Marketing Concepts and Analysis: A Comprehensive Report

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Marketing Concepts and Analysis
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Part A.........................................................................................................................................4
1.Introduction to the concept of marketing, including current and future trends..................4
2. An overview of the different marketing processes............................................................5
3. Explanation of the role and responsibilities of a marketing manager in the context of the
organisation............................................................................................................................6
4. An explanation of how marketing influences and interrelates with other functional
departments of the organisation.............................................................................................7
5. The value and importance of the marketing role in the context of the organisation..........7
6. Conclusions that emphasise the significance of having effective interrelationships
between different functional departments..............................................................................8
Part B..........................................................................................................................................9
Task One (LO2).........................................................................................................................9
P3 Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives..............................................9
M3 Evaluate different tactics applied by organisations to demonstrate how business
objectives can be achieved...............................................................................................10
D2 Design a strategic marketing plan that tactically applies the use of the 7Ps to achieve
overall marketing objectives............................................................................................11
Task 2 (LO3)........................................................................................................................13
P4 Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation..............................13
M4 Produce a detailed, coherent evidence-based marketing plan for an organisation....16
Conclusion................................................................................................................................17
Reference List..........................................................................................................................18

Introduction
The major role of marketing is to communicate with the customers about their products and
services for the value preposition in order to help them in their purchase journey. Marketing
has an essential role in the conduction of the business and it interrelates with all the other
function of marketing. In this assignment the researcher, who has been appointed as the
marketing manager will take an interview in order to give a detailed knowledge about the
various factors in marketing in context to the organization.
Background of the company: Apple Inc, is a multinational corporation that produces mobile
communication, media devices, servers and personal computers. They are a renowned global
brand in the marketing retail sector. It was earlier founded in the year of 1976 by the eminent
founders Steve Jobs, Steve Woznaik and Ron wayne in Palo Alto, California. They became
the leader in the manufacturing and retail industry in their media processes and was given the
largest publicly traded corporation in the world by the capitalization market. This company
created a revenue of around 5.9 billion US dollars in the first quarter of the year 2018 which
is a great achievement for the company (Apple, 2019). They have around 504 retail stores in
almost 24 countries in all over the world and targeting to expand their business. They have
around 123,000 employees working with apple.

Part A
1.Introduction to the concept of marketing, including current and future trends.
Marketing concept is about the belief which the customers have in the firms that helps them
to analyse the needs of the customers and help them to take rational decisions in order to beat
their competitors in the competitive market (Armstronget al., 2018). There are various
concepts of market which a company adopts in order to achieve the future growth prospects.
These concepts include the production concept, the marketing concept, product concept, the
selling concept and the societal marketing concept. All these concepts are equally cherished
by the company and help them to grow.
Production Concept: In this concept, the organization is more focused in the production
department in order to fulfil the needs of the potential customers.
Product Concept: In this concept, the company is focused in enhancing the product which
they are supplying by making the product of high quality, innovative features and
performance, as it is admired that customers get attracted to good quality products.
Selling Concept: The companies following this concept are serious about their sales
promotion and sale in order to enhance the business operations.
Marketing concept: In order to be a leader in the competitive market, the company needs to
beat their competitors which can only be done by the marketing concept.
Societal marketing concept: In this concept, the company at first determines the interest of
the potential customers in order to target them by providing them satisfaction more
effectively by their competitors.
Along with the different marketing concepts, there are various marketing trends which
influences the market to a large extent (Romeroand Vernadat, 2016). These trends include
relationship marketing trend, industrial marketing trend and the societal marketing trend.
Relationship marketing: This trend is usually practised by the companies who are more
inclined towards the customer satisfaction than the number of sales of their product. This
trend aims at enhancing the relationship between two parties in order to get the profitability
in the future.

Industrial marketing: This trend is used by the companies who sells their products to
different other companies in a motive that they will resell their products by enhancing the
quality. With the technological innovation the companies are more focused in creating and
inventing new ideas to impress the customers.
Societal marketing: This trend is used by the companies in order to identify the interest
needs of the customers for formulating better plans to improve the quality of the products
which can satisfy the customers in the long term or the short term.
2. An overview of the different marketing processes.
The companies need to follow the different marketing process in order to cherish the growth
prospects. These following processes are done on the basis of customer needs and
satisfaction.
Situational Analysis process: Situational analysis is basically used for identifying the wants
of the customers and the capability of the company to fulfil that by analysing both the internal
as well as the external environment (Morseet al.,2016). Here, the companies can use the
SWOT model for the internal analysis of the organization and the PESTEL model for
analysing the external environment of the organisation.
Marketing Strategy
Segmentation: In the first step, the organization needs to segment the market by dividing the
customers based on demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural measures. This
will help the company to properly target on the potential customers.
Targeting: In the second step, the organization need to target their potential customers after
the segmentation process. Here, the organization need to make certain steps in order to attract
their potential customers towards their organization.
Positioning: In the last step, the company is focused on how to position the product in front
of the targeted customers so that they can get maximum number of sales and lead the
company towards profitable growth.
Marketing mix Decisions
In this process the organisation is focused in conducting the evaluation of the 7 P’s for a
better understanding of the marketing department of the company (Išoraitėet al., 2016). The 7
P’s of the marketing mix consist of:

Product- In this formula, the company is aimed at developing the products which they are
targeting to sell to their potential customers
Price- This formula gives the company the liberty to choose the right price that can be
beneficial in attracting the targeted customers as price of the product has an essential role in
marketing.
People- This formula is based on the employees of the organisation who are working for the
profitability of the company. In that case, the company need to fulfil their needs in order to
get the required work.
Process- This formula gives an idea about the process which is undertaken from the
manufacturing to the selling of the product.
Promotion- It is one of the essential elements of marketing and this formula discusses about
the company’s promotional activities for selling the product in the market.
Physical evidence- This formula gives the evidences that the company has a physical
existence in the market because without a physical existence companies cannot conduct the
marketing process.
Packaging- It is also a main concept in the marketing essentials, as packaging of the product
has an impact on attracting the customers towards it.
Implementation and control
After the product launching, it is essential in the achievement process of different strategic
objectives which are being adopted by the company. This process helps the company to
implement their strategic measures of marketing in the market and control them along with it.
3. Explanation of the role and responsibilities of a marketing manager in the
context of the organisation.
Being the marketing manager, there are certain roles and responsibilities which has be
followed in context to the organisation Apple Inc (Guesalaga, 2016). The roles and
responsibilities of the marketing manager are as follows:
 Manging the marketing department of the company
 Conducting marketing campaigns
 Creating the strategic marketing plans to ensure that the profitable growth of the
company

 Planning the promotional strategies of the product and launching it
 Improving the brand image in the market by the conduction of certain advertisements
and campaigns
4. An explanation of how marketing influences and interrelates with other
functional departments of the organisation.
Marketing is a vast concept, in context to that marketing has a linkage with other functional
units of an organisation in order to achieve the targeted objectives. Marketing department
influences the other departments in various ways such as:
Interrelationship of Marketing and Finance- The marketing department interrelates with the
financial department of the firm as because marketing plans need to understand the financial
dimensions of the organisation. The marketing decisions are based on the investment on
different new ideas and strategies for the growth of the company. With the effectiveness of
the marketing department, the company’s financial position can take a lead in the market. In
that case, marketing functions have a great influence on the financial department of the
organisation.
Interrelationship of Marketing and Production- Marketing department helps the production
department by making them understand the wants and interest of the customers. In that case,
marketing department has their influence on the production department of the organisation.
Interrelationship of Marketing and Procurement- With the help of proper marketing research,
the marketing department of the organisation can help the procurement function by helping
them with the required raw materials for the production process.
Interrelationship of Marketing and Research & Development- The marketing department has
a close linkage with the research & development department as it helps them to understand
the new trends in the market and the customer’s interest and wants from the organisation
which will be helpful for the company to research and develop new products.
5.The value and importance of the marketing role in the context of the
organisation.
Marketing is one of the most essential reason for the profitability and growth of the
organisation. It is gaining the increase in the prominence which helps them to participate in
all the functions of the organisation (Cacciolatti and Lee, 2016). The concept of marketing is

important and valued in the organisation as it has different roles which helps the organisation
to sustain in the market. There are few roles of marketing function such as:
Meeting the needs and wants of the customer: The marketing department of the organisation
identifies the interests and wants of the potential customers. This helps the organisation to
satisfy the customer demand by providing them the good and services as per their need.
Ensuring the sustainability and growth of the organisation: The survival and growth of the
business depends upon the profitability and market shares (Kladou et al.,2017). The
marketing department plays the role here as this department is customer-centric it helps to
increase the sale of the company parallel to the profitability. This also helps in creating a
good brand image of the organisation which helps them in getting the market shares easily.
Widening the market for the organisation: Marketing department plays a significant role in
widening the market for selling the goods and services of the organisation. The main role of
marketing function is to ensure that they create a good market to increase the sale of the
products (Valos et al., 2016). They use different method and hands on social media
marketing, advertisements, etc for widening the market.
6. Conclusions that emphasise the significance of having effective
interrelationships between different functional departments.
Based on the information provided above, it is cleared that marketing function creates a great
impact on the business and is equally essential for the organisation. This function has
essential influences on the other functional units of the organisation. Marketing department
influences the financial, production, procurement, research and development, etc units of the
organisation.

Part B
Task One (LO2)
P3 Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives.
7 P’s Apple Samsung
Product Apple has been consistently increasing
the product range and are giving a
wide range of choice to the customers.
There are different products which the
company is doing the business of such
as mobile, computer, servers, tablets, I-
pods, etc. The products of apple are
well known by the customers because
of the durability and reliability factor
upon the brand. However, the only
negative part about the products are
that the hardware and software can be
used only with the company’s own
product (Mohammad, 2015).
Samsung has a wide range of
products such as tablets, mobile
phones, televisions, air conditioners,
IT and different variety of
electronics. The products of
Samsung are trusted by the
customers as this is a reliable brand.
Price The company Apple follow different
pricing strategies such as the premium
pricing, the price skimming and the
geographical pricing for their products
(Jackson and Ahuja, 2016).
Samsung generally follows the
skimming pricing strategy and the
competitive pricing strategy in order
to achieve their desired goals of
selling their product. This can only
be done by following the
competitive pricing strategy.
Place Apple has their branches in 24
countries with more than 500 stores.
They have their different channels
such as apple stores, their own online
stores, etc, where they sell their
products (Apple, 2019).
Samsung has their existence in the
market through different channels
such as stores, online stores, etc
where they sell their products.
Process The company is known for their
simple process of factoring to selling
They follow the process of
delivering the easiest ways for

their products. They also have
factories all over the world.
conducting the sale of their products
starting from the factories to the
retail shops.
Promotion Apple uses various ways to promote
their products in the market which
includes the branding of the product,
advertising, corporate identity of the
company, PR activities, social media,
etc. This helps them to attract number
of people towards their brand.
Samsung provides a lot of offers and
discounts on the festive season for
their promotional activities
(Bahadir,et al.,2016). This helps
them to create their brand image in
the market.
People The employees who are working for
apple are certified and trained workers
of their job. Apple Inc takes all the
initiatives to provide the best services
to the customers.
They have a huge number of
employees working in the stores and
their showrooms. Samsung conducts
the training program in order to
provide enhanced services to the
customers.
Physical evidence The company has their own stores,
online stores and employees working
in their stores (Ahmed and Rahman,
2015). They also have a logo of the
company which gives the strong
evidence on their physical existence.
Samsung has their own Samsung
showrooms, there are a huge mass of
employees who are working for the
company and they have their logo
which proofs the physical existence
of the company.
Table 1: Comparison of marketing mix of two companies
(Source: created by learner)
M3 Evaluate different tactics applied by organisations to demonstrate how business
objectives can be achieved.
The company Apple Inc, is one of the leading companies in the world in term of marketing.
Apple formulate different strategies and tactics in order to achieve their desired objectives
(Nagle et al., 2016). These tactics are helpful in the conduction of the business for the
company. These tactics include:
Gaining insights from the customer behaviour: Apple Inc, uses their marketing skills in order
to get the insights of the interest and the wants which the customers demand for. By the help
of this tactic the company can hold their position in the market. Customers will get attracted
towards the company because the product offering are like their demand.

Gaining intelligence about their competitors: Apple uses this tactic to gain the knowledge
about their competitors so that they can improve their products and give better goods and
services to the customers than their competitors. In the competitive market it is difficult to
target the audience, and in that case, Apple gaining the intelligence about their competitors
can use different tactics to grab the audience towards them.
Establishing plans to achieve the goal: They take measures to work on establishing their
plans and achieving the main goal of the company (Okongwu et al.,2016). Strategies and
plans at the time of launching new products are very important in that case the company take
certain steps to build short term plans and formulate them.
Providing quality products: Apple Inc, is very conscious about their brand image in the
market in that case they focus on bettering their product quality to build the trust of the
customers. Quality products always attracts the customers towards them, same with the apple
company where the products are being attracted by the customers.
Promotional Activities: Apple does different promotional activities to gain customers through
both the online and offline methods (Mallik, 2018). They use different advertisement
methods which help them to reach to aa large number of audiences. They use social media as
a tool for promoting their brand as they know that this can help them in building their
business.
D2 Design a strategic marketing plan that tactically applies the use of the 7Ps to achieve
overall marketing objectives.
A marketing plan has to be developed by keeping in mind the varied range of objectives and
goals being adopted by the organisation. The objectives associated with development of the
marketing plan aligned with the specific practices and activities provides the impetus to the
organisation to perform well within the market. According to Kotler et al., (2015), lifestyle
segmentation is followed and implemented by Apple in ensuring that the marketing strategies
profitably reach out to the target customers existing within the market. Marketing strategy
being devised by the Apple Company tends to involve the different types of activities and
services that cater to the needs and requirements of all the customers in the market.
Apple makes use of the 7Ps marketing mix features and elements to achieve the different
marketing objectives and goals within the market. Apple tends to design high class
technology integrated products and commodities such as MacBook and I watch that cater to
the needs and requirements of different target customer groups existing within the open

market. According to Ughanwa and Baker (2018), the products manufactured and designed
by Apple include the use of high quality operating systems and utilisation of modern
technological methods and strategies that are beneficial to be used within the organisational
circuit. Apple products have less penetration in framing their pricing rates and they are made
by devising the appropriate strategies and policies that have a positive impact upon
developing the vast range of operations and services within the organisation.
The marketing department of Apple tends to frame the promotion strategies of the Apple
Company by making advertisements that are clear and crisp in their presentation and carries a
strong message for the target customer groups in the market. The background colour included
in the advertisements of the Apple Company is generally white and a range of colours are
spread around the logo or the advertisements being framed. The modern and advanced
technological methods and concepts are developed in accordance with the different steps and
measures that are laid down by the management of the Apple Company (Valos et al, 2016).
Apple Company possesses differentiation aspects that are numerous in number and will help
in differentiating the products and services manufactured by Apple in the market.
The brand equity related to the Apple Company is of very high quality and will be maintained
in a systematic manner by adhering to the different policies laid down by the organisation for
reaching out to more customers (Çifci,et al.,2016). Apple will integrate innovative features
and designs within their modern day stores and departmental outlets to ensure that the varied
ranges and categories of services are handled in a systematic manner within the organisation
to satisfy the demands of the common people. The combined effects of retailing and e-
commerce services will help the organisation to provide services in a smooth manner. The
premium pricing strategy will work for the Apple Company due to the high quality
technological services integrated within their products and services to carry out the actions
and tasks related to the organisation. The premium pricing strategy works for Apple as the
consumers availing high quality Apple products will not opt for electronic gadgets or
products of another Company.
Task 2 (LO3)
P4 Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation.
SWOT Analysis of Apple Company
Strengths Weaknesses
1) Apple Company possesses stable 1) The network of distribution level is very