Marketing Essentials Unit 2 Report: Business Marketing Strategies

This report, submitted for a BTEC Higher National Certificate in Business, delves into the core principles of marketing. It begins by defining marketing and exploring its nature, encompassing the marketing concept, its role, and the structure of marketing departments. The report then analyzes the 7Ps marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Physical Evidence, and Process) and compares how organizations utilize these elements to achieve business objectives. It differentiates between B2C and B2B marketing contexts and examines the interrelationships of functional units within a business. The report further covers marketing planning processes, the significance of the shift from 4Ps to 7Ps, and market segmentation. The student provides examples of marketing strategies, pricing, and distribution methods, including those used by companies like Nike and Adidas. Overall, the report offers a detailed exploration of marketing fundamentals and their practical application in the business world.

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Running head: MARKETING ESSENTIALS
Unit 2: Marketing Essentials
Learner Assessment Submission and Declaration
When submitting evidence for assessment, you must sign a declaration confirming that the work is your
own.
Programme: Business
Unit: Unit 2- Marketing Essentials

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Table of Contents
Definitions and the Marketing Concept.................................................................................................................
Definition of Marketing.......................................................................................................................................
Nature of Marketing............................................................................................................................................
Developing Marketing Concept..........................................................................................................................
The Role of Marketing............................................................................................................................................
Structure and Operation of Marketing Departments.......................................................................................
Overview of Marketing Processes.......................................................................................................................
Roles of Marketing Within both a B2C and B2B Context................................................................................
The Interrelationships of Functional Units............................................................................................................
Marketing as a Business Function......................................................................................................................
Compare Ways in Which Organisations Use Elements of the Marketing Mix (7ps) To Achieve
Overall Business Objectives..................................................................................................................................
The 7Ps Marketing Mix.....................................................................................................................................
Product...........................................................................................................................................................
Price................................................................................................................................................................
Place................................................................................................................................................................
Promotion.......................................................................................................................................................
People..............................................................................................................................................................
Physical Evidence...........................................................................................................................................
Process............................................................................................................................................................
Significance of the Shift from 4Ps to 7Ps of Marketing...................................................................................
Overview of Marketing Planning Process........................................................................................................
Marketing Plan......................................................................................................................................................
Importance and Value of Marketing Plan........................................................................................................
Marketing Plans, Marketing Objectives and Marketing Strategies...............................................................
Evaluating and Monitoring Marketing Plans Using Appropriate Control and Evaluation .............................
Techniques..........................................................................................................................................................
Structure and development of marketing plans..................................................................................................
Market Segmentation and Target Market Selection.......................................................................................

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Marketing Essentials
Definitions and the Marketing Concept
Definition of Marketing
Marketing refers to all activities a company or small business participates in to promote
the sale or purchase of its products and services. It comprises of activities such as advertising,
selling and delivering goods to customers. All these activities are done while the business still
makes a profit. In some cases, corporations hire affiliate marketing companies to a do marketing
on their behalf (Abdullah Saif, 2015). This is mostly done to reduce costs.
Nature of Marketing
The nature of marketing is wide and it is what informs specific marketing practices. To
better understand the nature of marketing, it is explained under various categories as follows.
Fundamentally, marketing is a human activity through which human need and wants are satisfied
by the efforts of other human beings. Essentially, marketing is a human activity that leads to
human satisfaction. Without customers, a business cannot exist which is why all marketing
activities are customer-oriented. Businesses work towards providing customers with goods and
services which satisfy their desires. However, producers or manufacturers will only supply these
goods if they guarantee a reasonable profit (Mousumi, 2020). Marketing can be considered an art
and science especially in the technological arena as it involves identifying target markets and
supplying the market with the required services. This is coupled with proper communication
hence guaranteeing customer value. As such the goods and services are supplied at the right time,
place, quality, form, price and delivered to the right customers.
As an integral part of business, marketing involves commercial exchange of goods and
services. The exchange process occurs between buyer and seller. In addition to tangible goods,
the exchange process can involve the exchange of technology, new information or ideas. The
main focus of marketing is the customer and that is why businesses need to know how what and
how much a customer needs. To meet this condition, information related to goods and services
should be collected from customers (Grahame Robert Dowling, 2005). Marketing starts with find

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out what the customer needs and end ends when the customer needs are satisfied. Thus,
marketing starts and ends with the customer.
As a major business activity, marketing creates utilities by actualizing place, form, place
and possession utility. Form utility allows businesses to deliver goods and services in the nature
customers need the goods or services. Place utility entails availing the good or service at the right
location where customers can easily access it. As for time utility, companies must ensure
customers get the goods or services when they need them (Mousumi, 2020). Finally, possession
utility gives the customer ownership rights to the product hence the ability to derive all the
benefits associated with the product.
As most activities, marketing is goal oriented and its goal is to benefit both customers and
producers by meeting their needs. For instance, the main objective of marketing is to ensure
customers get was they want and producers make profit by satisfying consumer needs. Marketing
also guides producers on what, when and how to produce. As such, marketing may be considered
as the core of industrial activities due to its ability of guiding and controlling business.
It is through marketing those businesses and organizations interact with their clients with the
intention of meeting their needs while at the same time making profits and maintaining customer-
producer relationship. It is due to these interactions that goods and services can flow from the
producer to the end user or customer. Although the only players in marketing are producers and
customers, the marketing process is dynamic and complex process that involves a continuous
planning, control and implementation of numerous activities (Grahame Robert Dowling, 2005).
Most of these activities are done by the producers but customers facilitate the processes through
purchasing goods and services.
Developing Marketing Concept
Marketing concepts are developed with the notion of building the right product for the
customer rather than the finding the right customer for the product. They are influenced by
factors like the target market, profitability, needs of customers and presence of integrated
markets. Marketing concepts first begin with properly defining a market, followed by knowledge
about customer needs and finally carefully coordinating factors that affect consumer purchasing
power. This is then followed satisfied customers increase in profits for producers. Essentially,

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marketing concepts focuses on satisfying the consumers and at the same time making profit for
the company (Philip, 2012). This leads to a more competitive and efficient company which
creates delivers and communicates customer value.
The Role of Marketing
Structure and Operation of Marketing Departments
There is no a one-size-fits-all on how operations of marketing departments should be
structured. The structure of marketing departments is dictated by the requirement of a business.
In most cases, there is a top-level executive who develops the strategies of marketing and
oversees the activities of various marketing departments. These departments can cover a variety
of operations. To ensure consistency and effectiveness in these operations, the departments are
divided into teams that focus on specific activities such as social and social media advertising or
market research (Lorette, 2010). All these activities are properly coordinated to ensure a firm
meets is goal of profitability and customer satisfaction.
Overview of Marketing Processes
These are all process that ensures that the right product is produced and successfully sold
to a customer; they include analysis, strategic planning and marketing mix. Marketing analyses
refers to taking real time data about a market and use this data to gain a competitive advantage
over competitors. For instance, a could collect data on when there is a peak in consumption in a
particular market. In response the firm focuses most of its resource to produce more during the
peak period to make more profit than its competitors. Strategic planning involves defining a
particular trajectory a business is supposed to follow to meet its goals. It usually involves
assessing the current position of the firm and determining the resources or activities that should
be done to ensure the firm follows the pre-defined path to meet its future objective. Mission,
visions and values of companies help fortify a strategic plan. Marketing mix refer to the
approach firms use to promote their products or brands in a particular market (Farooq, 2019).
Generally, most companies employ the 4P (Price, product, promotion and place) marketing mix
to sell or promote their merchandise.

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Roles of Marketing within both a B2C and B2B Context
B2C or business-to-Consumer as the name suggest is a marketing strategy adopted by
businesses that involve marketing products to individual customers. This marketing strategy is
majorly used to market products that are used daily for instance toothpaste. Consumers targeted
by B2C marketing strategy are those who seek to satisfy immediate need from products. As such,
B2C marketing campaign aims at arousing emotions of consumers to prompt them to buy
specific products (Gotter, 2018). Hence, companies that employ this marketing strategy, analyze
prevailing trends, consumer purchase habits and their competitor`s responses to the changes in
the market.
Business-to-business marketing uses market strategies that target other organization or
businesses as potential customers. Because targeted customers in B2B marketing strategies are
bulk buyers and engage sellers in long contracts, they often require being educated properly
before they make a purchase. Therefore, the role of marketing in this case is to fully
compressively educate the customer on the benefits of the product (Gotter, 2018).
The Interrelationships of Functional Units
Marketing as a Business Function
Marketing is the fuel that drives businesses to success because it helps identify, acquire
and maintain customers by meeting the demand of the customers satisfactorily. This is possible
because marketing involves researching, packaging and presenting products and services to
potential customers. By researching, the company will know exactly what the consumers wants
and will respond by providing these wants but at a profit. Packaging is done in a manner those
appeals to the customer who easily attracts their attention. Conversely, firms could develop
prototypes and adopt the ones that give positive feedbacks. Finally, product presentation involves
taking the products close to customers at the right time (Wood, 2011). This usually involves an
elaborate transportation system which distributes the goods to customers.

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Compare Ways in Which Organisations Use Elements of the Marketing Mix (7ps) To
Achieve Overall Business Objectives
The 7Ps Marketing Mix
Product
In marketing, a product is a tangible or physical component that can be sold while a
service is an intangible item that is a result of the action of one or several people. Brands are
essential in businesses because they make a lasting impression on consumers. A brand also
allows customers to relate businesses with specific quality standards which distinguishes one
from another. Product development refers to all the stages product undergoes from concept stage
to the point it is release to the market as an actual product. The process of product development
captures a product`s entire journey. Conversely, product lifestyle or lifecycle unlike product
lifestyle, is the time a product takes in the four stages it is in the market before it become
obsolete. The four stages are introduction, growth, maturity and decline. Although every product
undergoes these stages, the length spent by product in each stage varies from product to product.
Price
Nike produces high quality products therefore it does not charge based on the cost of
production but based on the value of the product. This approach to pricing is known as value
based pricing. Nike operate in a competitive market where its competitors have also produced
exclusive shoe brands which are charged at premium prices (Soni, 2020). This competitiveness
leas to competitive pricing but despite this, Nike`s pricing strategy does not have a negative
impact on its growth as it continues to be the market leader in the sport apparel industry
Adidas uses skimming price strategy as it sets higher prices than its competitors but uses
are promotional discounts to offer lower prices for its products. By apply this strategy Adidas
manages to attract a huge traffic of customers to its stores due to being first introduced to lower

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prices a later to high priced products(Adidas, 2019). This strategy is dominantly applied in the
fashion industry.
Place
In marketing place refers to channels a business decides to distribute it goods or services.
These channels should be the most efficient route to distribute products. Distribution channels
can take the form of websites or indirect sales through retailers or wholesalers. While distributing
the goods a n service through various channels, the flow of the good should be properly managed
to ensure customer value is maintained at the highest level. This usually requires a well-
organized and effective logistic system in which goods are transported and properly stored from
one point to another.
Promotion
Once a product is conceived, potential customers need to be made aware about the
product and this is where integrated communication and promotional tools come in handy.
Promotional tools refer to all tools used to market a product or service. They can be visual such
as billboards, TV or audio such as radio or podcasts. Whichever promotional tool a company
adopts must properly communicate the right information to the target audience. Otherwise, the
wrong communication may lead customers away from a brand. This is why properly integrating
marketing information is crucial for the growth of a brand.
People
From the point a product is developed to the point it reaches the end use several people
are either directly or indirectly involved in the progressive movement of the product from one
stage to the next. People form an integral part of any business and without them a business
cannot survive regardless of whether they work behind-the-scenes or are the once who interact
with customers. Due to their on the business, they should be properly trained for them to deliver
quality services (Hanlon, 2018). The training is essential for all employees including the top
management so that apart from rendering quality services to customers, they can also share the
vision of the company hence works together to make the company more profitable.

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In both Nike and Adidas, there are highly trained personnel both working behind-thescene
and at the front desks who help these companies to significantly increase the value they offer to
their customers.
Physical Evidence
Once a product or a brand is created, customers interact with the product for the first time
through advertisement or when they are purchasing the product. It is important for customers to
know that the product they are buying is legitimates and is of the perceived quality and exists in
real life. As such, physical evidence as a form of marketing becomes relevant. Physical evidence
in marketing can take two forms. First, evidence that a purchase or sale took place or a service
was rendered is proof a product or brand exists. Second, validation of a brand which refers to
identifiable features that a brand exists such as a website, logo, place of operation or
Headquarters or social media presence among others(Hanlon, 2018). These are the elements a
customer may first interact with to verify the existence of a product, brand or service.
Both Nike and Adidas sell their products globally and they have physical headquarters.
Both brands have almost ubiquitous verification feature that proof their existence such as logo,
website and social media presence.
Process
These are all activities involved in delivering goods and services to the customers. This involves
assessing all processes such as payments, transportation/distribution and managing customer
relations. While processes are crucial in creating value to customers, they should be conducted in
a cost-effective way otherwise, the business could make losses.
Nike completely outsources all its production and supplies while if focuses in marketing and rise
ad development of better products. As such, Nike has been able to grow exponentially. As for
Adidas, although it also engages in marketing, it is also in control of its production processes. It
only outsources production for its exclusive products; therefore, it has not been able to grow as
fast compared to Nike.

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Significance of the Shift from 4Ps to 7Ps of Marketing
Originally the marketing mix were described as 4Ps of marketing which focused more on
the product market rather than the service market. The 4ps of marketing concept was first
invented, the idea of customer service was still not well known. Overtime, after the recognition
of the service market, three more marketing elements were added into the marketing mix. These
were people, physical evidence and process which led to a change of name from 4Ps of
marketing to 7Ps of marketing. The 7Ps of marketing properly captures and explains the current
competitive environment of business (Seli, 2018). As such, the 7Ps helps marketers to review and
identify problems which may affect the marketing of products

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Overview of Marketing Planning Process
These involve all process and procedures a company undertakes to ensure their product is
successful in the market. This is measured by a product achieving sales goals within the required
time frame. A company accomplishes this by conducting four main actions. First, business
executives set goals to be met and creating a conducive environment to meet the goals like
providing resources for marketing the product. Second, analysis of the firm`s current position
And determining whether the available resources are capable of driving the company into
meeting the set goals. Third, once the available resources are ascertained, a marketing plan is