Introduction to Marketing: Understanding Marketing Mix, SWOT Analysis, Ansoff's Growth Matrix and Global Marketing Strategies

This article provides an introduction to marketing and its importance in business growth. It covers the marketing mix, which includes seven elements such as product, price, promotion, place, people, process, and physical evidence. The article also discusses SWOT analysis, Ansoff's growth matrix, and global marketing strategies that companies can use to expand their business. Case studies of companies like Marks and Spencer, ZARA, Unilever Ltd, Morrisons, Tesco, Rolls Royce, and Aston Martin are also included.

Introduction To
Marketing

Contents
Contents.............................................................................................................................................
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................
1) Understanding Marketing Mix
2) SWOT Analysis
3) Ansoff's Growth Matrix
4) Organisation using marketing to grow on a global scale.
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................................

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the set of instructions and processes of creating, communicating and exchanging
offering that have value for customers,clients and society. Marks and Spencer is a large British
multinational retailer that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, food products and home
products. Different companies have specialisation in different Ps some are providing better
products some are providing services at many destination some companies are good in their
pricing strategies some are good in promoting their products so every company have their own
field for performing in which they try to maintain customers who are connected with them for
particular specialisation. The report covers Marketing Mix, SWOT analysis, Ansoff's growth
matrix to resolve challenges or issues businesses faces.
1) I) Marketing
Any activity done to attract the customers to company's product or services through high quality
communication is referred to as marketing. Its aim is to deliver independent value for consumers
through Content and its long term goal is to strengthen the brand loyalty and at last increasing
sales. There are many company which are using marketing techniques without realising that they
work to promote themselves and increase sales of their goods and services and Marketing is the
key aspect of every business.
II)Understanding Marketing Mix
Marketing mix is a tool which is used which is used by the company to promote a product and
services in the market and selling it(Ferrell, Hartline and Hochstein, 2021). The marketing mix
is of 7Ps Product, Price, Place, Promotion and 3 additional elements to meet the challenges of
marketing services – People, Process, Physical evidence.
Product – The product of an company can be tangible or intangible as it can in the form of goods
and services. The product is built to satisfy the need of an individual or group and developing of
product requires a proper research as every product has fluctuating life cycle from its growth
phase to maturity phase. Marks and Spencer covers wide range of items of every age group of
men, women and kids. The company offers products like blazers, jean, shirt, boots, shoes,
handbags, jewellery and many more products which requires a proper research and life cycle to
develop(Grewal and Levy, 2021).
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Price – price is and important element in marketing mix. This is basically the amount customer
need to buy the product or enjoy the service. This an important element because it dictates the
company's profit and survival in the market. ZARA follows competitive pricing strategy and it
usually offers items which are prices between medium to higher category because of its premium
quality.
Place – The place is where the customer purchases the product. This might be a physical store,
through an app or via company's website. Some brands have physical stores and online presence
to sell their product straight to the customers. Unilever Ltd is an Multinational consumer goods
brand with variety of different products like food, beauty and personal care products operating in
more than 50 countries across the world. The company operates across the world with variety of
products and the brand is also popular in countries such as China, India, Netherlands etc.
Promotion – This is a marketing communication process which is use to advertise the product
and feature it to the public. Promotion is the most essential and expensive element of marketing
mix that helps the company to grab and attract customers to buy their products. Morrisons
chooses its promotion strategy very carefully it uses TV ads, mobile ads, print media and other
social media campaign to advertise their product company uses its own website to promote their
items and customers can find blogs and fashion tip on company's website.
People – The employees of every company are important in marketing as they are the ones who
delivers service to the customers. It is important for company to hire and train their employees so
they can deliver their superior service to customers. Tesco employees more than 3,00,000 people
in UK and 15 other countries in more than 6000 stores and the company pays special attention on
their employees. Company rewards their employees on the basis of their performance to boost
their performance and the company also provides special discount to their employees on Tesco
products and follows a competitive payment policy to retain its employees.
Process – This is the process of delivering the product to the customers with designed for
maximum reliability and efficiency. Rolls Royce stores and products are beautifully designed
and properly organised as compared to other stores they have separate sections for different kind
of services in their stores.
Physical Evidence – It provides tangible cues of the quality company is offering it particularly
useful in an organisation when any customers need to buy something from brand and is expected
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to pay for service before it is delivered. Aston Martin has more than 160 dealers across 53
countries in the world(Donndelinger and Ferguson, 2020).
2) SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a collection of company's strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats. It is
used to help organisations in developing full awareness for the factors involved in making a
company's business decisions(Marušić, 2019).
Strength
- strength can be number of characteristics
where the company has competitive
advantages over its competitors.
- Advantages of company can be more
qualitative in nature and difficult to measure.
- great corporate culture, proprietary
technology and strong recognition are the some
competitive advantages
Weakness
- Weakness are the areas where business are at
competitive disadvantage compare to their
competitors.
- inexperienced management, low margins,
high employee turnover and high use of loans
as a funding source are the some competitive
disadvantage.
Opportunities
- opportunities section shows the external
factor which represent the growth of business.
- changes in social norms which are creating
new markets, technological advancement that
can help to improve efficiency.
Threats
- threats are all those external factors which
represents the risks to a business
- technological innovation which can interrupt
the existing business, new social norms that
can make existing product offerings less
attractive.
3) Ansoff's Growth Matrix
Ansoff's growth matrix is a two by two framework which is used by the management teams in an
organisation to help and evaluate growth initiatives. This tool helps stakeholders of the company
to conceive level of risk which are connected with different growth strategies(Loredana, 2016).
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This matrix is used to analyse the relative attractiveness of growth strategies which benefits both
existing products and new markets
 Market Penetration
 product Development
 Market development Diversification
Market Penetration – when companies apply market penetration strategy, management of the
company plans to develop their existing product into the market which is familiar with the
company and have existing relations. Company can improvise there product and make change in
their existing product to sale it in existing market.
Product Development – this strategy helps the company to expand their business in particular
market by investing in R&D to develop new products, by acquiring the rights to produce and sell
another firm's product and by creating offerings by branding products that actually produced by
another party. After setting up there business in market company can introduce new product in
market for growth of there business.
Market Development – This strategy is the least risky strategy because this strategy do not
require investment in product development or investment in R&D. It allows company to enter in
new market with their existing product to target new customer segment. After Company's
product is successful in existing market and they received good response from the consumer
Company can introduce that product to new market(Gurcaylilar-Yenidogan and Aksoy, 2018).
Diversification – This strategy is the highest risky strategy because both product development
and market development are required in this strategy. As this is a highest risky strategy it can
also give company huge rewards either by reducing the company's dependency on single
product/market or by achieving new revenue opportunities. Some times to cover up the debts or
to expand business by entering in new field company can introduce new product in new market.
4) organisation using marketing to grow on a global scale.
Companies use many marketing strategies to grow their business at global level and few
marketing strategies are:
Understanding the Target Market – new customers are the primary motivators of a company to
move into the new market. Companies need to understand the needs and wants of the customers
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in new market and who are their competitors in that market, which requires a proper research of
the new target market(Zaveri and Amin, 2019).
Develop a marketing plan – companies cannot change the language in which they are marketing
and are successful they need to stick to the rigid definition of their brands for which they had
spent years. Company can get benefit if they partner with a local firm. Companies can advertise
their product in new market by promotion and hosting event.
Customize company's message – social media is the best way to deliver a global message by
tailoring it for specific audience. This strategy will allow company to incorporate al their social
media activities and maintains a proper workflow.
Localize your global marketing approach – Its easy for company to write down global content
strategy but it hard for them to implement these strategies. The main challenge for company is to
build something that new market is demanding.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above information it has been concluded that marketing helps the company to
increase productivity and growth in every business and to grow their business companies can
apply marketing mix which includes seven elements product, price, promotion, place, people,
process and physical evidence. SWOT analysis help company to identify the factors which
shows company's strength and weakness and the external factors which are showing
Opportunities and threats of the company. With the help of ansoff's growth matrix company can
develop its business and expand their business and it has been concluded that marketing helps
the company to grow it at global level.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Donndelinger, J.A. and Ferguson, S.M., 2020. Design for the marketing mix: The past, present,
and future of market-driven engineering design. Journal of Mechanical Design. 142(6).
Ferrell, O.C., Hartline, M. and Hochstein, B.W., 2021. Marketing strategy. Cengage Learning.
Grewal, D. and Levy, M., 2021. M: marketing (p. 480). McGraw-Hill Education.
Gurcaylilar-Yenidogan, T. and Aksoy, S., 2018. Applying Ansoff’s growth strategy matrix to
innovation classification. International Journal of Innovation Management.22(04).
p.1850039.
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Loredana, E.M., 2016. The use of Ansoff matrix in the field of business. In MATEC Web of
Conferences (Vol. 44, p. 01006).
Marušić, T., 2019. Importance of marketing mix in successful positioning of products and
services on the market. Ekonomska misao i praksa. (1). pp.431-446.
Zaveri, B.N. and Amin, P.D., 2019. Global Marketing Strategy in Digital Era: Global Online
Presence. In Breaking Down Language and Cultural Barriers Through Contemporary
Global Marketing Strategies (pp. 103-112). IGI Global.
Online:
Caroline forsey, 2021.What is Marketing, and What's Its Purpose?. [Online] Available through:
<https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-marketing>
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