Marketing Essentials: A Comprehensive Guide to Marketing Principles and Practices

This comprehensive guide delves into the fundamental principles and practices of marketing, exploring key roles and responsibilities, the marketing mix (7Ps), and the development and evaluation of a basic marketing plan. Using Aldi as a case study, the report analyzes how organizations utilize marketing strategies to achieve business objectives and compares Aldi's approach to other companies in the retail sector. The report also presents a detailed marketing plan for Aldi UK, outlining its target market, unique selling proposition, pricing strategy, supply chain, promotional activities, and advertising mediums.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO1 Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function.....................................4
LO2 Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve
overall business objectives..............................................................................................................8
LO3 Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan.......................................................................10
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................13
Reference List:...............................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
In this study, the researcher will discuss the importance marketing in an organization. Marketing
is one of the main pillars of any organization. The ultimate goal of any organization is to deliver
their products and services to its target customers and it is the responsibility of the marketing
department to make it happen. The researcher will also explain the interrelation between
marketing and other departments of the organization and the way they function in coordination to
achieve the objective of the organization. However, the procedure and philosophy of marketing
department varies in every organization. In order to understand the functionality of different
organization the researcher will provide a comparative study of the chosen organization and
another organization from the same sector.
Definition: Marketing is the process followed by any organization to sell, promote and distribute
their products or services to target customer to earn profit and maintain good relation with
customers (Tomczak et al., 2018).
In order to explain various aspects of marketing and marketing manager, the researcher will take
Aldi as the case study and discuss the functions of their marketing department
Aldi: Aldi is a multinational retail chain headquartered in Germany. It was founded by the
Albrecht brothers karl and Theo in 1946, after they took over their mother’s small departmental
store in Essen Germany. Aldi is renowned to be the first discounter of the world. However, the
company split in 1960 and known as Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud (Aldi.com. (2018)). Currently Aldi
has more than 10,000 stores in 20 countries around the globe including Germany, Britain, USA,
China and Australia among others. Aldi has 1600 stores only in USA as reported in 2017. Aldi
opened its first international store in Austria, after acquiring the grocery chain Hofer.
Aldi Nord operates in Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Spain
and Portugal, and also operates in the United States. Aldi Süd is operational in the United States,
Ireland, Austria, Slovenia and Italy (as Hofer), Australia, Great Britain and Switzerland.
Together Aldi reported to having turnover of $50 billion. Number of employees of Aldi Nord
and Aldi Sud are 104400 and 58179 respectively as on 2015. Aldi follows the top-down
organization structure. As for organizational culture Aldi follows Charles Handy’s Power
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culture, where the decision making power remains in the hand of a group of people and they
delegate work to the other employees.
LO1 Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function.
P1 Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function for the chosen
organization (M1)
In this section, the researcher has discussed the various roles and responsibilities of marketing
function. It is the common thread between the customers and organization. The department
gathers feedback from its customers and conveys it to the company for providing products and
services according to the needs and requirement of the customers (Armstrong et al., 2015). The
various roles and responsibilities have been described in the below picture.
Figure 1-Functions of marketing
(Source- Zwart et al., 2016)
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Financing: One of the main responsibilities of marketing department is to arrange finance for
any proposed product. The department needs to produce a realistic budget for the product that is
to be presented in the market. For this they have to work closely with the finance department as
only they have the authority to sanction any budget. After the budget is sanctioned the
department needs to perform according to the plan and ensure that the expenses do not exceed
the sanctioned budget. Aldi has a strong marketing team which presents their budget carefully
prior to any product goes into market. They ensure that the budget is perfectly balanced as a
stringent budget hamper proper marketing and also not very lavish so they face any losses.
Product Management: One of the essential roles of marketing is to product management. The
department gathers information about the requirement of the customers, conveys the message to
the company and plan according to the demand. The marketing department of Aldi ensures that
the products that are available at their stores are in accordance to the requirement of their
customer.
Marketing information Management: Gathering information about the market is a
responsibility of the marketing department. Information regarding selling, purchasing, demand
and scarcity of the products is essential for any organization (Zwart et al., 2016). The marketing
department of Aldi is always up to date regarding their market, enabling them to stay ahead of
the competitors.
Distribution: The seamless distribution of the product and service determines the success of any
organization. Aldi has a wide distribution network in more than 20 countries and the marketing
department ensures that the network works smoothly and if any issues arise they try to solve it at
the earliest to avoid any disruption in the system.
Pricing: Correct pricing can decide the success of any product. The marketing department of any
organization needs to decide pricing of every product of the company. The pricing depends on
various factors such as target consumer, market, demand, quality of the products and others. The
marketing team of Aldi decides price of every product available at their stores such a way that it
is reasonable for customers and also give them proper profit from each products.
Promotion: Marketing team of any organization also needs to design proper promotional
strategies for the each products of the company. As for Aldi the marketing department works on
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promotion of the company as a whole. It is their strategy to not to promote any single brand but
the company as a brand.
Selling: Selling of the products of the company, is the ultimate goal of the marketing
department. The accomplishment of the department can be measured through the volume of
selling of the products and profit earned from the sale. Aldi’s marketing department works
toward maximizing the profit earned by the company relentlessly and increase it every quarter.
P2 Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organizational
context for the chosen organization or scenario (M2)
Depending upon the roles and the functionalities of the sales and the marketing team, the
profitability issues of a company depends. Therefore, the roles and the responsibilities of the
marketing departments should be properly indicated by the organization. The marketing
department should come up with innovative promoting process for the company n data the same
time, to get the innovative process based on which they can place the products in the market.
The marketing departments should follow these specific tasks in order to maintain the
sustainability in the organization.
Market Segmentation:
The sales and the marketing departments of the organization need to come out with innovative
ideas based upon, which the product offered in the market; fulfill the desires of the customers
(Wirtz et al., 2014). For an example, it can be suggested that if the products offered by the
company in the market are technology based or technical products, it should be segregated based
on the industries and the region of operation. The retail sector organization need to adopt some
innovative strategies based upon which they can expand their business in the market. The choice
of the customers’ and their purchasing behavior are the most common factor to be taken into
consideration by the marketing departments of the organization. However, the ALDI
organization has come out with innovate marketing strategies based upon, which they has
competitive advantage in the market. The retail sector companies need to offer unique features
based upon the customers’ will be attracted to purchase from the company. Therefore, the
marketing managers need to come out with innovative products and based on the choice of the
customers’ they should provide the essential products in the market
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Marketing plan:
It is the prime responsibility of the organizational leader is to develop a proper plan for the
organization. After that, the several departments of the organization should come out with proper
planning to make the plan successful in the real life practice. In case of the marketing
department, the managers of the marketing departments should come out with the proper
promoting strategies, which will boost the sales of the products, and to meet the shot comings
faced by the customers’ from the market. According to various researchers, the ALDI
organization has already managed to incorporate all the suitable strategies in their marketing
departments based upon which the customers got the desired products from the company within
the reasonable price amount (Kozlenkova et al., 2015). The online service delivery process and
the android based mobile application has given the customers enough scopes to be aware about t
the product and the price. Offering benefits, incentives to the customers are helpful to increase
sales of the products in the market.
Strategies:
Once the managers of the organization have the proper ideas about the departments in which
they are working, they should come up with the innovative strategies, which will boost the
efficiency of the entire sector. However, the sales manager of the ALDI organization should
fulfill this vital task, as an effective marketing strategy is helpful to increase the profitability for
the company (Ekpo et al., 2015). The strategy like free home delivery systems, the innovative
technological facilities are helpful to promote the business for the company. Online company
portals, the social media platforms are the key aspects for the company to promote the products
and the service delivered by the company.
The marketing departments and the other sectors of the organization should be properly
connected to get the authentic information about the products and the service delivered by the
company. For an example, the departments of the ALDI organization have proper
communication with other department which is helpful in order to have the ideas of the products
delivered in the market. This helps to improve the efficiency of the organization and the same
time the time required for completing the task is reduced.
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LO2 Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to
achieve overall business objectives
P3 Compare the ways in which the chosen organization applies the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives. How does it differ from other
organizations or could do better compared to other organizations (with examples). (M3)
Belonging from the retail sector, the ALDI Company should come up with proper
implementation of marketing strategies, which is helpful for the organization to reach to its
customers (Oplatka and Gurion, 2017). Before comparing the marketing’s strategies of the
ALDI organization and the similar organization the marketing mix implemented by the company
in the market should be justified. There are several stages of the marketing mix, which is as
follows:
Product:
This is the first and foremost component of marketing mix. Based on the product delivered by
the organization, the customers’ response can be collected and the company can understand the
areas in which they need to develop further. However, the retail companies should continuously
come out with innovative product ideas and to meet the shot comings faced by the customers
from the organization, hence, the ALDI is one of those organization that has continuously
provided the pope quality products to the customers within the reasonable amount of price
(Moorman and Day, 2016).
Price:
As per the opinion of several market researchers, customers prefers quality product within the
reasonable pricing amount and when the companies can meet these criteria, automatically the
customers becomes attracted to purchase from the company. In this prospects, the ALDI
company has implemented an innovative idea of buy two get one free, fifty percent off on the
essential products are the most suitable marketing process for attracting customers. In the retail
outlets of the ALDI Company, the customers gets an opportunity to get all the products within
the reasonable pricing amount and with lucrative incentive upon a certain purchase limit.
Place:
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Placement or the distribution of the product is also common factors in the marketing mix. In the
market of potential buyers, the company should implement all the innovative strategies based on
which they could provide the desired products to their customers. Strategies like several
distribuition as follows:
 Intensive distribution
 Exclusive distribution
 Selective distribution
 Franchising
The marketing manages should conduct a proper marketing research to find out the potential
customers for the organization (Johnson eta l., 2017). With the progression of time, there are
huge numbers of competitors in the market; hence, the marketing managers should implement
the essential strategies based on which they can offer unique features to the potential market.
Proper supply chain, appropriate inventory managements and adequate supply of products in the
market is the unique features, which is adopted by the organization.
Promotion:
This is the most vital factors for the organization and the marketing managers should complete
all the possible promoting process based on which they can promote the products of the
company. Social media platform is the unique platform for promoting process now a day. Based
on the visual basic software and the implementation of the technologies the attractive feature of
the products is highlighted. This is the exact strategies followed by the ALDI Company in the
local market and they are getting huge response from the customers. The online portals of the
company have scope for the customers to put up proper reviews and the experience of
purchasing from the company. For an example, rest of the organization in the market has adopted
these strategies but the customers have preferred ALDI’s online shopping process most.
LO3 Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan
P4 Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for the chosen organization (M4)
For any organization a specified outline and structure is needed in order to determine its
marketing process. It is necessary to present a transparent and structured plan by which the
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marketing, promotion and advertisement process can be executed. A market plan is a
configuration presented by the marketing executives and management of an organization which
will act as a channel and map for determining the marketing strategy and tools (Pike 2015).
A market plan focuses on the aims and objectives that an organization needs to address in order
to execute a better marketing strategy for better business process and sales maximization. In
order to construct a specified market plan it is necessary for the concerned organization to focus
on certain parameters. In a marketing plan, the marketing team needs to present a specific
abstract on how the marketing process is to be conducted and what are the key parameters. The
most important factor is the present market scenario in the specific sector. Market scenarios
cannot be determined beforehand but a sketchy prediction can be made.
The concerned organization needs to keep that in mind and present the marketing plan
accordingly. Another factor that the organization needs to address is the possible target market
for the specified product that the company is presenting a marketing plan. There are certain
strategies and parameters that the concerned organization needs to consider. The strategies
include the methods and mediums by which the process of marketing can be conducted. The four
P’s of marketing, which includes place, price, promotion and product needs to be addressed
separately by the marketing team for better presentation of the products in order to achieve
maximization of sales (Kotler 2015).
In this report, a marketing plan is to be presented for ALDI UK:
Marketing plan for ALDI:
Executive summary
Possible customers ALDI is a multinational supermarket primarily
concerned with retail products. Therefore, the
organization focuses on a wide spectrum of
customers. There is no such segmentation as of
age because people from all background and
ages can utilize the products and services that
the organization offers. However, on a
morphological perspective the products can be
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segmented according to demography and
behavioral segmentation. In terms of
demography, the populace of lower income
section is more inclined towards the products
the company has to offer (Blakeman 2018).
Unique selling proposition The unique selling proposition of ALDI is the
inexpensive and reasonable pricing of the
products and services. ALDI offers their
products at a rather cheaper price with no
compromise in quality.
Pricing of the product The company has presented an effective
pricing of the products as compared to the
other competing retail organizations. From a
demographic point of view populace from the
economically weaker section are more inclined
towards the products presented by ALDA.
Supply chain strategy ALDA has its own international transport and
supply chain medium for better trade and
delivery of the products which is an important
aspect in favor of the organization and thus
will improve the marketing process and hence
the overall business procedure.
Offers and rebates On a regular basis, ALDA offers regular
discounts on their products in order to
magnetize the present consumers and improves
the possibility of widening the possible
customer base. Along with this, the
organization also presents routine offers on the
products and on any kind of festivals and
occasions for better promotion. Consumers are
attracted to the rebates and offers ALDI
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provides on their products and services
(Blakeman 2018).
Medium for promotions and advertisement ALDI focuses on implementing all kinds of
methods and mediums by which promotion
and advertisement can be done. The company
implements the traditional medium of
marketing like advertisements in newspapers
and cable television’s. Along with this ALDI is
also inclined towards using social media as a
medium of marketing. Social media as a
marketing tool is an effective medium of
marketing in order to reach a wide range of
customers all around the globe (Pike 2015).
Table 1: marketing plan for ALDI
Source: (Created by learner)
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Conclusion:
Marketing is an essential part of any business process. It is necessary for an organization to
address the factors that determine the marketing process because promotion and marketing
contributes an fair amount to the overall business process and sales. In this report, the principle
roles and responsibilities of a marketing function is determined, evaluated and analyzed. There
are certain business objectives of an organization which needs to be addressed in order to present
a structured marketing plan for better promotion and sales of the products and services that the
organization provides. The marketing essentials and strategies in case of ALDI is addressed and
discussed. The 7P’s of marketing is presented in order to determine the marketing position and
mix of the organization and a detailed marketing plan is presented for the selected organization.
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Tomczak, T., Reinecke, S. and Kuss, A., 2018. Introduction. In Strategic Marketing (pp. 1-18).
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