Marketing Essentials: A Comprehensive Guide to Strategic Planning and Implementation

This comprehensive guide delves into the fundamental principles of marketing, exploring key roles and responsibilities, the marketing mix, and strategic planning. It examines how marketing functions interrelate with other organizational units and analyzes the significance of the marketing environment. The guide also provides practical insights into developing and evaluating marketing plans, demonstrating how to apply the 7Ps to achieve business objectives. Through real-world examples and case studies, this resource equips students with the knowledge and skills necessary to excel in the dynamic field of marketing.

Marketing Essentials
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
LO1............................................................................................................................................4
P1-Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function...............................4
P2 Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organizational
context....................................................................................................................................5
M1 Analyse the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing
environment............................................................................................................................6
M2 Analyse the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional
units of the organization.........................................................................................................7
D1-Critically analyze and evaluate the key elements of the marketing function and how
they interrelate with other functional units of an organization...............................................8
LO2............................................................................................................................................9
P3-Compare the ways in which different organizations apply the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives...................................................9
M3 Evaluate different tactics applied by organizations to demonstrate how business
objectives have been achieved..............................................................................................10
D2 Design a strategic marketing plan that tactically applies the use of the 7Ps to achieve
overall marketing objectives.................................................................................................11
LO3..........................................................................................................................................12
P4 Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organization..................................12
M4 Produce a detailed, coherent evidence-based marketing plan for an organization........14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................16
References................................................................................................................................17
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Introduction
Marketing is the root of promotion of any big brand like Unilever. In the time of competition
today it is required to see the essential elements required to see the values and the factors on
which the company works. This highly depends on the feedback received by the people and
the product that is needed to be changed according to the needs. Companies use 7Ps model to
identify the needs and at the same time make a marketing strategy to cover the target market
with an efficient way of promotion. In this assignment, the discussion will be on the different
ways of application of the marketing mix and how that has affected the various sections of
the company. The dependencies of the company on each other to check the various tactics
used to promote and then making marketing strategy on the same.
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LO1
P1-Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function.
Being a marketing manager the key roles and responsibilities that can be achieved by
following the guided rules are given below-
 Customer needs- The most important feedback that can be given to the company is
from the feedback from the customers. They are the basic information source in the company.
The company works on the feedback received from the customers (Howell, 2015).
 Trends tracking- The team constantly works upon the current needs and the demands
of the company and then comparing the same with the competitors. This help in innovations
and future marketing plans generations.
 Transmission of brand values- This is the role in which the brand values are
transmitted other parts of the industry to make sure that the image has been successfully
generated and placed in the market in order to see the marketing position in the company in
the market (Howell, 2015).
 Coordinate with marketing partners- All the marketing and branding partners are
needed to be discussed and then the plan is generated accordingly in the system. This helps in
getting new information from the stakeholders and the same can be applied in the system.
This will help in generating updated plans in future.
 Innovate- As per the ideas received from all the stakeholders and the marketing
associated partners it is required to innovate the current products.
 Communication with the seniors- All the ideas are needed to be discussed with the
top management and then the same will be applied to the system.
 Budgeting- Budgeting and making financial plans to above-mentioned plans are very
important as they help in making the more practical approach to the plan.
 Return on investment calculation- The ROI calculation is very important to see the
feasibility of the system and the effect of the innovation on the revenue of the company
 Marketing plans- Finally the marketing plans are made in order to go forward in the
innovation direction (Howell, 2015).
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P2 Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider
organizational context.
As per the key roles and responsibilities in the system, they affect all the processes in the
organization, especially if the organization is a big company like that of Unilever, they need
to relate all the responsibilities within the organization, their link is explained as under-
 Buying needs of the company/customers
 Market information checking
 The risk in the business
 Finance
 Transportation of goods/services
 Storage and logistics
 Grading and marking the standards
The marking roles affected by the needs of the customers helps in understanding the need of
improvisation and change that has to be done in the organization in order to meet the place in
the current competitive market (Pike, 2015). For this, it is required to check the current trends
in the market and gathering the information about the competitors in order to check their
products and services in the system and response of customers on the same. In order to have
any success it is required to have risk-taking ability in the system and then applying the same
to the creation. The more risk the organization has been putting into the system, the more
they are vulnerable to making new things in the system (Pike, 2015).
After the plan generation, it is required to have proper budget allocated to the system in order
to successfully implement the plan and let it done. There might be a situation that certain
plans need more than decided budget, thus management permissions are required for the
same. Further, the cozy of logistics, storage, and transportation is also needed to be seen in
the system to make sure that cost is bearable and appropriate to go for. Accordingly, the
grading and the standardization of the products are done.
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M1 Analyse the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing
environment.
Marketing environment consists of a large number of roles and responsibilities that can be
seen in the system that will eventually help in generating the same in the revenue and the
sales of the products. The same will help in promotion, sale, distribution and strategy
development of the system.
 The strategy of marketing – First of the team is needed to see the strategy that was
previously used by the company and then going forward the effect of the same in the whole
process. As per that new strategies are made to make sure they will work as per the latest
needs of the team.
 Information record keeping- There is always needed to see the management
information system in the team and as per that the trends are analyzed and discussed in the
company. These information systems collect information about competition as well to check
the innovating and change in the current work culture (Pike, 2015).
 Review marketing information- The review and checking of the marketing strategy
time to time is required to see whether the same has been helpful in generating the right
product and service in the market and analyzing the same will help in making better plans for
future.
 Research of the market- Competition and market research is needed to see whether
the same has been having a positive or negative response and what can be done to remove the
ambiguity (Pike, 2015).
 Segmentation of market- The large customer base is always needed to be segmented
to see the needs and demands of the customers as per their age, gender. There might some
particular demand in the market as per the geographical features and cultural demands of the
company.
 Brand development – Marketing always put more attention in the brand
development of the company so as to gain the faith and brand loyalty of the customers (Pike,
2015).
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M2 Analyse the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other
functional units of the organization
Marketing functions are always in need of other functions to maintain and develop different
types of strategies in the system and then making sure that the guidance and help are applied
in all the steps of the strategy application. Starting from the development process there is
need of customer service department to see the feedback received on the previous products
and services by the company.
Similarly to check the practical feasibility of the new strategy in the market it is required to
check the budget with the finance team and make the same feasible in the allocation in the
different kind of resources. Budgeting also helps in making understand the value that could
have been saved earlier but the same was not applied earlier (Baines, et, al. 2013). Then there
is need to check the required team so the human resource department is needed to help in
recruiting the different resources in the team to eliminate the issues faced earlier by the team.
Human resource team selects and finalize different CVs to select the right candidate to be
part of the team (Baines, et, al. 2013).
Finally, the sales department is needed to practically apply the strategy in the market and
generating the revenue for the same and calculating the ROI.
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D1-Critically analyze and evaluate the key elements of the marketing function and
how they interrelate with other functional units of an organization.
There are various functions that help in maintenance and making new strategies in the
system, the same is done with the help of all the functions helping and influencing the same
in all the steps of development, some of the key elements that get affected are-
 Research and development- All the departments provide their respective data to the
marketing team to study the effect of the same in the revenue and brand development of the
company and its products. This helps in developing new marketing strategies for the team to
develop and use further. The research is done by both the internal team members and then the
external professionals to guide in further plans (McDanie, & Gates, 2014).
 Strategy development- Finance and research departments of the organizations help
in strategy development of the team so as to develop the various steps to eliminate the
loopholes in the process. The strategy is also developed keeping in mind the future scope and
need of the market and the various factors that were not applicable this time, thus removing
the same in future.
 Planning and processing- The plan is developed by discussing the pros and cons of
the previous strategy and developing the strategy that could help in making it understand the
effect of the new strategy on the company’s internal factors. The planning includes the
required budget in the system and the cost of production and implementation of the new plan
in the market (McDanie, & Gates, 2014).
 Resource generation- The various required by the team in order to see the feasibility
of the same in the planning of new strategy. The various resources like advertising team,
logistics, merchandising etc. they are required to b discussed with the finance team to know
the amount required.
 Miscellaneous resources and information- There is certain other information
require to be discussed with the other departments, like the transportation and the distribution
cost of the new plan. There are certain research and information delivered from external
stakeholders as well to tell the market status. Sometimes the retail team also provides the
information about the small changes requires in the brand placement of the company. This
helps the marketing team to know what appeals the customers at first sight (McDanie, &
Gates, 2014).
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LO2
P3-Compare the ways in which different organizations apply the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives.
There are different ways in which the companies like Unilever use their marketing mix to
achieve the decided goals and objectives of the same. There has been a great need to identify
the market area and the people that work in, the needs and demands of the people are taken
care of. They follow the below-mentioned process-
 Marketing mix development- In this structure the 4Ps are being checked, their
requirements are studied and followed. This will majorly check what the product has been
taken, the price of the product that is decided and the place where that product is needed to be
placed in the market (Gerhardt, et, al. 2014).
 Market share increment using marketing mix- The next strategy used by Unilever
to place the product properly in the market and applying the marketing mix to place the
product in the market so as to increase the market share.
 Changes in the marketing mix to achieve the larger market share- This can be
done by changing the target market, the place and the promotional strategies (Gerhardt, et, al.
2014)
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M3 Evaluate different tactics applied by organizations to demonstrate how business
objectives have been achieved
In order to achieve the different objectives planned by the organization, it is required by the
organization to check the feasibility of the plan made. The 7Ps are studied by the team of
Unilever that is then check and evaluated as per the customer feedbacks and the small trials
of the few strategies that have been made and introduced in the market (Gerhardt, et, al.
2014). The outcome of the same has been applied in the further studies. Unilever studies the
past performances and the recent demands to see the changes required, thus they follow the
following process-
 Initially, the select a target market t apply the strategy.
 Then different market segments are created in order to apply the strategy at different
levels.
 The process to deal with the different segments are then processed and evaluated.
 The result of segmentation is then reviewed and the success is then calculated.
 After the study of the review the target market is then selected and the strategy is
applied further.
 Market position of the product is improved by applying the positional strategy.
 Evaluation and improvisation of the feedbacks are done as per the needed changes.
In order to apply the strategy developed on the basis of the research and feedback received
earlier, the team of Unilever has applied the marketing mix in the following steps as below-
 People- The people here refer to the firstly the team that has been working upon the
strategy and applying its tactics. Then the target market which is based upon the age of
people, their needs, their gender, and their demands based on the geographical trends and
delivering the services accordingly (Mohammad, 2015).
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D2 Design a strategic marketing plan that tactically applies the use of the 7Ps to achieve
overall marketing objectives

 Price- The price of the product has been decided in order to see the response of the
target market. There cannot be same price structure for the entire segment. The price and the
services in the urban market are different from the one from the rural market.
 Place- The target area is checked to see the demands and the need of the people in the
market. There has to be customized strategy to be applied to the different sections of the
society (Mohammad, 2015).
 Product- The product that has been offered is needed to be according to the demands
and the feedback that was received by the team for the previous surveys. The changes in the
product have been made in order to meet the customers’ demands.
 Promotion- There is always different strategies applied to promote the product to
capture maximum target market. The promotional strategies are according to the target
market, their capacity to spend on the product and then consecutively using the same in
having a maximum response to the marketing and eventually increasing the sales
(Mohammad, 2015).
 Process- The process that has to be followed should be according to the resources that
have been collected in order to make the strategy feasible enough to achieve the desired
goals.
 Physical evidence- Physical evidence referrers to the branding, the packaging, the
product in itself. There can also certain things like the dresses and the act that has been
performed in order to do branding in the system.
Objective – The basic objective of the Unilever is to generate a strategy in order to have
maximum sales and distribution of the projects in the system. This can be done by selecting
the perfect target audience and placing the brand image effectively in the system.
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LO3
P4 Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organization.

Goals- The goal is to create a strategy that place Unilever in the rural and the urban market at
the same time. This should be done by making a strong marketing plan; to make Unilever a
market leader and regain the lost brand loyalty due to certain cases happened earlier.
Target Audience – As per the latest customer feedback the target audience for the products
like those of FMCG, Unilever has decided this time to cover the rural audience and
explaining them in regional and cultural ways (Ameur, et, al. 2015).
Company Analysis – The company has gone through the in depth ways to cover the internal
factors that has been affecting the growth of the company in the past years.
 Strength-The major strength of Unilever is that it has a variety of products in the list
that has been quite famous amongst all section of the society.
 Weakness- Due to a common product based company in the system; it was found that
the major weakness was failing to place them in the market effectively.
 Opportunity- The current opportunity is that the consumer are very versatile these
days and are ready to try new things, thus marketing should cover all the factors.
 Threat- The competition providing same kind of products and services at low prices,
new companies coming every day (Ameur, et, al. 2015).
Action plan-The major action plan is to select the target audience and place the products in
the market using strategies that are more attractive and more users communicative.
Financial analysis- The budget allocation is needed to be done is accordance to the designed
action plan so as to cover maximum customer base and effectively place the Unilever as
market leader (Ameur, et, al. 2015).
Resources- The desired resources should be the entire stakeholder for production and
development of the products and services and efficiently using the budget to apply the same.
Review and implementation- The implementation of the same has to be done in accordance
to the designed strategy and then reviewed and improvised.
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M4 Produce a detailed, coherent evidence-based marketing plan for an organization.

The major mistakes the planners do are that they do not put much attention towards the
competition and their marketing strategy. Thus competitive analysis will help in
understanding the way they are dealing with the customer’s needs and what is the effect of
the same on the customers. Next step is to do internal analysis to understand the caused and
outcomes of the designed plan. The strength of the company is that they already have a large
consumer base, thus the need is to maintain their loyalty and add more to the customer base.
Weakness is the granted attitude of the people which lead them to secondary position in the
market. The major opportunity that the Unilever is taking into consideration is that consumers
are more vulnerable to the changes in buying new things, thus the plan should be more
attractive. The threat is the competition in the system and the external factors affecting the
same (Lilly, 2014).
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MarkeingPlan

Conclusion
The assessment told about the different issues faced by the team of Unilever in order to
promote the brand in the system. The same was identified using different types of marketing
mixes in order to identify the needs of the consumers and the strategy to be used in order to
increase the customer base. The 7Ps of the marketing mixes are used in order to identify the
strategy to see the target market and the process to apply them in the current scenario. The
market has been segmented and studied, and then the product and price have been identified
and improvised as per the demand. There are different strategies used in order to streamline
the whole system to make better brand image amongst the customer’s and have brand loyalty.
This will eventually help in gaining better market position and brand name of the company.
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