and othersto get the desired output to match up with the demand of the market.

Q 5  The values and importance of the marketing role in the context of EE Limited

Note: It has been observed that the EE limited was lacking with the cross functional communication and from the aspect of the marketing orientation to capture the mobile industry inUK market. Thus, it is most crucial aspect to focus on the marketing requirement to deal with the extremely strategic and eager competitors those are willing to steal this market position(Peck, et al., 2013). The marketing is about to play the most important role for EE limited in terms of the communication facilitator among the different cross functional departments and also to administrator the image of the company in an effective manner. Apart from that the marketing activities in EE also is about to support the redefinition of the strategic guidelines of the company as per the change in the market trend to cope up with the strategic move of the other competitors in the UK market with the same scale of production.

Q 6 The significance of having effective interrelationships between different functional departments of EE Limited

The strong interrelationships between the different departments use to establish the strong production capacity with the effective communication among the different department personnel(Shani & Chalasani, 2013). With the help of the effective interrelationships and the strong communication, the organisation manpower of EE limited will be able to perform the basic functions of the entire management system in terms of Planning, Organising, Leading, and controlling.
Further, the interrelationship also use to promote the motivation among the employees to perform the task to meet the organisation objectives. To build the effective interrelationship, it is important to have a strong and transparent communication system among the cross functional departments(Stark, 2015). It also use to circulate the source of the information, and also use to help in controlling all the functional activities. With the help of the effective communication and the effective interrelationships, any change in marketing or other department activities may influence the strategic change of other activities to maintain the harmony in production factors.

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Task 2a

Introduction

Marketing mix is the tool that us being used by the business and the marketers to help in the decision making process for the product or the brand value to be offered to the customers of the Global market(Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014). In the year 1960, the four important parameters of the marketing mix in the form of the Place, price, product, and the promotional have been initiated. Later based on the situation analysis requirement, in the late 1970s, the three additional elements were included in the form of People, process, and the physical evidence. The marketing mix is the important aspect to be considered for the effective marketing plan of any business organisation(Lee, et al., 2016).To discuss the comparison between the two same industry organisations marketing mix to havean influence on the marketing mix, EE limited in UK and Vodafone in UK have been selected. This will bring the required information to the managers of EE limited to have a further implementation on the new strategic move.

Compare between the EE Limited and another competitor of your choice apply the various elements of the extended marketing mix to the marketing management process to achieve business objectives

Extended marketing mix of EE limited: The extended marketing mix of EE limited is required to be discussed to understand the strategic move that is being used by the organisation to increase the number of the satisfied customers more in the next year to build up the strong brand value in the UK market. The elements are as below:

• Product: It runs the biggest 4G network portal ion UK than the other network providers. The EE film privacy policy, Roaming near the international bores, voicemail, and others are the offered products and services (EE, 2016).To maintain the loyalty escalation and the superiority maintenance, for the network operations, the service to the customers are provided through the call centre, the complaints management departments, back office , website and also though the social media.
• Price: The 4G penetration rate of the EE network service in UK market in 7 percent only as per the record of the year 2013(EE , 2014). Thus, it is required by the organisation to follow the price skimming approach to protect its position in UK market as the 4G network provider leader.
• Place: The different channels are used by EE limited to reach the maximum target population of UK. The internet usage by the company directs the fact that the customers will get the more opportunity to have a direct access of the services that the company is offering. Thus, the presence of the services online is the best place of the customers’ communication of the company(EE , 2014).
• Promotion: It has been observed that as per the record of 2013, 28 percent users ere 4G and 53 percent users wee of 3G network. The 4G posters, the booklets in stores are enough to grab the attention of the walk in customers of the stores. At the same time, the social media campaign along with the campaign in the websites also are required to be planned to have a strong circulation of the information to the mass population. The sales promotions also is the added advantage. The weekly special offers also can be proved as the best opportunity for the company. “The Christmas is calling” is the latest promotional offer that is used by EE (EE, 2016). Very recently they have launched an ad campaign which describes the act that the pay monthly contract base will get six months free access to the BT sports (Mobile news, 2016).
• People: The people of the organisation are skilled enough to handle the feedback of the customers at a quickresponse. The good amount of the training and development sessions are offered to the people of the organisation at the different level to support the customer requirement.
• Physical evidence: The presence of the company over online media and through the different store locations all over the UK are strong enough to meet the objective of the organisation for the strong brand value in UK market. The comoany has 570 stores in the UK market with the skilled professionals to offer the excellent support to them (EE, 2016).
• Process: The customer orientation and the marketing orientation business process is used in the companyto gain the customer trust and loyaltyvalue for the future growth in an important manner.

Extended marketing mix of Vodafone:

• Product: The features offered to the customers to chat, play games, send and receive pictures, voicemail, receive information through text, obtain information are the applied products and the services of Vodafone. The customer care department is always active to support the customers. The Vodafone live is another product that use to provide the on – the – move information.
• Price: It use to offer the various price ranges to suit with all age groups as per eh affordabilityrate. Monthly price plans are also there.  In UK, the Vodafone gives the NECTAR rewardpoints for every£1 spent on the calls, text messages, and picture messages to increase the trust factor of thecustomers. Thus, the competitive pricing approac hes been used here(Vodafone, 2015).
• Place: There are more than 300 stores in all over UK market. There are also the independent retailers in the term of Car phone warehouse. The online presence also is massively used by the UK customers based on the digital marketing concept(Vodafone, 2015).
• Promotion: Celebrity endorsement is strongly used by the company. They are working with David Bechkham. The above the line promotion in term of the billboards, TV commercials, social media usages are used as the promotional tools(Vodafone, 2015).
• Process: The customer orientation process is strongly followed by the Vodafone to only meet the requirement of the customers in the market(Vodafone, 2015). 
• Physical evidence: Both the physical presence and the online presence of the organisation is well able to target the mass population of the UK market in an effective manner.
• People: The trained and skilled professionals are supporting he business activities long with the string customer care activities to respond in a quick manner to the query of the customers(Vodafone, 2015).

Conclusion

Thus, from the entire discussion, it can be stated that the EE limited is a good company with high market share but there price rage is higher than the other competitors like Vodafone. Therefore, they are facing the obstacles form the market environment to target the low and middle income group people in terms of the mass population of UK.

Task 2b

Marketing plan for EE

• Executive Summary: The report is all about the marketingplan for EE based on the three established objectives as the increased the profitmargin, the enhancement of the 4G subscription, and also to establish the strongbrand recognition. The plan has reflected the perfect marketingmix to meet the individual objectivealong with the budget methods and the controlling techniques in an effective manner. The strategies and the actions also have beenmentioned in a strategic manner.
• Company Overview: The EE limited is the most advanced digital communication company in the UK market. It use to offer the mobile and the fixed communication services in terms of the network service (EE, 2016). They have approximately 553 retail stores in all over UK and have more than 31 million connections across its mobile, fixed and the wholesale networks. They have officially declared that their network is faster than the others. They are recognised as the first European operations to cover the 12 million 4G customers. More than 95 percent of the UK population is covered by the EE network offering. They also have gained the nest mobile network in the year 2014 in the UK market. But, the marketorientation is lacking in the managers as per the requirement of the market. So, it is important to have a strong market plan to sustainin the market. They have the three important bards under the EE roof as EE, Orange, and the T mobile(EE, 2016).

Current Marketing Situation Analysis

Internal analysis: Internalanalysis in terms of the financial performance, the value chain analysis, and the product portfolio analysis have been done.

Financial performance: In the year 2013, the net total revenue earned was £6.5 billion but in the year 2014, it has been reduced to £6.3 billion (EE , 2014). The net cash provided by the operative activities in the year 2014 was £1, 188 million while in the year 2013, it was £1, 201 million(EE , 2014). Thus, the financial condition is not stringer and EE limited is becoming unable so sustain in the revenue earning competition. At the same time, the cash investment also has been increased and thus, it has affected on the profit gain.

Value chain analysis: The EE limited has expanded selling approach into the Omni channel trading environment. More than 500 retail stores are present in the UK market. 

Product portfolio analysis: The segregation of the products based on the cash investment and the revenue generations is done by the BCG matrix in an effective manner as below:

Among the different networkservices, the 4G connection has been recognised as the star product and the 3G product is the cash cow.So,further improvement is requiredfor the 3G connection and continuous innovation is required for the 4G service to sustain in themarket.  Thus, it is clear that with the 3G connection, the company is earning more cash without the requirement of the huge investment. Thus, it is required to offer milk in term of investment to convert it as the star product like the 4G offering.

External analysis

PESTLE analysis:

• Political: The UK government has the string influence over the coverage of the non-urban areas as well. Thus, through the customer satisfaction of EE is 76 percent but the index representing the fact that in the urban areas it is 67 percent.  So, the political impact is strong ion EE to offer the maximum network coverage for the non – urban areas as well(EE, 2015).
• Economical: During the year 208 – 2009, there was a massive economic crisis in UK but it has been started to recover since 2013. But, still, the UK consumer behaviour is based on the choices of e perfect match between price age and the product offering to meet their actual need. At the same time, with the economic environment, the UK producers also have to struggle with the change in the inflation.
• Social: The smartphone usage has increased among the teens with 61pecemt to 81 percent between 2011 to 2013(EE, 2015). Thus, the internet usage has been increased. So, EE had a great focus on the developing the network connection for the internet usage of this target segmentation though their smartphone.
• Technological: The technology advancement has been greatly adopted by this comoany so that they have acclaimed that they are the best network provider in the UK market. The LTE advance 4G connection is the resultant fact of that.
• Legal: Ofcom influences EE to offer their products and services in the UK market in a healthy manner.
• Environmental: The perfect balance of the flora and fauna should be focused by EE to maintain the environmental aspect in a strong manner.

SWOT analysis

Strength:

• Market leader in the UK mobile network industry
• Pioneer in the 4G network offered market
• Wide coverage of the UK population of over 95 percent(EE , 2014)
• First operator in the UK market to install the “Lookout mobile security application” in smartphones to offer the security and the privacy support to the customers

Weakness:

• Low brand recognition is the important issue to be focused.
• Poorly rated from the aspect of the customer service offer.
• 4G roaming is not available when the customers use to travel out of the local range of the network coverage(EE , 2014)
• High level of the customer complaints regarding the unresolved billing issues.

Opportunity:

• Introduction of the new offerings and the services to the smartphone customers.
• Expansion of the post-paid customer base.
• Opportunity to penetrate in the existing market with the launch of their own branded smartphones to establish the strong brand recognition.

Threat:

• The introduction of the free applications in terms of the Skype and the whatsapp and the great threat factor.
• Presence of the competitors such as Vodafone, O2 and others.

Objectives:

• As the marketing orientation of the organisation has not been observed as per the scenario, therefore, the objectives should be based on the marketing orientation as below:
• Increase the number of the satisfied customers by 20 percent in the next year.
• Increase the rate of the 4G subscription by 30 percent in the next year
• Increase the rate of the promotional offers along with the launch of the new ad campaigns to establish and enhance the strong brand recognition among the mass UK population

Strategy:

• Services and Products: As per the recent market trend regarding the network service, the customers seek for the prompt response. It has been observed that the customers of EE are not satisfied for the customer service offerings by EE. So, it is required by the EE Company to develop the strong network connection along with the strong trained professional set those are able to meet up with the query of the customers at a quick response rate(Slack, 2015). At the same time, with the development of the new handsets and the smartphone, it is required by EE limited to develop the strong adaptability of the network functions with the new smartphones features.
• Promotion: The strong up weighted advertisement campaign is required to be set to make the less 4G users to know the benefit of using it. The seasonal offers, the weekly offers along with the loyal customer offers should be included. The massive campaigns should be done by the social media sites as the teens as well as theyouth are mostly associated with the social media sites. The direct marketing with the skilled professionals also can be used along with the offering of the quick customer responses to their complaints so that the customers will become satisfied. This will also tackle the poor perception of the customer service offering by EE in an effective manner(Perreault Jr, et al., 2013).

With this set of the marketing mix the first objective of increase in the number of the satisfied customers by 20 percent is expected to be meet. At the sametime, the plan of the promotional offer also is able meet the objective for the establishment of strongbrand recognition in an effective manner.

To meet the second objective to increase the 4G subscription it is required to select the appropriate marketing mix as below:

• Price: Though the price range of the company is higher than Vodafone, O2, and others, they should maintain the same price structure. But, they also should focus on the additional offering so that they will be able to retain their strong customer base of UK. It will establish the strong value for money proposition in an effective manner. They also can offer the free 4G subscription for the customers with their branded smartphone buyers.
• Promotion: The public relationships by maintaining the strong relationship with the stakeholders is the important promotional tool. The surveyisthemostimportantaspect to be considered to know the choices of the customers along with their problems. This will not only offer the brand recognition of thecompany but also will reflect the factthat the company is concerned with the interests of thecustomers.

Segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP)

Segmentation is the process of d\segregating the market into the different segments to analyse the buying behaviour and to offer the separate setoff the products to meet the overall objective of the company.

• Segmentation: behavioural segmentation is required to be considered based on the retention likeliness, loyal customers for the 4G connection, as well as for the 3G connects along with the loyalty for the handsets offered by the company(Schlegelmilch, 2016).
• Target: Based on the segmented market, EE is required to select the 4G connection users to offer their communication and the additional offers. At the same time, the customers of Orange and T mobile also is required to be targeted. Based on the Pareto principle, the 20 percent of the loyal customer base will offer the 80 percent of profit margin to the company.  In the year 2013, they also have targeted the Vodafone customers to increase the customer base.
• Positioning: with the help of the newly launched campaign in social media and in the retail stores through the booklets, they have planned to position their brand with efficiency(Schlegelmilch, 2016).

Tactics & Action

The actions are as below:

• Survey of the market toknow the choice of the customers
• Planning for the choices
• Test marketing to understand the response of the new plan to make it successful
• Perfect decision making for the correct choice of themarketing mix to target the decided set of customers to meet their needs.
• Controlling of the market response with the skilled professionals
• Implementation of the new set of the marketmix if the first one will not be successful.

Budget

As per the view ofKotler (2013), there are three methods for the effective budget plan as below:

• Top down approach: the financial manager or the CEO of EE is required to plan that what should be the initial investment to cover the promotional activities and also to offer the additional offerings to the target customers.
• Matching of the effort of the competitors: It is required to check the move of the competitors regarding the advertisement cost. Based on hat fact, EE also is required to follow the same path.
• Setting the goal: By targeting the prospect customers, the budget and the cost allocating should be done.

Control

The proper controlling of the implementation of the marketing plan is required by the means of the evaluation of the successfulness and the revenue earn with the enhancement of the new customer range as per the expected rate (Groucutt & Hopkins, 2015). At the same time, it is also required to monitor and control the marketing plan with the appropriate change to retain the strong customer base as planned to meet the overall objective of the organisation.

Conclusion

From the entire discussion, itcan be stated that the price skimming,the online and the offline presence of the company in terms of the website design, social media, and the retail outlets respectively along with the price siling and the promotional activities, the company is expected to meet their objectives in an effective manner.

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