Marketing Essentials: Roles, Strategies, and Plan for Burberry

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Burberry's marketing strategies, roles, and responsibilities. It delves into the key elements of the marketing function, including product concepts, production concepts, selling concepts, and marketing concepts, and examines their application within Burberry's operations. The report explores current and future marketing trends such as social media, content marketing, and the virtual world, and assesses the interrelationship between marketing and other organizational functions, including human resources, production, and finance. Furthermore, it evaluates Burberry's marketing mix, comparing it with competitors and formulating a basic marketing plan to achieve organizational objectives. The analysis covers the marketing environment, internal and external factors, and their impact on Burberry's strategies. The report also examines the application of marketing mix elements to achieve business goals and objectives, providing valuable insights into Burberry's marketing approach.

Marketing Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
ACTIVITY 1....................................................................................................................................3
Explain key roles and responsibilities of marketing function................................................3
Analysis of roles and responsibilities of marketing with respect to marketing environment and
their interrelationship with other functional departments......................................................6
Critical assessment of key elements of marketing function and their relationship with other
organisational functions..........................................................................................................8
ACTIVITY 2....................................................................................................................................9
Application of marketing mix to achieve business objectives along with comparison with
competition.............................................................................................................................9
Tactics applied by Burberry to achieve organisational goals and objectives.......................12
Formulation of basic marketing plan for an organisation....................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to examination and management of exchange relationships. It is a
business process for creation of relationship with customers and fulfilling their requirements. It is
the science and art of exploration, creation and delivering value to customers by which wants of
target market can be fulfilled with high profit (Akbar and et. al., 2017). It determines unfulfilled
wants, desires and needs of customer. Basically it can be defined as aggregation of tasks which
are carried out by organisation for exploring, creating and delivering value to customers so that
their wants can be satisfied within market. It identify most suitable techniques and methods by
which organisation can market their products so that they can attain maximised response from
customers.
In this report Burberry is taken into account, which is a British luxury fashion house. It is
a public limited company which is headquartered in London and was founded in 1856. It mainly
focus on products like ready-to-wear outwear, sunglasses, fashion accessories, fragrances,
trench-coat (mainly known for them) and cosmetics. It was ranked 73 in Interbrand’s best global
brand. This report comprises of various roles and responsibilities of marketing functions, along
with their relation in wider aspect. Apart from this, it also contain details about marketing’s roles
and responsibilities with respect to marketing environment and assessment of key elements of
marketing functions as well as their inter-relation with other functional departments of
organisation. It also focuses on comparison between marketing mix of different organisations
and marketing plan for Burberry for which they can accomplish their organisational objectives.
ACTIVITY 1
Explain key roles and responsibilities of marketing function
Marketing is one of the most crucial activities which are carried out by organisation. By
making use of this, Burberry can have enhanced relationship with their customers. For this it is
essential for organisation to have in-depth marketing analysis which will aid them to develop and
render their services according to demands of customers. Moreover, it also assist them to
produce services through which they can have maximised profits and ensure their sustainability
within market for longer time period (Dioko, 2016). Large numbers of marketing concepts are
present within market and they must be understood so that knowledge can gain about current and
future trends which will prevail within market. Some of them are described below:
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 Product concept: Preferences of customers in terms of organisation and services which
are being offered to customers depends upon quality of services they are being given. For
this Burberry must have effective marketing strategies by which they can improvise
quality as well as uniqueness of their services which can attract more number of
customers. Marketing depends on features which are being provided to customers as they
will act as major driving forces (Duffett, 2017).
 Production concept: It is one of the oldest concepts which emphasised on production of
services and products which are offered by organisation. Burberry focused on reducing
their production cost so that they can maximise number of sales of their products.
Furthermore, it will increase customer’s preferences to opt for services which are being
delivered by such organisations.
 Selling concept: It will emphasise on strategies which are being chosen by organisation
for selling of their products and services. It has been observed that companies like
Burberry needs to have large scale selling and put more efforts on promotional activities
so that they enhance their selling. In this concept focus is on number of sales which have
been occurred rather than relationship with customers.
 Marketing concept: In this customers are major assets and organisations adopt effective
strategies by which they can focus on their customer’s needs. In this aspect Burberry has
opted for pull strategy so that they can become most preferred brand for customers. They
emphasise on providing products which customers needs and fulfil their entire desire.
It is essential for Burberry to opt for marketing concept in effective manner so that they can
have long lasting success and can also ensure their position within market for longer run. There
are certain current and future trends, they are presented below:
Current Trends:
Social Media: By digital transformation and enhancement in technology, communication by use
of different social mediums is mostly opted by people. They include Twitter, Instagram and
Facebook. These mediums are used by most of people and organisation also makes use of these
platforms for doing marketing of their products (Griffitts, 2016). Burberry has made their strong
online presence by which they enhance their position within market.
Content Marketing: It is one of the most trending marketing trends. In this organisations
engage their customer with services and products which are being offered to them. It also two-
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way communication among customer and organisation. By this Burberry can identify needs of
customers by which they can provide them enhanced services. Furthermore, it creates strong
impact on mindset of people as organisation creates influence to opt for their services by
carrying out effectual marketing strategies. Burberry uses appropriate content in their marketing
activities so that they can attract more number of customers towards them (Groucutt and
Hopkins, 2015).
Future Trends:
 Virtual world: With future concern, it is one of the most prominent aspects. By this
companies can provide their customers with personalised marketing by usage of
augmented reality. This will lead to success and this approach is innovative. Moreover,
robots can also be used by Burberry for marketing purpose; this will create affirmative
impact on their growth rate.
 Artificial intelligence: Though it is present in current scenario but it is not used widely
as still research is going on this. But in future it will be trending and used by most of
organisations. By usage of this analysis of data will become more efficient and strategies
can be formulated by organisations like Burberry according to that.
Marketing roles and responsibilities in wider context with respect to marketing are described
below:
Formulation of strategies: It one of the most important marketing role. It assists manager of
marketing department to set up strategies so that they can effectively showcase their services and
products within market. It is essential that marketing strategies must align with other strategies
which are created by management of other departments of Burberry. It will assist them to attain
standards effectually and attain their organisational objectives. For this various campaigns can be
set by Burberry where they can make people aware about services and products which they are
offering to them. This will assist them to achieve goals within desired time frame (Hugos, 2018).
 Market research: Marketing function is responsible for carrying out in-depth research
within market so that they can analyse latest trends, taste and market gap. Marketing
functions of Burberry carry out this responsibility in appropriate way and also identify
opportunities which they can gain market. This will lead to enhancement in brand image
of Burberry. This will assist them to develop suitable products according to needs of
market and will assist them to remain strong with respect to their competitors.
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Information system: Burberry operates their services worldwide, therefore it is crucial for them
to have perfect information system. Marketing function plays important role as Burberry can
exchange information with their other organisations which are present somewhere else (Larson
and Draper, 2015). This will lead them to growth but for this it is mandatory that marketing
function should provide robust information.
 Brand management: It is responsibility of marketing function of Burberry to manage
their brand and also accumulate brands by which they can remain sustainable within
market. For this, they need to have innovative approach and must be open alterations
within system as by this their flexibility will be enhanced.
Analysis of roles and responsibilities of marketing with respect to marketing environment and
their interrelationship with other functional departments
It is essential for Burberry to identify marketing roles responsibilities. They are analysed
below:
 Creating strategies: Marketing environment comprises of various factors they includes
internal and external. Each factor has their own impact on Burberry. Internal factors
include management,employees, customers and stakeholders. External factors comprises
of political, economic, social, technological and many others. They create a strong impact
on what products are being offered by organisation. By analysing these factors marketing
department of Burberry can create strategies which can aid them to remain competitive.
 Market research: When marketing environment is taken into consideration then internal
and external marketing environment is taken into account. This means that these elements
must research appropriately as they can create negative impact on organisation. Like if
requirements of customers are not met then they will switch to another brand. For this
marketing function of Burberry needs to conduct market research in appropriate way by
which they can offerings to customers and present them in suitable way (Muller, 2019).
 Information system: It can be considered as major factor of marketing environment. It
associates internal and external marketing environment of Burberry. As by this needs of
customers can be analysed and they can be processed by employees. Therefore, it is
essential that information should be accurate. By this Burberry can have competitive edge
within market.
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Marketing is interrelated with other departments of Burberry. These interrelations are
described below:
 Marketing and human resource: HR comprises of all employees or individuals who are
part of Burberry and they are responsible for taking organisation towards growth. Human
resource department is responsible for managing these resources in appropriate manner
so that productivity of organisation can be maximised (Pappas, 2017). Moreover,
marketing needs to make sure that HR functions are carried out in required manner so
that performance of employees can be improvised by which they will be able to
accomplish requirements of their customers. There exist two way relationships between
these departments. As HR function provide them effective workforce which assist them
to attain their objectives.
 Marketing and production: These two departments are linked with each other.
Production department needs to research and develop services as per preferences of
customers and trends within market. It is their responsibility to check feasibility of
requirements which are being given by marketing team after analysing or conducting
market research and they also analyse how long it will take to develop specific product.
By conducting market research, marketing function identifies techniques, methods and
processes which can be used by production department for manufacturing large quantities
of products in effective way.
 Marketing and Finance: Within Burberry, Finance department is responsible for
maintaining all the incomes which are generated by organisation. Marketing needs budget
for carrying out market research and other activities, for this they require suitable budget
for communicating and promoting their services within market. Finance department cuts
up cost required in every operation (Piñeiro-Otero and Martínez-Rolán, 2016). They
work in together in effective manner as by preparing budget beforehand will assist
management of Burberry to make finance available at required moment so that their
services are not being hampered and are provided at mentioned time.
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Critical assessment of key elements of marketing function and their relationship with other
organisational functions
There are different elements of marketing functions which are important for Burberry to
identify that marketing of their products within market is carried out in effective manner. Critical
evaluation of these elements is mentioned below:
 Research: It is one of critical aspect of marketing. It assist organisation to collect
information related with outside world in terms of their requirements. It is essential for
development of services and their marketing (Rancati, Gordini and Capatina, 2016). As
without marketing people will not be aware of whether their requirements are
accomplished by Burberry or not. It will also aid in identification of best business
practices which can be opted by organisation. But major challenge which could be faced
by them is as outside environment is dynamic and it becomes difficult for an organisation
to cope up with altering environment. For this Burberry can have a different department
which can check outside environment and formulate policies accordingly so that growth
of organisation is not disrupted.
 Strategy: Information which is collected after market research is evaluated with respect
to its relevancy and what opportunities will it provide to organisation. Strategies are
formulated by management of Burberry accordingly. This is important as by this
organisation can have tactics for carrying out marketing. Marketing strategies may not be
aligned with other strategies, to ensure the effectiveness; these strategies must balance
each other.
 Planning: Strategies are formulated, now these must be planned and executed by
Burberry. Planning includes sales forecast, finance, distribution and communication with
potential or target customers. In this case long term planning will be very risky due to
rapidly changing environment. For this Burberry need to have small objectives and plan
according to them.
It is essential for marketing function to have effective and consistent interrelationship with other
departments so that they can function as a single unit (Rowley, 2016). As integration of these
functions will make sure that there each step is planned and they have formulated policies
simultaneously which will result in enhancement of profitability. It is necessary that Human
resource, production and finance department must be connected with marketing department so
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that they can gain information about customer’s requirement and work accordingly. Whereas HR
department must ensure that skilled labour is provided to marketing function and finance
department should provide them sufficient amount so that they can carry out their functions
effectively (Scarborough, 2016).
ACTIVITY 2
Application of marketing mix to achieve business objectives along with comparison with
competition.
Marketing-mix is the process of the various strategies and plan of actions that a firm uses
to promote and advertise their product in the marketplace. This includes the the various areas to
focus as part of comprehensive marketing plan. This is made up of 7P's which named as Product,
Price, Place, Promotion, Physical evidence, Process, people, etc. This helps the firm to define
their tactics and the status of the current product so that they can make the changes according to
the change in the market and can be able to compete in the competitive marketplace. To compete
with the rivals, Burberry needs to compare their marketing mix with their competitors marketing
mix, the main rival of Burberry is named as Christian Dior, which is an European company deal
in the same sector as Burberry do, this firm is giving tuff competition to the Burberry in the
fashion industry. Below is the difference of marketing mix of both companies -
7P's Burberry Christian Dior
Product The firm is dealing with
fashionable and luxurious
products and this is popular
and has the good reputation
because of the design of the
fashionable product they are
selling to their customers, just
like the Tartan pattern design
is very popular and only
created by the founder of
Burberry.
This business enterprise is
dealing with the fashion
accessories, skin care products,
Fragrances and leather goods,
etc. This is very popular in
selling the perfume and DO of
their firm, example – Poison
and Miss Dior are the famous
fragrances for women's and
girls, along with this, Higher
Cater and Jules are popular
fragrances of men's and Boys.
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Price As it is known that Burberry is
offering all the fashionable and
Luxurious products, so the
price of the goods or products
are higher than the standard
price, as this is for the
customers who prefer to have
the high quality products
rather than price.
In context with the Dior, this
also have the premium price
policy as they provide high
quality products with more
innovation in them, as by
making the trust over the
customers and by having the
positive and good relationship
with their loyal customers.
Place The firm is selling their
products in all over the world,
and having around 500 outlets
in the global market. They are
having the dealership with the
third party and that party help
the firm to sell their products
by using latest technology and
in efficient manner so that the
product of Burberry can be
exploit to more and more
customers (Wirtz and
Lovelock, 2016).
This firm is having more
capability to sell their products
alone in the global market.
They are selling the products
in all over the world but
having the outlets only in 210
countries, which are named as
Beijing, Paris, London, New
York, etc.
Promotion The firm is using the method
of advertisement to promote
their products, they are using
the top class magazines in
which the ad of their products
are placed. Along with this
they are also using the method
of visual media by which they
This firm is promoting their
brand by rewarding their loyal
customers by sending them the
updates of their products via e-
mail. There are some famous
personalities who have help
the firm in promoting their
products, they are named as
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can gain the attention of more
customers and can generate
more revenue.
Blake Lively and Ziyi Zhang.
Process The firm Burberry is using the
online delivery process to gain
the attention of more
customers. They are trying to
reach to all their clients so that
by the enhancement of sale,
they can generate more
revenue (Akbar and et. al.,
2017).
The firm is using the method
of packaging to grab the
attention of customers. If the
outer design is attractive then
the customers will seek to buy
their products more and more.
Dior is having the well-
designed packaging so that
they can attract more
customers.
People The firm is having the trained
employees, which are well
trained in treating their
customers, they are well
known about the customers
choice and what product will
be suitable for customers, they
treat them according to their
requirements and wants.
The firm is having the workers
who are highly skilled in
creating and developing the
unique design and also
adjustable in adopting the
promotional activities like
social media.
Physical Evidence The firm Burberry sells their
products with having the
unique logo of their company,
so that each customers can be
easily able to identify the
product of Burberry. Along
with this, the firm is also
having their own website on
The firm has uses the different
ways for screening the
physical evidence such as their
building and layouts. This also
determine the interest and
behaviour of the customers in
an positive way (Dioko, 2016).
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