Etisalat's Marketing Plan: Analysis of Objectives and Strategies

This report provides a detailed marketing plan for Etisalat Corporation, a major telecommunications company in the UAE. It includes a company overview, business mission, and a comprehensive situation analysis covering industry trends, competitors, consumer profiles, and technology. A SWOT analysis identifies the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The marketing objectives focus on B2B digitalization and portfolio expansion. The proposed marketing strategy outlines target market and marketing mix strategies, including product, price, place, and promotion strategies. The report concludes with implementation, evaluation, and control mechanisms, including organizational structure, financial projections, and an implementation timetable. The ultimate goal is to provide a structured plan to enhance Etisalat's market position and achieve its strategic objectives.

Running Head: MARKETING 0
MARKETING
Student name
1-24-2019

MARKETING 1
Contents
Etisalat marketing plan.................................................................................................................2
I. Company overview...................................................................................................................2
II. Business mission......................................................................................................................2
III. Situation analysis..................................................................................................................3
Industry analysis..........................................................................................................................3
Trends......................................................................................................................................3
Competitors..............................................................................................................................4
Consumer Profile.....................................................................................................................4
Technology..............................................................................................................................4
SWOT Analysis...........................................................................................................................5
Strength....................................................................................................................................5
Weakness.................................................................................................................................5
Opportunity..............................................................................................................................6
Threat.......................................................................................................................................6
IV. Marketing objective..............................................................................................................7
V. Marketing strategy...................................................................................................................8
Target market strategy.................................................................................................................8
Marketing mix strategy................................................................................................................9
Product strategy.......................................................................................................................9
Price strategy...........................................................................................................................9
Place strategy.........................................................................................................................10
Promotion strategy.................................................................................................................10
VI. Implementation, evaluation and control.............................................................................11
Organizational Structure and Plan.............................................................................................11
Financial Projections.................................................................................................................12
Implementation Timetable.........................................................................................................13
VII. Summary / Conclusion.......................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................15

MARKETING 2
Etisalat marketing plan
I. Company overview
Etisalat Corporation is the largest UAE based public company of telecommunication
industry. The company was founded in 1976, and recently the company is serving more than
11.6 million consumers and targeted medium-large and small business enterprises and
government consumers over 3000 in UAE. The company has majorly deployed in various
innovative services and technologies to gain a competitive advantage. Moreover, the company is
involved in building the network, and recently the company has introduced the nation with the
widest coverage of 4G and 3G technologies for mobile phones (etisalat.ae, 2019).
Considering the products of the company, it includes various network options and electronic
devices to offer to the customers. Some of the plans included internet services, eLife which
includes internet plus telephone plus television plans, home telephone services. The major
products for the company include the mobile plans for prepaid and post-paid networks and data
and add on plans and Wi-Fi services. The devices product range of the company includes
smartphones, tablets, and home devices like gaming, routers and smart living. Moreover, in
devices, the major exclusivity is provided to MI devices and Apple devices. Nevertheless, the
company provides a place or platform for consumers and for people interested in doing business,
this is due to the company’s belief in open competition and organizations are invited to trade.
The company network is reaching out to more than 735 networks internationally in more than
200 nations. For this organization, the report will further focus on developing a marketing plan.
For this purpose, the company mission, statement, major analysis of environment and
accordingly the marketing plan will be created (etisalat.ae, 2019).
The company has introduces the 4G+LTE network range in 2011, to sustain in the market
and adapting the change in environment, where the company was able to provide higher speed to
the mobile data users and through the WI-FI facilities.

MARKETING 3
II. Business mission
According to the annual report 2017 of Etisalat, the company’s vision statement include
“drive the digital future to empower societies.” Moreover considering the mission, for the
achievement of the strategy, the company created the TARGET strategy, which the company
will be trying to accomplishing in upcoming tears to achieve the mission. According to this
strategy, the company is willing to generate value rapidly through digitalization and innovation,
development of talent across the company and raise the capabilities, growth of digital and B2B
commerce across the societies. Moreover, the companies wish to expand their portfolio in
knowledge economies and MENA, and lastly, the transformation of the company operating into
strongholds is part of its mission as well (etisalat, 2019).
III. Situation analysis
Industry analysis
It is important for the company to analyse the industry in which the company is running
and is conducting business. The reason being the effect of industry are the forces that influence a
company to create their strategy and decision making and vice versa. For analysing the
telecommunication industry, the following aspects will be considered to discuss
Trends
The trends are the changes that occur with time and change in demand and customer
needs. The telecommunication industry changes very rapidly, the reason, for instance, is a
change in technology and a change in customer needs regarding internet use. With the economic
change, the use of internet has been increased to a large extent. Moreover, the introduction of
smart devices, not only in the form of the mobile phone of laptops, but different smart devices
include smart home devices. Every individual and business require an internet connection and
that to be high speed and without disturbances. Majority of business in today’s world is doing e-
commerce, that is doing business online, which require a high amount of the internet and
electronic devices (Adam & Kotler, 2014) (Ryan, 2016)
In such a changing scenario or trends, Etisalat Corporation being providing such
network-related service has to change and innovate according to the trend and environmental

MARKETING 4
change. The availability of the network has been spread all over the globe with millions of users
(Balmer & Abratt, 2016)
Competitors
Competition is the major force in the industry that has to analyse before taking any
decision regarding strategies and or marketing decisions. The major competitors of Etisalat
Corporation are other global leaders in telecom service providers like three mobile, Vodafone,
AT&T, and Telenor. Competition is the major aspect for the telecom sector in UAE due to
various companies considered as game changers like Du, where the company gained opportunity
in top services in the sector (thenational, 2019).
Considering the competitors is very essential for Etisalat Corporation in order to sustain
in the market as the external environment related to this industry is changing rapidly. Moreover,
the competitors are not only the service providers, but through major acquisitions or mergers, the
reason being there are limited companies in the competition, but in case of any acquisition
among two major companies could result in the change in market share of all the companies
(Chari & Feng, 2018).
Consumer Profile
The customers of the Etisalat Corporation is very individual using mobile phones and
other such smart devices. Moreover, the market has changed from individual to the enterprises as
the consumer. The small, large and medium enterprises are the major consumers and government
enterprises. The business leaders are majorly in the use of internet services, which can indicate
the major consumers for the company (Calboli, 2015).
Technology
Technology is the major aspect to study in the industry of telecommunication, because it
the technology which has sustained the company into the market, it can be said that the
technology for such industry changes very quickly, and has to change in order to retain and
attract more customers. The company’s major focus is towards the change of societies to attract
towards the digitalized society, for this technology and up gradation of technology is very
important. The technology by Etisalat Corporation has changed since years, the company is
providing 3G and 4G technologies for mobile, and established Fibre-To-The-Home network all
over the nation, which was resulted into greater internet speed for residential internet speed that

MARKETING 5
was 500 MBPS. Moreover, as already mentioned, in 2011 that company introduce the consumers
to next generation service providing, that is a 4G+ LTE network (Burdo, 2018)
SWOT Analysis
This tool is useful in the case of internal analysis of the company, the tool is helpful to
understand what are the weakness and strengths of the company as for how they can be used to
gain identified opportunity and avoid threats.
Strength
 Largest network providers – the company is one of the largest providers in its sector, this
is the major strength for the company as this is the key to the brand awareness of the
company, and create customer loyalty among the customers in UAE and various other
nations. This could be one of the reasons for a major customer database
 Various services – the company was able to provide different services to the customers
from the time span. Initially, the service provided to the customer was a voice over on the
phones, but with the change in trend and use of technology, the company offered the
customers with the various other services, like the internet with latest generation
networks, broadband services, Wi-Fi facility, television-related services and many more
(Mühlbacher, Leihs, & Dahringer, 2016)
 Technology – the company uses the latest technology and consider the upgrading of
technology with time. This is the competitive advantage for the company and through
this, the company can retain their customers and increase the customer satisfaction level
with the best quality services (Schlegelmilch B. , 2016)
 Strong brand image – due to the higher source of publicity, the company has a great
brand presence not only in UAE but also in any nations, where it has expanded their
business. This is the major strength for the company which is liable to retain its existing
customers and attract new customers for the company (Pansari & Kumar, 2016)
Weakness
 Expanded in large scale – one of the weaker parts about the company is the expansion,
the company has expanded their business across the globe, but this could be on the cost
of quality constraint. It can be said that the company is not able to continue the quality of
services while providing service network internationally (Hunt & Bicen, 2017)

MARKETING 6
 Management in global operations – the company was facing challenges and difficulties
while managing global operations. This could be one of the weaknesses of the company,
as this could hamper not only the global business of the company but the focus over the
domestic business could also be hampered (Balmer & Abratt, 2016)
Opportunity
 5G – the upcoming opportunity, as announced by the company, and the news on 20
January 2019, the company is focusing on introducing new generation services till next
year. This could be a great opportunity for the company
 Newmarket – another opportunity that the company can gain would be expanding their
business in many nations like countries in Asia, which has not been entered or planned to
enter by the company (Robson & Zeriti, 2014)
 Latest offers to the customer’s – since the competition is increasing in the industry every
day, the company has an opportunity to gain another network user clients to attract for the
brand by offering various interesting offers to the customers (Pappas, 2016)
 new product development - product diversification will always be an opportunity for the
company, the company can develop new services and product in near future to gain
competitive advantage (Chung T. , 2015)
Threat
 High competition – the threat to the company is the competition in the industry. As
already discussed in the previous section, the competition in this industry in UAE is very
high due to rapid change in trends and use of technology. The major competitor of the
company is Du in the nation, which could be the biggest threat
 Rapid Technology change – the technology is changing very fast, which could be a threat
to the company, the rapid change can result in obsolete of existing technology and bring
change to the organization
 Cut-price competition – since the competition is increasing and companies are providing
different offers to eth customers, the cut-price competition could have been noticed in the
market, which will eventually be a threat for the whole industry and the company
specifically as the profit margins would be reduced for the company

MARKETING 7
 The threat of new entrant – the new company can enter into the market with new
technology or more innovative ideas. Therefore, the new entrant can be a major threat to
the company
 Quality issue – the decrease in quality while proving the network to the clients can be the
major threat to the company (Finne, 2017)
IV. Marketing objective
The major objectives for this marketing plans are to accomplish the marketing strategy of the
company through a relevant and structured marketing plan (Craig & Douglas, 2015):
 The growth of B2B digitalization through the footprint within six months of the plan –
this will increase the business for the company to target the business to business firms
and corporates for the use of technology and involvement of digitalization. This could be
measured through the increase in customer database increment including B2B enterprises
(Day, 2014) (Chung & Fiore, 2017)
 Expansion of 5% portfolio in knowledge economies and MENA in next six months– this
is the objective of the company to target the inorganic opportunities to grow through
mainly handling the established positioned operators across the geographies already
targeted that is of Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa. Moreover, in between
in order to balance sustainability through exploring growth opportunities to optimize the
company’s portfolio. This could be assessed by analysing the company’s portfolio (Feng
& Chari, 2018)
 Transformation of 20% operating organizations into strongholds till next year – another
major marketing objective includes influencing the operating companies to adapt to the
digital capabilities. This will accomplish the strategy of increase in customers by
increasing the use of technology, internet service providers will be needed to a larger
extent. This could be measured by an increase in the digitalized organization associated
with the company (Hudson & Roth, 2016)
 Maximize shareholder value by 10% in next one year – the telecom industries were in a
state of digital influence, that is there have been continuous changing observed in the
technology and usage due to enhancement and increases in digital use and evolution of
digital influence. With this objective, the company will tend to expand business in other

MARKETING 8
nations as well, as the company is willing to increase the company’s profitability and so
do the value for their shareholders. Considering the transformation in this industry, and
each and every industry is becoming digitalize, eventually increase the use of internet
services, broadband services, and specifically considering the speed due to technological
change. This could be measured in terms of the increase in the market value of shares
(etisalat, etisalat-strategy, 2019)
V. Marketing strategy
Target market strategy
Considering the marketing strategy of the company, which is related to the targeting and
segmentation. The company is doing business globally, therefore considering the geographical
factors while segmenting, and the major area to target for the products in UAE. Moreover,
considering the customer age group, it is generally all the age groups except infants or kids till 11
years age. The teenage group can be targeted with the purpose of use the service for mobile use,
playing games online, education purpose and much more. The youth from age 20 to 45 would be
targeted for the purpose of job-related aspects or entrepreneurship related aspect. This age group
is targeted specifically in this segmentation, the reason being the use of internet and
telecommunication services are maximum at this age due to workload, where they are expecting
the most from the companies, in terms of speed, quality of services, and offers (Gong & Yi,
2018). The old age people are also targeted for their personal use such as mobile users and seeing
videos, and socially active (businessjargons, 2018).
Other than targeting the individuals, the major strategy related to the targeting is
corporates that are targeting the small, medium and large corporation for this services. It can be
said that the major profitable business of Etisalat is through targeting the corporation as the
consumption level of various individuals are not as high as that of corporations. Therefore, the
strategy which is helpful for the company will be targeting the corporations. Moreover, one of
the marketing objective discussed is digitalized enterprises that are targeting the company which
are involved in business that is digitally trading, this will increase the sale of the company as the
company dealing in business online would be using the internet and these services in much
higher scales than the individual and the brick and motor corporations. Moreover, government
officials and companies are also targeted by the company (Bakir & Rose, 2015)

MARKETING 9
Marketing mix strategy
The marketing mix is a combination of all the aspects of eth marketing and strategies
accordingly. The four major aspects of eth marketing mix are as follows:
Product strategy
As already discussed, the company is dealing with the telecom services. Where the trends
are changing very rapidly. For the most suitable strategy, it could be said that the company must
be adopting the product strategy of product development and product diversification (Reid,
2015)
The competition is very high in this industry and in order to sustain in the market, it is
important for the company to provide the products and services with the latest technology, high
quality considering the speed, and without any problems. Moreover, it is viewed that the new
product development strategy would be helpful to the company in order to sustain in the UAE
market and attract new customers. The company would be providing services with innovation.
As discussed, the company would be introducing service with a new generation that is 5G.
Moreover, considering the previous strategies of the company, the company has come up to a
various collection of services like initially the company only has the calling or voice over service
facility, which has now increased to internet services on the mobile operator and broadband
services. Innovation can be key to the product strategy for competitive advantage (Ang & Rusli,
2018)
Price strategy
Pricing is one of the most crucial aspects of this industry. The pricing strategy has to
planned to utmost consideration, the reason being the heavy competition and pressure from the
competitive company, which could also cost the cut-price competition in the industry. Therefore,
the most suitable price strategy for the company is the competitive pricing strategy (Fan & Lau,
2015)
According to this strategy, the company is keeping the prices of the services according to
the major competitors, which is Du for the case of Etisalat. This is done as the price of the
competitor could result majorly on the customer of the company as the switching cost for the
customers is very low, and the company tries to attract competitor’s customers through various

MARKETING 10
offers in the industry. Therefore, along with the product differentiation, the company must be
keeping the price of eth service according to its competitors (Chu & Liu, 2017)
Place strategy
The placing includes the way through which the customers will actually reach to the final
consumers. The distribution of eth services is conducted globally by the company. Specifically,
in UAE, since it is providing services which are intangible in nature, nevertheless there is a need
for the stores of the company. However, most important and relevant location to reach out to the
customers is through e-commerce, that is through the online place, where are the information
related to the services available by the company are included. Moreover, the order for the
services can be made to the customers at that webpage (Petersen, Marketing communication
strategies and consumer financial decision making: The role of national culture, 2015)
Other than the online platform, the placing strategy includes the brick and motors stores
of the company. The company has different centres of business for various nations, and since the
services are insurable. That is the receiver and the provider cannot be separated, the distribution
channel is direct. Moreover, the various service centre is available, as customer care is very
important in the service industry. The complaint from the customer has to be considered and
resolved in the priority basis to sustain in the market and retain the customers (Bach, 2017)
Promotion strategy
In marketing, the company’s brand awareness is very important for which deciding upon
promotion strategy plays a relevant role for the company. The company in order to sustain in the
market and attract more customer. Moreover, to make customers believe in the company and
information related to the recent offers and the recent products and upgrading technology
information has to reach to the customers (Ottman, 2017). For this purpose, the company has to
adapt various tools of promotions to market their goods. The various tools beneficial for the
company to use are:
 Advertising – this is one of the ways to maximum people at a single time. The advertising
could through audio-video mode that is through television. Moreover, it can be done
through the printed mode, which is through pamphlets, hoarding and magazines. This is
the best approach to brand awareness. Although, this is one of the tools which could be
expensive (Hudson & Roth, 2016)

MARKETING 11
 Sales promotions – this is very important in this industry, as the offers are the most
attractive things for the customers in this industry. In case of telecommunication service,
especially the services for mobile, are most relevant to conduct sales promotion by the
company. For instance, the company could introduce plans, combos of the services for
lower prices. Moreover, the coupons, wallet offers could be also introduced to attract new
customers (chiefoutsiders, 2018)
 Publicity – this is one of the cheapest methods of the company. This is not relevant to the
company offering, it is the company being the headlines in major news reports. This will
helpful for the company for brand awareness (Armstrong & Giardina, 2016)
 Sponsorship – another way to create brand awareness, and retain brand loyalty from the
customers, it is one of the suitable strategies for the company to promote. This is
sponsoring some of the popular events of the nation. This will help the company to create
the brand image (Harrigan & Choudhury, 2014)
 Social media promotions – through changing trends in the society, one of the best way to
reach to a large number of the customer at a time is social media platform. This included
through Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and youtube. With innovative ideas like videos
including customer perception about the company (businesstopia, 2018) (Mura &
Mariani, 2016)
VI. Implementation, evaluation and control
Organizational Structure and Plan
As the company is running in a large scale and internationally, the company has a wide
organisational structure, which is required according to the operation, the company is serving
millions of customers, for which along with the top management, sales executive middle and
lower level employees also play an important role in the company’s operation and reason for the
increase in customers of the company (Harvey, 2009)
Some of the top level management executives are Eng. Saleh Al Abdooli, as CEO of
Etisalat group, Hatem Dowidar, as CEO of Etisalat international. The company must strategies to
recruit human resource according to the capability and make available the training and
development session, especially in case of any major change in the company (etisalat.ae, 2019)
(business.qld.gov, 2018)