Marketing Essentials: Roles, 7Ps, Plan for Your Destination

This report examines the essential aspects of marketing, focusing on the roles and responsibilities of a marketing function within an organization and its contribution to achieving wider organizational objectives. It uses the case study of 'Your Destination,' a transport company aiming to expand its business, to illustrate the application of the marketing mix (7Ps) in comparison to National Express. The report details key marketing activities such as market research, product improvement, customer communication, and business environment analysis. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of interdepartmental coordination, particularly between marketing, sales, R&D, HR, and finance. Finally, the report includes the development and evaluation of a basic marketing plan for Your Destination, highlighting strategies for market expansion and competitive advantage.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................3
LO 1............................................................................................................................................4
P 1& M1 KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MARKETING FUNCTION.............................4
P2 & M2 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MARKETING IN WIDER ORGANIZATIONAL
OBJECTIVES.............................................................................................................................6
LO2.............................................................................................................................................8
P3 &M3USING THE 7PS COMPARE YOUR DESTINATION APPROACH TO APPLYING THE
MARKING MIX TO THAT OF NATIONAL EXPRESS IN ACHIEVING THE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
................................................................................................................................................8
LO 3..........................................................................................................................................12
P4 & M4 PRODUCE AND EVALUATE A BASIC MARKETING PLAN FOR AN ORGANISATION.12
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................19
1

INTRODUCTION
Marketing essential is an important management activity of an organisation which includes
promotion or selling of the products or services which can meet the expectations of the
customers. It plays a vital role in developing a healthy relationship with customers,
enhancing sales and profitability of the company (Armstrong, et al. 2015). This report aims
to investigate the different dimensions of the marketing essentials. It demonstrates the
roles and responsibilities of the marketing officer and its contribution to achieving different
organisational objectives. The application of the marketing mix is also explained in this
report. Further, it covers the marketing plan in order to achieve the different marketing
functions.
The case study of ‘Your Destination’ is used in this work to make a clear understanding of
the marketing essentials. According to the case study, ‘Your Destination' is a transport
company which provides transport nationwide. The objective of the company is to expand
business in Manchester, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Newcastle and to compete with the
National Express who is the market leader.
2

LO 1
P 1& M1 KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MARKETING FUNCTION
There are various activities which are performed by the marketing department of a
company which enables a company to achieve various organisational objectives. These
activities of marketing function are managed by marketing manager of the organisation. A
marketing manager knows how to utilise the resources of the company and to achieve the
desired results. There are several key roles and responsibilities of marketing manager which
contribute significantly to the success of the company (Liebl, 2015). Main roles and
responsibilities performed by marketing manager of your destination are :
MARKET RESEARCH
Market research is the key function and responsibility of marketing activities. Research gives
the estimate of consumers demand and their needs which can increase the market share of
the firm. This marketing activity is carried out to identify the strength and weakness of
competitors and help to create the opportunities for upcoming trend. Research can be done
by doing surveys, industry reports and some social media analysis. The marketing manager
contributes their major skills to expand the business ‘your destination’.
PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
It is important for a company to develop the products which can meet the expectations of
the customers, therefore, it needs to focus on the continuous improvement and
development of the products and services (Hollensen, et al. 2015). The production team of
the organisation develop the product as per the trend with the guidance of marketing
manager. They added some new techniques and features and raise the brand value. This
function helps to win the competition in the market. In the context of marketing officer of
business ‘your destination,' the product is transport services for this business.
3

COMMUNICATION WITH CUSTOMER
The essential duty of marketing manager to expand the organisational roots to
communicate effectively with their customer in preference to understand the demand and
desires. Regular interaction or negotiation with customer make healthy relations which is
good for future growth and improve the brand value so, this responsibility of marketing
officer can distribute the services of ‘your destination’ nationwide.
UNDERSTATING AND ANALYSING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
There are several aspects of the business environment which affects the business activities
directly or indirectly so, it is the crucial responsibility of marketing manager to study every
aspect such as political and economical are more important to grab the market share. This
study gives the earlier opportunities and information about the upcoming crisis. If the
marketing manager scan that perfectly then the business ‘your destination' can capture the
nationwide customers (Kim, et al. 2014).
All the above-mentioned roles and duties of a marketing manager help a company in
achieving different organisational goals such as the expansion of marketing, enhancing sales
and profitability. Market research helps the company in understanding and analysing the
need and demand of the customers which lead to the development of the products that can
meet the expectation of the customers. It is imperative for marketing manager of Your
Destination to perform its roles and responsibilities more smoothly and effectively.
4

P2 & M2 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MARKETING IN WIDER
ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTIVES
The marketing department contributes their major portion of work to achieve the objective.
It is like a base of the organisation where every department of an organization connected or
coordinate with marketing employees. In your destination, the marketing and others
functions of the organisation create a relationship with each other for better growth of the
company.
KEY FUNCTIONS OF AN ORGANISATION
 SALES DEPARTMENT
 RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT
 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
 FINANCE
SALES DEPARTMENT
It is the responsibility of the sales department to enhance the sales of the products and
services of a company. In business ‘your destination’ sales department work for how to
improve the sales of product and services. The goal of the marketing and sales department
should be coordinated with each other because both departments are work on attracting
the numbers of passengers.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The main work of Research and development in business ‘your destination' is to develop
the product quality and raise the standard of the services. This development modifies the
existing the product with new features as per the demand of customers. The research would
be the help to understand the need of customers.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human resource is the effective system to hire the suitable candidate at a right time for a
right job. This management not only recruits the employee but provide training which gives
the perfect knowledge about their work. In business ‘your destination' HR department plays
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a significant role to fill the staff members such as drivers, mechanics, conductors and other
supporting staff for completion of remaining duties.
FINANCE
The Financial dealings in business ‘your destination' is managed by the financial department.
Marketing and finance department both the utilise financial resources in the proper manner
to achieve the objective of organisation.
The marketing department of Your Destination should coordinate with the other
department of the company in order to develop effective strategies for the market
expansion.
6

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MARKETING AND OTHER
FUNCTIONAL UNITS OF YOUR DESTINATION
It is crucial for the marketing department of Your Destination to cooperate and coordinate
with the other different departments of the company. A healthy and strong relationship
with marketing department with other organisation can deliver different benefits to the
company. One of the important benefits of the healthy relationship with other
organisational department is that it helps marketing as well as other departments to
perform the different organisational activities in an effective and efficient manner (Kumar
and Shah, 2013).
All the departments of the Your Destination can coordinate and cooperate with each other
in order to avoid the issues which are influencing the organisational operations. A healthy
relationship also helps in garbing the different opportunities and to overcome the various
challenges. The effective coordination also reflects positively on the efficiency and
productivity of the different organisational functions. It is very important for the marketing
department of Your Destination to focus on making a healthy and positive relationship with
other departments as it is essential for the expansion of the market in different destination
such as Manchester, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Newcastle.
7

LO2
P3 &M3USING THE 7PS COMPARE YOUR DESTINATION APPROACH TO
APPLYING THE MARKING MIX TO THAT OF NATIONAL EXPRESS IN
ACHIEVING THE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
It is crucial for a company to focus on the development of effective marketing strategies to
achieve different business objectives such as enhancement of market share and brand
awareness and enhancing the sales and profitability. One of the most important tools which
can be used by an organisation to develop strong marketing strategies is marketing mix.
There are different elements of marketing mix which includes product, price, place,
promotion, people, process and physical evidence (Khan, 2014).
THERE ARE SEVEN ELEMENTS OF MARKETING MIX WHICH INCLUDES-
 PRODUCT
 PRICE
 PLACE
 PROMOTION
 PEOPLE
 PROCESS
 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
PRODUCT
The product can be two types tangible and intangible. The product is final good which is
manufactured by the organisation for end users. Product mix contains quality, quantity and
generic class of good. This is the element which attracts the customers if the product value
satisfied the customer needs (Fan, et al. 2015).
PRICE
8

Price is the very crucial element of marketing mix because this is the money amount which
is paid by the customer to utilise the product uses. This element also effects on competition
in the market which is done by rival firms to adjusting their product prices to attract large
numbers of customers. If the price is set with analysis of all marketing factors then the firm
can achieve the benefits.
PLACE
The place is a space from where customers access the products and services of the
company. This the process of order processing and transporting the product. This element
keeps the seasonal product secure in the warehousing, therefore, whenever customer
require firm can able to provide that commodity
PROMOTION
Promotion is the element where a firm can popularise their products through various
techniques. There are some common techniques are advertising, sales promotion and
relations with the public. This element helps to increase the sale of the product in short time
and make that reputed brand in the market (Huang and Sarigöllü, 2015).
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Physical properties such as colour, texture, taste, aroma, shape, share and other such
factors play a vital role in appealing to the customers. For example, a person prefers to
choose a soap with good over the soap with the foul smell.
PROCESS
The process is a way in which a company deliver its products to the customers. An effective
process helps a company in lowering the operating cost as well as making the product easily
available for the customers.
PEOPLE
Employees are the main stakeholders of a firm who contribute significantly to its growth and
development. A knowledgeable and skilled employee is an important and valuable asset of
the company, therefore, a company should focus on the effectual training and development
of the employees so that they can perform their duties smoothly and effectively.
9

Your Destination should focus on all the different elements of the marketing mix in order to
make an effective marketing plan. It can help the company in making required
improvement in the different elements of the marketing so that it can achieve all the
organisational objectives effectively.
The comparison between the marketing mix of Your Destination and national Express can be
done to develop an effective marketing plan.
The element of the
marketing mix
National Express Your Destination
Product National expresses is a
British multinational
company which provides the
transportation services in
different countries. It
operates coach, tram, train
and bus services in various
countries.
Your Destination also
provides the transportation
services in the UK. It is
focusing on the expansion of
its business in new
destinations.
Price National express charges
money as per the service
provided. Since it is a
multinational company the
company applies the pricing
strategy according to the
condition of the country.
The company set the prices
of according to the level of
the service provided.
The company focuses on the
attracting the customer by
providing quality services at
the best price. Company
adopt the different pricing
strategies such as market
penetration to attract the
travellers. It also provides
attractive offers and
discounts to appeal to
customers.
Place National Express is Your Destination is currently
10

headquartered in
Birmingham. It provides
services in different
countries such as UK, US,
Canada, Spain, Portugal,
Germany and Morocco. It is
the market leader in the UK
in providing transportation
services.
operating its business in
London and Essex for three
years. It has successfully
operated the business in
these destinations and
wishes to expand the
business in new locations
such as Glasgow, Aberdeen,
Newcastle and Manchester.
Promotion National express focus on
the promotion of its services.
It adopts all the different
form of the media that is
print, electronic and digital
media to promote its
services. It spends a
significant amount of the
money to advertise its
services.
Promotion is crucial for Your
destination to enhance the
brand awareness and sales
of the company. It uses
brochures and leaflet to
spread information about
discounts and offers. It also
advertises its services on the
electronic media such as TV
and radio. It also promotes
through newspaper and
magazines.
Physical evidence The trains, buses, trams and
coaches of National express
is attractive and appealing.
The company focuses on
proving the safe and
comfortable journey to the
passengers.
The company focuses on
attracting the customers
through providing
comfortable and attractive
travelling. The vehicles of the
company are relatively new
and are in good condition.
People One of the main reason The company focuses on
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behind the success of
National express is the effort
of its talented and skilled
employees. National express
has the workforce of 45,000
employees. The company
focuses on the training and
development of the
employees so that they can
perform their roles and
responsibilities effectively
and efficiently.
making more its employees
more skilful and
knowledgeable. The
company conducts workshop
and seminars to make their
employees more
knowledgeable and skilful.
Process It is a way in which a
company deliver its services
to customers in an effective
and efficient way. National
express play adopt customer
friendly process so that
transportation can be made
comfortable for them.
Your Destination focus on
adopting the process which
can minimize operating cost
operating its business in
these destinations for three
years. It also focuses on the
making its process more
convenient for the travellers
(Mintz and Currim, 2013).
Table1: Comparison different element of the marketing mix of Your Destination with
National Express
The above-mentioned table depicts that Your Destination needs to develop effective
strategies by considering all the elements of the marketing mix to give tough competition to
National Express.
12

LO 3
P4 & M4 PRODUCE AND EVALUATE A BASIC MARKETING PLAN FOR AN
ORGANISATION
Your destination can develop an effective marketing plan to meet its organisational
objectives such as the expansion of business in new destinations that are Manchester,
Glasgow, Aberdeen and Newcastle. Marketing plan refers to the blueprint that outlines the
future planning of a company regarding its marketing objectives (Chernev, 2015). It can be
beneficial for Your Destination in developing effective tactics and strategies which can help
in achieving all the marketing objectives.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This marketing plan includes all the important element which should be considered by Your
Destination to expand its business in new destinations and to give tough completion to
National express. It includes the analysis of all the factors which influences the business of
the company. SWOT and PESTLE analysis of Your Destination is done to assess the impact of
different internal and external factors. It further includes strategies, tactics and actions
which can be adopted in achieving different organisational objectives. Budget and
controlling of the plan is also included in this report.
BACKGROUND OF COMPANY
Your Destination is a transport company which provides transport nationwide. Your
Destination is currently operating its business in London and Essex for three years. The
objective of the company is to expand business in Manchester, Glasgow, Aberdeen and
Newcastle and to compete with the National Express who is the market leader.
CURRENT MARKETING SITUATION ANALYSIS
Your Destination needs to evaluate the effect of policies in different sectors and this is done
through the process of Market analysis. The company should know about their favourable
as well as unfavourable matters which can generate in nationwide expansion of the
13

company so, the analysis of Internal and External aspects of Your Destination business
should be done (Clarke, et al. 2015).
INTERNAL ANALYSIS
There are three internal analysis are-
 Financial analysis
 Value chain analysis
 Product portfolio analysis
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
Your Destination business is recently or newly business in the market so, the money sources
are not so much but it is enough to operate a strong strategy in the market. The situation of
financial requirement of the company is sustain and capable to spread the roots of business
in nationwide. The financial position of the company is developing consistently and have a
opportunities to expand the business which give better results to financial situations to the
company.
VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS
Value change analysis is an important strategic tool which is adopted by a company to
understand and analyse the internal activities of a firm. It aims to recognise the activities
that are most valuable and can serve as the competitive advantage to a company. There are
two types of activities that are primary and support activities. The primary activities of Your
Destination include operation, inbound logistics, outbound logistics, marketing and sales
and service whereas support activities include firm infrastructure, human resource
management, technology and procurement. Your destination needs to focus more on these
services to achieve customer satisfaction in a cost-efficient manner.
PRODUCT PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS
This company emerged in the transportation facility to significant Industry. The services of
Your Destination meet the good response from their targeted customers. This is proof that it
can serve their services nationwide.
EXTERNAL ANALYSIS
14

It is necessary for Your Destination to analyse the external factors impact on their business.
The Macro factors effect in large proportion in the new market to the business of Your
destination. PESTLE analysis is beneficial to business Your Destination because of its help to
assess the alternate impacts of alternative sectors.
POLITICAL FACTORS
The political policies and the government schemes can force to modify the business
activities of the Your Destination. Through this factors, there are some fluctuation in wages
of the employees operators, drivers and supporting staff and it will be effected on business
Your Destination.
ECONOMIC FACTORS
The factors affecting of the Economic sector can affect the profitable condition of the
business. Your Destination growth rate is rapidly rising due to the favourable sides of
economics in London. The fuel rates is a huge factor which can give posses a negative
impact on the company.
SOCIAL FACTORS
Social factors which include individual income, lifestyle, occupations and class and all these
factors can influence to do changes in the business of Your Destination.
TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS
The technological factors most vital factor in the External analysis which can develop the
business of Your Destination. The changes and addition of features in the transportation
services is the major favourable part of technological factors.
LEGAL FACTORS
There are various legal contents and rules of government which is connect with the services
of transport sectors and generate the new strategies of Your Destination.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
15

The transportation service of Your destination can pollute the environment by the smoke of
the vehicles. Laws made for secure the environmental places can force the business to
protect the nature with removed the causes (Wolfe, et al. 2014).
SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT analysis of Your Destination can be applied to investigate the various external and
internal factors which can possess impact on the business of Your destination.
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Strength Weakness
 Brand name
 Success in early years
 Good quality services
 Relatively a new company in the UK
 Limited financial resources
Opportunities Threats
 Market expansion are Manchester,
Glasgow, Aberdeen and Newcastle
 Enhancement in the demand of
quality transportation services
 High competition from leaders such
as national Express
 Enhancing labour and fuel cost
Table: SWOT analysis of Your Destination
SEGMENTATION, TARGET AND POSITIONING
SEGMENTATION
The business Your Destination can segment their market into the different category which is
1.Demographic 2.psychographic 3. Geographic 4. Behavioural. Segmentation of the business
can be set upon some factors which are occupation, lifestyle, age, regions and other various
factors. There are some cities which are listed in business for expansion of business which is
Manchester, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle etc. The company should target the
businessmen, travelling lovers, regular traveller and seasonal travellers and international
tourists.
TARGET
Company targets the customer which belongs from special group who can buy company
product or services. Your destination target the different class of customers such as
17

businessmen, regular traveller, travelling lovers and seasonal travellers, peoples of high
class and middle class.
POSITIONING
There is huge competition are present in the market which is the major threat to Your
destination. National Express is the main competitor of Your destination. Your destinations
service charge are set at moderate rate which helps to obtain satisfaction of customers
(Wilkinson, 2013).
TACTIC AND ACTION
There are certain modifications that are required in existing strategies of Your destination to
achieve the better results. The company should improve their effective strategies to win
over its competitors. The company should also focus on his price strategies. To attracting
the new customers in the new market, Your Destination should adopt the discount policy for
their targeted customers to appeal the customers. It should also focus on making its services
more effective and fast. It should focus on making the effective utilisation of the technology
to promote its services. It should also provide online booking facilities so that travellers can
book their tickets through their mobile phones or computers. It can also focus on the
different factors such as physical evidence and process to make its service better than its
competitors.
BUDGET
Your Destination required the valuable sum of finance in order to organize effectively
marketing but therefore, the positive reflection will lie on the profitability condition of the
company. It is necessary to invest approximately 8% out of total profit on the activities of a
market.
STRATEGIES
The business Your destination should keep focus on developing their effective
strategies .this business should follow various types tactics to secure the expansion of the
business with the successive results. The company should use some promotional
techniques to represent their brand on different platforms such as print media, electronic
media or any other communication medium. The business Your Destination is a which is
18

provide the transportation services, therefore, it should advertise brand in travel magazines
and newspapers to capture their target customers. Your Destination should adopt digital
marketing ways to promote and create the brand awareness.
CONTROL OF PLAN
Your destination should monitor and control the plans which they apply to market
conditions to achieve the consistently better results. All the different activities related to
planning should be controlled to resolved the issues and maintain the effectiveness of the
plan. A timeframe should be set for alternate steps, therefore, that the plan can be
executed efficiently and efficiently. There different ways and solution should be available to
help to face various challenges (Deshpande, et al. 2017).
19

CONCLUSION
It may be concluded that marketing is the lifeblood of a firm, therefore, it is imperative for a
company to focus on the different aspects of the marketing. The roles and duties of a
marketing manager help a company in achieving different organisational goals such as the
expansion of marketing, enhancing sales and profitability. It is imperative for marketing
manager of Your Destination to perform its roles and responsibilities more smoothly and
effectively. It is crucial for a company to focus on the development of effective marketing
strategies to achieve different business objectives such as enhancement of market share
and brand awareness and enhancing the sales and profitability. One of the most important
tools which can be used by an organisation to develop strong marketing strategies is
marketing mix. A company can develop an effective marketing plan to meet its
organisational objectives such as the expansion of business, enhancing sales and
profitability etc.
20

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