Principles and Practices of Marketing: HSBC's Promotional Strategies

This report provides an overview of HSBC's marketing strategies, focusing on promotional activities and the application of marketing theories. It examines various promotional methods employed by HSBC, including advertising on billboards, digital platforms, and through third-party channels such as...Read More

Principles and practicals of
marketing

Table of Contents
Principles and practicals of marketing.............................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Promotional Activities ................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
Marketing Theories .....................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to activities of a company which it undertakes to promote the buying
and selling of the product and service. There are various activities which are undertaken in the
course of marketing which are advertising, selling and delivering products and services to
consumers. This report includes promotional activities which are undertaken by HSBC Holdings
which is British Multinational investment Bank and financial services holdings company. HSBC
Holdings undertakes many activities which are At customer facing touch-point, in external
spaces like billboards, via digital platforms and through third party like news articles, analyst
report. This report also discuss some marketing theories in context of the Bank which are AIDA,
Push and Pull Strategies.
TASK 1
Promotional Activities
The act which is done so that more people can be made aware that the particular company
provides this type of services which customer can use. HSBC Holdings which provide services
of banking and people are aware of that. Then what next and why bank needs to promote itself
the reason is that to communicate the values of the bank (Chen and Lai, 2019). To communicate
what company offers to its customers which no other banks can. HSBC Holdings which provides
services of Retail Banking this includes that general banking services provided to public rather
than corporate. Bank in this requires that it communicate hoe its retail banking services are better
than other bank's retail banking services. For this and to target various customers for its services
various activities are as follows-
If the theory of segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies is applied on the marketing of
HSBC Bank then its Segmentation is based on demographic and geographic segmentation
strategies so that its products are available to individual and corporate. In relations with its
targeting than differentiation is used by HSBC so that it can satisfy all saving and investment
needs. Positioning of HSBC is value based.
Promotional activities of HSBC is-
The bank uses extensive promotion strategy. Advertisements of HSBC are placed on Billboards,
newspaper and magazines. Another platform through which bank promote its services is
commercial advertisements which are telecast on television. In relation with content of the

advertisements these are informative and emphasizes on numerous products and services which
are provided by the bank. Other than this there are other mediums through which HSBC promote
itself is sponsorship, this is very effective and those people who are related and connected with
the events can be connected with services of the bank. Sponsoring various events and addressing
social and environmental issues have helped HSBC to build a positive image of the company.
This is important for organisations with high standards. Such organisations are considered that
they part in some good activities and such activities help people to create memorable moments
which improves image of the bank.
At Customer Facing Touch-point
These are activities which are undertaken by the company for the purpose of promoting
their products and services at the point where customer comes in touch with the company. These
places are store, offices and reception (Yakhlef and Nordin, 2020). In context of this report
HSBC Holdings which is bank promote its services when customer visits the location of bank.
This includes various activities in which are-
Making a good first impression
This refers to making first impression effective. Reason behind this is that first
impression is very important so that company can convince the customer to have a long
relationship with bank. Building first impression includes many things this is the design and
interior of the bank which shows the standard of the bank and what it communicated with the
customer. The process of making first impression starts with setting expectation, of the customer.
This means that when customer starts a new relationship with the bank what it needs to do is
ensuring that they get solutions to all their problems and for that they are aware with the process
of the bank and this is the duty and responsibility of the bank that it ensures that customer have
all the information.
Create a Customized Experience, Everyone likes to be treated differently and that is why bank
should ensure that after creating experience it gives a customized experience to the customer.
This includes that bank should ensure a smooth experience and work as the set expectations of
the customers.

Ensure customer Satisfaction, Other than everything this is what keeps the customer loyal for the
bank (Ieva, Fornari and Ziliani, 2017). There are various ways in which bank can ensure
customer satisfaction. First is giving adequate services then asking customers for their feedback
so that bank can ensure that they do not repeat somethings which can affect their customer
satisfaction negatively.
Marketing at Customer Touch-point is very significant and the reason is that if customer of
HSBC Holdings does not have a good experience a first and from the place they connect with the
company directly in case they will not like to connect with the bank any time in the future. This
is not good and this is the place from where bank can directly influence perception and thoughts
of the customer about the bank ans its services.
In External Spaces
Promotion of the bank outside the bank and at the places from where bank can increase
its visibility and more people than customer of the bank can connect with the bank and can have
knowledge about the services of the bank (Jun and et.al., 2016). One of the significant place
which is known for external space promotion is Billboards. This is a place where bank can
promote itself and this are places which are able to attract people attraction and these are placed
at high streets which are expected to be visited and passed by most of the people in a city.
Billboards, which are large posters and are used from ancient times to advertise. These are
known for making no mistakes and are a form of advertising rather than public relation and
promotion, reason behind this is that bank and those who are willing to promote through
billboards have to pay for that. In other words Billboards are large outside space which is
dedicated to target and attract the attention of pedestrians and motorists in surrounding area.
Billboards have also changed with time and in ancient times and before the development of
advanced technology billboards used to be printed vinyl stretched over a base of wood or
aluminum. In present time with development of technology and digital technology. Billboards
have become digital and provides freedom for more creativity (Wang and et.al., 2019). Digital
billboards are large computer screen through which message can be delivered to people in
creative ways. Through digital billboards Bank can promote itself in various creative ways which
bank can adopt. There are various advantage of the billboards, which are-

 For banks which mainly target audience which is located in surroundings of the bank
location and through billboards it can target those audiences.
 These are attractive and chances of capturing attention of people through billboards is
higher than any other traditional medium of advertising.
 Cost of billboards is low per impression. Large number of impression can reduce the cost
of expensive billboards as well.
There are various advantages of billboards and along with advantages comes some disadvantages
as well, which are-
 Billboards offer a extremely brief time to absorb information specially in case of digital
billboards.
 Outdoor causalities can affect the billboards and can reduce effect and sometime waste
all the efforts and creativity of the bank.
But as advantages of the billboards have more weigh than its disadvantages this have been
chosen by HSBC to promote itself.
Promotion Via Digital Platforms
In present time most effective manner through which bank can promote itself is digital
platforms these are important as these are able to connect the bank with most people than any
other medium. Digital platforms includes promotion through website and social media.
Website refers to websites of the HSBC Bank (Mooney and Slobodian, 2016). This is
important place for promotion reason behind this is that websites are known as the home of
company and organisation and contains all information which is related to organisation and is
able to shape the idea and perception of customer. For example- Customer want to know some
information about the bank in this case the first things which customer will go to find the
information is the website of the bank. This is why it is important. Through website bank can
promote its offerings to the public.
Not just bank's own website but it can promote through other websites which are not its own but
whose visibility and traffic is high. In this bank can promote itself through other websites. It
raises the question why other websites will promote bank and its business. The answer is money.
Other websites through which bank promote itself charges price from the bank to promote it.
Social Media is another platform through which bank can promote itself social media
sites which are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (Urban, Gosline and Lee, 2017). This sites

provide two options to the bank to promote itself. The first option for promotion through social
media is organic social media marketing. In this bank have to create its own profile and link on
the social media sites. Bank can also create its page on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. All
this provide opportunity to promote bank in which that they can promote by various creative
ways. Bank can deliver its message and can add graphical element to make it more creative and
attractive. The other form in which bank can promote itself on social media is paid social media
marketing. In this type of marketing what bank needs to do is that it has to pay to those people
whose profile and links on social media sites have high traffic which means that more people are
engaged with their pages and links (Chaffey, 2017). Bank can promote and communicate its
message through these pages and links.
Through Third Parties
HSBC Holdings can promote itself through various mediums and one of those is Third
party advertising. This includes that bank promote itself through news articles. In this media of
promotion what bank does is that it promotes itself through news articles and for that it utilizes
media to communicate positive message about the company. This method of promotion can be
done in various forms but most importantly and generally uses expertise and activities of
journalist. In this journalist promote services of bank within their news coverage. For example-
journalist includes survey coverage of various organisation, in one survey coverage they can
cover the story of HSBC Holdings and can communicate positive message about services of the
bank and how HSBC bank can help in improving banking experience of the company (Kisgen
and et.al., 2016). The effect of this will be that people who follow the coverage and watch the
Journalist will get influenced by them and will build a positive perception about the bank.
Other third party promotion technique that bank can use is analyst report. There are
various analysts who prepare reports on the basis of their analysis on various aspects of the
organisation. These reports are an effective medium through which bank can promote itself. For
Example- An analysis have been made for the net banking facilities which are provided by banks
to their customer. In this report of analysis if the HSBC bank have been considered as the best
bank and provides the most effective and user friendly net banking services (Huang, Lin and
Zang, 2019). This will affect the people and those who are willing to use net banking will keep
HSBC bank at their priority.

TASK 2
Marketing Theories
AIDA Theory, in which AIDA refers to Attention, interest, desire and action. This model
is used in marketing which includes a process through which customer purchase a product and
service of an organisation.
Developed in 1898 this model of Marketing this model is based on four individual stages that
attract individual party who are deciding on a product or service.
Stages and the model of AIDA is as follows-
Attract Attention- This refers to activities and practices which are aimed at attracting attention
of the people. This is the first stage where HSBC Bank gets attention of people and this includes
undertaking activities like advertisements and promotion (Pashootanizadeh and Khalilian, 2018).
This stage connects customer with bank. Bank need to ensure that these activities are actually
attention seeking. This includes that advertisement appearing before starting a YouTube video. A
striking video containing some fun elements related to services or somethings which is creative
and insist people that they see the full video.
Maintain Interest- the first step attempts to attract attention of potential customer. This stage
ensures that the attention that customers provided to the advertisement converts that attention
into interest. This includes that customers are provided with the detailed information of services
of the bank. For Example- advertisement of the bank included that they provide better value than
Illustration 1: AIDA Model.
Available Through: AIDA, 2019.

other banks and this stage includes in what manner the services are better. This includes that
bank can communicate about their interest rate, investment portfolio which bank can provide and
how its services are user friendly and cost saving and can give more benefit the user.
Create Desire- This stage will include that customers create desire to purchase the services of
bank. This includes that they will get to know more about the services of bank. Potential
customers may go and check more information on the website of the company (Farsijani and
et.al., 2018). In this bank need to ensure that the interest customer have had in the services of
bank. Bank needs to ensure that they can persuade the customer to buy the services of the bank.
This may include giving special offerings to customer. This includes that bank can promote their
offerings through Email and message from which customer creates a desire that they want to use
the services of HSBC Bank.
Take Action- This stage starts with the customer in which customer take action and buy the
product and service of the company. Role of Bank in this is that it ensures that customers gets the
services as expected and along with that their services increase the willingness of customer to
remain associated with HSBC Bank. Action from the side of bank also ensure that customer of
the bank gets services and recommend this bank to other people as well.
This strategy is quite effective when it comes to design an effective marketing strategy.
This provides guidance to the bank about its marketing and promotional activities. In this bank
can develop its advertisement for various stages firstly to get attention and later to keep that
attention and change that in interest and later to convert this interest of prospective customer in
desire to buy the services of bank (Ullal and Hawaldar, 2018). Though promotional activities can
end here but it is important that services of the bank promote its services through its customer.
Push and Pull Strategies
Push Strategy
This includes that bank is trying to bring their product to the customer. This strategy is
used by bank in following condition:
 When launching a new product.
 Operating in new market.
This both situation suggest that without any marketing effort it will be really difficult for the
bank to reach its target audience (AU and TUCKER, 2016). This strategy involves direction of

marketing efforts to channel partners. In this third party stocks company's products. This is
aimed at making customer aware of the product and service. This strategy emphasizes on
resource allocation. This strategy is used by the company when brand loyalty is low for the bank.
In context of bank which does not provide any type of physical goods, push strategy ca be used
by the bank that it makes alliances with the organisation that it links its banking services with the
bank. For example- HSBC Bank gives loan to a business organisation and through push strategy
business organisation requires that all its employees are motivated to use banking services of
HSBC Bank. This is known as Push Strategy where third party promotes the product. This will
aware the employees of that business organisation about the bank and services. Though HSBC is
a big bank and known to everyone and established as well so it does not need to employ any such
strategy (Zhang and et.al., 2018). For this strategy platforms which are available to bank are
trade show, the point of sale display, direct selling, advertisement on radio and television, email
etc. This ensures to make impact on consumer and reduce time in finding of the product and
purchasing. Practically this is not suitable for an organisation like HSBC bank.
Pull Strategy
This marketing strategy aims at generating interest and demand for a particular product in
this case services of the bank. Pull strategy that involves promotion of marketing efforts to the
final consumer. This is strategy in which customer demand company's products from the seller.
In this, customers directly come to bank to subscribe its services. The activities which are taken
by Advertisement, promotion and other forms of communication. This is adopted by the bank
when brand loyalty is high (Madanoglu, Alon and Shoham, 2017). There are various advantages
for HSBC in case it adopts Pull strategies some of them are-
 Direct contact with customers.
 This is ideal for premium priced products.
 This is important for bank as services of bank can only be sold by the bank.
But there are some disadvantages of this which are-
 This requires higher administration to fulfill customers' orders.
 Small and off shore customers requires bank's time.

CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion it can be concluded that there are various promotion
activities which can be adopted by HSBC which is a bank. Strategies which have been discussed
in this report were promotional strategies at customer facing touchpoint. It means that to promote
product and service from the place where customers connect with the company. This includes
stores, office etc. another strategy for promotion is promotion through billboards which are also
known as promotion at external spaces. Most important promotion place now a days is digital
platform have also been discussed in this report. AIDA and Push and Pull strategies for
promotion have also been included in this report.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Process: the Case of HSBC. In 2019 International Conference on Management,
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use of fuzzy AHP approach. International Journal of Operational Research. 32(1).
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Urban, G.L., Gosline, R. and Lee, J., 2017. The power of consumer stories in digital marketing.
MIT Sloan Management Review. 58(4).
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Online
AIDA. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://en.ryte.com/wiki/AIDA>.