Marketing Essentials: O2's Marketing Mix Compared to Planning Process

This report provides an analysis of O2's marketing essentials, focusing on the company's marketing plan and strategies. It begins by addressing the challenges O2 faces, such as poor functional communication and limited marketing orientation, and suggests implementing management meetings to improve these areas. The report explores five marketing concepts—Production, Product, Selling, Marketing, and Social Marketing—and how O2 could apply them to address communication issues and expand marketing operations. It also details the importance of situation analysis, market segmentation, and the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). Furthermore, the report outlines the roles and responsibilities of a marketing manager, including market research, strategy development, and employee management, and how these functions interrelate with other departments like Operations, Finance, and Human Resource Management. The report concludes that O2 needs to improve cross-functional communication and marketing orientation, emphasizing the crucial role of marketing and its integration with other organizational units to achieve business objectives.

MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
PART 2............................................................................................................................................6
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................6
P3 Comparison of marketing mix to marketing planning process between O2 and Virgin ......6
P4 Marketing Plan of O2.............................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

PART 1
The management of interchanging relationships is considered as Marketing. O2 is facing
poor functional communication and less orientation in their organisation (Clow and James,
2013). The present essay is about the need of a management meeting that could help the
company to deal with the issues. It also includes its inter relation with other specific units. It also
includes the responsibilities; a retail manager applies which can help the business in achieving
the targets faster. Marketing essentials provides various inbound marketing and sales solutions
which helps a business to expand its effectiveness.
It can also be termed as a process in which the products and services are being presented
and supplied to the customers. The concept of marketing actually deals with the process of
understanding the needs of the customers then focussing on fulfiling it so that the customers
stay satisfied with the firm.. Rather than competing with the other firms, the philosophy is about
pleasing the consumers, finalising the decisions according to them (Silver, Stevens and Loudon,
2012). It helps the companyin gaining more and more customers and very less chances of any
disappointment between them. There are five concepts of marketing, out of which any one can
be applied by the O2 which can help them in dealing with the communication problem. Also,
these marketing strategies can help the company in expanding their orientation in various
marketing operations. These are:
Production Concept
O2 can adopt this process as this deals with the procedure of selling of the products and
services at lower rates and make them available at various places. O2 has involved both the
features they can help them in preventing their business from any issues regarding the sales
(Babin and Zikmund, 2015). By adopting this orientation, O2 can start involving in large scale
manufacturing. It will help the company in using methods which can minimise the cost of
production. The concept affects the overall wealth of the large-scale production as the cost per
unit of making is becoming less. O2 can also analyse that the usefulness of this concept when the
demand from the customers in the market exceeds in some case.
Product Concept
The concept means if the quality of the products and the services of O2 are good quality
and also of good standard, it can easily attract more and more customers. The individuals out
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there focus on the quality of the goods as it should seem beneficial for them. O2 focuses on
bluffing their efforts so as to maximise the quality of the commodities. The quality acts as a big
factor for the individuals. They prefer good quality products rather than going for cheap
products. It makes them satisfied with the good quality products even if they are quite more
reasonable than the other products. Costlier commodities can upset the pocket of the customer
and also disappoints the customers. So, O2 should consider selling of high standard outcomes for
reasonable rates. Quality of the product has a huge impact on the selling procedure of the
commodities of the company, its overall image in the market etc. It itself can help O2 in
achieving success and that too at a faster rate.
Selling Concept
The promotion for the commodities and services of the company has a huge impact on
the customers. O2 should ensure the fact that if they promote their products on a regular basis,
more people will get to know about them. This concept helps in a clearing the view that only
selling is not important, infact promoting first and then selling makes a huge difference
sometimes (Silver, Stevens and Loudon, 2012). O2 should focus more on marketing of the
goods. O2 after adopting this orientation has to consider the fact that they have to focus more on
increasing sales transactions, rather than making long term relations with the customers.
Marketing Concept
O2 can adopt this concept as it focuses on the the achievement of the organisational
goals. In this case, the management of the marketing applies a customer- first perspective. Under
this approach, the focus of the customer is just to increase the sales and gaining the profits. O2
after developing the orientation, does not focuses on finding the right customers for the product
but on the vice versa. That is, finding the right and appropriate products for the customers. This
concept somewhere differs with the marketing concept. O2 while developing the selling concept
focuses on a large scale of production and the promotion whereas while going for the marketing
concept, the organisation focuses on various other activities such as market research. The selling
orientation is suitable for the goods that are unsought whereas the marketing orientation seems
suitable for almost any type of goods or products in the market.
Social Marketing Concept
O2 can adopt this technique also as this is the only philosophy that gives importance to
the satisfaction of the customers and to the Consumer welfare also. It is a step forward than the
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marketing concept. This methodology deals with both the parties, customer's and the consumers.
O2 after applying the strategy, can also consider the consumer's welfare . It involves two
elements. O2 as by developed after applying this method, can direct their overall marketing
efforts so that they can achieve satisfaction of both consumers and customers as well as the
social welfare. O2 can develop this concept as this is the latest concept of marketing. It also can
achieve long term benefits and profits (Malhotra, Birks and Wills, 2013).
The marketing process overview covers the situational analysis, all the methodologies strategies
which are involved in the marketing.. In the analysis of the situation, O2 can identify about the
various opportunities, it can develop so that they can be able to satisfy the needs of the
consumers. Before any understanding about the individual needs, O2 have to be sure of their
own capabilities, they have to first understand their own before developing any new for the
customers (Dibb and Simkin, 2013.). The company have to examine the internal as well as the
external factors which can affect their business. It also includes the evaluation of the micro and
macro environmental factors. O2 should focus on the situation analysis of the past, present and
all the future aspects as well. The company also can develop 5C analysis which involves
company, customers, competitors, climate etc.
Marketing strategy involves market segmentation. It can be considered as a process
which helps in the identification of various markets that seems different from each other. O2 also
focuses on implying the strategy. It proves very beneficial as different customers have different
needs and it is a tough business to serve them like that. O2 evaluates the whole criteria of
segmentation by checking the accessibility, identity and the substantial nature. There are various
bases for segmentation (Clow and James, 2013). Geographic segmentation includes the specific
regions of a country or state with the size of area also. Demographic segmentation includes the
age, gender, income, religion etc. O2 also applies the Psycho-graphic segmentation which is a
combination of various activities like various interests, values and many more.
Mixed decision making in marketing is dropped into four categories. These are
considered as Product, Price, Place and the promotion. Product combines the name of the brand,
quality of it, packaging and all the related stuff. Price involves the strategy for pricing, its
flexibility with the customers and sometimes they have to face some sort of discrimination also.
Place can include the distribution channel, members and the overall centres. Promotion can be
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done by various development campaigns or by other various means also. These other ways can
be advertisement or promotions.
The marketing manager has its specific roles and responsibilities towards the business.
Conducting proper research of the market plays a very important role as it helps the managers in
acquiring a clear understanding of the requirements of the customers (Clow and James, 2013).
These managers are being enabled by the marketing research so that they can find various new
opportunities in the market. It further can helps O2 in creating a market for its various services
and products. Market research also helps the managers to study the competitors of the company,
so that they can focus on developing more effective and superior products than the rivals.
Managers conduct these researches by various methods as by means of on spot interviews, using
questionnaires etc. The managers themselves are responsible for evolving various new marketing
strategies for O2. These new developed strategies can help O2 in various methods by which it
can promote its services and products.
These managers have another responsibility of managing the employees within their
department. The manager of the O2 have to assign the duties to the specific employees and also
within a deadline. It will help them in completing the task in the given limit, thus will help in
achieving all the targets at a faster rate (Brady, 2014). The managers also analyse various new
opportunities and new market trends which O2 can also develop for its different services and
products. By evaluating the sales forecasting, they are able to estimate the future performances of
the products of O2. They can evaluate the whole condition of the market and according to that,
can plan the further strategies.
Various roles and responsibilities of marketing are directly or indirectly linked with the
other functional departments of the organisation. The same way in O2, the marketing procedure
is linked with some other departments of the company as well. Somewhere, it is influencing and
at some place it is interrelated to them. In Operations management/ Production department, the
marketing department shall have to ensures the fact that an appropriate research should be
planned to satisfy the customers and their needs. The department can also set deadlines for them
in which they have to cover all the projects (Baines, Fill and Page, 2013).
In finance department, the marketing department of O2 should focus on the required
budget which will be required for the functioning of the whole process including the research,
distribution and the promotion. Many times, companies get various opportunities by which they
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can be able to gain extra budgets. That type of work is considered as voluntary sort of work
which helps the company in achieving many opportunities by which they gain a huge amount of
extra incentives. That incentives can be used by O2 for various purposes. As they can also
overspend the amount if various profitable opportunities have come across them throughout the
year. They concentrate only on the sales and in making shares in the market.
In Human Resource Management, the marketing department of O2 focuses on working
closely with it. They do so to ensure that all the research and development processes are being
assessed in a way that they can be able to meet the targets and goals of the production. They both
together can also create an ambitious team for the sales and marketing (Babin and Zikmund,
2015). As the HRM must be having selection, recruiting and training processes, it may have to
manage its commitments to marketing. O2 focuses on a well-maintained relationship between
both the department because they are aware of the percentage they both are dependent on each
other.
It has been concluded from the present essay that a UK based company, O2 is facing
issues with its poor cross functional communication and the company also lacks in marketing
orientation. So, a management meeting could be held which will be involving the actual role of
marketing and its relation with the other functional units of the organisation. It also includes the
responsibilities, a marketing manager can use which can further help in influencing the business
very well. The marketing department is directly or indirectly interrelated with the other various
departments of the organisation.
PART 2
INTRODUCTION
Marketing is an art and action for the promotion of goods and services an organisation
produces (Baker and Saren, eds., 2016). In this report marketing mix which is applied in
marketing planning process of two organisations will be compared to examine how an
organisation achieved its objectives. Different tactics which are applied by the O2 will be
evaluated on the basis of various analysis such as SWOT, internal and external analysis. Tactics
and action planning will be implemented to achieve the organisational objectives.. Logical
marketing plan used by organisation will also be provided in the report.
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P3 Comparison of marketing mix to marketing planning process between O2 and Virgin
O2 was found in 1985, by John Carrington. It is reputed organisation which is acquired
by Telefonica, its parent company. In digital communication O2 is recognised as the leading
player. With its effective products and services (Lane, 2016), the organisation able to connect
with more than 23 million customers. It provides 2G, 3G, 4G networks and services within UK.
It is awarded for being number 1 in customer satisfaction and network coverage. The merger of
NTL and Telewest led to the formation of Virgin Media in 2006. It provides products and
services like mobile phones, television and broadband. It has approximately 13 million customer
who uses its variety of goods and accesories in UK. Below is the basis of comparison of
marketing mix to marketing planning between O2 and Virgin media. Products- O2 is the leading telecom organisation, which provides products and various
services to its customers. The visible goods are the mobile phones and invisible are the
services related to the mobile services, network coverage and distribution channels. O2
dominant the telecom market, the organisation made its image as trustworthy and quality
brand. The services provided by the company includes web browsers, voice and video
calls, text messaging and download data on network. Apple, LG and Samsung are
associated with organisation brand image. The variety of products which O2 have is
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Illustration 1: Marketing Mix
(Source: The Marketing Mix, 2015)

mobile phones, bundle packs, mobile accessories, smart watches, memory cards, storage
devices and fitness bands (Campbell and Martin, 2015). Virgin Media is the leading
organisation in providing broadcasting services in UK. The organisation has a wide
portfolio in product strategies of marketing mix. The products and services provided by
Virgin Media are more as compared to O2. Some of these are Bundles such as player
bundle, movie bundle, etc. Phone packages, phone for business, calling features, mobile
phones, SIM cards, broadband packages and broadband for gamers. Price- O2 price strategy helps the organisation to generate higher margins. The pricing
strategy of the company assist them to provide different tariff system for phones and
broadband. Market survey is based on the age, sex and income group of its target
markets. On the basis of the survey the price is set for the different products and services.
For its 4G service the company made a separate price strategy. The fusion of more price
and greater promotion helped the organisation to acquire higher market share (Baker and
et.al., 2016). Virgin Media usually offers low prices for less involvement products such
as broadband, TV, etc. By targeting mass markets organisation able to earn higher
revenue with lower prices through economies of scale. The competitive pricing strategy
are followed by the organisation. For high involvement products like broadband for
gamers and packages for entertainment, higher price is charged by the company to
increase revenue margin. Place- In the telecom industry of UK, O2 is considered as the second largest brand. It has
484 active stores in the country which makes the placement and distribution of its goods
and services to mass customers feasible. The company offers variety of products and
services at right time and right place to the customer (Shaw, 2016. The distribution
channel of O2 has been developed progressively within time which enables to increase its
sales and profit margins. As compared to O2, Virgin Media place strategy consist of
online marketing. Customer can place or buy the service or products on its website. The
company official will come and deliver the benefits to the customer. In addition to it
there are various company outlets are opened at different place where customer can
purchase its commodities and services. Promotion- O2 since 1995, sponsors various sports events such as rugby in England, for
the promotion of its products and services. The company targets those events where mass
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crowd gathered at one place. Premium tickets of rugby match are offered to customers on
its website. Social media including Facebook, twitter, YouTube, etc. for promotion of
products and advertisements is been used by the organisation (Hair, 2015). As compared
to it, Virgin Media aims the need of youths. The promotional strategy in the marketing
mix of the company comes up with innovative television advertisement which target the
group of youth for awareness of its products and services. Creative blogs are made to
engage with customers, discounts and rebates offers are given to the purchaser in festive
time also known as promotional period. Virgin media join hands with Southampton
Football club for three years. People- There are more than 23 million customers and users of O2 products and services.
The chief executive officer Mark Evans claimed that the company retail staff serves
around 483 active stores in the country. . As compared to it, Virgin media focuses on the
HR polices and practices in the followed in the organisation.. The corporate culture is
casual and employees are provided with flexible timing and can take holidays whenever
they want. It lays more emphasis on the creative skill of the workforce (Tripathi, 2013).
Tom Mockbridge the chief executive officer says that the employees are committed to the
organisation because of its work culture and corporate environment. Process- O2 works on well-structured process which is defined by the top managerial in
the organisation. The services focus more on customer needs. The sales and distribution
channel of the organisation is also well structure and targets huge mass of customers. As
compared to it, Virgin media invest more in technology. It aims to create automated
development in the organisation. Customer satisfaction is high because of high quality
products and services.
 Physical Evidence- The registered office of O2 is located at Berkshire, UK. The official
website of the company provides all the details about the organisation (Jacobs, MacRae
and Sladyk eds., 2017). It has 484 stores all over UK and the business also work in
Germany. Company rolling out some more stores to increase its market share and
revenue margins. As compared to it Virgin Media headquarter is located at Hook, UK.
Stores are highly modern and innovative. Appropriate papers and invoices are provided
to the customers. Company website is user friendly and have all the details regarding the
organisation. The services are redefined according to the customer desires and needs
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which help the company to build effective relationship with them. The organisation has
already started its store outside UK, which helping it to acquire more market shares.
P4 Marketing Plan of O2
Executive Summary
The report is made to evaluate O2 marketing plan, identify strategies for potential growth
and recommend suggestions to cope up with competitive situations. Various analysis will be
used to seek out the optimum marketing plan for the organisation. For external analysis PESTLE
analysis will be used. SWOT analysis will be used to identify strength, weakness, opportunities
and threats of the organisation . O2 is the second leading brand in telecom sector of UK, but still
it faces some issues with brand image. Strategies will be made to make the organisation the
leading one and recommendation will be provided for the areas of improvement.
Company Overview
O2 is the second largest company in telecommunication in UK. The net revenue of the
company estimated was approximately 3 billion GBP. Mark Evans is the current CEO of the
organisation. There are approximately 484 stores and outlets of the company across the country.
In 2006 O2 was acquired by Telefonica a Spanish telecommunication company for 18 billion
GBP. The registered office of the company is located at Berkshire, UK. Company is popular and
reputed in the country because of its quality products and services and excellent customer care.
The organisation is now connected with more than 23 million customers.
Current Marketing situation analysis Internal analysis
Financial Analysis- In 2016 the profit made by the organisation was approximately 1.4
billion GBP with 1.7% of growth than the previous year. The revenue growth is around 5 billion
GBP which is more than the previous years. More ever O2 is investing around 2 billion GBP to
improve its network and extend 4G coverage within UK (Siahpush, M. and et.al., 2016). With
commitment to make every day better, the organisation is moving forward progressively to
become the leading telecommunication in UK.
Human Resource Management- Employees are loyal and committed towards organisation
because of effective human resource management. Organisation follows all the employee
legislation and laws. Compensation are distributed according to the experience and performance.
Training and development activities conduct on the job as well off the job.
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 External Analysis
The analysis made by considering the various factors such as political, economic, social,
technology, legal and environmental in short PESTLE.
Political Analysis – The government of UK faces issues related with the network coverage in
rural areas. Government investment in the organisation to develop network coverage in that area.
Economic analysis- With the changes in tax policies by government, the organisation affected
greatly as it has to made changes in its fiscal policy and compensation policy.
Social analysis- It can be seen that each customer is divided into different segments. From the
analysis made there is tremendous growth in use of smartphones in teens (Kennedy and Parsons,
2014). Organisation is now focusing on teens and youth for growth and development.
Technological analysis- Technology influences the organisation, as to improve the network
coverage and produce high tech goods is the goal of the company. Improvement in LTE- 4G
technology and data services increase the growth of customers.
Environmental Analysis- Environmental factors like geographical regions, culture and
civilisation influence the production of the organisation.
Legal analysis- Organisation follows all the laws and legislation which are framed by the
government and with an effective corporate governance, it is able to maintain ethical work
culture.
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Illustration 2: PESTLE Analysis
(Source: Introduction to PESTLE Analysis, 2013)