Impact of Social Media Marketing

This assignment examines the effects of social media marketing on brand popularity. It analyzes various studies and research papers that explore how social media interactions, such as posts on brand fan pages, influence consumer perceptions and brand value. The assignment also delves into concepts like service-dominant logic, viral marketing, and customer equity in the context of social media marketing.

Marketing Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 .Wilkinson's marketing function roles and responsibilities...................................................1
P2. Roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context.............3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
P3. Marketing Mix of Wilkinson and Tesco...............................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P4. Marketing Plan for Wilkinson..............................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is set of activities which focuses on providing customer satisfaction and in
order words it could be said that it is a process of creating, communicating, delivering and
exchanging offerings that has some values for the customers, society and clients etc. It includes
public relations, promotion of sales, advertising, social media, pricing, distribution and other
functions. In this competitive business environment organisations has risen up their marketing
budget because this is the only way they can reach to a larger number of customers (Berthon and
et. al., 2012). Those companies who focuses on the consumers oriented marketing gets an
competitive advantage. Before designing any marketing strategy or campaign they put money,
time and resources in knowing the daily habits of the consumers and after that they develop a
product which will be useful for them (Armstrong and et. al., 2011). Wilko former known as
Wilkinson is a British high street chain which sells products related to house. There will be
analysis of their marketing department and how they will conduct their marketing operations to
increase their customer base.
TASK 1
P1 .Wilkinson's marketing function roles and responsibilities
Wilko Retail Ltd is the company which sells housewares and household goods. This
company was founded in year 1930 and it is a family business when it was started. There
turnover reached to £1.5 billion in 2013 and every year they are experiencing financial success.
The reason behind this is that they are focusing on every part of the marketing and knows its
importance. The marketing strategies used by them is full of creativity and totally focused on the
customers emotions. Today they have approx. 325 stores and as part of their expansion plan they
opened their first overseas office in Hong Kong. With practising proper marketing function they
beat their competitors in UK market. Wilkinson has 25000 product in their business profile and
these ranges from food, home, garden, office, health and beauty products (Chen, Wang and
Wang, 2010). They know that competition is tough in their segment so if they have to earn more
profit they need to make sure that they provides unique products which has some value for the
customers and clients. Marketing function role is to identify and look for useful products for the
marketplace and after that promote them by different communication platforms. Roles and
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responsibilities of the marketing functions can be defined as categorised into three parts they are
as follows:-
 Functions of Exchange: Marketing involves exchange of goods and services in
exchange of a valuable thing measured in terms of money. They buy the raw materials
from the suppliers and further that raw materials are assembled in the factory so that they
can convert that into final product. The final product which is produced will be used for
selling because this is the way they can earn profit. It is the product on which all their
marketing activities involves. For example; marketing function of the Wilko is to make
sure that they whatever they are buying from the suppliers are of better quality and are
purchased at suitable prices. For this they have to conduct a market research and test their
products they are providing (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 2013). There might be chances
that the suppliers which are supplying products for the store of Wilko might had a issue
in their products due to which the sales of Wilko is affecting. It is the role of the
marketing department to drop down all the products of that company and look for a
reputed supplier. All the products should be labelled properly and the branding should be
done in a manner that it looks attractive and unique. In the selling of the products all the
platforms should be analysed and a final decision should be made that which will be the
promotional platform which could help them in reaching a large number of audiences in
quick period of time (Day, 2011). During selling the distribution chances should be their
stores and they also have the option of selling through e-commerce.
 Functions of Physical Distribution: This is one of the crucial role of the marketing
function so it should be controlled and handled in better way. It includes transportation,
inventory, warehousing and material handling. When the final product is ready to sold
they are sent to various places through the help of transportation. They can use airways or
sea routes if they have to export their products in another country. For the internal
movement of the products they can use their own transportation facilities or can take help
of the local movers (De Mooij, 2013). Quick transportation of the products are required
because if this does not happen they will not able to fulfil the market supply thus they
will experiencing decrease in their market share. Inventory is the products which is sold
by Wilko so they should keep track of the stock available to them because this way they
can take their financial decisions and can take out their cost of the products. Warehousing
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is the process in which they Wilko keep their products at a store house. This is done so
that they can meet the demands of the market and this assure them that they have
sufficient quantity of the products available to them. But there might be chances that the
products are taking time to come out of the warehouses which will give them losses.
 Function of Facilities: There are various facilities which needs to be taken care by the
marketing function because these are the valuable asset available to them. For every
activities performed by the marketing requires finance so they should make sure that
whatever budget is allocated to them should be used in proper way (De Vries, Gensler
and Leeflang, 2012). It should give maximum output because this is the only way they
can recover the cost incurred in the production process. Whatever marketing tasks are
done should be efficient enough and should solve the purpose of attracting and
convincing the customers towards the products sold by Wilko. No business can grow
without the risk if they want to achieve success marketing have to take calculated risk
based on the goals and objectives which they wants to achieve (Grönroos and Ravald,
2011). After selling the product of the company the work of the marketing does not
comes to end the reason behind this is that they have to know what are results. They will
gain knowledge about the things which has been missed in the plan and through customer
and suppliers reviews this can be learnt.
P2. Roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context.
Marketing department perform various tasks that are more or less related to each other. In
can be analysed that a company without the marketing department is inconceivable. Organisation
is well aware of the fact that it is through marketing only they disseminate their message or
concept to the customers (Grönroos, 2011). There are several duties of the marketing department
which is important for the survival of the company in the business environment.
Listening the Customers: To build a marketing strategy it is important that Wilkinson
marketing personnel should go the consumer and ask them their demands and requirements.
They have to choose the channels through which they can get the feedback of the customers.
 Internal: They have to target the departments which are in link with the marketing
department so that they can take help of those to know the preference of the people. Sales
and customer sup[port team data can be analysed for this and the survey done by them is
the best way to know the ground reality.
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 Outside: In the era where almost every person is on social media so this can be act as
external channel ton know their demands form the company. Wilkinson marketing
department have to regularly engage people over the social media platform to know the
market condition. These people can be converted into the potential customers.
Know the Trends and Competition: It is somewhat related to the previous point
because Wilkinson has to know the condition of the market like what position they hold in the
market. How much competition they are facing or will be facing in future in the retail sector will
give them idea that what strategies they have to adopt (Hartley and Claycomb, 2013). Whatever
is the loopholes can be managed or can be recovered from the mistakes.
Transmit Brand Value: Wilkinson is a brand which need to be known by the people and
it comprises of the products, services and the shares of the company. It is marketing department
who create and disseminate image, message and ideas showing the brand value of Wilkinson. All
the messages should be given in proper way.
Coordination with the Marketing Partners: Publishers, designers, journalists and
advisors are the people who acts as contributors in the business marketing. The marketing
department should make sure that all the work of the contributors are linked with the objectives
and goals of the organisation. If any one is going outside the context then they should obstruct
that personnel form the marketing plan because it can defeat Wilkinson's purpose (Hinz and et.
al., 2011).
Innovate: Wilkinson should make sure that on regular time period they comes with new
things for the customers. The reason behind this is that the customer has become more
demanding so they can be given certain discount, membership, free products are the some of the
things which can be exercised by the marketing department of Wilkinson company (Hoffman
and Fodor, 2010). It is not necessary that the they should bring new products but the existing
product can be renovated or can be given a new shape.
Communication with Organisation: The aim of the every department at Wilkinson is
to achieve a common goal although they might be working on different areas making it possible
for them. All the department have to equally contribute in achieving organisational goals. For
example; production department are doing their production process in better way but marketing
department is failing in the efforts made by them. Whatever tasks are performed by the
department needs to be recorded and communicate so that progress can be find out.
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Improve Sales Process and Customer: It is the role and responsibility of the marketing
department to ensure that clients and customers feelings are entertained. The best way to
exercise this activity to set the direct contact with the customers.
Define Strategic Marketing Plans: Wilkinson marketing department is to draft
objectives and plans for small intervals of time. This will define what they want to do in future
and at what place they see themselves in future.
All the departments of the Wilkinson has to set a coordination with the marketing
department because marketing people acts a bridge between the internal and external members of
the company.
Marketing with HR: Human resource department has a crucial role to play in managing
employees in the company. Marketing department will give them brief idea about the workforce
which are required for carrying out the business activities. They can also help them in managing
the survey conducted in order to know the feedback of people (Huotari and Hamari, 2012). HR
department will recruit for them the employees who has certain skills and knowledge of the
marketing.
Marketing with Sales: This department is very close to marketing because it is the sales
people only who utilize the data given by the marketing and use that in the decision making
process.
Marketing with Production: The production department of the Wilkinson company
depends on the information about the customer needs and requirements given by the marketing
department (Kim and Ko, 2012). They give information that customer wants such type of
product and what the competitors are giving to them.
TASK 3
P3. Marketing Mix of Wilkinson and Tesco.
Marketing Mix refers to the group of actions and techniques used by the organisation in
order to promote their brand or product in the market. The 4Ps is the Price, Product, Promotion
and Place.
Wilkinson
Product: Their products range from the household elements which include homeware,
textiles, cleaning products, health and beauty lines, stationary, confectionery, pet products and
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kitchen and bathroom goods. Through, analysing their products it can be said that majority of
their products are focused to the home or they are family stores. All the marketing campaign they
carry out targets the families (Kotler, 2011). Most of their products are made of own label and
are sold under the Wilko brand. Now they are also focusing on selling private label brands. On
the festival session they introduce new products for the kids like toys and games those sales goes
high during those sessions.
Price: This is one of the biggest element in the business which decides the success of the
enterprise and is also one of the crucial sales promotion tool. Wilkinson know that through
designing proper pricing techniques they can they can attract a larger of customers and can gain
competitive advantage over their rivals. They make sure that prices are not top high or not too
low because if the prices will high people will switch to the different brand who is offering lower
price. On the other hand if they are giving products at very low then it will automatically their
profit margins (McKenzie-Mohr, 2011). They give 15% discount on the first purchase if anyone
is buying from their online platform. Similarly, they also give customer free coupons to the
people who often visits their shops and buys from their.
Promotion: Wilkinson uses various promotional activities to create awareness about
their brand to the public. They also uses advertisement through sparingly and other
advertisement media is also included in their promotional schemes. They use web banners, direct
mail flyers, logos and the mass media for the promotion of their products and services. This way
they are creating a brand loyalty among their customers. They also focuses a lot on the personal
face to face promotion like they go to the public places and convince people that if they will be
buying their products they will get certain discounts and profits. Those who are the regular
customers of the Wilkinson are given certain loyalty points and if they also refer to their friends
which is a form of promotion also get discounts.
Place: It refers to the distribution of the products of Wilkinson on different platform.
Normally they sell products in their stores which are situated all across all Britain and most of
the stores are in the urban areas as they are targeting urban families. Along with this they have
also facilitated the online buying for the customers. This way they are able to reach more number
of audiences in quick time and it is observed that with this their sales has went up. The reason
behind this is that people can easily reach their products in less period of time. This also saves
the time and customers gets more discounts through the online buying. Personal selling is the
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other way they promote and if they are introducing new products their salesmen go door to door
to make people aware about the new product which has been introduced by Wilkinson. Although
with this concept it is hard to reach a lot of people but it is a productive way of advertising their
products.
TESCO
Product: They have various products which they offer to their customer ranging from the
food items, clothing line, electronic goods, financial services and etc. With the increase in the
demands of the customer they also brings or introduce new products then or now. They are also
expanding their services through the online market thus allowing people to buy their products
through their e-commerce site. It gives grocery delivery service and free music downloads other
than the products they sell. In all they have almost 40000 products which they sell in their stores.
They make sure that they have all the kinds of products from various brands whether regional or
international brand (Michaelidou, Siamagka, and Christodoulides, 2011). A customer coming to
store of Tesco should get variety in the products and should only go out with the store with some
products.
Price: Tesco try to make sure that they deliver quality products on low prices and for that
they uses economies of scale concept. This way they also get cost advantages and make their
customer happy. From the years they are adopting this low price strategy and now they are easily
able to pass the production cost. This has made them the top supermarket chain in Britain leaving
its competitors like Sainsbury behind. They also give a club card to their customers in which the
consumer gather products when they buy something from the stores of TESCO. Further that can
be converted into money.
Place: They have stores all around the globe and uses online and offline platform for the
distribution of their products and services. Tesco Express, Tesco Extra, Tesco Compact, Tesco
Homeplus and Tesco Superstore are six different offline forums. Tesco Extra is their largest store
which is hard to establish a lot of places so they are set up only in the bigger cities (Murphy,
2010). They make sure that almost all the people should have a access to the Tesco, so they have
established small stores at different places to cater those people. They also facilitate online
selling throughout their official site i.e., www.tesco.com .
Promotion: To build their brand image they use their pricing policy that is focused on
delivering products at low prices. Through improving their brand image they can reduce cost and
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can increase their profit. They use television ads, offers promotional discounts, sponsors,
charitable events, uses point of sale strategies and so on. They are giving heavy discounts to the
consumer all around the world. Tesco has received a great response through the online services.
The reason behind this is that the online market is quite cheaper than the offline.
TASK 3
P4. Marketing Plan for Wilkinson.
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that marketing is a necessary activities
which has to be performed well through analysing internal and external environment. Through
situational analysis will make management department to understand firm factors that are likely
to affect marketing results. Those elements will help Wilkinson in gaining competitive
advantage. They have top focus on promotional tools such as advertisement. This is the only
activity which is the backbone of the marketing. Through this they can impact the emotions of
the people and can reach a large number of individuals in less period of time. This way they can
also convert people into their potential customer.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
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Chen, W., Wang, C and Wang, Y., 2010, July. Scalable influence maximization for prevalent
viral marketing in large-scale social networks. In Proceedings of the 16th ACM
SIGKDD international conference on Knowledge discovery and data mining (pp. 1029-
1038). ACM.
Czinkota, M. R and Ronkainen, I. A., 2013. International marketing. Cengage Learning.
Day, G. S., 2011. Closing the marketing capabilities gap. Journal of marketing. 75(4). pp.183-
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De Mooij, M., 2013. Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Sage
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Grönroos, C and Ravald, A., 2011. Service as business logic: implications for value creation and
marketing. Journal of Service Management. 22(1). pp.5-22.
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interaction and marketing interface. Industrial marketing management. 40(2). pp.240-
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Hartley, R. F and Claycomb, C., 2013. Marketing mistakes and successes. Wiley.
Hinz, O and et. al., 2011. Seeding strategies for viral marketing: An empirical
comparison. Journal of Marketing. 75(6). pp.55-71.
Hoffman, D. L and Fodor, M., 2010. Can you measure the ROI of your social media
marketing?. MIT Sloan Management Review. 52(1). p.41.
Huotari, K and Hamari, J., 2012, October. Defining gamification: a service marketing
perspective. In Proceeding of the 16th International Academic MindTrek
Conference (pp. 17-22). ACM.
Kim, A. J and Ko, E., 2012. Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An
empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research. 65(10).
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Kotler, P., 2011. Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative. Journal of
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McKenzie-Mohr, D., 2011. Fostering sustainable behavior: An introduction to community-based
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Murphy, P. E., 2010. Marketing, Ethics of. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management.
Online
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