Marketing Strategies for Small Firms
Added on 2019-12-03
21 Pages6960 Words119 Views
MarketingFilm and TheatreMechanical EngineeringPhilosophy
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1Adewunmi Agoro, ID: 21951, AB224B19
TABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................31.1................................................................................................................................................31.2/M2.........................................................................................................................................41.3................................................................................................................................................51.4................................................................................................................................................82.1................................................................................................................................................92.2..............................................................................................................................................103.2..............................................................................................................................................103.3..............................................................................................................................................113.4..............................................................................................................................................123.5..............................................................................................................................................144.1..............................................................................................................................................154.2..............................................................................................................................................154.3..............................................................................................................................................16CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................17REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................182Adewunmi Agoro, ID: 21951, AB224B19
INTRODUCTION Marketing planning is a procedure of developing a roadmap for the actions which acompany has to perform for carrying out its marketing activities. The marketing activities includebranding, packaging, pricing, advertising and so on. Marketing plan is a company's procedurewhich is carried on for the purpose of understanding prevailing and current position of organizationin market. Therefore, in order to achieve the marketing objectives of company in the most efficientand suitable manner, the marketing strategies are prepared. These strategies are prepared only byconducting the marketing and organizational audit by taking the external and internal environmentalcomponents in mind which affects the growth of company (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). Looking at the present scenario of competition in retail sectors, the following assignment ismade on developing the marketing plan for Marks and Spencer (M&S). M&S is a UK basedcompany that is constantly facing the situation of competition with companies like ASDA, Tescoand Sainsbury etc. In order to overcome this situation, the researcher has focussed on identifyingthe barriers which affected cited company to attain the sustainable growth. Further, researcher hasmade a marketing audit for M&S to analyse the external and internal factors which can affect thecompany' growth. Later, in report, researcher will make a study on certain ethical and legal issuessuch as consumer rights and so on which also act as an influencing can factor in marketingplanning. 1.1 Marketing is an activity which keeps on changing and demands for more new andinnovative ideas to market the products and services. At the time of creating a marketing plan forMarks and Spencer, it is essential to look into the available marketing resources, marketingobjectives and techniques used to sell the products. There are different changing marketingperspectives in marketing planning which helps in determining the possibilities for failure andsuccess of marketing plan (Lovelock, 2011). Therefore, the way in which management of M&Sunderstands these viewpoints will give cited company a benefit of gaining marketing position in thecrowd of competitors. The certain changing perspectives are discussed below:The Production conceptOne of the changing perspectives of marketing planning is the production concept.According to this concept, company should produce the goods and services in large amount. Thiswill leave a choice for the consumers to buy commodity at an ease as goods and services areavailable in abundant. This will give an advantage to company for ensuring the production activityat a low cost. So basically, Marks and Spencer can focus on mainly manufacturing as many units as3Adewunmi Agoro, ID: 21951, AB224B19
possible. This concept focuses on achieving high production efficiency, low cost and massdistribution (Hollensen, 2015). The Product ConceptThe other changing perspective of marketing which arises at the time of making marketingplanning is giving importance to the product concept, that is, consumers are now a day becomingmore product conscious with respect to its quality, performance and uniqueness. This viewpoint canalso influence and affect the marketing planning of Marks and Spencer in both positive andnegative way (Chowdhury, 2015).The Selling ConceptAnother changing perspective which is taken in consideration in marketing planning is theselling technique which is used by M&S to market its product. This means that company can useaggressive method of selling its goods or different promotional methods can also be used. Situation Analysis Further, the other perspective to be considered in marketing planning is situational analysis.This means that once the cited company has tapped the market demand, customer’s tastes andpreferences, competitor’s strengths and weaknesses as well as market positioning of products soldby M&S then it can adjust its marketing plan. Thus, company's objectives of becoming the leadingbrand and providing suitable goods to consumers can be attained in an efficient manner (Johnston,2015). Evolution of integrated marketing communications, (IMC)It is all about the process by which marketers ask ad agencies to coordinate with respect to makinguse of variety of promotional tools rather than just relying on media advertising. Hence M&S beganto coronate the various promotional elements and other marketing activities so as to communicatewith firm’s customers1.2/M2In order to identify company's capability for planning its future marketing actions and theprocess which it will initiate to achieve the marketing objectives, it is necessary for management tounderstand the needs and wants of internal and external market. Therefore, the capability of M&Sin achieving marketing plan is essential to identify the strengths of existing company. The mainstrength of firm lies in the availability of financial resources in right quantity which will helpcompany to execute its functions in proper order. Looking at the scenario of market, it can be4Adewunmi Agoro, ID: 21951, AB224B19
observed that it is not constant; it keeps on changing due to change in customer’s expectations. So,cited company can use the innovative and advanced techniques for developing its goods. This willgive the firm a cost benefit which will ultimately lead to increase the sale of commodities.Therefore, M&S has the ability to gauge the market in a right manner and provide the customerswith right type of product as per their needs and wants (Bitner and Gremler, 2012). The capability of Marks and Spencer also lies in the fact that company has established awell-known brand image of its products in the eyes of customers. This strong brand image will helpcited firm to enhance the sale of products in future also. Also, Marks and Spencer has recruitedhighly talented and professionalised workforce who are capable of implement the marketingstrategies and activities in the most effective manner. This talent pool of staff assists the citedcompany to maintain a sustainable competitive position in market by continuously bringinginnovation in ideas and techniques of marketing the goods and services (Mooij, 2013). Therefore, itcan be said that M&S is highly capable for planning its future resources as it has all the essentialrequirements as discussed above such as finance, technology, market standing and personalresources etc. in the right order. 1.3 Techniques for conducting organizational audit Porters five forceMarketing manager of Marks and Spencer can make use of porter’s five forces to analyse theorganizational audit in company. Porter developed his Five Forces analysis in reaction to the then-popular SWOT analysis.The model defines industry’s structure as well as forces that shape the5Adewunmi Agoro, ID: 21951, AB224B19
nature of competitive interaction within an industry. It can thus be used by Marks and Spencer toidentify what kind of substitutes can act as a threat for its product and service range. Bargain powerof buyer and suppliers can further be assessed with the help of this model. There are two types of methods which were used by marketing manager of Marks andSpencer to conduct organizational audit in company. These are:Setting StandardThe first and foremost work which company does in order to start the organizational audit isdeveloping benchmarks and targets for each and every activity which is to be taken place withrespect to market of new product and for establishing the marketing plan. Setting standards willhelp the managers to compare the actual position and performance of employees with the setstandards. This comparison will help him to identify the loopholes and gaps between actual andestablished performance. As a result, the activities can be performed with respect to the identifiedgaps to overcome them. For example, a benchmark is set for the performance of employees whichwill help the cited firm to determine workers who have underperformed (Gafurov, Kalenskaya andNovenkova, 2012).ObservationThis is another technique by which marketing manager M&S can perform the organizationalaudit. It is a technique through which the managers can keep an eye on the ongoing activity inorganization and performance of employees can also be monitored. This is achieved by looking intothe cameras and web cams which has been established at store of M&S. However, the data whichhas been recorded in digital recorders such as cameras can be used by the managers to conductmarketing audit.External factors that affect marketing planningThe external factors which affect the marketing planning can be studied with the help ofPESTLE analysis. The PESTEL analysis of Marks and Spencer: Political FactorsInterference of government authorities.Political stability and instability.Taxation policies (Foxall, 2014).Economic Factors Economic growth.Affect due to economic recession.Social FactorsTechnological Factors 6Adewunmi Agoro, ID: 21951, AB224B19
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