Marketing Essentials: Roles and Responsibilities, Marketing Mix, and Interdepartmental Relations

This document discusses the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function in the transportation industry, the application of marketing mix in the marketing planning process of national express, and the interdepartmental relations of the marketing department with other departments.

Marketing Essentials

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function ..................................................................1
PART 2............................................................................................................................................4
P2 Relation distinct to wider organisational context...................................................................4
PART 3............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Applying marketing mix in the marketing planning process of national express : ..............6
PART 4............................................................................................................................................9
P4 Evaluating marketing plan of national express .....................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: 7Ps of marketing mix................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In order to define market essentials, it is necessary to understand that marketing is an
essential tool in every organisation. It includes different factors of a business such as demand,
supply chain, preferences, needs and satisfaction level of customer, etc. Strategies of market
planning vary upon the organisational structure. Customers also affect the strategies of market
planning in a strong manner. There are different roles and responsibilities of a marketing
department. To achieve the objectives of national express company, it is necessary to identify the
environment of market. Environment includes micro and macro environment both. Main
responsibility of marketing department is to satisfy the customer's need by providing them a right
product on a right time and on a right place. Marketing department interrelate with all other
departments in an organisation because no strategy can be implement without communicate with
other departments. Main interrelation between two departments is production and marketing
department of national express company. There are different ways to apply marketing mix in the
process of market planning. It compares the way of applying marketing mix. Interrelation with
other department is necessary to achieve better productivity and outcomes. Furthermore, there
are different tactics which is used in organisation to evaluate business objectives (Armstrong, G.
and et.al., 2014.).
PART 1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function
Roles and responsibilities of marketing department in the transportation industries are
very wide and vital. They help the business in promoting and developing the plan. Roles are as
follows:
 conducting research of market
 developing internal communication in the organisation
 to evaluate the best social media for developing a plan
 select the agencies and manage them
 develop promotional materials
 conducting campaign
 define the brand in to market
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To define and manage the brand of a company id the function of marketing department. Market
department helps in to identify the sources and promotion as well. It involves market research,
development process, sale, promotion, customer service and product plan (Burns, Bush, and
Sinha, 2014). There are various responsibilities of marketing function of national express which
are responsible for the growth of an organisation. Marketing functions includes:
 buying
 selling
 storing
 transporting
 standardization
 grading
 financing
 risk taking
 market information
These marketing functions have different roles and responsibilities. Market department should
conduct the campaign management to focus on the sales cycle. It should promote and describe
the products and services. Marketing department is responsible to create website and ensure that
the website of its company comes first (Burns, Bush, and Sinha, 2014). It should be keep the eye
on social media as well. Responsibilities of market functions as:
 to make strategy
 market researches
 product development
 communications
 sales support
 events
Making a strategy is a key responsibility of marketing department. This process must be done
before planning of campaigns. Strategy can be built for further activities like to grow the
marketing share. Market research is the second responsibility of marketing department. Market
research done to find about the target market. It also can help the business to identify the
strengths and opportunities. Customer's need and preferences are the essential component in the
market research. Through market research, a company will be able to find out the competitors
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and protect its company form them. To find out the gap between the scale of economy and the
range of its product, product development provide help. Marketing department work with
internal and external department of product development. With the helping of market research,
marketing department get all the knowledge and information about the customer need and
preferences then it communicates with the internal part of product development and provide
them, all the information to make a product relating to the customer's needs(Burns, Bush, and
Sinha, 2014). Product department can make changes in the existing product and improve the
quality of the product respect to the information. They also help the sales department too by
making the presentation of the product which has to be sold. They also provide quality leads to
the sales department. Conduct a seminar and exhibitions are also the responsibility of marketing
department. Some other responsibilities of marketing department of national express such as;
 evaluate the distribution channels
 product planning
 price fixation
 sales forecasting
Just making a strategy to how to sale a product is not just enough. Implementation of a strategy
and promote the product is also required. To gather information relating to the target market is a
key role of a marketing department because a product is produce according to the preferences of
a customer. Matching the products as the preferences of the customers, is necessary. If a
company is not producing a product as per the requirements of the consumer then it will reduce
the efficiency of productivity. Deliver the right product to the right customer is showing the
brand power of a company. If a customer will fully satisfy than company's goal and visions will
be achieved. All roles and responsibilities are different as per the differentiation of structure of
an organisation. Marketing departments are responsible to increase the sales volume of a product
by advertising or any other distribution channel. By proving the right product to the right
customer on the right time increases the profitability of an organisation. Marketing department
plays a key role in any organisation (Baker, 2014).
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P2 Relation distinct to wider organisational context
The main characteristic or role of a market department is to satisfy the customer needs by
providing them a product according to their needs and preferences. Developing market plan is
interrelate with other departments. Relationship between marketing department and other
departments is as follows;
 With operations management
 With finance department
 With human resource management
 With production department
 With procurement
 With research and development
 With personnel
Marketing and finance: all the plans which taken by marketing department should include a
factor of financial area. Budget, percentage of sales, cost and profit amount are all necessary in
to making a planning strategy (Baker, 2014). Budgeting is a key component in making a
planning strategy. Financial department specify the resources available to produce a product in
the market. If marketing department will not communicate with finance department than how
would it know that what products are to be sold. Marketing decisions are known as an
investment decision. Whenever a new plan is made, financial criteria should be used to evaluate
and analysis of investment criteria. It includes advertisement, promotion, distribution and price.
It also includes all the factors of marketing mix as well. It is not limited with the financial inputs
only. It includes a wide range of financial criteria such as cash flow, capital requirements, credit
policies etc. sales and forecast is the essential factor in the interrelationship link between
financial department and marketing department. Link can be expressed as follows:
Activities of marketing department Type of relation Activities of finance dep.
Sales forecast → Cash flow analysis
Marketing mix ← Financing needs
Management activities ← Financial profit
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Decisions related to policies ← Categories of clients
Communication activities → Final result
Marketing and human resource management: to work closely with human resource management
is required to ensure about the:
 Production target
 sales team
 research and development
Marketing and production department: it is dual one process. Production department determine
the quantity of product which should be sold and marketed. In the other hand marketing
department identify the sales forecast for provide the information to the product department. The
link between these two departments can be expressed as follows:
Activities of marketing Type of relation Activities of production
Sales evolution forecast → Capacity planning
Portfolio management ← capabilities
Marketing and procurement: if a company is facing the problem of shortage of raw materials
then procurement function become arrive. Marketing department need the plans of procurement
to launch a new product in the market. It helps in to get knowledge about the available material
in the organisation and supply chain. It also provides more benefits and advantages to the level
of development. Relationship between these departments can be explained as follows:
Activities of marketing Type of relation Activities of procurement
Research of new material → Procurement of new material
Research of new suppliers ← Procurement of new suppliers
Marketing and research & development: this link plays an important role to maintain and
increase the level of efficiency. Ignoring the link between these two departments, result has been
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seen in many technological industries. This interrelation generates around the development of a
new product. Each stage in the development of a new product from idea generation to the final
product development stage requires interrelation. Marketing department research the innovative
ideas and needs of consumer. These both departments plays a specific role in an organisation. It
can be expressed as follows:
Activities of marketing Type of relation Activities of R&D
Market researches of new
product
→
←
Developing new product
PART 2
P3. Applying marketing mix in the marketing planning process of national express:
Marketing mix: it is a main and important part of market planning. It includes all the factors
such as from manufacturing to sales department. It is a combination of marketing tools and
marketing factors. Marketing tools are used to generate marketing response. It is also used to
make market planning. Primarily marketing mix consists 4Ps but not it is expanded to 7ps.
In making a market planning strategy, it is necessary to involve all the factors about
price. 4Ps includes the product, price, place and promotion. But these factors are not just enough
in making a plan. So it is expanded from 4Ps to 7Ps and it includes people, process and physical
evidence. 7Ps of marketing mix are explained below:
 Product: product means a good or service which is offered by company to the target
market. There are two types of product in every organisation such as tangible or
intangible. The nature of the product can be divide into 3 factors such as actual product,
core product and augmented product (Baker, 2016.).
 Price: price is an amount on which seller and buyer both are agreed in respect to sell and
buy a product. There are different techniques to calculate the price. The common
technique which is used generally is cost add profit.
 Place: place means a location where product is available and it also includes the
marketing activities to sell the product to the target customer. It involves distribution
channels and mediators.
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 Promotion: promotion means an advertisement. It deals to increase the level of sales
volume. It includes all the activities which happened to advertise a product.
 People: it includes all the human factors who are involved in the process of marketing.
Process such as from manufacturing to the sale of a product. It is the main considered
part of marketing mix. People are the factors who influence the process of market
planning and also affected from the market planning strategy.
 Process: process means all the activities which happened in to make or produce the
product which is available in the market to be sold. This tool ensures that all the activities
are done in according manner.
 Physical evidence: it is a material part which related with the product. It ensure the
presence and existence of a product in the market. Material part includes logos,
packaging, branding and signs.
Compression between marketing mix of …...and....
Marketing mix tools National express Your destination
product This company is providing
transportation services to the
customers. This is one of the
best transportation company in
the tourist industry. Service
products are perishable and
heterogeneous.
This company is also
providing transportation
services but the quality of the
product is cheaper than
national express. This is the
reason which is why customers
are not buying products of this
company.
price This company is using
differentiation strategy and
getting a higher range of
profitability. This company
provides a less price of its
service rather than other
companies. Material cost,
labour cost and overheads of
This company is using
penetration strategy which
gives a lesser amount of
profitability. The prices of the
product of this company is
very high with the cheaper
quality. The cost of material,
labour and overheads are also
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this company are very less
often to other companies in the
transportation industry.
high. This targeted market of
this company is only rural area
(Lovelock and Patterson,
2015) .
place The place of this company is
very wide and vital. It covered
more than rural areas and
urban areas.
The place of this company is
very small. It did not cover
both areas such as rural and
urban.
promotion The best tool of promotion
which is used by this company
is public relation. This
promotional tools help the
company in achieving the
objectives of the company.
Direct marketing is also
another tool to promotion of
their product.
This company is using
promotional strategies such as
advertising, sales promotion,
direct sales and public relation.
The promotional techniques
are very useful in to promote
the products but this company
cannot manage and develop
these strategies in their
organisation in an according
manner.
people The main objective of this
company to increase the level
of customers and increase the
market coverage. The most
people in this company who
are involved such as managers
and intermediators (Lovelock
and Patterson, 2015).
The main objectives of all the
transportation company is
satisfy the customer needs. But
this company cannot get this
achievement. It includes only
targeted customer of their
targeted market.
process This company provides sales
after service as well. Customer
satisfaction is the main
The process of this company is
very complex. It did not
provide sales after service as
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objective of this company and
customers are satisfied by
providing the sales after
service.
well.
Physical evidence This company do not use the
physical evidence to attract the
customers. The main factor of
physical evidence of this
company is its logo (Baker,
2016.).
This company uses the power
of physical evidence to attract
the customers.
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Illustration 1: 7Ps of marketing mix
Source: 7Ps of marketing mix, 2016 (https://www.locusassignments.com/solution/unit-2-
marketing-essentials-assignment-solution)

P4 Evaluating marketing plan of national express
Market planning is the process of reaching to the customers with the right approach. Before
making a market plan, some stages must be followed such as:
 analysis
 planning
 implementation
 control
 marketing strategy
Before making market plan, the first step is analysis. Analysis involves the evaluation of
business environment. Business environment may affected by micro environment and macro
environment. These both environment influence the strategy of market planning. It also
evaluates the current and recent trends of market (Armstrong, G. and et.al., 2014.). After first
step is accomplished, next step is planning. Under this process, company makes a plan on a draft
which is known as blue print. It acts as a guide. By using of this guide, company can evaluate the
performance level. It ensures that all the activities have done in the according manner or not. It
also includes the tools of pricing strategy and methods of marketing. The next stage is
implementation, just planning is not enough to maintain its position in the market.
Implementation is the next process which is necessary and important in every organisation. In
this stage, all the activities start to perform according to the planning. When the plan is executed,
then control process is starting. Control is necessary to increase the efficiency of productivity. By
controlling, a company can get the information about the resources. If there is any deviation in
the standard plan and actual plan implementation, then by controlling, company can control on
the deviation. Marketing planning process can be explained in this form;
 Goal setting: it includes mission and business objectives.
 Analysing the current and recent situation: it includes marketing audit, swot analysis and
marketing assumption (Mix, and Brand, 2017.).
 Creating the strategy of market planning: it involves marketing objectives and strategies,
forecasts of sales and expected results, create alternate plans.
 Allocate the resources and monitor: it includes marketing budget and detailed action plan.
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Market planning includes all the models such as SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, ANSOFF'S
growth matrix, BCG matrix, PORTER'S FIVE FORCE model, and generic strategies. The
strategy of market planning helps the business in many ways such as:
 By providing a clear idea of goals and objectives of the organisation which should be
accomplished.
 By providing a common understanding about the challenges and the opportunities
 by providing the information of customer's need
 product line and growing market share(Lovelock and Patterson, 2015)
There are different challenges which has to be faced in the market planning process. Such
challenges are:
 complex strategy
 lack of resources
 assumptions
There are five main steps for a successful market planning such as:
 implementation
 marketing strategy
 marketing mix
 situation analysis
 mission
 control
There are also necessary to evaluate the 5C components with the 7P components. 5P components
such as: climate, customers, competitors, company and collaborators (Mix and Brand, 2017.).
CONCLUSION
From above report, it can be concluded that roles and responsibilities of marketing
department of national express is varied according to the organisation structure. Different
marketing mix are compared in the organisation to achieve objectives and goals. There is a
marketing plan which helps the organisation to implement the strategies. Roles of marketing are
interrelates with all other department of an organisation (Baker, 2016.). If marketing department
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do not communicate with other department than there are chances of decreasing efficiency of
productivity and satisfaction level of customer. Marketing department should communicate with
production department before implement any market planning. There are different
responsibilities of marketing department which should be fulfil to get better outcomes. There is
also defined the 7Ps to achieve overall marketing objectives. Product department ensure the
marketing department that what amount of products will be sold and procurement department
ensure about the resources available in the organisation. All departments in an organisation
should be inter related and communicated in national express organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Armstrong, G. and et.al., 2014. Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia.
Armstrong, G. and et.al., 2015. Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.
Babin, B. J. and Zikmund, W.G., 2015. Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning.
Baker, M. J., 2014. Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Baker, M. J., 2016. What is marketing?. In The Marketing Book (pp. 25-42). Routledge.
Burns, A. C., Bush, R. F. and Sinha, N., 2014. Marketing research (Vol. 7). Boston, MA, USA:
Pearson.
Kotler, P., 2015. Framework for marketing management. Pearson Education India.
Kumar, V., 2015. Evolution of marketing as a discipline: What has happened and what to look
out for. Journal of Marketing, 79(1), pp.1-9.
Lovelock, C. and Patterson, P., 2015. Services marketing. Pearson Australia.
McDonald, M. and Wilson, H., 2016. Marketing Plans: How to prepare them, how to profit from
them. John Wiley & Sons.
Mix, M. and Brand, C. B., 2017. Marketing management.
Online
7Ps of marketing mix, 2016 [online]. Available through:
<https://www.locusassignments.com/solution/unit-2-marketing-essentials-assignment-
solution>.
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