Marketing Essentials: TK Max Marketing Plan and Strategies Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing essentials, focusing on key roles, strategies, and marketing plans within the context of TK Max. It begins with an introduction to marketing and its core principles, including the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence). The report then delves into the specific roles and responsibilities of marketing functions within TK Max, such as strategy formation, market research, product development, and sales support. It examines the importance of marketing planning, profit generation, and distribution facilitation. Furthermore, it explores the impact of the marketing environment, including competition, word-of-mouth influence, consumer decision-making, and niche marketing. The report also highlights the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional units, such as customer service. The report includes a basic marketing plan and a detailed, evidence-based strategic marketing plan applying the 7Ps of marketing. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and implications for effective marketing practices.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.key roles and responsibilities of marketing functions.........................................................1
2. Key roles and responsibilities of marketing related to TK MAX.....................................3
3.Key roles and responsibilities of marketing regarding the context of marketing environment.
................................................................................................................................................4
4. significance of interrelationships between Marketing & other functional units of an
organisation............................................................................................................................5
5. evaluate the key elements of marketing functions.............................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
1. Different ways to marketing mix to marketing planning process......................................7
2.Different tactics applied by TK-MAX ...............................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
Basic Marketing Plan.............................................................................................................9
Detailed coherent evidence based marketing plan..............................................................10
Strategic marketing plan that applies 7P's............................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is define as the process in which product is made with the aim of satisfying the
needs, wants and wishes of a customer. It includes adoption of marketing mix such as product,
price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidences. These are the factors that
determines a plan and a layout that can be effectively implemented by providing the appropriate
products for the targeted segment of the customers along with the promotional strategies for
promoting these products among the potential customers so that they can accomplish their goals
of increasing the sales of their product and services. This is the major goal for every
organisation as it they want to retain in a market and provide a strong competition to other
competitors who are providing similar kinds of products by creating a differentiated products
which can help them to get a recognition in the market. Marketing plays an effe3ctive role fro the
promotion of the product in the right way and also providing certain basic market plans which
includes the marketing research , forming the financial budget required for various activities
(Mishra and Modi, 2016).
TASK 1
1.key roles and responsibilities of marketing functions
There are many key roles and responsibilities of marketing functions in TK-MAX which
are discussed as follows:
Strategy
The member who is senior in the marketing department of TK-MAX takes the
responsibility for strategy formation and objectives. The strategy can be related to methods for
increasing marketing share in a defined market which includes certain activities like entering into
a new sect or, opening up a new marketing channel for distribution like internet for reaching a
wider range of geographical market .These strategy are the basic planned series of activities
which helps the company to achieve the desired goal and provide a suitable direction for it.
These strategies help to reduce the efforts and cost required for every set of procedures for
performing certain task which is very important aspect for a successful plan TK-Max has certain
plans and strategies regarding their products so that it can create impactful promotion of their
products among the potential customers in a market and help to regain new customers. Functions
of marketing make various strategies to make sure that each activity is performed effectively and
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smoothly and tries to plan in such ad way that it faces less obstacles (Huang and Sarigöllü,
2014).
Market Research
Market research is considered to be a major responsibilities for department of marketing
in TK-MAX. With the help of research a company is able to identify all the market opportunities
and can have a better understanding of customer's requirement. It also helps to analysis certain
aspect of competitors such as their strength, weakness so that they can take appropriate actions
related to it and can make an effective strategies to compete with them in a particular
market .These researches are carried out through studying industrial report. Market research is
very important as it provides the company an idea of what is the demand for the particular
products and services they will sell in the market, what is the psychological perceptions of the
customers regarding them, what are the factors which affects their choices and how organisation
can improve the chance of getting the priority among others in them mindset of every buyer of
the segment which has been chosen. Market research studies the deep aspects which are ignored
by the company but can affect them in many ways such as their sales.
Product development
Department of marketing works with different teams which are involved in product
development and are appointed externally and internally. This department has the responsibility
to analyse sales of products and services of TK-MAX and provides identification of gaps in the
range of all services which are provided by company(Sheth and Sisodia, 2015). development of
product is very necessary to retain the customers as the requirement of the customers gets
change according to the changes in the surrounding which leads to differences in the kind of
demands for certain products, therefore to cope up with the changes one has to modify the
products is that it can fulfil the changes in demands. Also new features attracts many other
customer and helps to get a hold to those customers. These development can be done in the
concept of the product such as diverting the product into an organic criteria, changing the
appearance of the product along with the variation in the strategy of pricing like providing
discounts, giving some of on price for a certain period.
Sales Support
It includes the process of cooperation between various departments of sales and marketing which
enhances their performance and also speed up an important aspect which is business growth.
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They provide sales team a lead of high quality by providing different advertisements that features
mechanism for reply. It also helps in preparation of presentations for the sales department and
supply them various stocks of materials for promotion. Sales Support provide a major impact on
the sales of the product as it can help the company to increase the sale of the products and
services of the companies, therefore company hires the sales team which includes sales person
who has the responsibility for increasing the selling quantity. The large bulk selling can lead to
economies of scale which means then the investment required for producing such large bulks
minimises, which ultimately leads to the profit earning for the company.
2. Key roles and responsibilities of marketing related to TK MAX
Marketing has a great significance and have certain key roles as well as responsibilities
which are discussed below.
Planning
Marketing is helpful in planning as management is provided various kind of information
related to changes or trends in market, it helps to analyse competition and demand in particular
market which helps TK-MAX to create certain planning against these aspects which will have
tremendous effect on the production of various services. Planning decreases the efforts and time
therefore making the execution easy of certain plan into real implementation so that it can
achieve the targets very easily. With the effective planning company is able to control all the
marketing activities in an efficient manner which provide various benefits at the end. There are
certain processes in a planning which includes conducting a proper analysis regarding every
aspects such as environment, customers, market etc, then deciding various strategies and how
their implementation has to be performed and allotting different roles to the members of the sales
team. An effective planning can lead to successful marketing of the products and services
(Jindal, Chintagunta and Dhar, 2018).
Profit making
With the proper implementation of different aspects of marketing one can generate lots of
revenue which would help to collect huge profit sharing in the market, which is possible only
through selling of greater quantity of products or services to consumers. It helps to earn profit
through aspects such as tie creation, place and possession utilities. Profit Making is the necessary
requirement of every company which helps to sustain it in the market and can compete well with
their competitors. Profit earned provides various benefits to the company which results in
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providing many advantages to the employees which provide a kind a satisfaction and motivation
to work and provide more efficiency in the work. Profit can also opens various ways of
investing into other programs which can provide many advantages to the company. Also helps to
make it financially strong for any future crisis. Many strategies are adopted by the company to
increase the profitability from the market itself.
Facilitating Distribution
Department of marketing provides certain information regarding appropriate quantity
time and mode of transportation for the process of delivery of services and goods at numerous
places. It also provides information which is reliable for better distribution of final goods. It
analyses various distributing channel with the minimum cost required for better distribution
aspects(Kozlenkova and et.al., 2015).
3.Key roles and responsibilities of marketing regarding the context of marketing environment.
In today's era of marketing environment the scenario of marketing is very tough. As
consumers are very much aware about their needs and requirements, they have become selective
and knowledgeable regarding every product and services; at the same time they wanted to spend
low on the selective product. Decision making is mainly base on word of mouth, where
advertising also plays an important role in the process of making decisions.
There are certain responsibilities of marketing in relation with marketing environment
which are as follows
Competition
Every product and related brand is affected by the presence of competition in a market.
There are numerous brands and products which creates an atmosphere of tough competition in a
market. Marketing department of TK-MAX helps to create their own USP which is a break even
point for them to compete in a particular market. Competition is a potential threat to every
company as there are many other organisation which can bring the similar concepts in the market
which can affect in many ways such a decreasing their sales by attracting more customers
towards them through various strategies. But it also provides various opportunities to the
company to develop themselves in such a way that can give a strong competition to others
which will make them strong in a positive perspectives (Pavlou and Stewart, 2015).
Word of mouth
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Due to the presence of internet in this technologically advanced environment , consumers
are aware of each ad every product with a depth knowledge before entering into the store. As
every consumer has their own perception regarding a product , then word of mouth comes to
rescue for promoting a particular product as consumer prefer to listen an experienced customer
who has already used it. It creates a bond of trust with each other and their view changes in
favour or against company's product or services(Slater, 2015). It helps to promote the product on
the basis of personal experience and it works very effectively for promoting a particular brand. It
is the most trustable form of advertising as it surely attracts customers strongly.
Consumer decision making
With the advancement in consumer's behaviour nowadays , marketing influences them a
lot. Today's customer prefer to buy those products which are promoted more as compared to
other one which are available in a market. Department of marketing performs enough research
on the mentality of target customers regarding their product and plans strategies accordingly.
Deciding niche markets
Marketing also helps to provide decision making process for deciding niche market for
their product so that they can have better production and sales as well. Niche marketing is the
very old technique of conducting marketing for the product and services. It can lead to target a
particular segment of customers and works on their preferred choices and produces products and
services accordingly.
4. significance of interrelationships between Marketing & other functional units of an
organisation
a)Customer Service provision
Marketing is very much integrated to the customer services. Customer is a central driver
as customer satisfaction and the exchange process is given priority in the marketing Function
(Tomczak, Reinecke and Kuss, 2018). To make sure that the customers of TK Max are satisfied
or not, the whole function of customer service of the company is revolved around the series of
activities which are designed to make sure.
b) Human Resources
The recruitment, selection, training& Development of employees belongs to the functions
of HRM of TK Max. Other functions are like well-being, motivation, health& safety and
performance of employees are the responsibilities of HRM. The HRM of TK Max is helping the
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employees of the organisation to scoping out of jobs, personal profile, and job description. HR of
the company helps to score and access the application forms and organise interviews.
c)Production/Operation/Logistics
The marketing department of TK Max works with the cooperation of the functions of
production,logistics and operations within the business. Warehousing, packaging, labelling and
distribution is included in the operations. In extent, production and logistics is also included in
the operations (Krush, Sohi and Saini, 2015).Where the goods are produce or made is
Production and when the goods are transferred to the warehousing or godowns to the consumer
in most efficient manner. Now various technologies are developed for logistics.
d)Finance Department
The marketing department has to work closely with Finance department. TK Max needs
Adequate budget to meets the needs of research, promotion and distribution. The whole
organisation is dependent on finance department. No work can be started without finance. The
sales volume and building market share of TK Max is concentrated by Marketing manager, while
cash flows and covering cost and paying back of investment as soon as possible is in the
concentration of finance department.
5. evaluate the key elements of marketing functions
Market research, product development, finance management, communication, distribution,
selling, planning and promotion are the key elements of marketing function.
a)Research
Market research is the first thing TK Max do before launching of the products (Johanson,
and Mattsson, 2015). What the customer wants is the first thing to know, and TK Max has build
nice goodwill in the market. Marketing research is very important as it determine what will be
the best medium, and what positioning need to be archived to target.
b)Planning
Sales forecasting, financial planning,communication system are involves Marketing
Planning. Many plans has developed to achieve the targets of the TK Max company. What the
company wants to achieve is only be done by the planning.
c)Product Development
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In marketing plan the concept of the product of TK Max is to find out the right product of
the targeted market. The product which is manufactured should be designed according to the
needs of the customer (Harper, 2015). The packaging, labelling of the product has direct
influence on the mind of the customer, this is the first impression on the mind of the customer.
d)Price
The most important key factor of marketing is Pricing of product. TK Max company is
preparing something in return to its customer in particular price of product. The willingness of
customer to pay predetermined price for specific product is very important for company. The
price of the product should not be very low that company is going in loss and it should not too
high that customer is moving to substitutes.
TASK 2
1. Different ways to marketing mix to marketing planning process.
(Source: https://www.marketing91.com/importance-marketing-mix/)
Marketing mix consist of 4 P's in product marketing which are product, price, place,
promotion and in service marketing there are 3 more P's along with product, price , place and
promotion which are people, process and physical evidences(Ganguly, Das and Farr, 2017).
Every marketing mix has some role which makes the marketing activity more effective but iti s
different in the aspect of product and services. Services are intangible objects which cannot be
seen therefore they are provided an appearance through people, process and physical evidences.
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These are the marketing mix which plays an essential role in the market planning process which
is discussed below:
Clean mix creation
All the components of marketing mix should be compatible to others, such as pricing
strategy should be inter related to kind of product and services provided by TK-MAX, also
promotions should be done accordingly with place where the product is to be delivered. They
should be intrinsically linked which facilitates the marketing plan which helps to implement it
successfully.
Product Development
Product development is very essential for the growth aspect as designing a product
which is already existing, there can be adoption of numerous ideas which can come for
improving particular product. Then, pricing, place and promotion should be also amended
accordingly. These factors affects every product therefore their implementation should be done
in accordance to modification done on product(Hitesh Bhasin, 2017).
Increasing portfolio of the product
Whenever there is a need to increase the depth of products or product line and also its
length then some changes are too be done which are very minor which automatically changes its
marketing mix also. Resulting in altering all the factors of marketing mix and features associated
with it which enlarges the product portfolio.
Differentiation
When marketing mix of a competitor is analysed, there comes many ideas regarding
differentiation of TK-MAX offerings from them. They might have poor policies of promotion
here by analysing company can make its promotion much better and more innovative. Analysing
every strategy can lead to creation of much better aspects of marketing mix which leads to give a
strong competition to the competitors available in market(Wirtz, Tuzovic and Kuppelwieser,
2014).
2.Different tactics applied by TK-MAX
Marketing tactics are those which defines what business performs in the short interval of
time, they help to provide response to various threats and opportunities which are generated
while planning some strategies. Following are the tactics which are applied by TK-MAX for the
accomplishment of its objectives.
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Product or services
This is the main component of marketing tactics which is applied by every company for
preparation of any strategy , it includes what kind of of product or services company will offer ,
what will be the branding , packaging and development for the existing product, what different
features and benefits can be given to consumers, also what are the different unique selling points
(Helm and Gritsch, 2014).
Pricing
Pricing plays an immense role in the marketing tactics as pricing of the product or
services helps the one to attract consumers, or to enter in a new market and also providing
competition to available competitors. It also facilitate in maximising profit earned from the
selling of particular products or services.
Place
It refers to all kind of channels and number of locations selected for the distribution of
product or service. TK-MAX has opened their stores around the city and want to expand more
while providing home delivery services for the groceries ad other products. According to the
place company can decide how to position their product in the provided market place.
Promotion
Without promoting tactics consumer would not be able to know about the product or
services one is offering. Through promotion consumers gets aware for the product whether it is
suitable for satisfying their needs, desire and wishes(augum and Grande, 2017).
TASK 3
Basic Marketing Plan
Following are the basic stages for a marketing plan:
Market Overview
One should begin its plan by conducting a comprehensive overview of local market's
condition. One should define the market which is been targeted with respect to demographics,
psycho graphics and behaviourists aspects.
Company Overview
Types of products and services which ought to be offered are decided and their respective
development should be conducted. The overview of the company decides what types of product
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or services they are providing , how they will satisfy customer's satisfaction and details related to
it are provided to the potential customers. Next step is to identify the size of the market and their
characteristics such as demographics and geographic should also be determinability of
competitors should be acknowledged which would help to make strategies for competition.
Marketing Budget
It includes framework of financial aspect which is made to provide a budget that
regulates all expenses involved in implementing the whole marketing plan (Hanssens, D. M. and
et.al., 2014).
Detailed coherent evidence based marketing plan
Marketing tactics
Marketing tactics includes the following aspects
Service performance
Increase in the service performance as compared to last year performance. Introducing
new concept of service delivery and also providing training sessions for making service quality
better.
No. of cities covered
To expand 20 stores and opening up in more than 15 cities which can be implemented in
following year.
Congestion of the network
Collaborating with other sources for increasing the congestion of the network by 20
percent.
Financial Budget
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