Marketing Activities, Research and Planning in Organizations: Report

This report delves into the multifaceted realm of marketing activities, research, and planning within organizations, providing a comprehensive analysis of key concepts and strategies. It begins by exploring fundamental marketing principles, including growth strategies, branding techniques, and the significance of market research. The report then examines the limitations and constraints of marketing, alongside a comparison of marketing techniques employed by organizations such as Apple and Samsung. A significant portion is dedicated to elucidating how organizations leverage marketing research to inform their marketing plans, covering both primary and secondary research methods, PESTLE analysis, and the limitations of such research. Furthermore, the report addresses consumer segmentation and targeting, the marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion), and the process for launching new products or services. The report includes recommendations for enhancing marketing plan development, ensuring a well-rounded understanding of effective marketing practices. The content has been contributed by a student and is available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools and resources for students.

Marketing activities, research and planning
in Organizations

Table of content
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................2
TASK-1................................................................................................................................3
P2 - Describe the limitations and constraints of marketing..........................................4
M1 - Compare marketing techniques used in marketing products in two organisations
......................................................................................................................................4
D1- Evaluation of effectiveness of techniques used in marketing products.................4
TASK-2................................................................................................................................5
P3- Describe how a selected organisation uses marketing research to contribute to
the development of its marketing plans........................................................................5
P4-Use marketing research for marketing planning.....................................................6
M2- Explain the limitations of marketing research used to contribute to the
development of a selected organisation’s marketing plans...........................................6
ASSIGNMENT 2 Segmentation and Targeting...................................................................8
TASK-3................................................................................................................................8
ASSIGNMENT 3 MARKETINMG MIX...........................................................................9
TASK 4................................................................................................................................9
P-6 Describe a process which can be used for a new product or service by a coherent
marketing mix ?............................................................................................................9
M3- Develop a coherent marketing mix that is targeted at a defined group of
potential customers.......................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Effective marketing starts with a considered, well-informed marketing strategy. A
good marketing strategy helps you define your vision, mission and business goals, and
outlines the steps you need to take to achieve these goals.Research is an essential part of
your marketing strategy. You need to gather information about market such as its size,
growth, social trends and demographics (population statistics such as age, gender and
family type. To meet the goals, managers may develop plans such as a business plan or a
marketing plan. In these case Apple and Samsung strategy is discussed.
TASK-1
Growth Strategy
Growth strategy is when a company invests in companies and sectors that are rapidly
expanding than their rivalries. Benefits using growth strategy could be cheaper
production costs through the economies of scale and helping business receive high levels
of profits (Acker and Saunders, 2017).
Apple branding strategy
A brand can be a name, logo, slogan or the service. Brand recognition enables the
customers to notice their products than to other similar products for instance Apples
relies on branding while selling their i phone products this is because the consumer are
already aware of the luxurious product due to the famous apple logo, this entices the
consumers to pay whatever the price may be because the demand for the product will be
so high.
Samsung branding strategy
Branding helps Samsung a well renowned established company and the relation between
the consumer and the brand forms because the customers can easily identify what is a
brand and could result to continuous sales if they prefer Samsung brand than, android for
instance.

P2 - Describe the limitations and constraints of marketing
Limitations and constraints are factors that work as a resource that is currently
working at its full capacity. Limitations and constraints restrict an organization from
achieving its potential (Appiah-Adu and Amoako, 2016).
The sale of goods act 1979 is a law that protects consumers and ensures goods are as
described, and also of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose.
This law means any products sold must be fit for purpose.
The Consumer Credit Act 1974 regulates consumer credit and covers content and
form of credit agreements, method of calculating annual percentage rate (APR),
procedures relating to events of default, termination or early settlemen. The Data
Protection Act covers data held in electronic formats, and also applies to manual data
which are held in what the Act calls a relevant filling system. It is the main piece of
legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the UK.
M1 - Compare marketing techniques used in marketing products in two organisations
Marketing techniques are relationship marketing, brands, Ansoffs and survival
strategies.
Apple target market is youth market which tries to attract them wit a huge range of
phones, laptops, i-pods. Apple products are high quality, designed with a clear house
style, simple in their design and practical. As the Apple is the renowned company
branding is not necessary.
Whereas Samsung has innovative mobiles, they are not simple. Samsung brand its
product through various media and frequently launch addition in existing products.
D1- Evaluation of effectiveness of techniques used in marketing products
The Company's principle activity is to design, manufacture and market personal
computers and related software and networking solutions (Mariani, et.al 2016). The

Company is committed to bringing the best personal computing and portable digital
music experience to students, educators, creative professionals, businesses and
government agencies.
The Company's business strategy leverages its unique ability to design and develop
its own operating system, alongside with its strategic planning and choices of market
segments.
The Company sells it products worldwide through its online stores, its retail stores, its
direct sales force, third-party wholesalers and reseller.
Customer Philosophy : The Company designs and develops numerous lines of
products and services, the market segments and different marketing strategy are well
defined. The Company has chosen a rather niche market for its personal computer,
however, the designing of the products are specifically design to utilize the needs and
wants for these markets.
Major market segments for the Company includes, education (user friendly interface
and easy access), creative professional (professional hardware and software, digital video,
film production and editing) digital music electronic consumers (iPod, iTunes and iTV) It
is understandable that the Company has taken sufficient amount of time to identify the
whole marketing system view.
TASK-2
P3- Describe how a selected organisation uses marketing research to contribute to the
development of its marketing plans
Market Research is used by Apple and Samsung to help them improve their goods
and services. They have made many improvement within their website and international
businesses. There are two types of Market Research, these are primary and secondary
research. Apple and Samsung also used qualitative research to help improve their
branding, they did this by looking over previous interviews. Apple and Samsung uses
secondary research to find out about their competitors, they use old reports, surveys and

questionnaires to help them promote their business in a way that their competitors may
not have used. By using secondary research they have increased their range of food
products which has introduced many new customers.
P4-Use marketing research for marketing planning
PESTLE Analysis
 P-political factors-political factors are usually beyond the control of the
organization and businesses need to anticipate changes and identify any factors
that affect the business(McCamley and Gilmore, 2016).
 E-economic factors-economic factor examines the local,national and world
economy impact and this includes the issue of recession and inflation rates.
 S-social and cultural factors-social factors that can affect the sales of Apple and
Samsung are the taste, trend and fashion.
 T-technological factors-happens due to change in technology
L-legal factors includes the laws made by government.
E- environment factors-This aspect of the PESTEL/PESTLE analysis model
highlights ecological concerns and their impacts on business.
M2- Explain the limitations of marketing research used to contribute to the development
of a selected organisation’s marketing plans
Limitations of marketing research used to contribute to the development of Apple
and Samsung marketing plans
 Cost effectiveness: Cost effective means if the cost of the productive is effective
enough. You want your product to be cost effective so it attract customer and also
creates high profits.
 Legal constrains: There is legal constrains in marketing research. Law prohibits
some activities not to be carried out. Data protection act is one such legal

constrain. Which makes marketing research a little more harder to gather data.
 Collecting and processing can be time consuming and cost lot of money. It’s
difficult for companies to gather specialist data from general public without
having professional knowledge and hiring special organization to gather that data
for the company is very expensive as well(Pinto, Martin and Chenhall,2016).
 Consumer behavior changes from time to time and its depend on time and mood
of consumer.
D2- Recommendations to be made for enhancing the development of a selected
organization's marketing plans
Improving the validity of your market research can increase the effectiveness of your
marketing strategies.
Market research is the process of gathering; analyzing and interpreting information
about product of service that Apple want to sell in the market
Valid market research methods deliver information that is internally consistent and
can be extended to cover all members of your target market. When you design your
questions carefully and ensure your samples are representative, you can improve the
validity of your research methods.
There are four different method of marketing research which are primary, secondary,
qualitative and quantitative(Ratten, 2016). Primary research is when Apple collects
information from their customers about their needs. Secondary research is when Apple
collect information from external sources linked to the business. Qualitative research is
the type of research which leads to an opinion or feeling from the customer. Lastly
Quantitative research is the type of research usually in the form of number of figures
which could be analyzed.
Often a random sampling technique introduces responses from people who are not
members of your target group. You can include screening questions that block those
respondents from participating, or you can collect all responses and discard those from
people who don't meet your selection criteria.

If the non-responsive group is substantial, reducing it by adding people who
volunteer adds self-selection bias to the result because the volunteers are likely to share
characteristics not representative of your whole target group. You may have to change
how you conduct the survey to get enough samples from a random selection.
ASSIGNMENT 2 Segmentation and Targeting
TASK-3
P5- Determine why consumers are segmented on the basis of selected products and its
process?
It is important to know who the key parts in this process whether the customer or the
consumer. They sound similar but has significant difference between the two and are
often used interchangeably. In addition to emphasizing features like style and prestige,
you would have to factor in the price of the products and the quality, that appeal to the
buyer instead of just the end user.
Market Segmentation : A segment orientated marketing approach enables decisions
about intensity of marketing approaches for particular segments and is the primary basis
for developing targeted and effective marketing plans(Rudd, Jaakkola and
Marshall,2016).
Consumer Market Segmentation : The optimal basis on which to segment the market
depend on particular situation and are usually determined by market research, market
trends and managerial judgement.
Business Marketing Segmentation : Business-to-Business markets experience much
more complex decision making, as instead of just one person deciding to buy an item that
they don't really need ,but want, the purchase of a piece of plant equipment, for example,
can involve technical experts, purchasing experts, board members, production managers
and health and safety experts, taking part in a purchase that is needed for the company.

ASSIGNMENT 3 MARKETINMG MIX
TASK 4
P-6 Describe a process which can be used for a new product or service by a coherent
marketing mix ?
Marketing mix is a process in which if they get all product, price, place and
promotion right they are highly likely to succeed Product in the market. These are
controllable element and importantly use when determined and adjusted until the right
combination that serve the needs of the product's consumers.
When developing a product, Apple must consider factors such as customers wants
and needs, the physical appearance of the product, the quality and reliability of the
product(Shankar, et.al 2016).
The price of an item is clearly an important determinant which determines the value
of the sales made. The price range is based on the combination of cost and customer
based pricing because people are more interested in buying apple product because of the
value of money provided by them.
The main objective of place in marketing mix is to make products available in the
right place, at the right time.
Promotion is a way of communication where business advertises and raise awareness
of products to the customers. Apple uses AIDA model for its promotion which stands for
Attention, Interest, Desire and action.
M3- Develop a coherent marketing mix that is targeted at a defined group of potential
customers
Marketing mix must be clearly targeted to a defined group of potential customers and
needs to be detailed and coherent so that product, price, place and promotion are all
designed to appeal to the clearly defined needs and aspirations of your target audience.

An objective of a marketing mix is to help support the building of brands using the 4
P's as a strategy.An effective marketing mix will increase brand awareness and a strong
brand allows businesses to make more effective marketing strategies.Satisfy needs and
aspirations of their target market.
Another objective of a marketing mix is to focus the 4 P's on fulfilling the needs of
customers in the target market. If all 4 P's in a marketing mix satisfies the target market,
the product has an increased chance of success.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Acker, F. and Saunders, S., 2017. Approaching Big Data: Harnessing App Information in
Social Marketing. In Formative Research in Social Marketing (pp. 33-52). Springer
Singapore.
Appiah-Adu, K. and Amoako, G.K., 2016. The execution of marketing strategies in a
developing economy: a case study of selected market leaders. African Journal of
Economic and Management Studies.7(1). pp.9-29.
Mariani, et.al 2016. Facebook as a destination marketing tool: Evidence from Italian
regional Destination Management Organizations. Tourism Management.54. pp.321-
343.
McCamley, C. and Gilmore, A., 2016. Strategic marketing planning for heritage tourism:
a conceptual model and empirical findings from two emerging heritage regions.
Journal of Strategic Marketing. pp.1-18.
Pinto, D., Martin, D. and Chenhall, R., 2016. The involvement of patient organisations in
rare disease research: a mixed methods study in Australia. Orphanet journal of rare
diseases, 11(1), p.2.
Ratten, V., 2016. The dynamics of sport marketing: Suggestions for marketing
intelligence and planning. Marketing Intelligence & Planning.34(2). pp.162-168.
Rudd, J., Jaakkola, M. and Marshall, G.W., 2016. Introduction to the Special Issue:
Strategic Marketing-New Horizons in Theory and Research. European Journal of
Marketing,.50(12).
Shankar, et.al 2016. Mobile shopper marketing: Key issues, current insights, and future
research avenues. Journal of Interactive Marketing.34.pp.37-48.