Marketing Essentials: Coconut Bliss Report, Marketing Strategies

This report delves into the marketing essentials, using Coconut Bliss, a dessert company, as a case study. It begins with an introduction to marketing and its significance in business, followed by a detailed analysis of the marketing department's responsibilities, including strategy development, market research, product development, communication, sales support, and event organization. The report further examines the impact of the internal and external business environments on marketing functions, with a focus on how Coconut Bliss manages these factors. The report then explores the interrelationship between marketing and other departments like finance, research and development, and operations. The analysis includes a discussion of the marketing mix, the importance of coordinating activities, and the creation of a marketing plan for the company. The report concludes by summarizing key findings and providing references to support the analysis.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Task a) and b).........................................................................................................................1
Task c)....................................................................................................................................3
Task d) and e).........................................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
Task 1) and 2).........................................................................................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
Task 1) and 2).......................................................................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Marketing plan.......................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The marketing is an essential tool of business that is used extensively by various
organisations so that their products' sales volume can be enhanced in market. This function is
closely related with development of activities that can help in making products of a particular
company competitive so that the survival of specific firm can be maintained in a better way. The
marketing essentials include different functions that extends from assorted roles and
responsibilities of enterprise to other interrelated activities of business along with marketing
(Forshier, 2012). The present report is based on essentials of marketing where chosen
organisation is Coconut bliss. The cited organisation is a dessert company based in Eugene that
deals in different dairy products along with various range of other goods that are made with
ingredients of milk. The report will focus on different marketing tools and its roles in various
environment of business. Along with this, the marketing mix for two different companies will
help in finding out importance of mixes for firms. Finally, the report carries out a marketing plan
so that said enterprise can develop its activities accordingly. Thus, the whole report will be
focused on different tools of marketing and its key elements.
TASK 1
Task a) and b)
The marketing department of any organisation use to perform various responsibilities
according to which the department is entrusted to plan for enhancing revenue capacity of
business by increasing sales. For a small firm, the marketing department may consist of only one
person and in case of huge companies, this section may compose of marketing director, manager
and different executives (Bennett, 2010.). The size of firm does not differentiate the roles and
responsibilities of departments as in both cases the functions performed are similar like
advertisement, promotions, making customer relations and so on. In context of Coconut bliss
which is a small firm of total 11 employees, this role is performed by marketing manager so that
the company can be expanded successfully. In such scenario, assorted responsibilities of
manager will be as follows:
 Strategy: The marketing department is expected to design strategies for company which
can help to enhance the business scope in market. Apart from this, it also use to plan out
the strategies in a way so that both organisational goals and marketing function may
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relate with each other. The major effort in this area is laid on to increase the market share
of company or expand business in different sectors. This may be executed by planning
for new marketing tools like web based marketing, internet promotion, personal selling
etc. The coconut bliss firm made its all products much popular through greater
involvement of firm in social media practices (Jones and Rowley, 2011). Thus, the
manager formulates all plans that are highly profitable for making products of entity
popular. Besides this, the said firm also undertook various campaigning plans like event
sponsorships, in-store relationship building, tasting parties etc. to popularise its products.
 Market research: The market research is an essential work that all companies use to
execute. The research helps in correct identification of market segments where products
can be made more popular among all its customers. Thereby, the manager attempts to
grab various opportunities available in market and employ them according to current
needs of customers. The conducted researches also assist in understanding competitor's
strengths and weaknesses so that organisations can also plan their moves accordingly.
The mentioned enterprise use to develop a market researches so that it can identify more
number of target consumers (Papasolomou and Melanthiou, 2012). As the product in
which coconut bliss deals is for every segment and age of customers, yet it may help in
more systematic categorisation of clients so that positioning and distribution of goods can
be done effectively.
 Product development: The marketing department's next function is to carry out the
process of product development. The said process can be related to either development of
a new product or growth in existing ones as well. For this function, marketing department
of mentioned company use to coordinate with product development teams. The teams use
to assess demands and needs of customers in current situation so that new product can be
developed with features as per demand. Apart from this, the new feature can be integrated
in existing products as well which makes it easier to position goods in well manner with
some modifications. The whole information is passed by marketing department to
production teams so that they can make changes accordingly. Thus, a product is
developed with communication and coordination of both departments.
 Communication: The communication is an important aspect of business without which
no process can be accomplished in a proper way (Nguyen and Simkin, 2012). The
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communication is significant in both internal as well as external environment of business.
Through communication, marketing department arranges for communicating with
customers through campaigns or different tools and techniques. This may range from
sending mails, producing brochures for company, newsletters etc. For instance, the
Coconut bliss organisation undertook campaigning plan tasting parties. In this campaign,
firm hosted some guests and allowed them to freely communicate with owners along with
a sample of different flavours of ice cream. This helped in taking more support of local
customers and increasing their loyalty towards brand.
 Sales support: It is very necessary to work in cooperation for sales team and marketing
department. This is done through making better advertisements and sales promotion
activities which in return increases sales of company. The marketing department of cited
firm use to advertise their products along with feedback mechanism where customers can
post their feedback which may be useful for sales department (Desai, 2013). Apart from
this, they also encourage number of visitors for organisation by allowing different
facilities like newsletters and other information of company which helps in attracting
more clients and increasing sales. Thus, the marketing department put various efforts to
enhance sales and promotional activities of firm that directly affects sales of business.
Moreover, this also helps in efficient coordination between both departments to achieve
common goal.
 Events: The marketing department use to organise various events and campaigning
programmes that can help companies to provide assistance in popularising products. This
also includes display of products and giving samples so that the customers can have taste
of such products and make decision to buy it. For instance to enter in new market easily,
the cited venture took the help of sponsoring events where it sponsored booths which
helped in catering demands of target customers. Here, the company offered samples of
products along with fliers so that the local stores can be asked to sell products of Coconut
bliss. Thus, with the help of local booth holders, the said enterprise successfully entered
in new market (Mihart, 2012).
Task c)
The function of marketing is affected by its external and internal business environment as
both aspects are affect the organisations in various ways. To meet out all these effects, firms
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have to manage their marketing functions. Thus, all these operations can be divided into internal
and external parts as per the environment.
Internal environment
In order to manage activities of internal parts of business in Coconut Bliss, various roles
and responsibilities are performed by departments of said firm which are described as below:
 Top management: The top management consists of all senior managers and owners of
business who use to discuss important factors of organisation that can affect directly or
indirectly to company. In this regard, the owners and managers also help in taking final
decisions that are related to marketing plans (Quinton and Fennemore, 2013). This may
include decisions related to expansion, product distribution, budgets etc. they also play an
important role in implementation of final decisions.
 Finance and accounts: Finance department of said company is primarily entrusted to
manage and raise funds for business. Apart from this, the accounting departments use to
make analysis of its revenues and costs so that it can set budgets for important marketing
plans. With the help of marketing manager, this department set its budget so that
allocation of funds can be made for various activities of marketing like advertisement,
sales promotion, market researches etc.
 Research and development: The Coconut bliss company use to undertake research of
market so that it can determine customer segments that are more useful for the
positioning of products. This research is also done with the purpose of assessing moves
of competitors so that several decisions of setting prices, advertisement of products etc.
can be done (Roger, 2010). Through this research, the mentioned organisation tapped the
need of customers to have the taste of organic food which was provided by Coconut bliss
in all its products made with organic ingredients.
 Employees: The employees are the major part of organisation who use to perform all
instructed activities as per the top management. The number of workers are small in said
firm where they are allotted tasks related to sales, executing functions as per ordered by
seniors and also to work for meeting goals of company.
External environment
The external environment of business includes two main elements which are macro
environment and micro environment.
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Micro environment
 Market intermediaries: The market intermediaries include all middlemen who are
involved in different processes of marketing related to company. They help in promotion,
selling and distribution of products so that goods an be reached till final consumers in
proper way (Smith, 2011). In context of Coconut bliss, this role is played by local booths
and sellers who use to keep products of said company to sell it.
 Customers: The customers like individuals, householders, industrial customers etc. have
an impact on business. The functions of marketing are developed according to these
people where industrial customers use to act as intermediaries who buy products directly
from company and sell it to make profits.
Macro environment
 Demographic forces: The demographic factors include population, age, income, ethnicity
etc. where marketing manager use to make research and then make efforts to design
products so as to meet all these factors appropriately.
 Social factors: The social forces have an important impact on marketing activities. The
marketing department has to make its all functions in a way that can help in take the
support of society and its people (Thrassou and et.al., 2012). In this situation, said
company use to provide services that are of utility for customers and can provide
satisfaction to them.
Task d) and e)
To achieve the organisational objectives it is necessary for the companies to coordinate
activities of all departments with each other. For those organisations which are indulged in
offering products and services to customers, marketing is an important function for them.
According to Truong and Simmons, (2010). before making plans and strategies that are related
with marketing, it is necessary to give a considerable thought to its possible impact on customers
and their response as well. The Coconut bliss use to make an interrelationship between
marketing and all other departments of company. This helps in making all the related functions
to have a great impact on marketing efforts. This can be understood with the help of following
description:
 Marketing and finance: The finance department in mentioned enterprise use to execute
different works like analysis of cost, sales, budgets, and other figures of company.
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Besides this, various investment decisions are also taken by top management with the
advice of finance department after proper analysis of the projects. The marketing
department also have to take the advices of finance so as to make decisions regarding
advertisement, sales promotion, distribution, investment ion new product or service etc.
(West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2015) This is necessary to work on these functions with
assistance of finance as all these operations need a substantial amount of money. Any
wrong decision made in any of these functions may result in huge losses of company.
Therefore, marketing manager use to make various plans related to promotion,
advertisement, sales planning etc. so that an appropriate budget can be set. According to
this budget, allocation of expenses are done so that it can help in making right plan for
marketing.
 Marketing and production: To make efficient plans for production purpose, it is necessary
to have correct information regarding quality to be produced along with needs of
customers so that the wanted feature can be introduced in any product. This important
information is supplied by marketing department to production department. As per the
views of Potter, (2012) it is also necessary to keep into consideration various changes in
demands and other uncertain factors that an affect production aspect of company. The
said business venture use to produce all its desserts by using organic ingredients. This
need was assessed by marketing department by which the production process was
decided to meet the demands of customers. Thus, coordination between both departments
is necessary.
 Marketing and R&D: The research and development department plays a vital role in
marketing of products and services. In the views of Reijonen and Laukkanen, (2010) the
important researches carried out by the said department makes a base for all marketing
functions and helps in taking various important decisions of company. The R&D
department in mentioned enterprise use to make various efforts so that more information
can be acquired about customer's need and their choices. For instance, research
department assessed the prevailing marketing techniques adopted in market by various
companies like web based marketing. This information was passed by this department to
marketing section. Thus, they developed a plan and budget so that cited entity can also
enter in to increasing social media marketing.
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 Marketing and personnel: The personnel department refers to employees of organisation
who are very less in Coconut bliss. This makes the management of all workers much
easier. The marketing department use to coordinate the activities and instruct about it to
staff (Rust, Moorman and Bhalla, 2010). They are also told about the way according to
which, particular work is to be performed. This may include selling activities,
promotional works etc.
TASK 2
Task 1) and 2)
To achieve the over all objectives of the business Coconut Bliss has used the tools of
marketing mix to set the plans to reach and target the consumers. This has help the organisation
in many ways to grow which advocates to spread the name of the organisation. According to the
variety of elements of marketing mix the offer can be made to potential consumers. For setting
high brand name the organisation has focused on promotion and to increase the consumers it has
focused on price. There are seven key elements of marketing mix which the company has used to
achieve the major objectives of the organisation. These are as follows :
1. Product: To meet the expectations of customers the organisation develops the product
with right quantity and quality. the product is said to be perfect when consumer finds the
value in it (Sheth, 2011). What we think that a customer wants should not be provided
what the actual needs of the customer is to be satisfied. The organisation did the same
and was able to achieve the objective of product mix and found that friends and family
were also keen of the product offered by Coconut Bliss. Before purchasing the product
they allows the customers to taste the product. They also provide coupons to customers
as an incentive so the purchasing of the product can increase. While So Delicious UK
decide what to offer first to customer. The product is firstly taste by the staff member and
than it is delivered to customer. This organisation first develop the right product and then
find the right people to sale the product. They provide right quality at the right price to
brand the product. With the tangible product the product provide by the organisation also
has intangible qualities like good brand for dairy-free ice cream. They keep a regular
check on what the customer thinks about their product. What are the needs of customer
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now and how they will change in future and what they are going to choose (Liu,
Kasturiratne and Moizer, 2012). Price: The customer will pay only when he thinks the product is worth according to the
price. This doesn't mean that offering the cheapest price for the product which will give
the wrong impact. For deciding the price of the product the firm focused on the
perspective of the consumers. Price decide the position of the firm in the market in
accordance with the price of the competitors. Better quality is provided when the
organisation charge more amount from customers. Without charging any price from the
customers Coconut bliss allows to taste the product and then they ask for purchasing the
product. However the price of product of So Delicious is competitive in the market for
competing the rivalries. When this organisation decide the price for their product they
think from the point of view of customer. As price decide where the organisation stands
in the market among the competitors main focus of So Delicious is on deciding the price
of the product deliver to the people (Mudie and Pirrie, 2012). If they charge more they
will provide better quality of products. They provide high quality packaging for their
product so that the price charge by them satisfy the customer. Their products are diverse
in nature and not the same so they charge accordingly. Place: The organisation decide the right place to provide the product at right time and in
the right quantity according to the price. The place where the product is provided must be
appropriate and convenient for customer. The distribution of product is done properly in
every market where the customers are more and according to the preference of the
customer the product is distributed. Displaying of the product at the right place is also
necessary for selling the product. Firstly the organisation used to sale the product to
couple's of home and local house parties. Whereas The distribution channel of the So
Delicious UK is very good which position their product to every customer at right time
and satisfy the wants of customer (Michaelidou, Siamagka and Christodoulides, 2011).
The organisation ask few questions to themselves and then decide the place to sale the
products. like do you need a good sales force to serve the product. what are the strategies
that can be applied to sale to product. the organisation also focus on the store house that it
should be near the public area so that they can provide the product according to the need
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