Strategic Marketing Communication Plan for Marks & Spencer (M&S)

This report provides a detailed marketing communication plan for Marks & Spencer (M&S), a British multinational corporation. It includes a brand audit covering internal branding, customer experiences, and external branding, along with a SWOT analysis to assess the external business environment. The plan outlines campaign objectives that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound), emphasizes the importance of market research using the STP model, and details a creative strategy focused on goal specificity, stakeholder influence, and time-bound tasks. Furthermore, the report discusses the marketing tools mix, highlighting the four Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion), and a campaign management plan that includes production, budget, and evaluation plans. The report concludes with a personal reflection on the importance of each segment in the strategic composition of the action plan.

MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................3
Auditing of the brand. .................................................................................................................4
Marketing communications plan. ................................................................................................5
Objectives of the campaign. ....................................................................................................6
Market research........................................................................................................................6
Creative strategy. ....................................................................................................................7
Marketing tools mix plan. .......................................................................................................7
Campaign management plan. ..................................................................................................8
Personal role and reflection of the plan. .....................................................................................9
CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The conception of a marketing communication plan helps in the captivation of the
audience’s attention towards the products or the services that are offered by the particular
company or a brand in the market. It is thereby referred to as the strategy that is utilized for
informing the targeted customers of the brand about the respective offering in the marketplace
(Gilvar, 2022). It is said to be a part of the overall marketing plan of a firm. this report will try to
explicate the important segments of the communication plan of the chosen brand, i.e., Marks and
Spencer (M&S), which is a British MNC, with its H.Q. in Paddington, London. The inclusion of
a self-reflection at the end of the report will try to talk about the personal experience in the
construction of the report.
MAIN BODY
Auditing of the brand.
The brand audit can be inferred to as a checkup which helps in the appropriate evaluation
of the position of the brand in the market in respect to its relative weaknesses and the strengths it
withholds in the market. The auditing of the brand covers three significant areas which are the:
 Internal branding – The mission, vision and the values of the brand.
 Customer experiences – The process of the sales, support of the customers and the
policies of the customer services.
 External branding – The logo of the business, presence of social media and the
generation of content marketing.
Market positioning of the brand:
The Marks and Spencer positioning in the market is imperative to understand in order to signify
the actual alignment of the brand in the marketplace (Islam, 2022). The operations of the brand
provide employment to more than 1,00,000 people. The presence of more than 1037 stores in the
UK and 472 international stores, makes it a noteworthy and an influential brand in the market. as
per the statistics of 2021. The mission of the brand is to aspire the quality and make it accessible
to all. The market share of the brand is influential and significant in the market as per the

statistics of 2021. Also, uncertainties have been noticed in the positing of the marketing
strategies of the company in respect to the inconsistency in the advertising of the brand.
SWOT analysis: The analysis of the external business environment is imperative for the
effective scrutiny of the factors that can influence the functioning and the operations of the
company. Marks and Spencer can make use of the SWOT analysis for the explication of the
external business environment.
Strengths – It is a recognized brand in the market with well experienced staff and the
management team. this helps in the sustenance of the brand in the market place for a
considerable and influential period of time (Islami and Romli, 2022). M&S is a MNC which
have secured a global position in the market that helps in the expansion of the brand.
Weaknesses – The declining of the sales in the year 2019, created disruption in the functioning of
the brand. This created a very bad impact on the image of the company. The perception of the
people that the brand does not offer clothing for the young ones and the teenagers has led to the
weakening of the positioning of Marks and Spencer.
Opportunities – The scope of expansion in the market can provide ample of opportunities to the
brand in respect to the establishment of multiple stores in the varied regions of the global
business. The offering through the online stores such as Amazon and eBay can also help in the
flourishing of the name of the brand in the market.
Threats – The increase in the levels of competition in the market can prove to be dangerous for
the company in terms of retaining the top position in the market. M&S has to take significant
measures for the acquirement of an efficacious alignment in the external market (Kitchen and
Tourky, 2022).
Marketing communications plan.
The purpose of a marketing communication plan is to inform the customers about a
particular product or service offered by the company and let the customer know that it is
available for the purchase to make. The plan makes are that the information is effectively
delivered to the targeted audiences and the promotion of the brand is efficacious. The
components of the marketing communication plan are explicated in the below mentioned
segments of the report.

Objectives of the campaign.
The goals and the objectives of M&S must be SMART. They should be Specific,
Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound. The cognitive content of the strategies must
be comprehensive and the campaign must be designed according yo the preferences and the on
going trend in the market (Senanu and Anning-Dorson, 2022). The primary objectives of M&S
must be the generation of awareness among the customers, reach the traffic over the internet,
installation of the applications in the electronic devices of the customers, encouraging the
customers to visit the stores and the ultimate conversions of the audiences into the customers of
the brand. Therefore, the perfection of the campaign can be determined by M&S on the basis of:
Awareness – The generation of interests among the customers about the information and
knowledge of the products and services of the company.
Conversions – The customers should be compelled to seek information regarding the products or
the services that are offered by M&S in the marketplace.
Consideration – The continuous encouragement should be shown towards the customers in order
to get the hands of their hands on the offerings of the company.
Market research.
The market research can be defined as the procedure of the determination of the viability
of the novel product or the service introduced by a company in the marketplace. This is done
through the conduction of research on the basis of the analysis of the potential customers. The
research thereby will allow and permit M&S to discover and identify the targeted audiences and
gather their respective opinions in the form of customer feedback and help in the understanding
of the position of the offerings in the market (Sharma, 2022).
The STP model – The Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning model proves to be an aid in the
investigation of the position of the particular product launched in the market and also to to
segment and target the audiences on the basis of the respective behavior and the personality of
the customers. This three-step approach will help M&S to quickly zoom in on the most profitable
parts of your business, so that the brand can fully exploit the opportunities that are offered in the
marketplace.

Creative strategy.
The creative strategy of a brand is a strategical and an intended approach that an
organization opts for in order to develop and implement the steps which will help in the
assurance of the long term growth of the business (Suspiro, 2022). The main considerations that
are to be made by M&S for the successful implementation of the creative strategies can be –
Goal specific – The exclusive strategy should be able to answer the determined question of the
brand. It must be able to achieve the goals ascertained by M&S.
Influence of the stakeholders – The consideration do the internal as well a she externals
stakeholders should be include in the creative strategical planning of M&S.
Time-bound – The planning should be in accordance to the timeline and the tasks must be
attained within the signified framework without any sought of failures.
The inclusion of the KPIs must be present in the creative strategy which will help in the
explication of the Key Performance Indicators of the brand. The marketing channels for the
delivery of the messages in accordance to the brand's products, must be significantly chosen for
the maintenance of efficacy in the process (Westwood, 2022).
Marketing tools mix plan.
The marketing tool mix is the inclusion of important areas as a significant part of the
comprehensive plan which revolves around the fours Ps of the marketing strategies, that are,
Product, Price, Place and the Promotion of the brand in an effective and an efficient manner.
M&S should make use of this mix for the ascertainment of the specif needs and the requirements
of each of the element in order to ensure the smooth functioning and positing of the brand in the
market.
Product - This represents an item or service designed to satisfy customer needs and wants. To
effectively market a product or service, it's important to identify what differentiates it from
competing products or services.

Price - The sale price of the product reflects what consumers are willing to pay for it. Marketing
professionals need to consider costs related to research and development, manufacturing,
marketing, and distribution
Place – The launching and the selling of the brand must be chosen effectually by M&S in order
to determine whether it will be sold through a physical store, online store or both (Zahay and et.
al., 2022).
Promotion - Activities might include advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, and public
relations. A key consideration should be for the budget assigned to the marketing mix
Campaign management plan.
The management of the marketing campaign can be termed as a series of actions that has
to be taken in order to accomplish the goals of the marketing through the launch of a new
product or the creation of awareness of the brand in the market. This is basically a map which
includes the imperatives which are necessary for the achievement of the goals and the objectives
of the campaign.
Production plan.
This can be referred to as the framework of the production and the designing of the
products and the services offered by M&S which helps in the organization of the processes
involved in the planning to be as efficient and effective as possible. This is important for the
optimum delivery of the procedures and conduct on time deliveries to the customers
(ZICCHIERO, 2022).
Budget plan.
The constraints that are required for the maintenance of the budgetary allocation for the
effective utilization of the funds on the marketing and the advertising strategies of the
organization. M&S must comprehend towards the derivation of a significant and executable plan
for the optimum application of the capital in the marketing communication plan for the brand.
The investments that are to be made must be in respect to the limitations of the financial aspects.
Evaluation plan
It helps in the monitoring of the practices, interventions and the programs in an effective
and in viable manner. An evaluation plan is part of the planning for a project– the part that is

related to deciding how the project will be monitored and assessed to determine the project’s
success and effectiveness. An effective evaluation plan should show how the project of M&S
will be monitored and how its objectives will be met.
Personal role and reflection of the plan.
In my personal experiences, throughout the examination of the marketing communication
plan, the imperatives that are necessary for the success of the campaign made me realized the
importance of the conception of varied segments that are present in the strategical composition of
the plan of action. The reasonability of each and every section of the report determined the
significance it withholds for the completion of the sequential steps, starting from the fortitude of
the objectives of the campaign to the budgeting of the plan. The scheduling of the marketing mix
for the strategical plan of the communication plan helps in the accumulation of the different tools
and the function of the operations in the sections helped me gained useful insights of the external
marketing derivatives. My personal contribution was towards the enumeration of the marketing
research and the determination of the goals for the communication plan which helped me in the
betterment of the research analytics.
CONCLUSION
An inference can thus be made that the explication of the marketing communication plan
makes it easy for the comprehension of the strategical plan of action which helps in the
formulation of a viable and executable plan which will help in the attainment of the goals and the
objectives of the campaign. The elucidation of the production, budgetary and the media plan
further proved to be beneficial in respect of providing a guide for the pecuniary actions of the
management team. The understanding of the segments of the plan in accordance to the creative
aspects and the market reached furthermore help in the identification of the inclusions in the
development of the communique forecasting.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Gilvar, C., 2022. Integrated Marketing Communications Plan for Luna Lu.
Islam, M.S., 2022. Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism. Available at SSRN 4138643.
Islami, P.Y.N. and Romli, N.A., 2022. CLOUD KITCHEN AS INNOVATION DIGITAL
MARKETING COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR SMALL MEDIUM
ENTERPRISE. Communication Today, p.185.
Kitchen, P.J. and Tourky, M.E., 2022. IGMC Drivers and Agency Interaction. In Integrated
Marketing Communications (pp. 173-194). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Senanu, B. and Anning-Dorson, T., 2022. Marketing Communication Planning for SMEs in
Emerging Markets. In Marketing Communications in Emerging Economies, Volume II
(pp. 65-92). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Sharma, A., 2022. Current Trends in Digital Marketing. Current Trends in Digital Marketing
(April 18, 2022).
Suspiro, E.F., 2022. Marketing plan to increase LG’S TV product category premium perception
by end consumers” communications plan focused on advertising (Doctoral dissertation).
Westwood, J., 2022. How to write a marketing plan: Define your strategy, plan effectively and
reach your marketing goals (Vol. 4). Kogan Page Publishers.
Zahay, D., and et. al., 2022. Social Media Marketing: A Strategic Approach. Cengage Learning.
ZICCHIERO, I., 2022. Communication in the healthcare industry: development of the marketing
plan for a Lombard clinic.