Marketing Essentials: Comparative Analysis & Bentley's Marketing Plan

This report provides a detailed analysis of marketing essentials, focusing on Bentley Motors Limited and a comparative study with Aston Martin. It begins with an introduction to marketing's role in business development, highlighting Bentley's history and product range. The core of the report compares the marketing mix (7Ps) of Bentley and Aston Martin, examining price, product, promotion, place, people, process, and physical evidence. Furthermore, it develops and evaluates a basic marketing plan for Bentley, including an executive summary, situational analysis (internal, external, and SWOT), business objectives, STP (segmentation, targeting, positioning), budget, tactics, actions, and control measures. The analysis aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of Bentley's marketing strategies and their impact on achieving business objectives.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2
TASK 2..............................................................................................................................................3
LO2...................................................................................................................................................3
P3 COMPARE THE WAYS IN WHICH DIFFERENT ORGANISATIONS APPLY THE MARKETING MIX
TO THE MARKETING PLANNING PROCESS TO ACHIEVE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES.........................3
LO3...................................................................................................................................................6
P4 PRODUCE AND EVALUATE A BASIC MARKETING PLAN FOR BENTLEY...................................6
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing plays an important role in the development of any business. It is the study or
management of exchange relationships of the organisation. The main aim of marketing is to
create, keep and satisfy the customers by using many policies and elements. This assignment
will explain all the roles and responsibilities of marketing functions and how this responsibilities
relate to wider organisational context. The following assignment also describes the marketing
mix of organisation.
Bentley Motors Limited is a British company which manufactures SUVs and luxury cars. The
company was founded by W.O. Bentley in 1919, headquartered in England. Bentley is creating
great automobiles from last 95 years. Models of Bentley serve world’s widest range of
handcrafted cars such as Bentley Continental, Bentley Mulsanne, Bentley Flying Spur, Bentley
Bentayga etc. In this assignment, the comparison is carried out on the basis of marketing mix
between Bentley and another company from same industry. In the last part of this article
marketing plan of Bentley is also described.
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TASK 2
LO2
P3 COMPARE THE WAYS IN WHICH DIFFERENT ORGANISATIONS APPLY THE
MARKETING MIX TO THE MARKETING PLANNING PROCESS TO ACHIEVE
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES.
Marketing mix is that element in the organisation which is the base for success of organisation.
Marketing mix is the combination of all such factors that are controlled by the company itself
and influence the customers to purchase their goods and services. It is a set of actions or tactics
which the company performs in order to promote its brand in the market and attract more
buyers. 7P’s of marketing includes; Price, Product, Promotion and place, People, Process and
Physical evidence (Jain, 2013).
In the following report, 7P's of marketing mix of Bentley and Aston Martin is compared. These
two companies are world's largest car manufacturing companies. Comparison of marketing mix
between these two companies will give the idea about various elements of product and service
mix of the leading car manufacturing companies. The comparison of Aston Martin and Bentley
on the basis of marketing mix or 7P's is as follows:
PRICE
Bentley being the leading luxurious car manufacturing company cannot compromise on its
product's quality. Bentley mostly targets rich customers who are ready to invest a large amount
for the purchase of car. Bentley uses highly skilled craftsmanship and good quality engines to
meet the quality of its products (Jobber and Shipley, 2012). All the cars of Bentley are made
according to convenience of their customers and further modification can be made to
customers demand. Cars of Bentley cost from $180,000 to $300,000 plus.
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Aston Martin is also a leading manufacturer of car and it also never compromises with its
quality of product. Due to the same reason, the price of Aston Martin is also high and serves
usually the richer sections. The price of Aston Martin starts from $140,000.
PRODUCT
Bentley is one of the leading premium car brands in the world and has a rich product portfolio
in its marketing mix. Mulsanne extended wheelbase, Continental Supersports, Continental
super sports convertible, Flying Spur V8S, Bentley Mark V etc. are some of its leading models.
All the models of Bentley are designed according to the need and demand of customers.
The cars of Aston Martin provide a quality product as well. The cars come with immense
horsepower and luxury. The car needs utmost care and maintenance from its owner. Some of
its car in marketing mix are; Aston Martin V8 & V12 Vantage, Aston Martin DB11, Vanquish &
Vanquish Volante etc.
PLACE
The entire world in today's era has a soft corner for luxurious cars; some of their needs are
fulfilled by Bentley. Bentley has made up the franchise network all around the world and selling
80-85% of their cars across the world (Khan, 2014). China has a good market demand for the
products of Bentley and the company is also making its entry into other parts of world.
Aston Martin has its presence globally and becomes a global brand for automobiles. It also first
sells its cars to the franchising agents in different parts who then deliver the product to the end
customer.
PROMOTION
Bentley knows that how important it is to promote any product in today’s world. It promotes it
product through various techniques such as with proper campaigns, advertisement through TV
and internet etc which makes the customers aware globally. Bentley uses ethical marketing
more than the extravagant marketing and believes that there is no point in selling if there is no
demand from the customers. Thus, this describes the marketing mix of Bentley.
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To increase the sales of their cars, Aston Martin is adopting many new strategies according to
the current trends of market. They have a strong network online and use social media majorly
to share the photos and details of their products.
PEOPLE
In this factor of marketing mix all the person, employees, stakeholders that are present within
the company are included. It is the key duty of Bentley to satisfy all the people that are included
in their operations and activities be it the staffs or the stakeholders (Vidaver-Cohen and Brønn,
2015). It is also very important for Aston Martin to satisfy all the people that are involving in
process of car manufacturing. This way the goodwill of any company increases which directly
helps them in increasing profits and achieving the desired goals.
PROCESS
Process refers to all the functions that are taking place in the company from start to end. It is a
step which is followed by the companies to maintain its profit and growth. Both the companies
Bentley and Aston Martin has improved drastically over the years and contributed to their
quality of product.
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Physical evidence is also an important element of marketing mix. Customers choose their
products mainly by getting impressed with product's physical appearance (Eagle, et al. 2013).
Both the companies Bentley and Aston Martin have the products which can be identified from
far away and give the sense of their presence. The physical evidence of both the companies
includes; quality of product, delivery of product, speed, features, cost etc.
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LO3
P4 PRODUCE AND EVALUATE A BASIC MARKETING PLAN FOR BENTLEY
On the basis of different factors the marketing plan of Bentley is as follows:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
There are many factors in Bentley which need to be carried out in a proper way by the
marketing team to make a successful marketing plan for the company. Proper researchers are
conducting to get the exact required plan for the company (Westwood, 2016). By considering
different factors, the marketing plan of Bentley is developed. Different factors include;
overview of company, situational analysis, SWOT analysis, objective of business, budget etc.
OVERVIEW OF THE COMPANY
Bentley is famous for its luxury in automobile market, where the cars are manufactured for
extreme speed and performance and handcrafted with breath-taking design for rich people. It
was founded by W.O. Bentley in 1919 in London. In 1931, it was further acquired by Rolls Royce
limited and again in 1980, it was acquired by Vickers Plc. Finally, in 1998, Volkswagen group
became the owner of the company and the company is making good progress in the market
since then.
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE ORGANIZATION
To find out the organisation’s functioning along with the market structure, external analysis,
internal analysis and SWOT analysis of Bentley is carried out by the marketing team. Situational
analyses of different types are as follows:
INTERNAL ANALYSIS
To carry out internal analysis in Bentley, different aspect which is related to the internal factors
have to be analysed (Estampe, et al. 2013). The performance of staff, management in the
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operations and all the issues which are present internally in the company needs to be managed.
With the help of internal analysis, Bentley can observe that the company is following the
internal guidelines effectively which further helps in the development of business.
EXTERNAL ANALYSIS
All the factors which are present externally and affects the business management such as
political factor, environmental factor, social factor, economic factor etc should be analysed
properly. The main external factor which affects Bentley majorly is economic and political
factor. The competitors either domestic or international should also be analysed by the
marketing team of Bentley which helps in the growth and development of the business.
SWOT ANALYSIS
The Swot analysis outlines the internal and external issue which the company is facing
presently. All the threats, opportunities, strengths and weaknesses are determined by the
marketing team of Bentley in SWOT analysis (Ayub, et al. 2013). SWOT analysis of Bentley is as
follows:
STRENGTHS
 Brand value is very high
 Consumers blindly follow the product.
 Provide handcrafted designs on the
demand of customers.
 Deliver breath-taking design with
excellent power and performance.
WEAKNESSES
 Company is suffering from volatile
financial performance.
 Key value proposition is limited.
 Serves only a small fraction of market.
OPPORTUNITIES
 Rise in sells in China is creating new
market in the world.
 Due to globalisation, company will
achieve new trends easily.
 Increase in demand as the income level
is continuously growing.
THREATS
 Due to increase in automotive
industry, the profit margin is going
down.
 The economic outlook is negative.
 Prices are very high which lowers the
customers.
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OBJECTIVES OF THE BUSINESS
The different objectives of Bentley are as follows:
 Fulfil the requirement of customers who want premium quality products.
 Produce the cars which add to the luxury and sports market.
 To gain high profits and revenues.
 Satisfy the customers by providing them with their desired product.
SEGMENTATION, TARGETING, AND POSITIONING (STP)
With respect to its international operations the STP of Bentley is as follows:
SEGMENTATION
Marketing team of Bentley is using a mix of demographic and psychographic segmentation
strategies in order to find the factors which are contributing to the development of business
(Wedel and Kamakura, 2012). This segmentation improves the structure and functioning of
company.
TARGETING
Bentley only deals with the premium and rich section of people, therefore, it adopts targeting
strategy to make its product more appealing to the customers. With the help of targeting
strategies in the business, it becomes easy for them to sell their products to the targeted
segment of customers.
POSITIONING
Use of proper positioning helps the brand to communicate with the customers in more effective
way. Bentley uses a value-based strategy of positioning to highlight all it intangible pros and
benefits to the customers (Khan, 2013). This strategy of positioning can also help Bentley to get
more advantages over its competitors.
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BUDGET
Budget is the most important factor that must be developed and managed properly by the
team of marketing in Bentley. Calculating the budget before the final product can help the
company in many positive ways and also helps in finding out tentative cost of production.
Following factors are considered in finding out the budget of marketing for Bentley:
ACTIVITIES COST (£)
MARKET ANALYSIS £ 300,000
DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN £ 140,000
HUMAN RESOURCES £ 200,000
TRAINING COST £ 100,000
TECHNICAL COST £ 120,000
COST INVOLVED IN PLAN IMPLEMENTATION £ 170,000
TOTAL COST £ 1,030,000
TACTICS AND ACTION
Proper management of actions and appropriate development of tactics play an important in the
business and helps in creating a successful marketing of company’s products and services in
domestic as well as international market. The team of marketing should always manage all their
roles and responsibility which helps in the development of marketing plan of company.
CONTROL
All the actions must be under the proper control of marketing team of Bentley for the
successful growth of company. The committee of management of Bentley should take regular
feedback from their customers and employees about the product and services (Mitra, 2016).
This way the company will know about clearly that their current plan is helpful and if not they
can develop more effective marketing plan.
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CONCLUSION
This assignment tells about Bentley which is included among the best luxury car manufacturing
company in the world. This report provides a comparison between Bentley and Aston Martin on
the basis of 7P’s of marketing. It is very important for any company to maintain their 7P’s for
the development or growth of organisation. At last the assignment gives out the marketing plan
of Bentley which includes the company’s overview, STP, budget, actions and control, etc. which
is helpful in the expansion of company.
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