Marketing Essentials Report: Marketing Roles, Plans, and Analysis

This report provides an executive summary of marketing essentials, focusing on the case of Amazon. It explores the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function, including customer analysis, market research, and strategy formation. The report examines how marketing relates to other organizational departments, such as finance, R&D, HR, customer service, and IT. It also includes a detailed analysis of Amazon's marketing plan, considering its mission, vision, situation analysis, objectives, and target market, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the report compares different marketing mixes of various organizations and analyzes the 7Ps of the marketing mix. The report emphasizes the importance of brand promotion, competitor analysis, and adapting to contemporary business issues. This report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of marketing principles and their application in a real-world e-commerce context.

Marketing Essentials

Executive Summary
Marketing is termed to be as the tool for a company to advertise their product and increase brand
awareness for attracting more consumer to generate business leads. Marketing essential helps a
business to do market research and formulate marketing strategy for the acquisition of the
targeted customers. However, it has been found that understanding marketing essential is the
leading factor in success of a firm.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Activity 1.........................................................................................................................................1
P1 Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function....................................1
P2 Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational
context. .......................................................................................................................................3
P4 Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation.........................................5
Activity 2.........................................................................................................................................7
Covered In PPT...........................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a significant tool for any organisation to attract, acquire and retain their
potential customers. In a business context, marketing is about creating awareness among the
potential customer through an advertisement and commercialisation. Amazon is a renowned and
big name in the e-commerce industry across the globe. Effective marketing the crucial factor
behind the glorious success of Amazon (Larson and Draper, 2019). Thus, the following
assignment is highlighting the roles of marketing in organisational success and its inter-relation
with various other departments of Amazon. Furthermore, the report also throws light on the 7Ps
of marketing mix and also illuminates how the marketing mix is used to formulate marketing
plan by undertaking Amazon. Although different organisation have a different marketing
approach, the following report also compares the different marketing mix of different
organisation. The primary focus of this report is to outlines the role of marketing in
contemporary business issue i.e. global pandemic COVID-19.
Activity 1
P1 Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function.
Marketing
Marketing is a process of creating brand awareness with the purpose to attract, acquire
and retain the targeted customer through advertisement and commercialisation of the product and
services. In context to Amazon, marketing is all about information exchange with the customer
about the deals and offers through a means of communication to attract and acquire a customer to
a certain product and services. Marketing function begins before sale of product & services and
continuous after-sale to strengthen customer relationship.
Key roles and responsibilities of marketing function
Marketing functions at Amazon the main concern with collecting information about the
consumer by using their search cookies and online affiliation and transport the product where
they are demanded. Some key role and responsibilities of marketing function are as follows-
 Identifying customer need and anticipating customer requirement
The marketing manager at Amazon are liable to gather as much as possible customer
information, they are using customer's search cookies and various blogs to know more about
customer requirement in the current business trend. In gathering customer's information, the
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primary focus of this assessment is to know about market need, customer attitude, buying habit
to influence customer buying decision (Pricilla, 2019). Gathering information is not the only
sole function of marketing, but to anticipate the customer requirement is the primary goals.
Anticipating with customer requirement can provide benefits for the first mover and they can
create a vision in the mind of the customer that they have some problem which only they can
solve in the whole market. Market research-Market research is all about market exploration to search the target
market and target customer. However, market research enables Amazon to gain a
competitive advantage in the market and put their competitors like Tesco and M&S under
their neck. Marketing analysis at Amazon can be done by the SWOT method to identify
the organisation position in the shadow of the global pandemic. In market research at
Amazon, the primary focus is on customer analysis, analysis about targeted market
segment and to determine market need and demands.
 Forming marketing strategy of the Amazon
The foremost function of the marketing at Amazon in the global pandemic is to form a
marketing strategy by adopting anticipating measures to provide product and services to
customer. In the context of Amazon, the primary marketing strategies are -
 Micro-marketing- In a micro-marketing strategy Amazon provides goods and
services to customer to satisfy basic need of an individual.
 concentrated marketing- In concentrated marketing, marketing manager at
Amazon plans this strategy to provide product to a single market.
 Differentiated and in-differentiated marketing strategy – Differentiate marketing
strategy prepare to intend to provide product and service to a specific target customer
segment. On other hand, Amazon formed an in-differentiated marketing strategy to
provide the various product to a mass population group (E.g. grocery).
 Brand promotion
Marketing of a product is all about promoting the product in the targeted market to attract target
customers. The primary responsibilities of the marketing manager at Amazon is to promote their
business either through digital media, affiliation marketing, social media and through various
omnichannel (Nirschl, and Steinberg, 2018). Brand promotion helps in increasing brand
awareness, improves customer loyalty & reliability and to retain potential customers.
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 Competitor analysis-
Amazon always keep eye on the activities of their competitors. The crucial task of marketing
function is competitor analysis, if an organisation do not notice the competitor success, they are
giving away all the possible marketing opportunity from their hand. Amazon could gather
competitor activities by the feedback provided by the customer either on the website or on social
media. Competitor analysis enables a firm to know more about the current market trend and how
to do business in the global pandemic crisis.
In context to Amazon, the primary role of marketing in the marketing environment is to
monitor the marketing environment i.e. to have an eye over the internal and external factor,
formed marketing strategy as ways of business has changed due to global crisis. Developing
branding equity is the ultimate goal of the marketing in the marking environment this is because
consumer tends to incline with the brand and Amazon is the big name in the e-commerce
business across the globe (Sumarwan, 2019).
P2 Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context.
Marketing plays a significant role at Amazon in the global pandemic time to arise as the
global leader by satisfying the needs and demands of the customer across the various nations.
Marketing function in an organisation aids them to create urgency for the sale in consumer mind
to meet sales target. However, the functions of the marketing are not limited to the marketing
department of Amazon, but marketing functions are closely linked with various other functional
departments for the success of the marketing campaign (Bünte, 2018). For smooth
organisational functioning, there is a need for proper coordinating and communication between
the various department of the organisation so that goal can be accomplished effectively and
efficiently. Interrelationship with marketing function and other functional units at Amazon are as
follows-
 Finance and marketing
Finance is considered to be the lifeblood cell of every organisation, this is because every plan
and idea need funds for their executions. In context to Amazon, in the shadow of COVID-19
they have witnessed financial losses, so every operation needs to get approval from the finance
department. Marketing strategy and tactic should have a relevant budget, this is because budget
helps in predicting the expenses and profit margin of the marketing campaign. Furthermore,
marketing approaches such as marketing research, planning and marketing promotion requires
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some sort of money that only finance department can provide to them. Moreover, finance
department of Amazon also provide information to marketing department about the cost that
would be incurred in the marketing activities (Hollensen, 2019). Marketing manager of Amazon
should have sound coordination with finance department to detect the financial position of the
firm and if there is some gap, fill it up by evaluating the existing marketing strategies.
 Research & Development and marketing
R&D department and marketing functions are interlinked in many ways. This is because the
R&D department helps marketing manager to provide various information about the present
market scenario. Under the shadow of COVID-19, it is the R&D department that aids in
successful commercialisation of the product and services.
 Marketing and human resource
In Amazon, the primary function of HR department is to provide an adequate workforce by
recruiting and hiring latent candidate. The marketing department of Amazon linked with HR
department to assure that they have plenty of taskforce for their functional unit (Perreault,
2018). If there is any vacant post, marketing department coordinates with HR department and
share information about a vacant job. Moreover, Marketing department also coordinates with HR
manager to provide sufficient training to new employee and HR manager also provides
employees performance feedback to marketing manager for the evaluation of the performance to
achieve target effectively.
 Marketing and customer service
Marketing function begins before the sales and continued after the sales in form of customer
service. Customer service is regarded as one of the crucial factors behind the triumph of Amazon
over its competitors. Marketing department coordinates with customer service department to get
feedback about customer experience from their service and address the way to satisfy customer
more impressively. At Amazon, both customer service and marketing department are working
together to provide greater customer satisfaction and build long term relationship with customer
by their retention and increase customer loyalty.
 Marketing and IT
Amazon is an e-commerce business existence just because of information and technology.
Marketing and IT department are working together to ensure that they are using update
technology to provide flexibility to customer in buying the product (Augusto Toledo and et.al,
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2019). Moreover, IT department helps marketing manager in creating customer database
management and website optimisation to reach a more targeted audience.
Therefore, it has been analysed that marketing functional have a relationship with other
functional units of Am zone for smooth organisational functioning and to achieve strategical
business goals. Various department such as finance, HR, IT, customer service and R&D
department aids the roles of marketing in many ways for effective and successful marketing
camping formation.
P4 Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation.
Marketing plan is useful in context to Amazon for increasing brand awareness and better
customer satisfaction in the global pandemic COVID-19 crisis.
Company Overview
Amazon is emerging as the key player in the e-commerce business sector. Beginning its
journey form as an online bookseller, now company dealing in every product from daily
household product to personal and professional items. Amazon also enters in OTT platform by
introducing Amazon prime where premium user can watch various shows online. Amazon
Kindle is the largest e-book seller across the globe.
Mission & Vision statement
To provide excellent customer service, the vision of Amazon is to be raise as one of the
organisation in the Earth that is truly dedicated to customer service and provide every range of
product to satisfy customer need through online. The mission statement of the firm is to attract
customer to them and show why they exist in the market. Amazon has a mission to provide
products at the lowest price, to deliver the best available selection and provide convenience in
buying (Berg and Knights, 2019).
Situation analysis-
In the contemporary business issue like a global pandemic, it has become complex for
Amazon to continue their business in the same manner as they were operating before the
pandemic. Buying pattern of customer change due to adopting safety measures and a decrease in
the income level of individual due to the economy shut down in various part of the globe.
The objective of the marketing plan
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The ultimate aim of marketing plan is to increase the sale by 20% and to provide product
in as possible at the lowest price in the remote area by using drone for delivery in highly senstive
area by avoiding the risk of contact delivery to deliver better customer satisfaction.
Target market:
Highly sensitive and remote area where risk of virus is high due to physical contact with
the product.
Segmentation:
Amazon currently segmenting adult and children because COVID-19 is more dangerous
for them and going outside is not safer for them. Brand loyalty helps Amazon to segment its
targeted profile. Market segmentation will help Amazon to gain a competitive advantage under
the shadow of COVID-19.
Targeting:
Amazon Primary focus on the remote areas around the world where due to lock-down
restriction and government guidelines elderly and kids are not allowed to go outsider as they are
major subject of risk from this deadly virus.
Positioning:
In positioning, Amazon undertook brand positioning by introducing drone delivery in
remote and highly sensitive area to avoid direct contact while fetching up delivery. This is a kind
of experiential positioning of the Amazon where they are using their brand equity and emotional
connection with customers (Bhandary, 2019).
Marketing mix:
In context of the targeting market, the market mix of Amazon are as follows-
 Product- To provide safety to the consumer, Amazon is changing its product
packaging design in such a manner that unnecessary physical contact can be avoided.
Product packaging is crucial when delivering it through drone.
 Price- Whole world has brutally affected by the COVID-19, many people lost their job
due to this crisis and the income level of the population is gradually falling. Thus, the
primary goal of the price mix is to lower the price of the product so every people can
afford. E.g. Amazon comes with youth premium plan, where student can get premium
benefits at lower price, this approach higher the online engagement of customer on their
website.
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 Place : Amazon is using its primary website and application for the transaction of the
service. Amazon in COVID-19 plans to tie up with F-drones for the delivery of its
product in remote areas.
 People: It is the people whose outstanding contribution in the COVID-19 allows them
to serve people sitting across the various nation. Amazon is planning to hire more
competent taskforce in its marketing
 Process- Amazon need to change the manner of delivery of product, earlier they
are using a delivery van and a delivery guy who deliver product to the destination.
But due to COVID-19 Amazon is using drone for delivering product to avoid
chances of physical contact during delivery (Charlesworth, 2020).
 Promotion- Amazon is adopting social media marketing tool to reach more millions
of user across the world easily.
 Physical evidence – Company need to set up about 35 warehouses all around the
world where they can sanitise their product, build a safe packaging product design and
test the product durability
Budgeting and controlling:
Budgeting as a control tool assist Amazon to have an eye on the various activities of the
plan measure the actual performance with planned performance. Budgeting as control tool is like
a action plan to ensure that there are less derivation of the planned marketing activities.
Activity 2
Covered In PPT
CONCLUSION
As per the above carried out study, it has been analysed that marketing is a significant
tool of an organisation to meet sales target. The role of marketing is not limited to the marketing
department but it has been found that marketing has an inter-relation with other departments of
the firm to achieve business goals. It has been found that an organisation that does not anticipate
a marketing campaign in their business would eventually be witnessing a fall in profit. Although
in marketing, customer is the central discipline informing marketing plan by using marketing
mix.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Augusto Toledo, L., and et.al., 2019. Práticas em Marketing Sob a Perspectiva do
Crowdsourcing: O caso AMAZON. Future Studies Research Journal: Trends &
Strategies, 11(1).
Baack, D.W., Czarnecka, B. and Baack, D., 2018. International marketing. Sage.
Berg, N. and Knights, M., 2019. Amazon: how the world’s most relentless retailer will continue
to revolutionize commerce. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bhandary, B., 2019. Amazon Pay: Banking on new thinking diagnosis white paper. Available at
SSRN 3413354.
Bünte, C., 2018. Künstliche Intelligenz–die Zukunft des Marketing. Wiesbaden: Springer
Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Charlesworth, A., 2020. Absolute Essentials of Digital Marketing. Routledge.
Hollensen, S., 2019. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Kuntonbutr, S., 2019. Book Review: Essentials of Marketing. RMUTT Global Business
Accounting and Finance Review, 2(1).
Larson, J. and Draper, S., 2019. Digital marketing essentials. Edify.
Nirschl, M. and Steinberg, L., 2018. Einstieg in das Influencer Marketing. Springer Fachmedien
Wiesbaden.
Ozanne, L.K., and et.al., 2020. EXPRESS: Enabling and Cultivating Wiser Consumption: The
Roles of Marketing and Public Policy. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing,
p.0743915620975407.
Perreault, W.D., 2018. Essentials of marketing. New York: Mc Graw Hill.
Pricilla, D., 2019. The Marketing Essentials. Pdf.
Proctor, T., 2020. Absolute Essentials of Strategic Marketing: A Research Overview.
Sumarwan, U., 2019. Pemasaran Strategik: Perspektif perilaku konsumen dan Marketing plan.
PT Penerbit IPB Press.
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