Market Research Validation and Strategic Marketing Planning

This assignment provides a comprehensive report on the importance of validating market research techniques in improving an organisation's marketing plans. It highlights the need for reliable market research, discusses various methods such as television commercials, radio, pamphlets, internet, and store promotions to reach a new market. The report also mentions the significance of following guidelines to validate market research techniques. It references several books and journals on marketing management, strategic planning, and environmental scanning.

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P1- Describe how marketing techniques are used to market products in two organizations......1
P2 - Describe the limitations and constraints of marketing. ......................................................2
P3- Describe how a selected organisation uses marketing research to contribute to the
development of its marketing plans. ..........................................................................................3
P4 - Use marketing research for marketing planning. ................................................................3
P5- Explain how and why groups of customers are targeted for selected products. ..................4
P6- Develop a coherent marketing mix for a new product or service.........................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is used to create the customer, to keep the customer and to satisfy the
customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, it can be concluded that Marketing is
one of the premier components of Business Management.
P1- Describe how marketing techniques are used to market products in two organisations.
Two leading business organizations that have been selected for this assignment are British Red Cross and
Apple. Both the firms makes use of different marketing techniques which is as follows :-
British Red Cross
British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom branch of the worldwide and is volunteer-led humanitarian
organisation that helps people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. they enable vulnerable people at home and
overseas to prepare them for and respond to emergencies in their own communities (Zeithaml, Bitner and
Gremler, 2010).
Apple
Apple is worldly Known for its brand and it is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Cupertino
that designs, develops and sells their products to consumers. Popular products that are currently on demand are
iphone, Macs, and ipod.
Growth Strategy
A growth strategy is when a company invests in companies and sectors that are rapidly expanding than their
rivalries. Benefits using growth strategy could be cheaper production costs through the economies of scale and
helping business receive high levels of profits (Vrontis and Pavlou, 2008). Apple has used these four techniques.
Apple focuses on pricing and promotion mi' to help penetrate the mar"et such as lowering the apple price deal after
couple of months for a short period of time so that it could boost their sales during that season. Market
development Market development is when a company markets product to new customers. The purpose to use this
strategy is to gain new customers. Apple is a growing organisation, for instance if they continue to increase their
products to through great customer service, then through word of mouth friends and families may end up as
potential buyers (Stevens, Loudon and Wrenn, 2006).
Apples branding strategy
A brand can be a name, logo, slogan or the service. Brand recognition enables the customers to notice their
products than to other similar products for instance Apples relies on branding while selling their iphone products
this is because the consumers are already aware of the luxurious product due to the famous apple logo, this entices
the consumers to pay whatever the price may be because the demand for the product will be so high.
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British Red cross Survival strategies
Survival strategy entices you to become a regular customer and is designed to help the business survive and thrive
in the mar"et industry. organisations such as British Red Cross have to constantly develop strategies in order to
survive and thrive (Schröder and McEachern, 2005).
P2 - Describe the limitations and constraints of marketing.
Consumer Law :-
Consumer law is a legal area that focuses on giving protection to the customer when they buy a
product or service. This part of the legal system is designed to make sure that consumers buying
a product or service are protected against issues such as fraud and miss-selling. I am going to
cover the following topics that all come under consumer law.
Sales of Goods Act 1979
Consumer Protection from unfair trading regulations 2008
Consumer Credit Acts 1974 and 2006
Consumer Protection ( Distance Selling) Regulations 2000
Data Protection Act 1998
Consumer Law - Sale of Goods Act 1979
Sales Of Goods Act 1979
This is aimed at safeguarding consumers by ensuring that goods offered for sale are reasonably
safe, and meet certain standards of quality to make them fit for their intended use (Sadjadi,
Oroujee and Aryanezhad, 2005).
Apple insure their products are acceptable and in good condition for all customers. If something
is not in it's best condition, not the right product for the customer or simply wants to exchange it,
Apple makes sure they provide this. For example, if someone buys an expired sandwich or a top
which has a hole in it, customers are able to contact the Apple so they are can replace it with a
much higher standard (Peattie and Crane, 2005).
Consumerism
This is a policy that promotes greed, also coined as a movement towards consumer protection
that promotes improvement in safety standards and truthful products.
The Data Protection Act covers data held in electronic formats, and also applies to
manual data which are held in what the Act calls a relevant filling system. It is the main piece of
legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the UK.
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P3- Describe how a selected organisation uses marketing research to contribute to the
development of its marketing plans.
There are two types of Market Research, these are primary and secondary research.
Quantitative, Qualitative and Sampling are also used as types of research for market research.
Quantitative and Qualitative Research carried out by Apple
Apple uses quantitative research such as interviews and surveys to get to know the different
customers choices. This has helped them to improve their goods and services. Apple also used
qualitative research to help improve their branding, they did this by looking over previous
interviews and observations (Montgomery and Chester, 2009).
Secondary Research Carried out by Apple
Apple uses secondary research to find out about their competitors, they use old reports, surveys
and questionnaires to help them promote their business in a way that their competitors may not
have used. By using secondary research they have increased their range of food products which
has introduced many new customers (Markatos, 2006).
Sampling carried out by Apple
Apple uses sampling to get to know their customers more, they use questionnaires, surveys,
interviews and promotions to help them understand their customers.
P4 - Use marketing research for marketing planning.
PESTLE Analysis of Apple
Political factors
Major sales contribution to Apple Company comes from outside US amounting to more than
$113.8 whereas the revenue from the home country is $68.8 billion. So any political insurgence
in these countries can affect the company’s position negatively.
Economic factors
Recessions and economic crises can affect the company’s revenues negatively to a greater extent
compared to other businesses due to the choice of premium pricing policies (Ardley, 2005).
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Social factors
Globalization, the increased usage of the virtual world and the current lifestyle are few factors
that leave an enormous impact on Apple.
Technological factors
The stakes of information technology stays higher compared to other industries when it comes to
earning revenues. The companies who innovated with time, earned well and Apple is no doubt
one of them (Cartwright and Cooper, 2011).
Legal factors
The company operates globally which makes it vulnerable to many legal factors and litigation.
Environmental factors
Various environmental factors like disposal can influence the company’s revenues and brands.
Disposal of used or non-working electronic devices
Apple is countering a massive problem of discarding the electronic junk that is used or is in non-
working position. This company is facing a huge problem of discarding the electronics that has
lithium batteries in it (Cravens and Piercy, 2006). It would cost the company some huge
expenses. Apple is forced to incur the expenses because of the environmental factor related to it.
P5- Explain how and why groups of customers are targeted for selected products.
geographic segmentation is based on regional variables such as customer concentration,
regional industrial growth rate, and international macroeconomic factors.
Customer type is based on factors such as the site of the organisation, its industry, position in the
value chain etc (Decker, Wagner and Scholz, 2005).
Buyer behaviour is based on factors such as loyalty to suppliers, usage patterns and order site.
business-to-business markets experience much more complex decision making, as instead of just
one person deciding to buy an item that they dont really need but want, the purchase of a piece of
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plant equipment, for example, can in technical experts, purchasing experts, board members,
production managers and health and safety experts, taking part in a purchase that is needed for
the company. These buyers are also long term buyers, which means they will ha!e contract with
companies for certain supplies (Hollensen, 2015).
Positioning is a marketing strategy that aims to make a brand occupy a distinct position,
relative to competing brands, in the mind of the customer. Companies apply this strategy either
by emphasizing the distinguishing features of their brand or they may try to create a suitable
image through advertising. Once a brand is positioned, it is very difficult to reposition it without
destroying its credibility. Also called product positioning. The STP model is useful when
creating marketing communications plans since it helps marketers to prioritise propositions and
then develop and deliver personalised and relevant messages to engage with different audiences.
This is an audience rather than product focused approach to communications which helps deliver
more relevant messages to commercially appealing audiences (Hutt and Speh, 2005).
P6- Develop a coherent marketing mix for a new product or service
It is essential to make use of systematic and organized approach for developing the
products and services and marketing mix for the organisation.
Product - Granola bars
Price
Price is very significant aspect of the marketing mix as this affects whether consumer will
purchase your product or not.
Our pricing strategy
I have selected to utilize the skimming pricing strategy for our new product, this is done to
maximize the profits as we have entered the market with a product before the competitors enter
the market, if however the competitors enter the market with a product similarly or same then
our product will be unsuccessful at making a profit which is the core value.
The pricing I have elected for the organic granola bars is £8.79 for 18 bars of 2 bar packs
Therefore meaning that 8 granola bars will be in one box and the second pack will entail the
other 8 granola bars. If the situation comes to that our product demand decreases we will decline
the pricing to £4.40
Factors that influenced the pricing strategy
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There are numerous diverse factors that were taken notice of for the product pricing and they are
the following;
Competitors pricing
Manufacturing expenses
The price that is believed to our target audience will be delightful and willing to pay
Place (distribution)
Place (distribution) is how businesses gets its products to the consumers through what location
should the product be at and the distribution of it.
Grocery stores
Organic granola bars will be sold at Grocery stores or known as supermarkets entailing the
following; Waitrose, Sainbury's, Morrison's and Marks and Spencer's. The product will also be
available at convenient stores for example Tesco Metro, Tesco Express, Sainbury's Local, and
the Co-Operative.
Distribution
The objective of distribution is to make products available in the correct place at the correct time
and in the correct amount of quantities. The type of distribution we have selected is selective
distribution for our product. Small quantity of retail outlets have been chosen to distribute the
product, throughout United Kingdom. This will entail Supermarkets, convenient stores and the
product will further be available for online shopping.
E-commerce
E-commerce is defined as commercial transaction conducted electronically on the internet.
Organic granola bars will be sold online and further in stores. Through E-commerce we will be
able to link promotional offers Thus maintaining high sales figures.
Product
Product -
organic granola bars
Competitors Quaker Oats Chewy Granola Bars and Nature Valley Crunchy
Quaker Oats Chewy Granola Bars
Quaker Oats has presently a selection of granola bars that have 8g of whole grains that contain
no high fructose corn syrup. The granola bars is available in boxes of 8 with 18 bars. The
average pricing for the granola bars are £3.63. On observation it can be seen that there is a clear
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gap between the quality and pricing as compared with branded granola bars and supermarket
own brands more specifically organic granola . bars.
Nature Valley Sweet & Nutty
This product contains crunchy nuts and toasted oats for a delightful sweet and nutty flavor which
comes in three variations and they are the following; peanut, almond, and chocolate. They are
further dipped into nutty flavor coating. The bars are available in boxes of three with 5 bars
entailed. The average pricing for the granola bars are £2.39.
The average weight of a granola bar is 55g, this information will aid the product development.
The product is granola bars is made from organic barley, whole grains and oats.
Promotion
The organic granola bars will be sold at the given price of £8.79 for the majority of the year
however during the low sale periods that the organic granola bars will have their price lessened.
promotion strategy for example purchase one get one free will be utilized. At the beginning of
the year we will give out free samples with Waitrose online shopping and in store shopping
orders. This is done to encourage and enthuse the consumers into purchasing more of the
different five variations of the product that we have offered.
The product
Promotion for our product will push its ethic values lets take for example we will promote how
all of the granola bars utilize organic ingredients.
Promoting the brand
Promoting the brand is significant as promoting the food product. Commercial will play an
important role in selling the product whilst it will promote the brand of Nestle's. This will be
done by utilizing television commercial, radio, pamphlets, internet and store promotions. By
doing this the brand of Nestle's and it's new product entering a new market will be recognized
because of variations in the promotion strategy.
CONCLUSION
Summing up the present report it can be stated that it is important for market research to
be validated and reliable because it helps improves an organisation marketing plans (Vrontis and
Pavlou, 2008). Furthermore, if the right guidelines are followed, it won’t be difficult validate
market research techniques.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals References
Ardley, B., 2005. Marketing managers and their life world: Explorations in strategic planning
using the phenomenological interview. The Marketing Review. 5(2). pp.111-127.
Cartwright, S. and Cooper, C., 2011. Innovations in stress and health. Palgrave Macmillan.
Cravens, D.W. and Piercy, N., 2006.Strategic marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Decker, R., Wagner, R. and Scholz, S.W., 2005. An internet-based approach to environmental
scanning in marketing planning. Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 23(2). pp.189-199.
Hollensen, S., 2015. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Hutt, M.D. and Speh, T.W., 2005. & Edition: Business Marketing Management. South-Western
Publishing Company.
Markatos, G., 2006. Time and competition in the fast food industry: the case of mcdonalds. The
Cyprus Journal of Sciences. 4. pp.177.
Montgomery, K.C. and Chester, J., 2009. Interactive food and beverage marketing: targeting
adolescents in the digital age. Journal of Adolescent Health. 45(3). pp.S18-S29.
Peattie, K. and Crane, A., 2005. Green marketing: legend, myth, farce or prophesy?.Qualitative
Market Research: An International Journal. 8(4). pp.357-370.
Sadjadi, S.J., Oroujee, M. and Aryanezhad, M.B., 2005. Optimal production and marketing
planning. Computational Optimization and Applications. 30(2), pp.195-203.
Schröder, M.J. and McEachern, M.G., 2005. Fast foods and ethical consumer value: a focus on
McDonald's and KFC. British Food Journal. 107(4). pp.212-224.
Stevens, R.E., Loudon, D.L. and Wrenn, B., 2006. Marketing planning guide. Psychology Press.
Vrontis, D. and Pavlou, P., 2008. The external environment and its effect on strategic marketing
planning: a case study for McDonald's. Journal for International Business and
Entrepreneurship Development. 3(3-4). pp.289-307.
Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J. and Gremler, D.D., 2010. Services marketing strategy. John Wiley
& Sons, Ltd.
Zineldin, M. and Philipson, S., 2007. Kotler and Borden are not dead: myth of relationship
marketing and truth of the 4Ps. Journal of consumer marketing. 24(4). pp.229-241.
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