Marketing Mix Application in Achieving Business Objectives

Desklib provides solved assignments and past papers to help students succeed.

Marketing essentials

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Task 1.........................................................................................................................................2
P1. Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function..............................2
P2 Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational
context for the chosen organisation or scenario.....................................................................5
Task 2.........................................................................................................................................8
P3. Compare the ways in which different organizations apply the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives..................................................8
Task 3.......................................................................................................................................11
P4. Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organization.................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................14
References................................................................................................................................15

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Major roles of marketing function..............................................................................3
Figure 2: Role and responsibilities of marketing manager........................................................4
Figure 3: 7P of marketing..........................................................................................................9

Introduction
The marketing function in an organization has a significant role in advertising, promote and
sell the products and services. It also supports the business internally to achieve high
accuracy and reliability in decision making. The report will discuss the roles and
responsibilities of the marketing function and how it works within the organizational context.
The report will discuss the use of the marketing mix in marketing planning to achieve
specific goals. Later, it will present a marketing plan for how the organization can respond to
the market advantage. The report will discuss the marketing functions with their significance
and relationship within the organizational context.
1

Task 1
P1. Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function
The business return on investment approach works when the customers are aware of the
products and services and show interest in purchasing and utilization. Therefore, marketing is
essential to the function of an organization to attain a competitive advantage. Marketing
means to a function in promotion and selling of the products and services, advertising and
market research is included (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015). For a marketing manager in
Premier Inn, it becomes essential to accomplish the roles and responsibilities:
Collect and analyze market information
The organization needs to develop the strategies and decisions on the market information so
that cost-effective and right decisions can be made to achieve a competitive advantage. The
marketing function has a role in monitoring the customer market for their preferences and
expectations, trends in products and services and challenges to achieve customer satisfaction
(Kotler et al., 2017). For example, Premier Inn can collect the information on ‘Zip room’
services, oriented in London hotels so that customer satisfaction and expectations can be used
to improve the services. The decision to introduce new room service is also based on the
market analysis for the customers those mostly prefer to stay for one time in economic
budget.
Marketing planning
The organization needs strong marketing planning to attain the customer base and to increase
sales. The marketing function needs to plan the resources, approaches and solutions to the
challenges to attain the goals. For example, Premier Inn marketing manager has the role in
understanding the business goals and in mapping them on the marketing strategies. The
manager has a responsibility to consider the business capabilities and constraints and then to
recommend the appropriate strategy to meet goals (Bowie et al., 2016). For instance, the
organization can select celebrities, select a specific market area and customer types to address
marketing planning.
Support for production
2

The marketing manager has a role in providing accurate and reliable information about the
market to the production function. It is required to control the cost on the production through
warehouse and stock management, integrate of the expectations and requirements of the
customers and align the business operations to the changes in the market (Wearne and
Morrison, 2013). Therefore, marketing function adds values in internal operations through the
study of the market. For example, advertising tickets and brochures those to be used during
room services on each order are prepared according to the understanding with the possible
flow in a particular season.
Figure 1: Major roles of marketing function
Standardization and grading
The marketing function has an indirect responsibility to meet the standardization of the
quality and performance in the services because the marketing function has a strong
relationship with customers to understand their expectations. The feedback and reviews
collected from the customers can be used to reshape the business processes. It also sets
grading on the activities and aligns the business goals toward the competitive advantages
(Weerawardena, 2003). Premier Inn marketing manager has a role in standardizing the
marketing operations according to trends and orientation of the customers whereas it also sets
grading on the internal decisions to reduce the risk of failure during actual implementation in
the market.
3
RoleofmarketingWorkwithtopmanagementSuperviseandcordinateactivitiesIndentifypotentialmarketEvaluateproductsDeterminedistributionchannelAnalysepoliticalandeconomiccondition

Branding
Advertising is another major responsibility of the marketing manager in Premier Inn because
the strategies not mean to increase the sales but also to advertise the business name and
services. For example, branding is accomplished through advertisements on social media and
official website. Also, brand values are promoted and advertised through the inclusion of
luxurious experience and costly services in the customer stay (Wirtz et al., 2014). Marketing
function can promote the business name on labelling on products and services, whereas
innovative approach to serving the customers can be used to improve the experience of
customers and to improve branding. For example, a warm welcome to the individual at
reception, whereas all employees are formally dressed up show branding values of the
business.
Figure 2: Role and responsibilities of marketing manager
Pricing and promotion
The product and service pricing is presented with high creativity to engage the customers.
The marketing function has the responsibility to suggest the appropriate pricing on products
and services and determine how the price values can be used to attract customers and to
generate the revenue (Laing and McKee, 2000). For example, Premier Inn can use the
discount, bulk booking and other strategies to show benefits on current pricing. Promotional
4
EntrepriseMarketresearchsalesforecastingRoadmapforsalesandpromotionControlcreditpolicyEmployeesCommencewelfareschemeEvaluateperformanceMotivateandcoordinateCustomersStudyneedsandwantsProperdistributionAftersaleserviceandguidelinesRole of marketing
manager

activities such as direct booking and integration with other business to share the benefits for
the customers help to promote the values. The marketing function in the hotel has
responsibilities to promote the business products and services and to drive profitability.
Physical distribution
It is essential to deliver a quality product and service to the customers so that their
engagement and satisfaction can be achieved. For example, the organization has several
hotels in London, and the marketing department supports the suppliers to understand the
potential distribution of the raw materials and assets to meet the requirements. For example,
there is a high demand for raw food items in central London, but it is less consumed in
Germany because customers prefer to stay for a while and enjoys street foods.
P2 Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational
context for the chosen organisation or scenario
Premier Inn has strong interconnection among the departments to attain the business goals
effectively. Following are major organisational departments that define the functional model
of the business where marketing has significant roles and responsibilities and
interrelationship:
Human resource management
The core purpose of human resource management is to attract, recruit and select the skilled
and capable resources and to provide opportunities to get training and development. The
marketing department guides a human resource for resourcing and selection criteria and helps
to forecast the demands in term of resources. Also, the marketing department has roles and
responsibilities to identify the skills and potentials in resources, especially being hired for the
marketing function (Baker and Hart, 2008). Therefore, the marketing function has a
significant relationship with human resource management to select and recruit the required
number of resources with the proper execution of the policies and procedures.
Accounting department
Finance is the foremost requirement of the organisation to achieve continuance and growth in
business. The marketing manager has a role in communicating the budget plan and costing
approaches in the projects to the accounting to get support whereas the expenses and other
costs in routine operations are also reported back to effective financial flow management. The
marketing manager has a role in reducing the operational cost and in increasing the maximum
5

benefits to business within the proposed cost for the project. The accounting department has
relation to handle financial constraints and to support the marketing function for advertising
and promotion of the products and services (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015).
Front office department
The marketing has a role in guiding the front office department to understand customer
expectations during visits. The marketing provides significant data on the customer’s
experience so that the front office can manage the operations and services. For example, the
front office has the inclusion of the services and creativities in decisions on the outcomes of
the marketing practices whereas the changes in market trends and challenges also impact the
front offices to achieve restructuring and reshaping of the operations (Walker and Walker,
2004). Premier Inn has a high focus on customer satisfaction and so that there is a high option
for the customised services to the customers to improve their satisfaction.
Housekeeping department
In a wider organisational context, marketing department produces statistical and other
significant data on customer behaviour, purchasing intentions and satisfaction with services.
The data can be used to formulate the strategies for housekeeping operations. For example, if
marketing department reports that two third from total customers prioritise the cleanliness in
comparison of economic prices, then the information is used for housekeeping staff to
improve the customer satisfaction whereas management can highlight the cleanliness and
timely services to market the products and services.
Security department
The customer market is also seeking for security on their booking, transactions and stay in the
hotel. The marketing department might support the security department to take appropriate
actions to retain customer satisfaction (Bowie et al., 2016). For example, if it is determined
that theft and security issues are becoming a major concern in detachment with services, then
the security department can review practices to improve customer satisfaction. The marketing
department has a relationship with the security department to promote creative values in
practices to ensure high customer engagement and attraction to the hotel.
Food and beverage department
6

The hotel industry is being a mixture of accommodation and food hub along with other
services such as pool and gym services. Therefore, the marketing department provides
significant information to the food and beverage department to understand the taste of
customers and to improve the quality of food items to meet their satisfaction. For example,
recently Premier Inn has included Asian food items in menu card because marketing team has
analysed increasing traffic from Asian market along with orientation toward the Asian food
as British people are also seeking a variety (Dittmer, 2001). Therefore, the relationship
between the marketing and food department help the business to achieve significance in
growth and sustainability.
Therefore, it can be said that the organisational functions are interconnected to execute the
business goals. The marketing function has significance if there is no support of production
or human resource management to support innovative and creative changes in the practices.
In the same manner, other organisational contexts show that the business functions are
required to work in an interconnected environment to share the knowledge and data so that
more sustainable decisions can be made for growth and profitability (Kotler et al., 2017).
Marketing has a significant role in connecting the business with the external market so that
internal operations and services can be empowered to meet customer satisfaction.
7

Task 2
P3. Compare the ways in which different organizations apply the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives
Premier Inn has competition with Travelodge Hotels to achieve profitability and customer
base. The marketing planning process has use of the marketing mix elements because they
provide a systematic approach to explore the capabilities and constraints to achieve the
objectives.
Primmer Inn has main objectives to increase the profitability and customer base through
improvements in the customer satisfaction and attraction of the customers into new business
services. The organization wants to improve sales to 10% at the end of the year, whereas it
wants to reduce negative feedback and responses on the services. Travelodge has a goal to
expand the business and to introduce new hotels to increase customer base. The organization
also wants to become a premium accommodation service provider in the country.
Both organizations can be compared for their practices to achieve the goals around the
marketing mix elements. Also, other marketing tactics such as segmentation, targeting and
positioning compared to understand the practices.
People
Premier Inn has skilled and capable employees, whereas management is also effective to
achieve their satisfaction regarding work. The organizational culture has a strong alignment
of the employee engagement, whereas customer services are considered at priorities to attain
customer satisfaction (Yoo et al., 2000). Therefore, the hotel has enough support from
employees and customers to achieve the goals. Travelodge has enough consideration of the
people in marketing planning to reduce the risk of failure on demands and expectations.
Place
Both organizations are marketing through the internet and stores. Through the internet, the
organizations are adopting direct marketing to the target customers and reducing cost on the
operations. Internet-based sources such as official websites, social media application and
other portals are helping to attract the customers and to plan the marketing with high
8

efficiency. The organizations are using multiple channels to reach potential customers and
creating the most suitable marketing practices to achieve goals.
Product
Customer-Oriented products and services are required. The marketing planning of Premier
Inn considers that the interior and exterior of the hotel and rooms are good to attract the
customers, whereas the services are a convenience, useful, accessible and valuable. Also, the
organization makes use of technology to improve the quality and to enhance the experience
of customers with products (Goi, 2009). Packaging, branding and warranties are managed
with products to attain customer base. However, Travelodge has no uniform services across
hotels because it has lack of customer review integration in new service design.
Figure 3: 7P of marketing
Price
The marketing planning of Premier Inn has mainly consideration of the several strategies. For
example, skimming is used when there are low sales during winter so that customers can be
attracted. Also, penetration strategy is used to retain the customer market in a new location
through reduced price for a particular period. However, during summer and other seasons, the
organization makes use of psychological factors such as cost for brand and quality of services
to balance the prices (Naik et al., 2005). Travelodge focuses on the cost-plus strategy through
the inclusion of several services along with accommodation booking such as free breakfast
and car to receive at the nearest station. Also, Travelodge has less consideration in pricing
against different situations to manage brand premium values among customers.
9