Marketing Essentials Report: An Analysis of Marketing Functions at M&S

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing essentials, focusing on the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function, the structure of a marketing department, the marketing process, and the correlation of the marketing function with other functions. The report uses Mark and Spencer as a case study to illustrate key concepts such as identifying customer needs, designing innovative marketing strategies, managing social media, and overseeing vendors. It also examines the structure of a marketing department, including the roles of the Chief Marketing Officer and Social Media Manager. The report further details the marketing process, including situation analysis, marketing strategy, marketing mix decisions, and implementation and control. Finally, it highlights the importance of the marketing environment and the correlation of the marketing function with other departments like finance and technology. This report aims to provide a clear understanding of marketing's crucial role in business success.

MARKETING
ESSENTIAL

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................3
1. Roles and responsibilities of marketing function...............................................................3
2. Structure of marketing department.....................................................................................5
3. Marketing process..............................................................................................................6
4.Correlation of marketing function with other functions......................................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCE...................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the most crucial element in the business organisation. It is the most common
term in present business scenario which is used in doing shopping and selling products.
Therefore, marketing essentials are the elements which is used in the business to improve the
marketing process of the firm (Baker and Saren, 2016). Organisation undertaken in this report is
Mark and Spencer which was founded in 1884 in London, UK and deals in a retail industry. This
report will explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function. And it will further
explain the roles and responsibilities of marketing in wider organisational context.
TASK1
1. Roles and responsibilities of marketing function.
Marketing is a very important term for businesses in today's competitive world. Every
company either big or small, operates in a highly competing business market. In such instances,
marketing plays a very crucial role in developing and building relationships between customers
and offerings to the organisation (Brady, 2014). It is very useful so that people will know about
the products and services and new offerings which the organisation deals in. The marketing
function of the Mark and Spencer is performs numerous roles and responsibilities and they are
discussed below :
 Listening to customer needs : Customers are the most important part of the business
organisation because the primary motive of every company is to satisfy the needs of the
customers. For this, the marketing function will identify and analyse the needs and
demands of the customers and develop their offerings in accordance with it which will
attract and improve the customer base.
 Innovative : The marketing functions helps in designing the innovative promotion
tactics, customer retention technique, improvements in conversion of actions, etc. This
kind of innovative, attracts customers towards the Mark and Spencer.
 Conducting campaign : Marketing proactively identifies the products and services so
that it can focus on the sales cycle and then produces communication and materials which
helps in understanding the words of the company for the marketing initiatives (Hair Jr
and et. al., 2015).

 Monitoring and managing social media : Marketing function is also responsible for
regularly reviewing and controlling the activities of social media. In this, the marketer
manager must properly manage the social accounts and if any query or issue is posted by
any customer which can affect the brand value, the marketing manager will take that in
account immediately and it will be solved by leaving customer satisfied (Malhotra,
2015). Apart from this, it must regularly post updates on social media regarding the
promotions and new offerings.
 Overseeing outside vendors and agencies : Marketing is typically responsible for
selecting and managing the agencies and vendors who produces raw materials and other
resources which assure support to the marketing support. In this Mark and Spencer will
use PR, print vendor, web providers, etc.
 Launch new products and services : The marketing function is highly suitable and
appropriate when the Mark and Spencer is planning to launch a new product in the
market. Because it helps in making people aware with the help of various promotional
tools about the new product and offering so that customer get attracted.
 Useful in maximising sale : The marketing function uses various promotional methods
like discounts, vouchers, buy1 get 1, etc. which helps the Mark and Spencer in
maximising the sale of the company.
 Work with top management : The marketing function which is managed by marketing
manager of Mark and Spencer is also responsible for working with top management of
the company and helps in devising various marketing plans, evaluating marketing
budgets, time frames, etc.
Thus, marketing is a term which has different functions and purposes as a department and
as a function of business. As a department in Mark and Spencer, the marketing is responsible for
all the activities like producing products, promoting it, identifying the market requirements,
developing marketing plans, etc. Whereas, marketing as a function of business is referred to
finding the ways or means through which the business will promote and market the products in
the target market. This will focus on developing the ways through which people will have clear
idea about the products and offering of the company.

2. Structure of marketing department.
Every organisation follows one or the other kind of organisational structure so that
business goals can be accomplished effectively and efficiently. These structure helps in
developing relationships and connection between the different departments. Therefore, the Mark
and Spencer follows flat organisational structure which has limited levels of management
between administrative level and employees who are working in front line (Pike, 2015). This
kind of structure is helpful in the organisation because it motivates employees to participate in
decision making process. They are shaped like a pyramid and have fewer levels of management
from top to bottom. It has various departments with heads and manager is responsible for leading
every unit of the Mark and Spencer with the top executive management in the pyramid.
There are various heads and two of them are discussed below :
 Chief marketing officer : This person working in the Mark and Spencer is concerned
with the corporate level executives who are accountable for different activities in an
organisation. It includes activities like communicating, creating and delivering offerings
which have a strong value for customers (Rowley, 2016). The main motive of chief
executive officer of Mark and Spencer is to maximise the sales by developing
comprehensive plans which will promote brand recognition and useful in gaining
competitive advantage.
 Social media manager : This person in Mark and Spencer is concerned with the
individual in the organisation who is responsible for designing social media strategies
with the brand identity and goals and objectives of the company. It manages and handles
all the working of social media like promoting the products, taking feedback from the
customer and ratings, solving their queries, etc. Apart from this, they are highly
motivated, creative and innovative in nature which helps in designing attractive schemes
for the company.

3. Marketing process.
Marketing process plays a crucial role in business organisation. It is a useful function in
establishing the goals and tactics of marketing campaign. It provides a way through which the
success can be measured and evaluated. Every successful business organisation has marketing
plan which helps in devising the goals and objectives, identifying the market in which the
company will compete, develops means of promotional tools, etc. Therefore, the effective and
efficient marketing plan has the following steps which will be adopted by the Mark and Spencer :
 Situation analyses : This step of the marketing process helps in identifying and
analysing the situation in which the firm competes. For this purpose, the Mark and
Spencer will do internal and external analyses of business environment with the help of
SWOT and PESTLE analyses (Shaw, 2016). This must include the past, present and
future forecast of the organisation so that the effective decision and plan can be
Illustration 1: Flat Organisational Structure.2019

developed. By analysing this, if any gap has been identified between the needs of
customers and the present offerings of the company, then this generates an opportunity
for the Mark and Spencer to develop new products. For instance, the impact of Brexit on
Mark and Spencer has affected the organisation. The company has been affected
adversely because it used to supply its products in Europe as well.
 Marketing strategy : When Mark and Spencer will be able to identify the opportunity
from which they can satisfy the customers then it will develop marketing strategy and this
strategy will be relatable to the segmentation, targeting and positioning of the company.
 Marketing mix decisions : This types of marketing step involves the development of
marketing mix decisions for the Mark and Spencer which involves description of the
products, developing appropriate pricing strategies, place where the product is to be
marketed and sold and devising various promotional tools which will be used to attract
customers.
 Implementation and control : At this step of marketing, the plans is developed,
completed and initiated in the market. Now, the marketing department is concerned with
the proper implementation and control for reviewing that the plan goes as per the planned
actions and any deviation occurred will need to be handled properly.
Marketing environment is the combination of various internal and external business
factors which can have a significant impact on the operations of the company. Marketing
function of marketing environment is very essential because it helps in planning of the business
operations like planning the characteristics of new offerings which are to be launched in the
market. It is useful in identifying the needs of the customer and tapping in new trends and
fashion which will attract customers and helps the company in attaining the competitive edge
over the market. Therefore, the marketing environment is very important for the marketing
function in order to develop proper planning for different strategies. With the help of identifying
and analysing the needs and requirements of the customers, marketing function of mark and
Spencer will be able to develop the proper product that will satisfy the needs and requirements of
the customers.

4.Correlation of marketing function with other functions
Marketing function of Mark and Spencer does not work alone, but for the purpose of
attaining overall business objectives it works closely with other departmental heads also and they
are discussed below :
 Finance department : Marketing manager or department of Mark and Spencer will work
with the finance department so that finance manager can develop budget for different
marketing activities like launching new product, budget for promoting the products, etc.
This is very important so that the marketing department operates within the financial
capabilities of the company (Wilson, 2014). It will help in preparation of the annual
reports of the company and at the same time when company invest money in marketing
activities then this creates a good image and awareness to the people.
 Technological department : Marketing manager or department of Mark and Spencer
will closely work with technical department because it requires various technical
equipments to deal with everyday operations. For instance, marketing department uses
various technological tools for developing various promotional images, advertisements,
etc. Apart from this, it also uses technical machines in developing products and services
like clothes, etc.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that marketing is an important component
from the organisation perspective in order to gain the success and meet with the competition. It
helps the companies in making people aware about the new offerings with the help of various
promotional tools so that customer base can be developed. The most important motive of
marketing is to maximise sales and profitability by satisfying customers. So this has been
attained by detailed description of marketing plans

REFERENCE
Books and Journals
Baker, M.J. and Saren, M. eds., 2016. Marketing theory: a student text. Sage.
Brady, D.L., 2014. Essentials of international marketing. Routledge.
Hair Jr and et. al., 2015. Essentials of business research methods. Routledge.
Malhotra, N.K., 2015. Essentials of marketing research: A hands-on orientation. Essex: Pearson.
Pike, S., 2015. Destination marketing: essentials. Routledge.
Rowley, J., 2016. Information marketing. Routledge.
Shaw, S., 2016. Airline marketing and management. Routledge.
Wilson, J., 2014. Essentials of business research: A guide to doing your research project. Sage.