Essentials of Marketing and Branding

The provided assignment content consists of various book reviews, articles, and journals related to marketing and branding. The topics covered include brand identity essentials, marketing principles, competitive marketing strategies, entrepreneurship, social media marketing, and environmental protection. The sources cited are academic books, journals, and online resources published between 2010 and 2016.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Marketing concept and determination of current and future trends............................................1
Marketing plan process...............................................................................................................2
Roles and responsibilities of the marketing manager.................................................................3
Marketing role and its interrelation with different functional departments................................4
Importance of marketing.............................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
Task 2 a) Marketing mix of two companies................................................................................6
Marketing plan for EE limited company.....................................................................................8
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a crucial activity for every organization as it is associated with the selling
and purchasing of the goods and services of the company. Under this several process are being
involved such as advertising, delivering and selling the goods to the end user. Thus, it becomes
important for the company to develop with the advertising techniques in an efficient manner as it
will help the customers to understand about the features and benefits of the produc (Baines, Fill
and Page, 2013)t. In the present report, EE company is taken into consideration for further study.
The company is a leading company which is operating with the mobile networking in Britain. It
is highly developed firm and is serving with there services in many areas. Further, in this
marketing plan and its strategies are been determined in an efficient manner. It is been developed
by evaluating the market conditions which have a high impact on the functioning of the
company. Moreover, the current trends and the strategies are been stated for the future benefits.
TASK 1
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Thus, for this, they evaluate with the needs and requirements of the end users and develop with
the services as per there demands. Moreover, with the passage of time, the value and terms of
marketing is been changing and requires different methods to attract the customers.
3

Situation analysis
It is the foremost step in which the analysis about the current situation of the market is
been done and also evaluate with the company's strengths. Thus, the manager of EE company
must go through with the survey to research for the latest needs and requirements of the market
and develop with the plan according to it (Baker and Saren eds., 2016). Further, for this, they
must consider all the micro as well as macro environmental factors so as to come up with the
clear view of the market situation.
Marketing strategy
With the result of previous step, the company will be able to identify the strengths,
weaknesses, threats and opportunities of the firm and take the appropriate measures to overcome
with the threats. This will also help them to cope up with the opportunities available for them and
take the maximum advantage of it (Forshier, 2012).
Marketing-mix decisions
4

In this step, by analysing the environment the respective authority come up with the final
decisions which will help them to meet with the current and future needs and improver there
performance with the time. In this, decisions are made for the product development, determing
its price, selecting the distributing channel and adopting the promotional techniques which will
help to attract wide range of customers.
Implementation and control
It is very important for the company to implement with the marketing plan in an efficient
manner so as to ensure the performance level of the organization. Thus, it becomes the
responsibility of the manager to see that all the activities are been settled in an effective manner.
Further, they must monitor the plan and the performance of the employees to ensure the success
of the company (Bennett, 2010).
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In an organization, marketing manager needs to ensure that the products developed are been
promoted and distributed in an efficient manner. Thus it is the core duty of the manager to
evaluate with the needs and serve the customers with the best of the products and services.
Research- The manager need to ensure that proper research is been developed about the market
conditions which will help the company to have an idea about the latest trends, demand of the
customers and the market conditions. This will assist the organization to develop with the
strategies and plan of marketing in an efficient manner.
Pricing and promoting strategies- After the development of the products and services, it is
important to determine with its price to sell it in the market. Thus, for it they must consider the
pricing strategies of the competitors and the value of the product in the market. So that it will
help them to set the price in an efficient manner. Thus, it is crucial to adopt with the most
suitable promotional technique so as to attract wide range of customers towards there
organization (Jones and Rowley, 2011).
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Maintaining customers relationship- It is the responsibility of the manager of the company to
maintain the relationships with the customers in an efficient manner. This can be ensured by
providing them with quality services and assist them for using it in the long run. They must take
suggestions from the people so as to modify with the products and services as per the needs of
customers.
Development of brand- It is crucial to develop with the brand identity of the company in the
market. This will help them to enhance there market share in the industry. Further, it is the
responsibility of the manager to take several measures to develop goodwill of the company in the
market. Thus, for this proper marketing strategies must be formulated to create a brand image in
the industry (Papasolomou and Melanthiou, 2012).
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Finance department- It is been seen that every promotional activities are directly related is
directly related to the finance department as the practices which are to performed require funds
to implement the plan. Thus, it becomes crucial for the marketing manager to determine the
marketing plan with finance manager so as to arrange with the funds for it.
Production department- For the development of the new or innovated products, marketing
activities plays an important role for evaluating with the needs and requirements of the
customers. This will ensure that the products developed satisfy the customers to a greater extent.
So, it is important for the marketing manager to have a proper coordination with the production
department to enhance the sales of the company (Nguyen and Simkin, 2012).
Sales department- This is an important department as it directly links with the sales of the
products to the end users. It is highly incorporated with the marketing activities as the
distribution channels are managed by them so it is crucial to incorporate both the departments so
that the products and services can be available to the customers.
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Research and development department- It is very for this department to know about the
situation of the market and current trend so that they can develop with the products which meet
the needs of the customers to a greater extent. Thus, the alignment between both the departments
will help to grow there company to the higher level.
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Marketing is an efficient function which is highly useful for EE company so as to develop with
the activities related to the promotion of the products and services in an efficient manner.
Assist in transfer, exchange and movement of products- Marketing is an efficient tool which
enables the company to distribute with the goods and services to the end user (Desai, 2013). The
promotional activities involved in marketing process help the customers to acquire the products
of the company.
Boosts sales- It is been analysed that with the help to effective marketing techniques, company
can enhance with its sales volumes. The advertisements have a great impact on the people as
they influence them to purchase the goods and services served by the company.
Generating more revenues- The increase in the sales volume directly enhances with the profit
and revenue of the company to a greater extent. Thus, it can be said that with the help of efficient
marketing techniques, firm can enhance with there profit margin.
Strong brand image- Marketing function is very important to develop with the brand image of
the company as they perform with the most efficient techniques which increases with the
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popularity of the brand in the eyes of the customers. Thus, it will enhance market share of the
company in the industry (Mihart, 2012).
Increased customer base- With the help of efficient marketing survey, the company is able to
evaluate with the needs and requirements of the customers and develop with the products and
services as per there demands. This will help to satisfy the users to a greater extent and will
increase the profit level of the company with a greater margin.
Marketing acts as a source of new ideas- It is a very important source for the company to
evaluate with the latest trend and technology which help the company to develop with the
products and services efficiently and different from the same served by the competitors.
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In EE company they need to adopt with efficient communication at the workplace so that they
can coordinate with every department in an efficient manner. Thus, it will assist in sharing with
the information among the managers so as to develop with the products which will satisfy the
customers to a greater extent. It is also stated that every department in one or other way is highly
dependent on each other as there function is unable with the proper coordination with each other.
Thus, it becomes important for the company to maintain relationships within the departments so
as to ensure high performance.
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TASK 2
Task 2 a) Marketing mix of two companies
The marketing mix of EE Ltd. and its competitor Vodafone can be presented in the
following manner:
Marketing mix of EE Ltd.
 Product: The mentioned company covers the telecom market in which it use to provide
SIM cards, broadband services etc. the major objective of organisation is to serve
customers by providing them best telecom network with less number of faults and better
network coverage. With this aim, the firm ensures that the issues related to slow network
speed at the time of internet usage and call drops can be removed from by availing best
facilities through its product.
 Place: The place mix of a company refers to the location of business firms in different
places. By this mix, it is necessary for organisation to establish its store at various place
through which it can easily distribute its services among customers. Besides this, the
location should be easily accessible so that customers can reach for any kind of services.
Further, the product can also be made available through online websites where consumers
can easily contact the enterprise and place their orders. It is necessary that the places
through which company is serving should be easily accessible (Alessandri, 2012).
 Price: The pricing strategy adopted by organisation plays an important role in making
products successful or failure in market. The said firm can apply the strategy of
penetration pricing method, where companies fix lower level of products to gain more
market share. This will help in making customers more aware of product available in
market. After the product has acquired enough market share, it can make the price of
products higher. Besides this, it has the added advantage of coming up in market with 4G
connection for first time through which customers can be attracted more towards the
enterprise.
 Promotion: The tools used in promotion of products have a major impact on the sales of
organisation. The EE Ltd. Company promote its products through various channels like
TV, print media, billboards, magazines etc. This provides better opportunities to
enterprise so that it can communicate to the customers in large number. Besides this, it
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also use the method of online advertisement which is an efficient and latest technique of
advertising products at a mass level. This will help in making customers updated from
products' features and better place to connect with customers (Hashim and Hamzah,
2014).
 People: It is necessary to manage the people aspects of organisation to make all functions
of entity better and in efficient way. The people aspect refers to the employees of firm
who use to perform various operations of business. In EE Ltd. the company is unable to
manage its staff in proper way because of which there are some confusions. Besides this,
the organisational structure is also broad which makes it difficult to manage. Thus, it is
necessary to keep the workers well trained in their work to improve their skills.
 Processes: The processes refers to various working procedures adopted within
organisation to manage customers, employees and business. It should be taken care by
company that processes should be simple and effective which is easier to understand by
workers. Further, there should be specific systems to manage the processes of firm along
with a complete guidance to resolve the customers' issues with appropriate tools and
techniques. Physical evidence: The physical evidence refers to various elements like packaging of
products, presentation of physical stores and outlets of the firm etc. The mentioned form
makes efforts to make the products attractive along with proper presentation of its stores
in various locations. Besides this, the website of company also presents attractive features
and highlights the information about products and services as well.
Marketing mix of Vodafone company
 Product: The Vodafone has its various products in the market with various services like
SIM cards, data service and handsets. The mentioned organisation has its wide services in
3G and 4G services as well which has helped in making more number of customers. The
firm continuously supplies its services so that it can satisfy the customers with efficient
products (Kennedy and Parsons, 2014).
 Place: The cited firm has numerous stores through which it renders different services to
customers. The location of stores are easily accessible for customers due to which the
company manages the after sales services and also complaints of consumers. It has also
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used a concept of car-phones through which it covers more clients to serve. By various
techniques the mentioned enterprise matches the customers' demands with proper supply.
 Price: The Vodafone use to adopt various pricing strategies that helps it in adding large
customers with the product. It gives various offers through discount rate method and
premium pricing strategy which makes its market share wider. Besides this, it offers
some schemes that is based on promotional codes which helps the organisation to achieve
positive responses in various other services of enterprise.
 Promotion: Wide number of promotional tools are used by the company to make its
products popular. It makes advertisement of its products through famous actors and
sports personalities which reflects high goodwill of firm. The enterprise makes the
sponsorship of IPL matches which also helps in advertising the products of company.
 People: The Vodafone organisation provides good training and development sessions
which contributes in overall development of their personalities. Besides this, it also helps
in uplifting their skills so that they can perform in efficient way. The enterprise gives
incentives and uses other methods as well to motivate them for better performance.
 Processes: The said organisation believes in making its procedures simple to understand
so that it can be easy for customers as well as for employees. The firm also ensures to
have better customer relationship management to make is products easily sold in the
market with better goodwill (Hung, 2010).
 Physical evidence: The physical evidences are made attractive by enterprise with the help
of innovative ideas of decorating its outlets. It shoes its dedication of service towards
customers by tag lines like happy to help you. It maintains a proper code of conduct for
working that helps in maintaining the company's goodwill.
Marketing plan for EE limited company
Executive summary
In this the company is mainly focusing on designing with the plan which will involve
with the market analysis about the environment as they have great impact on the functioning of
the company. Further, for this they will adopt with several number of models to evaluate with the
micro and macro environmental factors for the organization. The models mainly include SWOT,
PESTLE and Porter's five forces to determine the major analysis for the company. This will
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assist the company to develop with the efficient strategies which will lead to the greater success
of the organization (Ogunmokun and Tang, 2012).
Company overview
EE company is one of the leading one in the industry which is operating in providing
with mobile networks all over UK. It is indulge in serving with number of products and services
such as broadband service, serving with fast network 3G or 4G to the customers and many other
products which satisfy the customers to a greater extent. Further, it is been known in the market
for there best services and network to the end users. Moreover, it develops and update with its
products and services as per the situation of the market. In the present time they have started
serving with 4G network to the people which help them to surf the internet at a greater speed
which satisfy with the customers to higher extent. It is working with Orange and T-mobile
companies to develop with better services in the market.
Analysis on internal basis
Porter Five forces
It is an efficient process which help the company to evaluate with the internal situation of
the organization and determine them about the threats and competitors in the market (Brooks and
Simkin, 2012). This will help them to expand with there business in different places of UK. The
following are the major elements involved in this are:
Threats of substitutes
EE company is serving with the products and services which are having large number of
substitutes in the market. Thus it becomes danger for the company as if the price of the product
will be high than the customers can easily switch towards the products of other companies. Thus
it is very important for EE company to develop with unique products with high quality so as to
attain wide range of customers towards there organization. Moreover, it is forecasted that there
will be increase in products and services in near future as many companies are rising and
working to develop their products in same industry.
Threats of competitors
In the present time, number of companies are emerging in the industry which means that
the competition level is being increased among the firms. Thus, this will have a negative impact
on the company as there will be many products which are been available in the market. So it is
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important for them to develop with some innovative and efficient products so as to meet the
needs of the customers to a greater extent.
Bargaining power of buyers
The bargaining power of buyers is very high as there are large number of competitors and
close substitutes of products and services which can be easily accessed by the consumers. In this
condition, any change in its services that are not satisfying for customers or price rise not
affordable can make customers to switch over (Noel, 2016). Thus, they must provide the
customers with best services to retain them in the organization.
Bargaining power of suppliers
The bargaining power of suppliers in case of EE company is very low as it is not aligned
with any other company for there raw materials as they develop with there services and products
on there own. Further, they do not depend on any other firm for the development of there
products.
Threats of new entrants
For EE company it is very dangerous as mentioned above, forecasts have been made that
many companies are going to launch their services in same industry soon. So, EE Ltd. has to
make some concrete steps to win over this competition. Thus, they must develop with the band
image in the market which will attract and retain the customers towards them.
External analysis
It is very important for the company to evaluate with the external factors so as to develop
with the strategies of the firm as these factors have a great impact on the functioning of the
organization. Thus for this PESTLE analysis is been used to determine the external factors:
 Political- It is been seen that the network or telecom companies are not affected by the
changes in the political situation of the country as they are been operated by Ofcom
which is an independent which enables the services of the different companies
established in UK. It is beneficial for this industry to sustain in the market as government
has declared to give financial support by investing a huge amount for betterment of
connections and networks (Brooks and Simkin, 2011). This has assisted the company to
develop with 4G network for serving better assistance to the customers.
 Economical- UK is one of the most developed country all over the world and the GDP of
the company is growing at grater pace value. Further, it is highly beneficial for EE
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company to expand with there services in different places. Moreover, it has increased real
power or purchasing capability of consumers.
 Social- In the modern era, the people are becoming more focused on the technological
advancement which has highly increased the need and demand for the mobile and the
assessment of internet. They are been highly addicted towards the services of the internet
and the applications served through it. Thus, it is necessary for the company to come up
with different services which can provide with high satisfaction level to the customers.
 Technological- In the present time, usage of mobile phones has been replaced with need
of computers. Now the people are highly dependent on the technology for there
completion of work. Thus, it is very crucial for the firm for making use of various
advanced models of handsets to use faster experience of internet and other services. This
is a positive sign for EE Ltd. as it can extend its services in the market (Khan and Adil,
2013).
 Environmental- In the localities there are number of towers which are been emitting
harmful radiation that is very harmful for the health of the people. Thus, it is necessary
for EE company to develop with some strategical plans in which the networks are been
served by other means rather than the towers. In addition to this, the sim cards must be
biodegradable so that it can be decomposed easily.
 Legal- The companies such as Ofcom and EU telecommunication are responsible for
controlling the activities of EE Ltd. Company and ensures that services and products are
more emphasised towards well being of society. They also take care that the activities
performed are as per the norms of the legal authority.
SWOT analysis
Strengths
 It is serving with the roaming and 4G
facilities which attracts large number of
customers.
 It is having large number of stores
which give high assistance to people.
 It is first company which have started
with 4G services in mobiles.
Weaknesses
 It is been new to many people as it is
been established recently so it become
tough to attract all the customers.
 It also suffers with the issues related to
technology such as weak signals,
proper network etc.
 It is not a well established brand as
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compared to other companies.
Threats
 The emergence of more and more
companies will raise the competition
level in the market.
 There is an increase in several cases
related cyber crimes create doubts in
customers that discourage use of
mobile phones and related services
(Dudzevičiūtė and Peleckienė, 2010).
Opportunities
 Increased trend of mobile phones and
internet help EE company to grow in
the market.
 It can make the 4G services more
efficient and serve at low price to
attract wide range of customers.
Objectives of EE company
The major objective of the company is to overcome with the lacking points of the firms
so as to develop with the services which are to be served to the customers. For this, they need to
launch with different services and products in the market.
Strategy
 Customer relationships- They need to develop healthy relations with the customers so as
to attract large number of people towards availing the services of the company. For this
they must provide them with high quality services.
 ECRM- It refers to making customer relation with electronic medium. Furthermore, they
must provide with mails and messages to customers so that they can update them with
latest services.
Segmentation, targeting and positioning
Segmentation- The company can segment the market on the basis of demographic and psycho-
graphic means. Under this, they will mainly focus on the age group so as to provide them with
better services.
Targeting- They can adopt undifferentiated marketing so as to attain large number of customers.
Thus promotional activities will help the customers to know about the product properly (Patidar,
2012).
Positioning- It is very important for the company to adopt with the best marketing techniques as
it highly influence the customers to buy the products and services of the company.
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Tactics
In EE company, the manager need to develop with short term strategies so as to
successfully achieve the targets of the company. The following are the elements of it:
 To maintain the decorum of the company by ensuring the efficient communication at all
levels of the organization.
 Training and development of employees, making them more tech savvy so that they can
handle issues with efficiency.
Budget
For this marketing plan EE company has set up 1000 GBP to perform the activities in an
efficient manner.
Activities Estimated cost (in GBP)
Research and development 200
Database system development 200
Recruitment and Selection activities 100
Employee relations 100
Training and development activities 50
Advertisement, promotions and CRM 300
Miscellaneous expenditures (maintenace and
other related expenses)
50
Total 1000
Control Evaluation- It is very essential for the company to evaluate with the performance of every
individual so as to ensure with the high performance of organization as a whole. This will
help organisation to make difference between potential employees from inefficient one.
The later employees can be improved by proper trainings (Baines, Fill and Page, 2013).
While potential employees can be given good incentives to encourage.
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 Review- The managers need to review the performance and check the level of
performance and ability to meet consumer's expectations. This will encourage to perform
with more efficiency.
Conclusion
The developed marketing plan is serving with efficient strategies which will help the
company to grow in the market. Further, the tactics developed by the manager which help them
to reach the target in an efficient manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that it is important for EE company to adopt
with efficient marketing strategies so as to grow in the market. Thus, for this they must develop
with the marketing plan which will help them to expand with there business in deifferent places.
Further, for this they must use different models such as SWOT, PESTLE and Porter's five force
analysis on cited company which will help to evaluate with the environmental situation. Besides
this, the strength of company has been shown which it possess due to its initiative taken to start
4G service in market for first time. The report has concluded that for attaining success, the
mentioned enterprise will have to make strong marketing plans as per the current trends and
needs of customers.
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Online
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17th January 2017].
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