Marketing Planning and Strategy

This assignment focuses on analyzing various aspects of marketing planning and strategy. It delves into the role of strategic marketing planning in enhancing small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) performance, examines the connection between export marketing strategy implementation and venture success, and explores innovative approaches in shopper marketing. The text includes references to scholarly articles and online resources that provide insights into ethical considerations in marketing and practical guidance on developing effective marketing plans.

MARKETING PLANNING

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................5
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................5
1.1 Changing perspective in marketing planning........................................................................5
1.2 An organisation’s capability for planning its
future marketing activity............................................................................................................6
1.3 Techniques to organisational auditing and for
analysing external factors that affect marketing planning.........................................................6
1.4 An organisational auditing and analysis of external
factors that affect marketing planning in a given situation........................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
2.1 The main barriers to marketing planning..............................................................................8
2.2 Ways by which organisations may overcome barriers to
marketing planning.....................................................................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
3.1 A marketing plan...................................................................................................................9
3.2 Marketing planning is essential in the
strategic planning process for an organisation...........................................................................9
3.3 Techniques for new product development..........................................................................10
3.4 Recommendations for pricing policy, distribution and
communication mix..................................................................................................................10
3.5.Factors affecting the effective implementation
of the marketing plan have been taken into account................................................................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
4.1: Ethical issues influence marketing planning......................................................................11
4.2: Organisations response to
ethical issues.............................................................................................................................12
4.3: Consumer ethics and the effect it
has on marketing planning.......................................................................................................12

CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
British Airways(BA) is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size. It is the flag
carrier. Measuring by the passenger carried it comes on second in UK after easyJet. Its main hub
is in London at Heathrow Airport. It was established by British government in 1972 to manage
the two nationalised airline corporations, BOAC(British overseas airways corporation) and
BEA(British European airways) with two regional airlines Cardiff's Cambrian Airways and
Newcastle upon Tyne's North-east Airlines. All these companies on 31 march 1974 were merged
to form British airways and in February 1987 British Airways was privatised. British airways
have the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority type A operating licence, it has permission to
carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more than 20 seats.
The staff working in BA is considered by number of trade unions, the pilots by British
airline pilots' association and the cabin crew is represented by British Airlines stewards and
stewardesses association. BA takes its plains from the company Boeing. Slogan of BA is “the
world's favourite airline” and it uses melody to advertise that is “flower duet”. It provides
various magazines like- high life magazines, high life shop magazine, first life and business life.
It have various classes of seats and they are- economy class, business class and first class.
It is probably the best airline with the best services among the UK's airlines. It is a full global
airline, with an extensive route network providing year round low fares to fly from centrally
located airports. Hence the company is aiming at developing marketing planning in the
organisation to have an edge over the market. There are various factors which are to be looked
by the company so as to develop a plan for marketing. There are several theories and various
factors which are taken care of while preparing the plan. The company directors wants to have a
perfect suitable plan for the BA to have best possible practices.

INTRODUCTION
British airways is working to modernise the aircraft fleets with offering new services. The
board of director are aiming at expanding the business by introducing few more destinations.
They have decided to offer 7 new destinations services to the passengers. All the members thinks
that this would help BA to achieve more revenues as compared to the last years. Number of
passenger would also increase by doing so and this would help in taking the advantage over the
competitors. There the director of marketing wants to prepare a plan for settlement of the new
services in the operation for getting the best results. So this report states all the essentials which
are to be done while preparing such plan by the director to presents in front of other directors so
as to maximise the revenue and take the advantage over the competitors. When something new is
launched its marketing in necessary this report is based on illustrated details about preparing that
plan.
TASK 1
1.1 Changing perspective in marketing planning
Reviewing the changes in marketing planning is a very useful and very essential for the business
nowadays. This empowers the administration to take decisions which are appropriate and the
best for the company. So the director of marketing in BA has to review the changes which are
occurring while planning a marketing plan as it has to make a plan for BA as well. Various
theories of marketing can be used by the director to have an edge over the market (Chang, W.,
2010). Like- PEST, 7Ps of marketing and SWOT analysis of the company to forms a base for the
plan of marketing. PEST analysis will tell BA about the trends in Political, Economical, Social
and Technological environment of the country and the world which will help to plan the
marketing accordingly. 7Ps of marketing are product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence,
people and process which will help the throughout study to get the knowledge about these
elements. SWOT analysis will help the director to know the strength, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats available in the firm to BA (Dief, 2010). All of these elements review will help the
director to have complete knowledge about the following: To Ascertain The Trends In The Market To Formulate A Plan For The Company To Have An Actual Assessment Of The Changes In The Market

 Assistance In Forming The Best Planning Policy For BA
1.2 An organisation’s capability for planning its future marketing activity
The capability of an organisation depends on the market research and the study it do to
have a complete throughout study of the market. The skills, efforts, quality of work it is putting
to get the future marketing planning implies the impact and capability of the company to have
this complete plan. The company have to assess its positive and negative in other words strengths
and weaknesses of the form and accordingly the future marketing planning can be strong and
effective for the company's future (Grifoni, 2013). As BA is a well known airways in UK so it
have many strengths and there are weakness as well the strengths are listed as follows:
Strengths: Its have a really good goodwill. The services provided by it are very good. It is the second airline which the major number of passengers in UK. It provides cheaper and very reliable services.
Weaknesses: It has to earn more revenue to be no. 1. It have to introduce some more flights.
 The number of passengers carried are much lower that that of the competitor.
The above strength and weaknesses should be considered by the BA's marketing director
to have complete plan about what is to be done with the future marketing planning. As the
company should enhance its strength and try to minimise the weaknesses of the company
(Hollensen, 2015). This will help the company to have an edge of the market and the
performance would be better than the competitors which in return also increase the revenue of
the company.
1.3 Techniques to organisational auditing and for analysing external factors that affect marketing
planning
The external factors of an environment in which a business operates influences the
business operations directly or indirectly. So an evaluation while planning for the marketing of
BA's services there must be an PESTLE analysis to ensure the external environment of the

company. This would help to have an appropriate strategy to plan a marketing plan for BA.
PESTLE have various factors which are to be included and they are illustrated as below: Political: The environment of the country in which BA is aiming to do marketing. The
political policies of the parties who are governing the country impacts the business and its
operation as the change in policy leads to change in the operations. Economical: The economy of a country keeps on changing the change in inflation rate of
the country leads to higher rated of the products so these factors influences the business
of the company. Social: The culture in different countries are different like BA operates in many countries
where there will be a differences in culture of different countries which affects the
operations of business (Wymer, 2011). Technological: The technology keeps on upgrading and developing so the companies
also have to adopt them according to the needs which implies the change in planning as
well like- using social media for marketing is new trend nowadays. Legal: The legal changes like formation of some act, changes in the legislations and rules
of the country also affects the operations of the business.
 Environmental: The environment in which the company is operating has a major impact
on its operation it has to develop plans according to that by keeping in mind sustainable
development.
Marketing director of BA can revise the previous plans according to the changes in the
external factors so that there can be a preparation of marketing planning in a best possible way.
1.4 An organisational auditing and analysis of external factors that affect marketing planning in a
given situation
British Airways can do the evaluation of the above techniques to have a complete report
of the external environment it is operating. This would help BA to develop the marketing plan
according to it. Auditing of the company's previous strategies and developing new ones
according to the current changes. This will help the company to have the best plan for the
marketing planning (W., 2011). As BA is aiming to launch new airways services to the
customers to have an edge over the competitors. So it has to identify all the external factors and
what it is currently operating on so as to have a best up to date plan for marketing in British
Airways business to promote its products.

First it should examine the new destinations Political, Economical, Legal, Environmental,
Social and technological factors so as to have a basis to do audit in the company to develop a
new and better plan for the operations and marketing of the company.
TASK 2
2.1 The main barriers to marketing planning
The formulation of the marketing planning may also face many problems in accordance
to a proper planning of it. So the BA's director of marketing may face the listed barriers: Motivation For Change Is Not There: The company sometimes do not get motivated by
the change which is required in the operations. There is least motivation and drivers that
initiates change. The Company Is Overconfident: The company is overconfident about its existing plan
and feels that it will work in every situation there is no change required. It feels that
whatever it will do will success. There Is No Coordination: The companies different department which requires in
marketing planning are not coordinated properly (Sadjadi, 2012). They have
communications gaps or something which results in less coordination. The Information Gathered Is Not Appropriate: The information gathered for the
marketing planning about the external and internal factors is not appropriate. They may
lack in giving information for proper decision making.
 Lack In Skills: The one who ought to make the plan do not have the appropriate skills to
make the marketing plan for the company which may cause a problem.
2.2 Ways by which organisations may overcome barriers to marketing planning
The organisation can overcome the barrier to marketing planning by having a control
over the barriers. BA can asses the elements which are barrier to the planning of marketing plan
and according to that can take a relevant actions on it. It can overcome the barriers by having a
nature to always make an appropriate change. As a company works in dynamic environment so it
should change according to it so as to have control over the problems (Taghian, 2010). The
company should always have a behaviour of accepting the new ideas and implementing them.
There is always a change required nobody is perfect so a company should not be overconfident.
The departments associated with marketing planning should be coordinated to have effecting

implementation with agreement of all. The information resources for planning should be taken
and chosen properly so as to have the proper information regarding the planning of the marketing
plan. The person who has been chosen for preparation of the marketing planning must have
essential skills to this task as the knowledge of the person to conduct the research is really very
important.
TASK 3
3.1 A marketing plan
British Airways can work on a plan for marketing its airlines services which it is going to
launch in the business. The plan to to so is as follows: Setting the goals and objectives: The goals and objects of the company has to be set.
According to these goals the marketing goals of the services has to be made and
ascertained. Reviewing the situation: The situation review means considering the external and
internal environment through various analysis like PEST or SWOT which help to know
the current situation of the company and the environment it is operating in (S. A. and
Shahanaghi, 2012). the situation of the business has to be identified in a way so as to
know that what kind of marketing it can do. Formulation of strategies: The strategy formulation according to the analysis and the
goals has to be done. Various methods for marketing which can be chosen under the
situation. Like- advertising, radio announcement, hoardings etc. whichever is suitable in
the situation. According to all these the appropriate strategies has to be formed.
 Monitoring and controlling those strategies: The strategies which are formed and
implemented has to be monitored from time to time so that they work properly and
reviewing the effect of the marketing strategies is also necessary for the company to
know the effectiveness.
3.2 Marketing planning is essential in the strategic planning process for an organisation
Marketing planning means the planning to promote the product of the company in the
market. In other words making people aware of your products. It plays an important role to
increase the turnover of the company. So each and every company chooses the most effective
technique for marketing. Strategies planning is the planning in which the organisation decided

that how it will operate the business so as to achieve the goals and objectives. As it is stated
marketing plays an important role to increase the revenue which are done by fulfilment of goals
and objectives. So ascertainment of market plan is important in strategic plan to increase to
revenue of the company (Gabriela Balan, 2010 ). In marketing plan the whole study of the
market is done in which the business will operate. The internal and external environment will
directly or indirectly effect the working of the company. So this has to be taken into
consideration while planning the strategies of the company. Hence it is important part of the
strategic planning.
3.3 Techniques for new product development
The new product development techniques to examine the viability and success of the new
product launched in the market. It is designed to test the new product. It helps to know the
growth and the surviving period of a product which is launched in the organisation. There are
some steps which are to be followed to do new product development and they are listed below:
 Generation of an idea: The idea is generated by SWOT analysis.
 Screening the idea: The unsuitable or inappropriate ideas are dropped.
 Developing the concept and testing: Taking feedback from the prospective
customers to launch a concept testing.
 Developing the market strategy: This is done to identify which type of marketing
strategy has to be used.
 Development of the product: The conversion of idea of developing a product into
an actual product (F. J. and Casillas, 2013).
 Marketing testing: The actual performance of the product is ascertained by
pacing it on sale in the market.
 Commercialization: Implementation of the plan which was formed for the
product after reviewing the small scale sale and also the full production is
initiated.
3.4 Recommendations for pricing policy, distribution and communication mix
British Airways can set the price of new services at a region-able rates. The pricing
policy for the new product should be very much according to the customers needs and wants so
as to attract more and more customers. The product which is launched newly should have a very

affordable price so that the advantage of it can be taken by everyone. The pricing policy should
aim at providing the customer according to their needs and wants.
Distribution of services means choosing the best channel to reach the customers at the
right place at the right time. So BA should adopt a policy of distribution which will enable it to
reach most of the customer in one go (G. O. and Tang, 2012). The company can adopt various
techniques like online sales of the tickets of the newly launched destinations, hooking up with
various travel portals etc. to reach out the customers.
Communication mix are the means which a company uses to communicate its products in
the market. It includes advertising, online promotion, sales promotion, public relation and direct
marketing. These are used to do marketing of the product to make people aware about the
product. These tools are very beneficial for the product.
3.5.Factors affecting the effective implementation of the marketing plan have been taken into
account
There are several factors which may effect the effectiveness of the plan of the marketing.
These factors are taken into account and are listed below: Management is not effective: The effectiveness of a marketing plan totally depends on
the management of the firm if it is not effective than the marketing plan will be affected. Administration is not strong: The administration of the company is not strong which
unable the plan to execute and it takes a lot of time to get implemented. Implementation takes time: The implementation of the marketing plan takes a lot of time
because the process executors are not effective. The people are not active in the
organisation.
 Delay in decisions: Sometimes the decisions related to implementation of the plan takes
a lot of time which affect the effectiveness of the marketing plans executions.
TASK 4
4.1: Ethical issues influence marketing planning
The ethical issues means the unfair practises of something. It may include not following
the business practices in an appropriate way. These effects the marketing planning in many ways.
The plan has to made according to the appropriate means and measures which are to be used to
make a marketing plan. The first and foremost objective of a company is to fulfil the demand of

the customers by practising the principles of the ethical code of conduct. The main pupose of
ethics is to stop any unfair trade means and practises which are inappropriate to have a lead over
the market. The attitude of people changes when the company works ethically it builds a positive
image in front of the people (Martínez-López, 2013). In all in marketing the plan has to be
develop by taking into consideration the sensitivity of the customers and their needs and opinions
about anything.
4.2: Organisations response to ethical issues
The organisation should response to ethical issues properly and they should try to be
away from it. This will help the company to have a positive image in front of the people. The
company should set the price of the products at a proper and affordable rates, the product
delivered should be valued at the value of price paid by the customer so that they might not feel
low services than the price charged, the place where the services are provided to the customer
must be approachable and it should be accordance to the need of the customer in other words
reaching the customers at the right place at the right time, promotion of the products must not
effect any of the individual who are in that country it can be in terms of feelings and the values
of the customers. All of the above are being violated by some organisation which is unethical
and the company should response to the unethical issues by rectifying the problems of the
organisation.
4.3: Consumer ethics and the effect it
has on marketing planning
Consumer ethics relates to a consumer who considers the environmental issues, animal
issues and economical issues before purchasing any product. It effects the market planning of a
product as the company has to develop the plan to promote its product according to these
customer. To make an effective impact on the customer the company have to make the plan
according to the ethics of a customer whom it is aiming to target so that the customer considers
the company's new product (Reijonen, 2010). The organisation should consider the rights of the
customer as if the customer will but the product illegally than the customer can't be able to avail
the rights over those products.

CONCLUSION
It is being concluded by the above report that the marketing planning is very essential for
any company which operates in any country. British Airways is a renounced company which is
launching airways services in 7 more destination which requires a marketing planning for the
development of the product. This report is a complete study of marketing planning for those
product and services. The report have a complete consideration of all the theories and the
elements of marketing which requires in its planning.

REFERENCES
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Online
Ethical Issues in Marketing. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.tutorialspoint.com/business_ethics/ethical_issues_in_marketing.htm>.
[Accessed on 27th April 2017].
What Is a Marketing Plan For a Product or Service?. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-a-marketing-plan-2295831>. [Accessed on 27th
April 2017].