Marketing Essentials: Marketing Role, 7Ps & Strategic Marketing Plan

This report provides a comprehensive overview of marketing essentials, focusing on the role of marketing within an organization and its interrelation with other functional units. Using O2 as a primary example, the report explains the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function and how they relate to the broader organizational context. It analyzes the marketing environment and the significance of interrelationships between marketing and other departments like production, sales, finance, and HR. The report also compares how O2 and T-Mobile utilize the 7Ps of the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, and Physical Evidence) to achieve their business objectives. Furthermore, it develops a strategic marketing plan, tactically applying the 7Ps to meet overall marketing objectives, offering a practical understanding of marketing principles and their application in real-world scenarios. Desklib provides access to this document and many other solved assignments for students.

Marketing Essentials
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 3
LO 1 Explain the role of marketing and how it interrelates with other functional units of an
organisation.................................................................................................................................................... 4
Using example from your chosen organisation, explain the key roles and responsibilities of
the marketing function how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider
organisational context.............................................................................................................................. 4
Roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing environment:.....................5
The significance of the interrelationship between marketing and other functional unit:..................5
Analysis and evaluation of the key element of the marketing functions and how they interrelate
with other functional unit of the organisation................................................................................................ 6
LO 2 Compare ways in which organisation use element of the marketing mix (7Ps) to achieve
overall business objective............................................................................................................................ 7
Using your chosen organisation and another organisation, compare how the organisations use
the various elements of 7Ps marketing mix in the marketing planning process to achieve
business objective..................................................................................................................................... 7
LO 3 Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan............................................................................. 12
Design a strategic marketing plan that tactically applies the use of the 7P’s to achieve overall
marketing objective............................................................................................................................... 12
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................... 19
Reference...................................................................................................................................................... 20
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Introduction
Marketing is a very important term for an organisation. With the help of the marketing, the
company is able to understand the market through identifying the needs and tastes of the
customers. Later, the products and services are produced and delivered by the company as per
identified needs so that the profit could be gained and the organisation goal could be
achieved. There are certain processes and the concepts that the organisation need to adopt in
successful implementation of the strategies described in marketing. The current assignment
describes some basic and important concepts of marketing.
The current assignment is based on marketing essential concepts and describes the roles of
the marketing into an organisation. The terms like roles of the marketing managers, the
interrelation of the marketing with the other functional units of the company also would be
described. For the clear understanding of the concepts of marketing, Telecom Company of
UK i.e. O2 (owned by Spanish multinational Telefonica) is taken as an example where the
concepts like marketing mix, marketing plan etc would be discussed.
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LO 1 Explain the role of marketing and how it interrelates with other
functional units of an organisation
Using example from your chosen organisation, explain the key roles and responsibilities
of the marketing function how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider
organisational context
The term marketing is very important for the organisation in every term as this helps the
organisation, in identifying the needs of the customers, producing the product as per the
identified needs, communicating the message about the production of the product to the
customers and also targets the exact customers who have same needs that could be fulfilled
by the products that the company is offering (Cravens and Piercy, 2016). The company O2 is
very well aware of the usage of the term marketing in the organisation. The company O2 uses
the concepts of the marketing so that the capabilities of the organisation could be enhanced
and the competitive advantage could be gained. Hence, it could be said that the main role that
marketing play in an organisation is that it helps the company in gaining the competitive
advantage over the competitors present into the market. The term marketing also helps the
organisations in communicating the message of the company to the customers. There are the
various strategies explained in the marketing functions that could help company O2 in
identifying the right customers of the company so that the message of the company could be
reached them directly. Besides this, the marketing also explains different strategies that help
the organisation like O2 in recognising the right path to communicate the message to the right
customers. These strategies include advertising, sales promotion etc. Hence, it could be said
that the marketing also play a role of communicator and messengers for the company O2.
Another important role is also played by the term marketing in setting the price, product and
place of the products and services of O2 (Kumar, Aaker and Day, 2014). As the company O2
offers the telecom services like data, voice call then the marketing also helps this in setting
the effective price and place for the services.
These explained roles and responsibility of the marketing also is used at the wider
organisational context in O2 as this also used in maintaining the effective and balanced
relationship with the customers and also in gathering the important information from the
market and customers. Here, the gathering and managing the data about the customers could
be used in formulating the growth strategies for the company O2.
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Roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing environment:
The roles and responsibilities of the marketing in the context of marketing environment could
be little bit different. A marketing environment of the company is the surrounding
environment of the company that puts huge impacts on the functions and operations of the
company (McDaniel, Lamb and Hair, 2012). The company O2 is also get affected by the
marketing environment that includes the factors like customers, competitors, suppliers,
political factors etc. Here, the roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of factors
involved in the marketing environment of O2 are explained below:
Create the awareness among the customers: The marketing helps the company O2 in creating
the awareness of the products and services among the customers (a factor of marketing
environment of O2). With the help of this, awareness is created among the customers about
the company that helps this in gaining the profit through increasing sales figures.
Gain the competitive advantage over the competitors: There is no doubt that marketing plays
a very important role in increasing the sale of the services offered by O2. When the services
are offered in huge numbers then the competitive advantage is automatically gained by O2
over the competitors (McCarthy and Perreault, 2014).
Keep the suppliers informed: Marketing also play a role of informers towards the suppliers as
this keep the suppliers of the company informed about the price and trends of the marketing
environment of O2.
The significance of the interrelationship between marketing and other functional unit:
The term and the concepts explained in marketing do not provide the benefits to the
marketing department only even these provide the benefits to the other functional units of the
organisation. There are the various types of the decisions that the other functional units of O2
has to take as per the norms and conditions followed by the marketing and vice versa. Thus, it
could be said that an interrelationship is created between the marketing department and other
functional units of O2. Here, the significance of this interrelationship between the marketing
and other functional units is explained:
Production unit: the interrelationship between the marketing and the production unit of O2
creates a balance in the supply and demand of the telecommunication services that O2 is
offering.
Sales unit: the interrelationship between the sales and marketing helps O2 in increasing the
sales through implementing the strategies and policies explained in marketing.
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Finance Unit: With the help of the interrelationship of the marketing department and finance
unit, the company O2 is able to analyse the gained profit and also provides an idea of budget
and expenses at a particular time (Peter and Donnelly, 2011).
Human resource Unit: The significance of the interrelationship between the marketing
department and human resource unit could not be neglected by the company O2 as this helps
the company in hiring the skills and educated staff for the company which is very important
in executing the various processes like decision making, strategy formulation in O2.
Analysis and evaluation of the key element of the marketing functions and how they
interrelate with other functional unit of the organisation.
As described earlier, the main functions of the marketing are setting price, products and
services management market research and matching the products and services to the needs of
the customers. Here, these functions of the marketing are related with the other functional
unit of the organisation. With the help of this interrelationship of the functional unit, the
company O2 is able to perform the task effectively and also able to gain the huge profit from
the market. The analysis and evaluation of the elements of the marketing functions and their
interrelationship with other functional unit of O2 is explained below:
Setting of price and the sales department: This key element of the marketing functions outs a
huge impacts on the sales unit of O2 as the company set the price of the services high then
the sales unit has to put some strong strategies into the market so that the customers could be
persuaded and the sales could be increased.
Gathering the information and R&D unit: Gathering the information about the customers and
competitor is a function of the marketing that helps the research and development department
of the company in formulating the strategies towards the developing the telecom services that
could satisfied the customers of O2 (Runyon, 2011).
Matching the needs and production department: Matching the needs of the customers
functions of marketing helps the production department of O2 as this explains the nature and
types of the services that the customers wants.
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LO 2 Compare ways in which organisation use element of the marketing
mix (7Ps) to achieve overall business objective
Using your chosen organisation and another organisation, compare how the
organisations use the various elements of 7Ps marketing mix in the marketing planning
process to achieve business objective
For the purpose of the comparison with O2, the company T mobile (owned by Deutsche
TeleKom) is taken. These both companies are known brand in the telecommunication sector
of UK and these companies also give a tough competition to each other in the market of UK.
Here, a comparison in the marketing mix of these two companies would be explained. The
marketing mix is a tool of the marketing that explains how the organisation needs to make the
decisions on product, price, place and promotions (Schoell, Guiltinan and Valvatne, 2013).
This is also known as product marketing mix or 4P’s. As O2 and T-mobile both provide the
services to the customers then the elements of the product marketing mix are increased to 7
(because process, people and physical evidence are also added) and these are known service
marketing mix or 7P’s or extended marketing mix. Here, the comparison in the 7p’s of O2
and T-mobile companies is explained below:
Fig1: Extended marketing mix (Stone and Jacobs, 2010)
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Element of
service
marketing
mix (7P’s)
Explanation of
elements O2 T-Mobile
1.
Product
This includes the
services that the
company offers to
the customers to
satisfied their needs
or wants. In the
telecom sector, the
product element is
measures by:
 network
quality and
performance
 network
coverage
 range
The network quality and
the performance of the
service provided by O2 are
very good in the
comparison of the T-
mobile. The customers are
happy by using the services
offered by O2 company.
The company offers the
services through data plan,
voice calls and massaging
etc. For example: a tariff
plan of O2 includes
internet data, 500 free
voice calls and 500
messages services (Vignali,
2011).
T-mobile also provides the
services in the form of
voice calls, data and
messages. The customers
love the T-mobiles for
combo packages that it
provides to the customers.
2. Price This includes the
prices that the
customer has to pay
to avail the services
of the company.
In order to achieve the
goals and objective of the
market, the company O2 is
using the price skimming
strategies where the price
of the services are set low
first to gain the competitive
advantage. Once the
customers are attracted
then the company make
hike in the prices to gain
the desired revenue from
the market. This pricing
Despite of the low network
performance, the company
T-mobile charged the high
amount from the
customers as this targets
only the loyal customers of
the company.
Hence it could be said that
the price factor of O2 is
more effective than T-
mobile.
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strategy is very effective in
this huge competition in
telecom industry.
3. Place The place element of
the service
marketing mix
explains the ways
through which the
services are
delivered to the
customers
(Westwood, 2012).
In order to make the
services available to the
customers, O2 distributes
the services through:
 independent
retailers
 stores
 direct to the
customers
 Online etc.
O2 uses almost all the
channels to make the
services in reach of the
customers.
To make the services
available to the customers,
the company T-mobile
uses independent retailers
and own stores. Using
only two medium is not
enough for the company
especially in this
competitive market. Hence
it could be said that the
place element of O2 is
effective than T-Mobile.
4.
Promotio
n
This element of the
marketing mix helps
the company in
 Creating the
awareness of
services into
the market
 Informing
and
persuading
the
customers
about the
services of
the company.
For the purpose of creating
the awareness into the
market, O2 uses the
following strategies:
 Advertising in
newspaper
 Public relation
 Online marketing
 Social media
marketing.
The main strategy of the
company is to target all the
customers and all these
mediums help the company
in targeting all customers.
T-mobile only uses the
traditional methods of the
promotions. These are
advertising in news paper
and TV commercials.
In the age of technology,
using the traditional
methods of promotion is
not enough especially
when the company
belongs to telecom
industry (as the main
customers are youth and
for them the online
marketing would be best)
(Yelkur, 2010)
5. People This element refers The people that mean the T-mobile also hires the
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the mind behind
implementing the
strategies. that
means the
employees and staffs
of the company that
helps the company
in producing and
delivering the
services
employees of O2 are
skilled and educated
enough o formulate the
strategies that could help
the company in achieving
the goals. The main
strategy that O2 follows in
hiring the employees is that
it seeks the experienced
personalities only as this
company thinks that they
have faced the problems
and situation already and
could provide the better
solutions of them.
skilled and talented staff
and employees for the
company. Besides the
experience, it and also
seeks the employees who
were good in academics as
this shows their honesty
and hard working towards
the work and
6. Process This includes the
procedures that the
company provides or
follows to bring the
services to the
customers like:
service delivery etc.
O2 focuses very much on
the process element as this
company believes that this
is the element that could
differentiate the services of
O2 from that of
competitors. For example:
if the services are delivered
effectively then the
customers would keep this
remember for long time
and a position could be
created into the mind of the
customers (Jain and Haley,
2009).
T-mobile also focuses on
the process element but
not as much as O2. In this
way, it could be said that
process element of O2 is
better than T-mobile.
7.
Physical
evidence
In the case of
service, this element
refers the layout,
structure,
The stores of O2 also good
and clean that put a
positive impact on the
customers. Besides this, the
The ambiance and the
environment of the stores
of T-mobile are also good
and the employees of the
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appearance, physical
environment of
stores etc.
staffs are well dressed and
behave in manner with the
customers.
company provide every
little help to the customers.
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LO 3 Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan
Design a strategic marketing plan that tactically applies the use of the 7P’s to achieve
overall marketing objective
With the help of the marketing plan, the company could achieve the marketing objectives
which are set to achieve the mission and vision statement of the company. Hence, the
marketing plan could be explained as a process where the terms like marketing strategy,
objectives are explained for a certain period. It could be explained as a blueprint which is
designed to cover the marketing related details. The strategic marketing plan for company O2
is explained below:
Marketing plan for O2
About company:
O2 is well known brand in the market of UK. O2 is also known with the name Telefonica UK
limited as this is owed by the Spanish multinational company Telefonica. It was 1985 when
the company O2 was established and in year 2006 the company Telefonice owned the stakes
of O2. O2 is doing business very well in the market of UK as the telecommunication services
that company is providing to the customers are well enough to attract the huge numbers of the
customers (Bitner, 2011). The telecom services include the voice calls, data service, messages
etc. In the market of UK, O2 is second largest telecom network.
Marketing situation analysis of O2
With the help of the marketing situation analysis, the current situation of the market is
analysed. With the help of this, O2 would be able to know the market like trends, factors that
could affect the business of the company etc. The marketing situation analysis is divided into
two parts and the analyses used in these two parts are explained below:
o Internal analysis: Under this analysis, the company O2 examines the internal factors
of the company, in this way; it conducts the internal analysis so that the factors that
could hinder the process and activities of organisation in achieving the objective could
be identified (Beaven and Scotti, 2010). The internal analysis of the company
includes:
 Value chain analysis of O2: With the help of this analysis, the company O2
would be able to examining all the carried processes and the activities from
conception to delivery of the telecom services. This analysis includes:
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