Marketing Essentials: Analysis of Marketing Strategies for EE Limited

This report delves into the core concepts of marketing, emphasizing its significance and the processes involved. It begins by defining marketing fundamentals, including its importance and functions. The report then examines how contemporary companies, specifically EE Limited, a UK mobile phone provider, utilize marketing mix strategies. A detailed analysis of EE Limited's marketing planning process is provided, incorporating internal and external assessments through tools such as SWOT and PESTLE. The report covers the role of marketing managers, the influence of marketing on other departments, and the interrelation of various market units. The report highlights the evolution from the 4P to 7P marketing mix. It also includes a comparative analysis of EE Limited and its competitors, and concludes with an overview of marketing objectives, strategies, segmentation, and tactics, alongside budget and control considerations.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS
Page 1 of 22

Executive summary
The paper contains a discussion about the concept of the marketing and the process
associated with the topic. First it talks about the basic concepts of the marketing such as the
importance and the roles of the process. Then it sheds light on how the marketing mix
strategies are used by the modern companies of the economy by taking the specific case of
the EE limited, company producing mobile for the market of the UK. The paper sheds light
on how the company uses the different concepts and the tools of marketing for the
penetration of UK market. Lastly the paper produces the planning process of the marketing
taking into consideration the assessments of the internal and the external situation of the
company using tools such as SWOT and PESTLE.
Page 2 of 22

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Task 1: The role of marketing and the concepts related to marketing:......................................4
Development of the concept of marketing and external environments impact on marketing:
................................................................................................................................................4
Overview of the marketing process:.......................................................................................5
Role and responsibilities of marketing manager:...................................................................5
Responsibilities and roles of the marketing influence and interrelation with other functional
departments:...........................................................................................................................6
Importance of marketing:.......................................................................................................7
The role of the different market units and the interrelationships:..........................................7
Task 2: ways the organisation use the elements of marketing mix to meet the business
objective.....................................................................................................................................8
Task 2a: Comparative analysis of EE limited and its competitors.............................................8
The 7p marketing mix:...........................................................................................................8
Achieving business objective:..............................................................................................10
Shift from the 4P to the 7p marketing mix and its significance:..........................................10
Overview of the marketing planning process:......................................................................11
Task 2b: Development and the evaluation of the marketing plan...........................................11
Executive summary..............................................................................................................11
Company Overview..............................................................................................................11
Internal analysis....................................................................................................................12
External analysis...................................................................................................................14
Marketing objectives............................................................................................................14
Marketing strategies.............................................................................................................15
Segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP)....................................................................15
Tactics & Action...................................................................................................................15
Page 3 of 22

Budget...................................................................................................................................16
Control..................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion................................................................................................................................16
References................................................................................................................................17
Page 4 of 22

Introduction
In the contemporary world, most of the business is profit seeking and profit is the parameter
by which their performance is determined. Thus in order to seek profit the organisations
needs to reach out to the potential customers to tell them about the products and the services
of the company. Marketing is a tool that is used by the organisation to carry out a range of
study related to the behaviour of the customer. The marketing also includes the strategies and
the tools that need to be used for reaching out to the potential customers. This paper presents
a discussion on the concepts of marketing along with the ways the contemporary
organisations use marketing tools such as marketing mix for the achievement of the business
objective taking the case specific case of EE limited, a mobile phone company of the UK. In
addition to that, the paper also showcases the detail concepts and the processes of marketing
planning of EE Limited.
Task 1: The role of marketing and the concepts related to marketing:
Development of the concept of marketing and external environments impact on
marketing:
The term marketing dates back to the ancient time when the production houses used to belief
that the efficient production is the foremost requirement to ensure sustainability. Back then,
marketing used to be perceived as a philosophy rather than tools nowadays however,
marketing is a smart process which helps the organisation determine what to produce, for
whom to produce and how much to produce. As per the recent trend, marketing strategy is the
initial strategy of almost all of the new organisations who has the objective to introduce a
new type product in the market (Magrath and McCormick, 2013).
The external environment has a huge effect on the activity of the marketing process. There
are many external factors such as political, economic and social which influences the
marketing process. The government and its regulations guide the organisations to decide what
type of the product which will be introduced in the market. In addition to that, policies and
the rules and the regulations can create problem for the marketing department to introduce
few of the produced in a particular market. Economic factors on the other hand impact the
purchasing power of the potential customers that indirectly influences the marketing mix of
the company. In the case of economic boom, the organisations have a huge scope of
Page 5 of 22

capturing gains. On the other hand, economic boom reduces the scope of the marketing and
hence it impacts the activity and the performance of the organisations a whole (Garrigos-
Simonet al. 2012). Lastly the social factors determine what kind or content and what are the
approach that an organisation can undertake for a specific market. For instance, a society will
not accept a marketing content which uses racial discriminative message and hence the
reputation of the company may be at stake.
Overview of the marketing process:
The marketing is the overall process which transforms a concept to a physical good for the
use of the end customer. The concept of marketing is multidimensional in the case of
organisations. It is the tool to understand the needs and wants of the customers so that the
production and the innovation can be maneuverer to be in line with the demand of the
customers. Again the marketing also includes making the customer aware about the goods
and the service of the company (Bean and Hussey, 2012). In addition to that marketing also
enables the management of a company to set the value for the goods such that it is in line
with demand of the customers. Therefore, the notion of marketing is interacting with the
customers and research for the introduction of the new goods or services for the company.
Using the marketing tools and the strategies EE ltd can address it potential customers about
the specifics of the products and the service they provide. It will also enable the marketing
manager to understand the needs of the customers so that produced goods are apt for the
customers (Yoder and Murphy, 2012).
Role and responsibilities of marketing manager:
As discussed above, then concept of marketing is multidimensional and hence there are many
roles that the marketing manager of EE Limited plays for the operation of an organisation.
First and foremost role is to understand the environment of a market. Marketing manager
helps the organisation to design a product or service best suited for the situation of a market.
The marketing tools used by the manager of EE Limited also help the organisation to identify
the target market of a specific product (Stock and Reiferscheid, 2014). This enables the
organisation to work on the efficiency of the production of the organisation. After doing with
the target market and the associated segmentation, the marketing process as implemented by
the marketing manager also helps in the choice of the strategy that needs to be taken by the
organisation in line with the aim and the objective. Customers are the main stakeholders in
the case of contemporary business; in this context the marketing helps the organisation to
Page 6 of 22

understand the behaviour of the customers through marketing research which is a sub tool of
the concept of marketing (Hairet al.2012).
Furthermore, the marketing manager also looks after the processing of new product
development for the organisation based on the marketing research of a specific market. The
new product development also requires knowledge of the external environment of the
business which is also delivered by the process of marketing. The marketing department
carries out the external and the internal assessment to find out the impact of the external
factors and the strength and weaknesses of the organisation respectively (Peppers and Rogers,
2012).
Marketing manager of EE ltd can use the tool of marketing research for their new product
development. Apart from that, marketing tools and the results helps the governing body to
evaluate the performance of the organisation and set the mission and vision for the future
activity in the market. Lastly, the marketing process also investigates whether all the nodes of
the business are operating in line with mission of the organisation. Thus, the marketing
process provides a management information system, which the organisation can use for the
future investigation for the mitigation of the potential challenges (Cairnset al. 2012). EE
limited can get the best of this role of the marketing process in order to gain a competitive
advantage over the rivals.
Responsibilities and roles of the marketing influence and interrelation with other
functional departments:
The marketing department comprises of various nodes such as vice president, marketing
managers, market researchers, public relations and creative service professionals. In the top
most position of the hierarchical chain lays the vice president who is responsible for the
overall operation of the organisation. The vice presidents report decision makers and the
board members about the findings of the marketing department (Peppers and Rogers, 2012).
Below the vice president lies the marketing manager who has the utmost responsibility of the
marketing operations. The managers monitor the activity of the employee in the marketing
department and report the overall process to the vice president of the organisation. Below the
marketing manager there are three sub departments which lie parallel to each other and carry
out the crux of the operative activity of the marketing department.
These sub departments include market researchers, public relations and the creative services.
The market researchers carry out the marketing analysis and research for the understanding of
Page 7 of 22

the market and all its elements. The market researchers also investigate the strength and the
weaknesses of the organisation (Kaplan, 2012). The public relation department has the
responsibility to interact directly with the potential customers of the company. Lastly the
creative department works to bring creative solutions for the marketing of the goods and the
service provided by the company. All these sub departments report to the marketing manager
who maintains an interrelationship among the sub departments.
Importance of marketing:
The marketing process starts with an investigation of the target market and assessment of
each of the component of the market such as the customers, competitors and the external
factors. This process extract information about the market and using the information, market
analysis is carried to elicit knowledge from the market. The knowledge helps the decision
maker to design strategy complying with the aim and the objective of the organisation.
Marketing department uses tools such as marketing mix for adding value to the goods and the
service they provide (Cairnset al. 2013). The marketing mix strategy is one of the widely
used marketing strategies in the contemporary industry.
Both in the B2B and the B2C context the marketing works a source of knowledge related to
the needs of the customers. However, there is difference in the role of the marketing in these
two contexts. While it is easy for marketing department to gather knowledge about the B2B
demand, it is troublesome in case of B2C demand. Again the marketing department looks to
strengthen the relationship with the patron when it comes to case of B2C marketing. Most of
the B2B partners are in longer relationship in terms of business. However, in case of B2C the
marketing department hardly has the scope to have loyal customers. In this regard Krishna
(2012) argued that in the modern industry, the marketing department is using advanced
analytics tools to retain the customers for a longer period of time. Again the buying cycle or
time period of buying is different between B2B and B2C. This influences the strategies of the
marketing department.
The role of the different market units and the interrelationships:
Marketing department inter-relates all the functions of a business. The research process
carried out on the market of the organisation enables the operation unit to decide and
determine what level of production needs to be undertaken. The result generated by the
marketing process, also let the operation to set the quality of the production. The varying
level of production of the organisation calls of resourcing and termination of the employees
Page 8 of 22

of the organisation. In case of quality production, for example, the human resource
department of business need to source high level of workers. This decision of the human
resource department is also based on the study of the marketing department (Hayset al.
2012). Lastly, the finance department uses the results and forecasts of the marketing
department related to the target market and undertake the decision of the investment of the
organisation. All the decision of each of the units of the business is linked to the board
members of the organisation. Thus, marketing plants healthy interrelationship with the
various function of a business.
Task 2: ways the organisation use the elements of marketing mix to meet
the business objective
Task 2a: Comparative analysis of EE limited and its competitors
3.1 The 7p marketing mix:
The marketing mix is a strategy of the marketing branch that determines the goods and the
service provided by the organisation. This marketing mix was first developed in the year
1960 by E. Jerome Mcarthy. Since then this tool is widely used by the marketer and the
marketing departments of various companies. EE limited can determine the values of its
products comparing with the other products of the rival company so that it can assign a hint
of uniqueness in their products. Vodafone uses a premium prices for their products and the
services, in that ca ether is a chance for the company to outperform the Vodafone. There
seven p’s which determine the value of a product. These are discussed below in detail:
Product: product is the main asset of the EE ltd which deals with the mobile in the UK. For
the determination of the offering of the company, the management uses the marketing
research to understand the needs of the customers. It emphasizes on what they what they are
not deriving from the existing product in the market. Vodafone provides product which does
not fulfil all the needs of the customers, for example, Vodafone phone does not have IP
calling facilities in their mobile. This analysis helps the organisation to develop its unique
brand awareness’s among the potential customers of the company. Developing the brand
awareness will create an image in the minds of the customers which can influence the buying
decision of the customers in favour of the EE limited. In addition that the market research
process will enable the organisation to embark upon new mobile development with unique
Page 9 of 22

feature incorporating the needs of the customers. According to Chandon and Wansink (2012)
the new product development and the updating of the existing products needs to be based on
the current lifestyles of the customers. This element of the marketing mix tool assigns a
unique value to the mobile phones which can create the USP for EE limited.
Price: this element of marketing mix determines the pricing strategies of the products offered
by the company. There are many strategies that the company can undertake for the market it
targets. Depending on the objective of the company, behaviour of the customers and the
position of the company in the industry EE limited can undertake strategies like price
skimming, penetration pricing, competitive pricing, economy pricing or premium pricing.
Due to the existence of the other big brands in the market of the UK, it may choose to
undertake pricing which can work as an USP for the company and its product. In that case, a
competitive pricing can help the company to get a foothold in the mobile industry of the UK.
the pricing of the products provided by the Vodafone is of premium price and hence most of
the people cannot afford these phone. In that regard, Fisk (2013) highlighted that a premium
pricing can hit the psychological aspect of the buying behaviours of the customers and help
gaining a competitive advantage in the markets of the UK.
Place: this element of the market mix tool determines where the product needs to be placed
for grabbing the attention of the customers. Depending on results of the market research and
the objective of EE limited the place can vary. EE limited wants to penetrate the market of
the UK by giving a tough fight to the existing brands. In that case company may place the
products where low and medium segment of the customer buys the mobile. For the delivery
channel and the logistic, the company can use the traditional local mobile shops (Cairnset al.
2013). EE limited can also place their products in the budget mobile phone section to attract
the attention of the customers. Compared to the phones of Vodafone, the phones provided by
the EE limited are less known and hence the company needs to choose a place for the
monbile so that it can cover most of the people.
Promotions: for the promotional aspect of the marketing of the mobile phones EE limited
can initially sue the word of mouth of the sellers and the customers of the mobile. For that
purpose the company may use the traditional local mobile shops and its customers. In
addition to that EE limited may also pus advertisement on the ecommerce website and the
other online platforms. TV channels slots can also be beneficial for the promotion of the
mobile phone of the company. Phones provided by Vodafone are already being used widely
Page 10 of 22

in the market and hence EE limited needs to spend heavily on the promotion of its mobile
phones in order to deal with the rivalry with Vodafone. Apart from that, the company can use
the public relation sub department of marketing and establish an interaction with the potential
customers of the product of the company via various social media website. In addition to that
sponsorship of the local event may also increase the brand recognition of the mobile phone
provide by the EE limited.
People:in the overall marketing of the mobile phone of the company the public relationship
has huge role to play. They carry out the interaction with the customers via various events.
These personnel also gather the feedback of the customers so as to incorporate the needs of
the customers in the new product development often company. These people have the high
level of interpersonal skills to interact with the customers of the company (Peppers and
Rogers, 2012). In addition to that, the company may use other front line personnel who with
their soothing behaviour can make the customer understand the unique feature of the mobile
phone provide by the EE limited. Lastly, representative with the high level of communication
skills may also be used by the company for the marketing via the sellers of the local mobile
shops. Big companies like Vodafone do not have to worry about the representative for the
promotion of the phone. Thus compared to Vodafone, EE limited have to use more people
just to make people aware of the products.
Physical Evidence: the tangible elements of the delivery of the mobile towards the local
sellers are the stores from where the mobile are dispatched for the seller of the company.
Process:this element of the marketing mix tool deals with the process that are used by the
company for the delivery and the post-delivery care for the customers. The company may
have its own software so that the sellers can contact the company for more supply of the
products. In addition that, the company also use various customer care services for the help of
the customer after the purchase of the products. The customer service can also extract the
feedback of the customers after the use of the product. The existing big companies like
Vodafone has a high quality post sell service for its customer. Therefore for the successful
penetration of the market, EE limited need to emphasize on the customer service.
Achieving business objective:
To achieve the objective of the organisation the marketing mix tool needs to be adequately
used by the management of the company. All the p’s of the market mix tool needs to so
Page 11 of 22

chosen such that it is in line with the aim and the objective of the organisation. This may also
help the marketing department to develop a USP for the product of the customers.
Shift from the 4P to the 7p marketing mix and its significance:
Previously, the notion of marketing used to refer to the awareness of the customers of the
product. However due to the advancement of the technology and the introduction of the
digitalisation, three more elements are used by the modern companies of the world. People,
physical evidences and the process also plays a crucial role to incorporate the views of
customers on the decision making of the company. This is in line with the changing
behaviour of the organisation and their marketing department to internalise the need of the
customer on the production process (Hayset al. 2013). The significance of the 7p model is
that it is more realistic for the operation of the modern organisation.
Overview of the marketing planning process:
The basic planning process of the marketing procedure starts with the assessment and the
information gathering of the target market. Therefore, EE limited firsts understand and
analyse the market for the mobile that they are going to provide. This learning about the
market and its situation will help the EE limited to formulate the necessary strategies for the
marketing. After the strategies are formulated which are in line with the aims and the
objective of the company, they implementation process starts. The implementation process
takes into consideration the views and the ideas of the potential customers of the mobile
phone provided by the EE limited. The company undertakes the necessary incorporation and
the changes and introduces the product in the target market. Last stage of the planning
process of the marketing is the control and the observation of the implementation. This
further allows the company to understand the gap that has remained and can be worked upon
by the company (Kim. and Ko, 2012).
Task 2b: Development and the evaluation of the marketing plan
Executive summary
The report deals with the portraying of the recent analysis of the marketing situations through
internal and external analysis. A SWOT analysis is eventually presented in the report. The
report throws light upon the marketing strategies and objectives of the EE limited. The
positioning, segmentation and targeting are components of marketing which are being
implemented by the EE limited. Relevant action and tactics to be taken up by the
Page 12 of 22